Chapter 758 Opportunities for Hong Kong Films

Inside Paramount headquarters in Los Angeles, Hollywood:
CEO Barry Diller looked at the newspaper in his hand and said with some regret: "If I had known that Jaws would have such a great success, I should have invested more in it anyway."

The vice president next to him, Robert Evans, said helplessly: "Who would have known that a movie made by a Chinese in the United States could achieve such success? It's incredible."

The final box office of "Jaws" has not yet been announced, but people in the industry know that this movie will break records and the return on investment will be dozens of times higher.
At the beginning, Yang Wendong had intended to let Paramount invest more, but due to conservatism, they only invested 25%. This was out of consideration for Li Xiaolong and thousands of theaters in Asia, otherwise they might not have invested at all. So this can also be considered part of luck.

Barry Diller sighed and said, "Forget it. Being able to get half of the revenue in the United States is enough. The box office share alone can make tens of millions of dollars in net profit. In the future, there will be various peripheral and videotape incomes. If we manage it well, hundreds of millions of dollars will not be a problem.

It’s a pity that we lost the overseas market, and we didn’t make any profit at all, including all the copyrights.”

"Yes." Robert suddenly said, "Mr. Diler, how about we do some accounting, so that the profit can be higher?"

"No, we can't give up the future for the sake of immediate benefits." Barry Diller shook his head and said, "I have considered this matter, but the movie "Jaws" is too popular. People in the industry across the United States are waiting for the final box office. If you cheat, it will be easily discovered. This is not other small movies;

In addition, our cooperation with cinemas and distributors is well known in Hong Kong. We have cooperated with them many times before. If there are only a few changes this time, it doesn’t matter, but our profits will not be high. If there are too many changes, they will definitely know.

We can't give up on either Li Xiaolong or the Asian market. Although this movie has high profits, it still can't compare to the profits of the Asian market in the next few decades. Besides, Eric has achieved success in Asia, has also taken a fancy to Li Xiaolong, and has successfully filmed "Jaws". All of these cannot be explained by luck. "

"That's true." After listening to him, Robert also felt that it made sense and said, "Then let's divide it according to the normal situation. It's not less for them, but do we need to discuss cooperation with him on the next movie? Can we strive to get a larger investment proportion?"

Baridi said happily: "I called and asked, Eric is ready to work with Steven, the director of Jaws, again, but they haven't reached an agreement yet. He will consider cooperating with us after the discussion is completed."

"This young director is so lucky." Robert sighed.

Baridi said happily: "Not necessarily. I've seen the movie, and the details are pretty good. Although Eric wanted to make this movie, the content was produced by the director. This guy is very capable."

Robert asked in confusion: "Then how did Eric find this person?"

Barry Diller shrugged and said, "I don't know about that. Eric doesn't understand movies, but he understands the market and knows how to judge people. When Li Xiaolong was ignored by Hollywood in the early years, he brought him to Asia. After he became a hit, he came to the United States and is now very successful.

I guess he had been looking for some potential Hollywood directors a long time ago, and Steven was chosen by him."

"That sounds reasonable." Robert nodded. "As expected of a super-rich man who made his fortune in Asia, his vision is really amazing. His layout in Asia is probably also a preparation for entering Hollywood. If there weren't so many theaters in Asia, we might not have had our first cooperation with him."

Paramount's top management naturally knew Yang Wendong's basic information.

Barry Diler also said, "Yes, there are so many people in Asia, it's normal for a few powerful ones to emerge. What we need to do now is to seize the opportunity to cooperate with them. Let's not talk about American movies. Even their theaters in Asia have released our movies every year in the past few years, which has brought us tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue. This is net profit. In the future, when we become famous in Asia, we can still make peripheral profits."

The cooperation with Yang Wendong is not only in the United States, but also in Asia. A large number of Paramount's past films were sent to Asia for testing. A few theaters were selected to play them first. Those with good feedback were promoted throughout Asia.
This is pure 100% net profit. No one watches old movies in the United States and Europe, but they will always be popular in the new market of Asia. Such cooperation can bring millions of dollars a year. Paramount's senior management and board of directors are very happy to see it happen.

Of course, as a local Changxing Cinema Line, it naturally earns more, which is also tacitly accepted. After all, channels are king;

This stable income is also the reason why Paramount dare not make trouble in the United States. If there is a falling out, other Hollywood companies will still be happy to cooperate with Yang Wendong. This is like cutting one's own flesh and feeding it to competitors.

Robert continued, "Mr. Diler, one of my subordinates in Asia reported that Eric is still expanding the Asian cinema chain and is even planning to invest in the Middle East."

"The Middle East? They can't show American movies there, right?" Barry Diler reacted instantly: "It seems he is planning to promote his Hong Kong movies."

Barry and his people knew about the existence of Hong Kong films and their achievements in Asia. They did not pay much attention to them at first, thinking that it was just a small-scale business within the city, which was only promoted by Yang Wendong's huge overseas investment, and the main target was also the Chinese community in other parts of Asia.

But when American and Hong Kong films both entered the non-Chinese regions of Southeast Asia, they found that their own films were often no match for Hong Kong films. Even in Japan, America's Asian backyard, people preferred Hong Kong films, unless their films were shot by Li Xiaolong. There may be cultural factors involved, but no matter what, in the Asian market, Hong Kong films will be a strong rival to American films.

Robert said: "Yes, including in the United States, Hong Kong movies have also started to come in, but currently they are mainly in movie theaters near Chinatown, but there are also a few Americans who go to watch them, and some people give good feedback."

"Aren't you worried that Hong Kong movies will threaten us in the United States?" Barry Diler said with a smile, "What you are talking about is the survivor effect. There are 3 million people in the United States. It is normal that some non-Chinese people like Hong Kong movies. These people probably have deep contact with Chinatown. If you ask them, they will naturally like it."

"Well, maybe I'm overthinking it." Robert nodded and said, "But I've also seen some Hong Kong movies. Although the production is a bit crude, the content is still very good, not worse than European movies. So I think they will definitely become a competitor for us in our global expansion in the future."

Barry nodded and said, "Your analysis is correct. If Eric continues to expand the cinema chain, the base of Hong Kong films will not be one city, but Asia with billions of people.

Such a large market will certainly produce many wonderful films, especially in terms of Asian culture, Hong Kong films have more advantages than us.”

Robert said: "With Eric here, the rise of Hong Kong films in Asia is inevitable, and Eric is unlikely to favor us. He will definitely focus on promoting his own Hong Kong films. So I think, for the sake of the Asian film market, we should also cooperate more with Hong Kong film companies.

It's not just Li Xiaolong. He basically plays the leading role, and he may not play two films a year. We can definitely cooperate with some other top stars in Hong Kong and give them an important supporting role. Then when we promote in Asia, they will have a strong appeal. "

"Okay, sure. We can have some Chinese supporting roles in every movie. It doesn't cost much for us, but it gives us the opportunity to gain a bigger market. This deal is still very cost-effective." Barry Diler said with a smile.

There are so many supporting roles in movies. Anyway, you have to pay American natives, and the same goes for Asians. The advantage of this is that every movie can do this, thus maximizing profits.

Robert asked, "Should you talk to Eric, or should I discuss it with Raymond?"

Baridi said happily: "This is a small matter. There is no need to consult with Eric. Just go and talk to Raymond. He will probably report it to Eric."

"Okay, I'll call him right away," said Robert.

After receiving the call from the United States, Zou Wenhuai immediately flew to Los Angeles and negotiated with Robert, the vice president of Paramount, and reached a verbal agreement.
Upon learning that Yang Wendong was also on vacation at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, he rushed over and informed him of this.

"This is good news. Many celebrities from Hong Kong will have the opportunity to perform in the United States." After hearing this, Yang Wendong smiled and said, "This is also a good opportunity for them."

Even though Yang Wendong has now opened up a larger Asian market for Hong Kong films with the power of strong capital than in the past, it is still far behind the United States, and American films are capable of being sold worldwide;

Zou Wenhuai smiled and said, “This is also the reason why Yang Sheng’s Jaws has achieved such good results in the United States. Paramount has obviously decided to cooperate with us, and it is more important to see it.”

"Well, does people in Hong Kong know now that we filmed Jaws?" Yang Wendong asked again.

Zou Wenhuai shook his head and said, "The media hasn't revealed it yet, so I guess no one has thought of this kind of thing, but I guess it will be discovered later."

"Yeah, okay." Yang Wendong didn't care;

In the era without the Internet, news dissemination was very slow. Secondly, newspapers had limited space, so the number of news reports was very small. It was impossible to put hundreds of thousands or millions of news on the website and wait for people to read them like the Internet does.
Taking Hong Kong as an example, unless something major happens in Europe or the United States, or something related to Hong Kong, the local media will definitely not waste space reporting on it, and Hong Kong citizens will not be interested either.

Zou Wenhuai then asked, "Mr. Yang, how about we expose it through the Oriental Daily?"

"Okay, I'm going to Canada soon. It just so happens that the news broke out in Hong Kong, so I don't have to be bothered by a bunch of reporters again." Yang Wendong agreed.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)

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