"Dong dong dong..."

As Tomb Raiders Notes was coming to an end, the editorial department was preparing to release the second volume. Cai Zhiliang was reviewing it when someone knocked on the door.

"Enter……"

"Hello, President Cai." A strange middle-aged man walked in outside the door, estimated to be in his forties.

"You are..." Cai Zhiliang looked at the door to make sure he had not seen this person before.

"I, Zhao Shuo, are friends with Cai Ming and Boss Cai. He said that you are planning to invest in the film industry..." The visitor introduced himself and explained his identity to avoid misunderstanding.

Only then did Cai Zhiliang remember that Cai Minghe was going to introduce him to someone familiar with the film market years ago. After so long, he almost forgot about it.

"Please take a seat."

Zhao Shuo explained to himself as he sat down: "I was blocked by the front desk of your company at the door just now and refused to inform you, so I had to make this decision myself. I hope Mr. Cai won't blame me for being rude."

Cai Zhiliang waved his hand and asked: "I heard from my third uncle that Mr. Zhang is taking notes?"

Zhao Shuo nodded and said: "Yes, I have been working as a recorder in New Art City in recent years, and I also worked as an assistant director for a period of time. Since the beginning of last year, I have been managing the film company for Mr. Cai Minghe."

"However, the film did not make a profit. On the contrary, it lost money." Cai Zhiliang's words were direct, which was a bit of a slap in the face. After all, he invested in movies to make a profit.

Zhao Shuo shook his head and emphasized: "The movie did not lose money."

"No?" Cai Zhiliang looked at Zhao Shuo with a faint gaze, ready to issue an order to expel anyone with bad character at any time.

"No." Zhao Shuo said with certainty. For him, this cannot be ambiguous, and said: "The movie still made some money, but the movie company suffered a loss."

"Is there a difference between the two?"

Zhao Shuodao: "Of course there is a difference. Although the box office revenue of the movie is not high, it is enough to offset the cost and make a profit. It's just that the company purchased a batch of equipment when making the movie, and there are still some unused films, so at the end of the year

As soon as I closed the account, I lost 200,000 yuan. Moreover, this loss included the expenses incurred by the company's operations. In fact, as long as these equipment are sold, it will be enough to recover the capital."

"Yeah." Cai Zhiliang nodded, agreeing with Zhao Shuo's statement, and then mentioned the current film market and asked: "What do you think of the current film market?"

Zhao Shuo analyzed: "After Shaw Brothers ceased production, Debao acquired Shaw Brothers' theater chain. I thought it would be another situation where the three heroes would coexist. However, judging from the current Lunar New Year season, Debao has insufficient foundation and is currently unable to compete with New Arts.

The city and Jiahe compete with each other."

"Yes, New Art City has spent a lot of money this time, including helicopters, flying car battles, and science fiction. To wipe out last year's decline, the cost is estimated to be tens of millions." Best Partner: Thousand Miles to Rescue

Damn it, Cai Zhiliang went to the cinema two days ago to watch it. In this era, with an investment of tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars, it is already considered a blockbuster.

Zhao Shuodao: "There is already a box office of 20 million. The box office in Hong Kong City alone should be enough to recoup the cost. Coupled with the overseas box office, it will not be a problem to make a lot of money."

Speaking of this, Zhao Shuo asked: "President Cai..."

Cai Zhiliang interrupted Zhao Shuo and said, "Mr. Zhang calls me by my first name, or A-Liang. The title of president is out of context."

One mouthful of President Cai made Cai Zhiliang feel like a R&B person.

"Then I'll call you Mr. Cai."

The two formally got to know each other and laid the foundation for cooperation.

Zhao Shuo continued what he had said before and asked: "Mr. Cai, do you want to make movies, or are you just doing investment?"

Cai Zhiliang said affirmatively: "At present, we are only doing investment. The film company is still an empty shell. Let's wait and see about making movies."

"You can also just invest. Last year, stimulated by the good fortune, many investors entered the film market. However, at the end of the year, they found that they had not made money in the stock market, so many people withdrew their investment again."

Zhao Shuo looked at Cai Zhiliang and then asked: "Then are you going to treat movies as a career, or are you going to quit after earning a few votes?"

Regarding the question, Cai Zhiliang did not hide it and expressed his thoughts, saying: "In the next ten years, the prosperity of the Hong Kong film market can be expected, and I am prepared to continue doing it for a long time."

Zhao Shuo analyzed: "If it is just investment, the first choice is naturally the three major film companies. Just like the current Lunar New Year period, movies from small companies cannot be scheduled in good schedules. Naturally, the box office is not high, and the investment value is not high, unless

It is a particularly excellent movie. But you have also seen that among the top ten grossing movies last year, Golden Harvest accounted for half of them, three from New Art City, one from Debao, and one from Yindu Cinema. From this,

It can be seen that in the current situation of the Hong Kong film market, excellent films are basically produced by the three major film companies: Golden Harvest, New Art City and Debao."

"Yes, but the problem is that none of these big companies are short of money." Cai Zhiliang sighed and said: "So, the key is the ability to pick up the leaks, just like last year's Mr. Zombie, before it was released, everyone knew

Not a good movie.”

Zhao Shuo could only smile bitterly and said: "It's hard to find this kind of film. You can only try your luck."

Cai Zhiliang asked instead: "How does Hong Kong City currently allocate the final box office to theater chains and film companies?"

Zhao Shuo said: "For this movie like Best Partner: A Thousand Miles to Save the Chapo, Golden Princess Cinema Line and Xinyi City share a 50-50 share. If it is an ordinary small company, the share will be less than 40%."

"Is the difference so big?"

"Yes, but New Art City is absolutely controlled by Golden Princess Entertainment, and the division of accounts is just left-hand and right-hand. Other companies will definitely not be able to share that much." Zhao Shuo, who has worked in New Art City for several years, said:

This is relatively understandable.

Cai Zhiliang kept tapping his fingers on the table and sighed: "It's less than 40%. It's not easy to get back the original investment. If it's an investment of four million, it would have to be tens of millions to get back the initial investment. Who has this confidence?"

"

Zhao Shuodao: "So movies with big casts are generally produced by big companies. Even if the film production company doesn't make money, it can still make money back through theaters. Small companies can't afford to lose. Once a big cast is produced, the movie may not be made yet.

When it was finished, it would have gone bankrupt. But big companies were more relaxed. For example, "The New Swordsman of Shushan" directed by Xu Ke the year before last, cost more than 20 million, but it only sold more than 15 million at the box office, and Jiahe did not hurt his bones."

"What do you think of Debao Company?" Cai Zhiliang asked.

Zhao Shuo shook his head and was not optimistic about Debao, saying: "Debao Company acquired Shaw Brothers Cinemas last year and was very popular. With Mr. Pan's financial resources, I guess there is no shortage of funds."

However, Cai Zhiliang felt: "Because of the acquisition of Shaw Brothers Cinemas, funds must be tight. Although three to five million is not much, it can alleviate Debao Company's financial constraints."

An investment of three million was still a huge amount of money in Hong Kong at this time. Although the cost of films has been rising in recent years, most of the current costs are only around one or two million. Any more would be a waste.

After all, there were only about 30 Hong Kong movies with a box office of over 5 million last year, which is really not many compared to the total number of hundreds of movies.

Zhao Shuo was overjoyed. It seemed that as Cai Zhiliang said, he was planning to do it as his career in the next ten years. Thinking like this, he put forward his own suggestion: "Zhiliang, instead of investing in Debao, I think it is better to invest in Xinyi City
Chapter completed!