Shenhao who plays around the world

Chapter 217 Phased Rewards: AMC Theaters

Just recently, Goose Factory officially made an offer to acquire Kiwifruit.

After merging with Kiwi, it will naturally overtake Lemon Video in terms of size.

When the news came out, countless people were shocked.

The merger of two major video platforms is a big deal.

Although kiwi fruit has been suffering serious losses in recent years, even the screaming nights where the stars used to be bright have become dim.

There were even a lot of things that made people laugh out loud.

For example, recycling the awards given out is called saving resources.

To say that trophies are expensive is understandable.

But the trophy is neither gold nor silver. Although the trophy is different every year, what remains unchanged is the kiwi shape and the sour taste that is visible to the naked eye.

Compared to the exciting night held by Lemon Video, the trophies given out were all made of real gold and silver, and each one cost a lot of money.

Some netizens even joked that if any of the award-winning celebrities fails to make ends meet in the future, even if they sell their trophies, they won’t starve to death.

The same is the head platform!

The loneliness of the kiwi fruit is in huge contrast with the aura of the lemon video.

Even the advertising business, which they were proud of in the past, has seen declining revenue as users have declined.

The merger of the two is not particularly surprising.

After all, there have been rumors of mergers many times before.

It was just at this point in time that it seemed a little sudden.

Watching Lemon Video catch up step by step, and even cut off the advertising revenue that they attach great importance to some time ago, which greatly stimulated other users to switch to Lemon Video.

It is also a video platform. Lemon Video has no ads and the content is quite attractive.

Even the price is cheaper than them.

How to play this?

In the past, kiwis could still count on Baidu to help them out.

Now Baidu itself has too much to take care of, and its market value is far inferior to that of Alibaba, Echang, Guanhai and other groups with market value of trillions.

Even if he had the heart, he wouldn't have the strength to support Kiwi.

Baidu is also very satisfied with the valuation offered by Goose Factory.

The valuation of US$7 billion is less than one-fifth of the value of Kiwi at its peak.

But if you don't sell it, it will only become less and less valuable.

Recovering cash flow can also continue to increase Baidu’s voice in the field of artificial intelligence.

Both parties reached a consensus that this acquisition did not violate antitrust laws.

The merger of the two long-form video platforms ranked second and third instantly overtook Lemon Video in terms of overall number of users and regained the leading position in the long-form video field.

But everyone knows that this is a matter of time.

When the Goose Factory squeezes out the value of the kiwi fruit, the final fate of the kiwi fruit will be no better than Dianping, which was acquired by Magnesium Group.

This kind of merger will definitely be dominated by senior executives from the goose factory.

Of many senior executives at Kiwi, only a few remain, and most choose to cash out and leave.

Among them, some senior executives involved in overseas business were recruited by Guanhai Group.

Realizing that Lemon Video was about to launch an overseas version, Goose Factory was relieved.

This god of plague better hurry up and fight Netflix and Disney.

Domestically, they are no match at all.

Forest Pictures is like a non-stop processing factory, constantly producing film and television works with good reputations, which are then broadcast by Lemon Video, competing with them for users.

Whether these existing members can continue to pay for them after expiration is unknown.

Even among themselves, they generally maintain a pessimistic view.

In fact, Goose Factory has not come into contact with the contracted directors of Forest Pictures.

The benefits offered are among the best in the industry.

But what’s the result?

One by one, all were unmoved.

For a while, the human resources department of Goose Factory was a little doubtful about life.

This is the first time I have seen so many idiots.

Obviously, if you come to their side, not only will your salary be doubled, but your salary will also be increased by at least 50%.

But these idiots just refuse to leave their jobs, no matter how hard they try to persuade them, it’s no use.

If you can't recruit core talents, some cats and dogs are of little use.

Gradually, Goose Factory completely gave up the idea of ​​continuing to compete with Guanhai in the long video field.

As long as their position as the second largest long-form video platform remains unchanged, everything else will take care of itself.

Anyway, the profits they make from the gaming business are enough to easily fill the gap in the video business.

As for Youku and Mango?

One has little interest in big entertainment and is left to fend for itself.

As long as a long-established state-owned enterprise does not lose money, it will be fine and it has no ambitions.

At this point, the status classification in the long video field has been completely established.

…

Since the project of "Inception" was established, Jiang Ye has been studying it.

The more I watched it, the more amazed I became. I didn’t rush to start working. Instead, I read the script thoroughly and then selected suitable actors.

Among them, the heroine Mel has been confirmed to be played by Reba.

Her acting skills are passable, and her image is not to mention. She is a mother herself, so she is very close to the character.

Reba was chosen, and the role of the hero’s father-in-law also had to be replaced.

It's impossible, Reba is the heroine, and an old white man can be the father-in-law of the hero.

Looking at China, the only one who meets the standard in age and acting skills is Liang Jiahui.

No star would refuse to star in such a super blockbuster.

What's more, there are not many scenes, but the pay is quite considerable.

What makes countless movie fans excited is that the male protagonist of this movie actually invited Hollywood's top celebrity DiCaprio.

Although Li Zizi's personal life is notorious, his acting skills and box office appeal are obvious to all.

Especially after finishing the long journey and finally getting my own statuette.

DiCaprio has always been at the top of the list of commercial value of male actors.

This time Forest Pictures took action and directly offered a salary of 40 million US dollars, which was very sincere.

Originally Jiang Ye hoped that Lin Shen could play the role.

But Lin Shen didn't have the time to follow Jiang Ye all over the place, so he politely refused.

One thing doesn't bother the two protagonists, since DiCaprio was so good in the original role.

Now just let him perform it again, and it will definitely be better than the previous version.

According to the settings in the script and some suggestions given by Lin Shen.

This dream-stealing team will be spread across Canada, England, France, Morocco, Japan and other places.

If I don’t have half a year, I can’t even think of finishing the filming.

The role of Dream Builder was cast by Caitlin Dever, who was selected as one of the top 25 rising stars in Hollywood.

Born in 1996, she is at a very young age among actresses.

In terms of acting, it's pretty good.

With so many big names in the same cast, it's not a big problem to play a supporting role well.

This movie is one of the rare Hollywood blockbusters without a sex scene, which is why Lin Shen was so relieved to play Reba.

Of course, the heroine's clothes in the show are still more sexy.

Lin Shen didn't really care about this aspect.

Female celebrities, well-dressed, what do they look like?

It's not like I'm shooting for the cover of Vanity Fair.

This kind of little sexy is completely within his acceptable range.

The rest of the cast members are also top celebrities in the industry.

Forest Pictures, which is not short of money, offers a salary that no actor can resist.

Even if there is no schedule, it must be arranged.

Being able to act with a group of Hollywood stars and movie kings, Reba also studied the script over and over again.

Although this movie has long been forgotten in other people's minds.

But Lin Shen is an exception, the original plot is all in his mind.

With the original heroine's interpretation as a reference, Lin Shen gave Reba a detailed explanation.

Reba's understanding of the heroine Mel gradually deepened.

Reba's current excellent acting skills are already quite outstanding in the industry.

The three major film awards in China are at your level.

If you come across a good script, go to the three major European film festivals and you will have a chance to win an award.

But if you want to not fall behind in front of Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio, only the original heroine Marion Cotillard can do it.

When she starred in this movie, Marion Cotillard had just won the Oscar for Best Actress and was enjoying unlimited fame.

Even Leonardo DiCaprio will be outdone by Marion Cotillard.

The acting skills of the Oscar-winning actress can only be described as perfect.

This is equivalent to reaching the top of the acting industry.

From vase to Oscar-winning actress, Marion Cotillard spent 16 years perfecting her career.

Without Lin Shen cheating, Reba would never have been able to catch up with Marion Cotillard in her life.

One billion dollars will allow Reba to win an Oscar for her acting skills at the leading actress level.

This kind of improvement is simply more addictive than taking drugs.

Reba had been playing drums in her heart, fearing that her performance would not be good and she would be laughed at by the whole world.

Cooperating with a big star like DiCaprio is both an opportunity and a pressure.

The acting was so bad, just like Liu Yifei, she said goodbye to Hollywood completely.

But if she can keep herself up, Reba will become a hot and popular actress in Hollywood and an internationally renowned actress.

When this movie was released in 2010, it grossed US$836 million at the global box office.

At that time, the role of domestic ticket warehouses was not obvious.

Now we are reshooting it and waiting for it to be released in China. With 1.5 billion US dollars, there is still hope.

When the time comes, the most popular actress in China will be none other than Reba.

…

The industry is already in a frenzy. Many film and television companies are desperately trying to find out the release time of this super blockbuster so that they can stagger the schedule in advance.

Otherwise, anyone who hits it will definitely die.

As for the male actors, Leonardo DiCaprio will play the leading role, and big names such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Tony Leung, and Ken Watanabe will join the cast.

As for actresses, they are slightly less famous, but they are also very well-known in their respective countries.

Director Jiang Ye has also just finished filming "The Wandering Earth", which earned an astonishing $700 million worldwide.

Even in Hollywood, the New Six are ready to release this super blockbuster that has not yet been filmed.

However, Forest Pictures’ attitude is rather ambiguous.

There is no rejection and no consent.

The reason is simple. Lin Shen is considering whether to acquire AMC Cinemas.

AMC Cinemas, as the world's largest cinema chain, was previously acquired by Wanda's Lao Wang.

But at that time, Lao Wang never imagined that the model in Hollywood was very different from that in China.

The Big Six control traditional distribution channels, so even theater chains have to surrender and sell profits to please the Big Six and gain the right to distribute super blockbusters.

The strength of the Big Six is ​​also related to the traditional distribution system.

In the United States, the profit contribution of theater chains to a super blockbuster is not as exaggerated as in China, and it even plays a decisive role.

The six major companies control distribution, production, TV channels, DVD channels, and peripheral derivative development capabilities, and they are almost armed with no blind spots.

At its most exaggerated, 90% of the movie’s box office in the first week will be taken away by the Big Six.

It is not until the fourth week of play that theaters can get half of the box office share.

If you play this way, naturally all the small theaters will die, leaving only a few leading theaters gritting their teeth and holding on.

When Wanda first entered the AMC theater chain and later acquired Legendary Pictures, it was in the hope of integrating self-production and theater distribution.

But Lao Wang’s dream was ultimately shattered due to regulatory reasons.

The Big Six is ​​still the Big Six.

In addition to 20th Century Fox being acquired by Disney, Netflix has entered the camp of the new six major companies.

The right to speak in Hollywood is still firmly controlled by them.

After much thought, Lin Shen didn't think the acquisition of AMC was a wise move.

There are tens of thousands of theaters in the United States. Even if AMC is the largest theater chain, there are less than 700 theaters in the United States, which is not as many as they have in the country.

Cinema expansion is inherently a capital-heavy model.

Instead of struggling to open theaters, it is better to run the streaming media platform well.

Why did the Big Six include Netflix in their camp? They were not afraid that Netflix would disrupt the situation. They even built their own streaming media platforms to put enough pressure on Netflix.

The box office revenue of traditional theaters cannot be given up.

But streaming media platforms are the future trend.

But the system came out to cause trouble.

"Since your cumulative expenditure has reached 100 billion, periodic rewards will be issued. Congratulations on obtaining 100% equity of AMC Cinemas!"

Yes, there is no reason not to get the benefit of getting it for free.

As the largest theater chain in the United States, AMC has 620 theaters in the United States and 358 in Europe, with 11,000 screens.

Such a company, unless there are special circumstances, would require at least close to 10 billion U.S. dollars to acquire it.

Of course, AMC Cinemas' previous aggressive expansion also laid hidden dangers for now, and the debt is quite serious.

It is precisely because of debts and the growing strength of streaming media platforms that AMC's market value continues to slump.

The system took action and was as generous as ever.

If AMC is handed over to Lin Shen, it will be a clean, high-quality enterprise with zero debt.

Otherwise, such a big hot potato is not worthy of being called a staged reward.

Overnight, it became the largest theater chain in North America and even the leading player in Europe and the United States.

Gee, this feels really good.

If we add the 1,500 theaters under the domestic Xingyi Cinema Line, the number of theaters under Lin Shen's name will reach 2,500, all over the United States, Europe, and China!

The undisputed king of theaters!

Disney's capabilities in traditional TV stations and DVD distribution are simply difficult for foreign investors to replicate.

Lin Shen plans to bet on the streaming media track and wait for the movie to be released directly on the streaming media platform.

Playing this way naturally bypasses traditional film distribution models such as Disney.

Even, under Lin Shen's order, AMC can regain the initiative and discuss the sharing ratio with the five major film companies.

Since he has no debt anyway, even if the Big Five threaten him with a blockbuster movie, Lin Shen can still use domestic banknotes as a counter-blackmail.

The U.S. domestic market’s contribution to Hollywood blockbusters is less than 40%.

Avengers 4’s overseas box office accounted for 69%.

The Lion King’s overseas box office accounted for 67%.

Spider-Man: Far From Home’s overseas box office also accounted for 65%.

It can be said that the vast majority of Hollywood blockbusters are extremely dependent on overseas ticket warehouses.

It will be difficult to even recover the cost just by relying on the box office in the United States.

Of course, the Big Six own TV stations and can increase revenue through DVD and pay-on-demand.

However, streaming media is developing rapidly, while DVD and pay-on-demand have long been in decline.

As long as Lin Shen owns the theater chain, it will account for an ever-increasing share of global ticket sales.

What about Disney?

He can afford it, but Disney and the others can't afford it.

Well, if you have 500 followers, remember to join the group. I wrote two extra stories. I hope you like them. This is also a small benefit to give back to you. Thank you for supporting the original version.

(End of chapter)