章節 1026: Chapter 1026: Xia Yu's Movie Empire
'Dad, Galaxy Studios has invested in a Hollywood blockbuster and even sent a Hong Kong Chinese actor in it. The gimmick is very strong. When the movie called 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' is released next year, if we can't come up with a similarly heavyweight film, we may lose very badly.'
'So my idea is that we also cooperate with the Hollywood giants to make a blockbuster to compete with Galaxy Studios.'
'If we can defeat Galaxy Pictures just once, then not only will the Shaw Movie banner be able to be re-established, it will be able to be raised even higher!'
At this, Shaw Wai-Ming couldn't help but clench his fists, his emotions running high.
He had had enough of being bullied by Galaxy Pictures and Universal Studios. No matter how he resisted, he would lose, the only difference being whether the loss would be an embarrassing one or not. This was a huge blow to a middle-aged man like him.
The Shaw family made its name in the film industry, and although his career is no longer limited to the film industry, and the film industry is not even the sole pillar of the entire Shaw family, he still wants to preserve this banner.
He can still fight a few more battles!
Shaw Yifu frowned, sensing his son's emotions.
'Knock, knock...'
His fingers tapping rapidly on the table, after a moment's thought, Shao Yifu asked a key question: 'Investing in Hollywood blockbusters is not impossible, but the key is can you find the right investment targets and channels?'
After all, he had broken into Hollywood a few times and had witnessed how Wrinkle Wai had tried to break into Hollywood, but with the exception of Bruce Lee, none of the rest had ever succeeded, and none of the projects had ever come to fruition.
Shao Yifu knew very well that breaking into Hollywood was not that easy, and money was not everything.
Good projects have long been gobbled up by the Hollywood giants, so how could he get a chance?
Unexpectedly, Shao Weiming said with confidence, 'Dad, I do have a goal in mind, and the prospects are good.'
Shao Yifu's heart stirred, and he became interested: 'What project?'
Shao Weiming explained: "It's a movie that Warner Bros. is investing in and distributing. From the beginning of the project, the goal was set to compete with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which MGM will release next year. Filming is scheduled to begin on September 1st. The movie is called Blade Runner, and it's a science fiction film based on the well-known American novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'
'We didn't stand a chance at first, but the main investor, Filmways, withdrew because of problems with their own company, which caused the plan to be disrupted. The producer of this movie, Michael Dilley, is a friend of mine. He knows our family situation and also knows about our competitive relationship with Galaxy Studios, so he contacted me and asked if I was interested in investing. In addition to our family, he told me he had contacted two other people...'
As his son told him the details, Shaw Yifu's face grew more and more solemn. He suddenly realised that this could really be a great opportunity.
In his opinion, Warner Bros. was much stronger than MGM.
Since Blade Runner was meant to compete with E.T., it would definitely not be bad, otherwise Warner Bros. would lose their money and reputation.
On the other hand, with Warner Bros. behind it and their formidable distribution capabilities, the box office of Blade Runner should be pretty much set.
If this opportunity is used to forge a lasting connection between Shaw Studios and Warner Bros., then Shaw Theatres can fully cooperate with Warner Bros., and compete with Galaxy Studios and Universal Theatres with more confidence and strength...
Thinking about this series of benefits, Shaw Yifu is more and more excited.
However, he also heard what his son had just said: the investment gap was huge, and the investment would be at least 100 million Hong Kong dollars.
Given the current situation of the Shao family, this was not a small sum of money, and he would not invest on a whim. At the very least, he would have to see for himself and make a judgment.
'Weiming, contact your friend and see if he can meet with me. If he can convince me, I will invest in this project.'
Shao Weiming perked up and nodded immediately: 'Dad, Michael Dilley arrived in Hong Kong yesterday and hasn't left yet. I can contact him right now.'
'Okay, you arrange it, I'll meet with him,' Shao Yifu said decisively.
One week later, on the afternoon of August 1st...
Xia Yu was inspecting Jiuding Newspaper Company when he received unexpected news.
Thinking that he had not paid much attention to the film and television industry for quite some time, Xia Yu instructed someone to notify Jiang Zhiqiang and Wu Siyuan to come to his office.
'Siyuan, Zhiqiang, please feel free to sit down.'
'Thank you, Chairman!'
After the two men had taken their seats, Xia Yu first asked Jiang Zhiqiang about the situation of the Global Cinema Circuit.
'Zhiqiang, you go first. How many cinemas are there in the circuit now?'
Jiang Zhiqiang thought for a moment and reported to Xia Yu, 'Chairman, in general, the number of cinemas in Hong Kong and Macau has not changed, the number of cinemas in Southeast Asia has slightly increased, and the markets that have seen relatively big changes are the UK, the island countries, the US and Canada.'
'Not counting the franchised cinemas, just the directly-managed cinemas that we own, there are now 26 cinemas in Hong Kong and Macau, 188 in Southeast Asia, 72 in the island countries, 365 in the US, 31 in the UK, and 18 in Canada.'
'In total, our company now owns 700 cinemas with 1,175 screens.'
'In Hong Kong, Macau, Southeast Asia, we are the largest cinema chain, and in the island markets, we are ranked 14th. In the US market, we have jumped to fifth place in terms of the number of cinemas and screens we own.'
'...'
'Not bad.'
After listening to Jiang Zhiqiang's detailed report, Xia Yu immediately commented, his face beaming with satisfaction.
The size of the Universal Cinema Circuit is the cornerstone of his film empire, and it is also the foundation of his film empire's ability to compete with other film giants from other countries.
Moreover, the Universal Cinema Circuit is not his true strength. After all, one of the current cinema giants in France is his, but because it is involved in the French presidential election, it has been secretly controlled by the British Bright Foundation to avoid suspicion, and has not been transferred to the Universal Cinema Circuit.
'Keep up the good work. As the company grows, the difficulty of management will also increase exponentially. The output of each screen must be increased as much as possible.'
Seeing Jiang Zhiqiang's happy expression, Xia Yu poured a bucket of cold water over him.
Jiang Zhiqiang suppressed his smile and nodded solemnly in response, 'Chairman, I will continue to work hard.'
'Mm!'
Xia Yu smiled and nodded, then looked at Wu Siyuan.
'Siyuan, what's the situation at Galaxy Studios?'
Wu Siyuan reported, 'Chairman, I already reported last year's annual report to you at the beginning of the year, so I won't go into too much detail. I'll mainly report to you on the situation since the beginning of this year.'
'As of yesterday, we have produced and released a total of 11 films, ranking second in Hong Kong in terms of production. Golden Harvest ranked third with seven films, while Shaw Brothers is still the leader in terms of production, releasing a total of 17 films.
'However, in terms of total box office, we are the highest, with a total box office of 70.6 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong. The average box office of a single film in Hong Kong is 6.41 million Hong Kong dollars, far exceeding Golden Harvest in second place and Shaw Brothers in third place.
'Among the films that have been released this year, the top five at the box office are all produced by our company, and seven of the top ten are from our company.'
'...'
As Ng See Yuen continued to talk, the detailed image of Galaxy Films as the leader of Hong Kong and Asian cinema emerged in Xia Yu's mind.
And because Ng See Yuen's narrative would be interspersed with comparisons to Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers films, Xia Yu also had a clear picture of the current film market landscape.
There is no doubt that Shaw Yifu has not completely given up on the film market, as evidenced by the fact that Shaw Studios releases an average of more than two films a month.
This astonishing output also shows the depth of Shaw Studios' decades of accumulated experience. Without a sufficient number of people behind the scenes, it would be impossible to support Shaw Studios' such a large output.
However, despite the high production volume, the quality of Shaw Brothers films was not as good as that of Galaxy Studios, which focused on 'Galaxy productions are always quality', or Golden Harvest Studios, which used its resources wisely.
'Shaw Yifu is desperate and is trying to cure his illness by trying every medicine. Too many bad films will only damage the Shaw Brothers Studios brand more quickly.'
Xia Yu said with a faint smile after Wu Siyuan had finished speaking.
Wu Siyuan picked up the conversation and said, 'Yes, I have also deliberately guided people, and now the image of Shaw Brothers Pictures exclusively producing bad films has been established, and the Shaw family must also be aware of the situation.'
'It's just that our film company has always produced explosive hits, and even if Shaw Brothers Pictures produces high-quality films, it poses no great threat to us. The Shaw family can only use this kind of tactic. Without this kind of tactic, Shaw Brothers Pictures will fall even faster.'
Xia Yu nodded with a faint smile, acknowledging Wu Siyuan's words.
If they don't do this, they will die even faster. If they do this, if a dark horse emerges, they can occasionally turn the tables and slow down the decline of Shaw Studios, buying themselves some time.
Unfortunately, Galaxy Studios has hardly made any mistakes, and Shaw Studios has never succeeded.
Wu Siyuan suddenly said with a grave expression, 'However, Chairman, just now, Shaw Studios held a press conference with great fanfare, announcing that it had reached a cooperation with Warner Bros. Pictures, and would invest 150 million Hong Kong dollars to co-produce a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster. Shaw Studios has changed its strategy.'
Xia Yu nodded with a faint smile, 'It's rare for Shaw to be so generous. He's preparing to target our E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial next year.'
Wu Siyuan said with a grave face, 'Chairman, should we talk to the Americans about stepping up quality control?'
It was clear that Wu Siyuan was not calm in the face of Shaw's huge investment of 150 million Hong Kong dollars.
Xia Yu had wanted to reassure him, but after all, Xia Yu knew that "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" would sweep the world.
But then he thought, it was better to let Wu Siyuan worry, as it would motivate him.
So he nodded gently in agreement: 'You can get in touch with Barry Diller and Sherry Lansing more often, but don't interfere with Steven Spielberg's filming, and focus more on the Asian side.'
'You need to be strong yourself to strike while the iron is hot. Focus more on your own business. As you just said, among the movies that have been released, the ones produced by our company have occupied the top five at the box office, which is a good result, but why do the top ten only occupy seven?'
'There are still five months until the end of the year. After these five months have passed, can we sweep the entire list?'
Wu Siyuan took a deep breath and nodded emphatically: 'Chairman, I understand what you mean. I will continue to work hard and report good news to you at the end of the year.'
Xia Yu smiled and nodded.
...
After chatting for a while, Wu Siyuan and Jiang Zhiqiang left one after the other.
Xia Yu drank his tea and thought about the film Blade Runner, which was produced by Shaw Brothers and Warner Bros. In his previous life, it was released in Hong Kong as Blade Runner. This film was later considered by many science fiction fans to be the greatest science fiction film, but in history it flopped, with global box office receipts just exceeding the cost of production.
Shaw Yifu invested 150 million Hong Kong dollars, but only recovered just under 40 million Hong Kong dollars, a loss of over 100 million.
In this life, because of his Galaxy Movie Company, Shaw Brothers is in a very difficult situation.
Moreover, because of his Global TV, Shaw's TV business was also being suppressed, resulting in Shaw Yifu not making any money in the TV sector either.
To this day, the strength of the Shaw family has not grown much, but rather has mostly shrunk.
For Shaw Yifu to be able to come up with 150 million Hong Kong dollars to invest in a movie, it was definitely not easy, and it can be said that he was desperate.
'It's good to be desperate. After taking a big fall, you can better recognise reality...'
After thinking about it, Xia Yu let out a light laugh, and then stopped paying attention to this matter, and returned his thoughts to the plan this time.
Towards the end of the trading day, news broke out from the Shi Yahuai family that spread across the four major exchanges.
The Shi Yahuai Family Foundation disclosed that it held 16.4% of Swire Pacific's shares.
Together with the 33.7% held by Swire Pacific Hong Kong,
the Shi Yahuai family's control of Swire Pacific reached 50.1%!
This exceeded the 50% threshold for relative control!
The meaning of Shi Yahuai's announcement was clear: he was declaring sovereignty over Swire Pacific and telling everyone that Swire Pacific could no longer be taken away!
After the news was announced, the stock market shook. The upward momentum of Swire Pacific's stock price suddenly stopped, and the stock price fluctuated violently.
Fortunately, it was time for the market to close, and the stock markets of the four major exchanges officially closed, leaving Swire Pacific's stock price fixed at HK$29.64 per share and a market value of over HK$8.45 billion.
Jiuding Securities Company.
Song Bo looked a little discouraged, his face full of reluctance, but Xia Yu smiled and reassured him, 'Mr Song, don't worry, the outcome of this battle is still far from certain!'
Song Bo thought Xia Yu was just trying to comfort him, and he forced a smile and said, 'Mr Xia, you don't need to comfort me.
'You have already helped me increase my stake in Swire Pacific to 44.32%, which has exceeded my expectations. It's just that I was far behind the Sze family at the beginning, and it's not the fault of the war.'
Xia Yu's smile remained, his voice gentle but firm: 'Mr. Song, it will be the same from now on. You just pay the money, I will take care of the shares for you, and you just continue to watch from behind.'
'Not only Swire Pacific, but Swire & Maclaine as well!'
'I'm just afraid that you'll regret not having enough money prepared!'
Song Bo was stunned, and looked at Xia Yu sharply. In a daze, he seemed to see a layer of white light shrouding Xia Yu.
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