Year: I had a good time when I was young

Chapter 865: Only the rich can be the boss
Now that we have bought the cinema, of course we have to consider the screening schedule.

Of the three cinemas, two were previously cinemas, so it is not difficult to renovate them.

Moreover, the facilities of these two cinemas were renovated after World War II, that is, in 45.

Not only are the equipment old, but many of the chairs are broken and then repaired, and then broken again, anyway, they do whatever they can to save money.

From Chu Xiangqian's perspective, it would be strange if business could be good.

The other opera house doesn't really need any renovation.

Although this theater doesn't make much money, it doesn't lose money because of its geographical location.

Moreover, many opera houses will also show movies to earn extra money during the breaks when there are no operas being performed. Otherwise, it would be basically difficult to support an opera house solely through operas.

Even Broadway and the Royal Opera House, which stage endless operas every year, don't actually make much profit in the end.

To put it bluntly, each opera lasts two to three hours, or even four to five hours.

There are not many shows scheduled every day.

And this is not the most troublesome thing. Stage actors are not machines. If they rehearse three shows in the morning, afternoon and evening, it will take three to five days.

Ten days or half a month will definitely make the actors exhausted and it will also cause great harm to their voices.

Even in well-known operas, one role is usually performed by two or three actors in turn. It is not like a movie playback machine that can schedule seven or eight performances a day.

Moreover, because there are many actors, the opera ticket prices are bound to be high.

The audience group is far smaller than that of movies, so opera is gradually becoming a niche and is less competitive than movies, which is inevitable.

But whether it is this era or decades later, stage plays are still very popular among small groups.

So the problem Chu Xiangqian is facing now is whether to completely renovate this opera house with a history of more than 100 years or continue to use it as is.

Also, from now on, the main focus will be on movies, with operas also being held as a sideline.

Chu Xiangqian thought about this problem and quickly decided to use the existing equipment first.

As for how to choose between main and secondary jobs, Chu Xiangqian quickly made a decision in his mind.

The Lee Theatre and the Imperial Palace Theatre purchased by Hong Kong Island were originally mainly for performing plays and operas.

However, these two theaters are also facing the problem of decreasing audience year by year.

So Chu Xiangqian hesitated for only a moment before deciding to convert the theater to mainly show movies, but the theater's large stage would remain unchanged.

Someone paid for the venue to raise the huge screen in front of the stage to play the movie so as not to affect the stage performance.

After finalizing the decoration drawings, Nata's mind immediately shifted to selecting a movie.

Although Chu Xiangqian has not been in charge of the filming of movies and the operation of the film company in the past two years, his vision for movies in the past few years made Nata unsurprisingly ask him for help in selecting films.

But the renovation of the two cinemas and the theater would take at least a month, and Chu Xiangqian didn't have the ability to choose the films in advance.

As for the movies that have already been released, Chu Xiangqian remembers that there are indeed quite a few movies with high ratings or good box office results.

But in the entire film market, these movies that I remember are fine for filming, but they are useless for movie playback.

As for asking him to go watch movies, to be honest, Chu Xiangqian watched seven or eight movies in two days. Considering his vision and requirements for movies, he really couldn't get into any of them.

In the end, they could only give Nata an idea, that is, to use Chu's films and Universal Pictures' old films that had good box office performance in the past to support the company for a while.

Wait until August, when the Venice Film Festival opens, and try to buy those award-winning movies.

Award-winning movies may not necessarily have high box office, but art films are very popular these days, and as long as they win an award and are bought and broadcast, the chances of losing money will be very small.

You can even buy the copyright of Yingguo and sell it to other theaters, and you may even make a fortune.

Even if they turn out to be wrong, the two cinemas and one theatre will only lose three to five hundred thousand pounds a year at most.

Qian Chuxiang didn't care about this.

If someone has a more evil heart, he could simply set up a fund and put these three cinemas under the name of the fund.

The greater the loss, the more the fund will use to hedge taxes.

As for the profits promised to Nata, she can be made the deputy manager of the fund. Not only can she get money from the fund, but she can also get her living expenses reimbursed by the fund.

Anyway, Chu Xiangqian already holds the ownership of these three cinemas in his own hands.

The previous promise was just to give Natasha dividends and promise her to earn hundreds of thousands of pounds every year.

Now that cinemas are not making money, Nata herself would probably feel embarrassed to ask for so much money.

The fund pays her a monthly salary of three to five thousand pounds, and then reimburses her daily expenses, which actually totals seventy to eighty thousand pounds a year.

Wait until the cinema starts to make a profit and then give her a raise.

As expected, Nata agreed to Chu Xiangqian's plan immediately, but she was also ambitious and hoped to run the cinema well.

Chu Xiangqian also promised that once the cinemas started to make money, more cinemas would be handed over to her to manage in the future.

In order to become the big film producer, theater manager, or even film company manager described by Chu Xiangqian, Nata's work enthusiasm suddenly exploded.

Not only did he personally oversee the renovation of the two cinemas and theaters, he also took the initiative to contact the film producers who bought the film that won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

This girl is actually quite smart. She contacted the film producers who bought the award-winning movies at this time, and the copyright price was at least 60% to 70% cheaper.

If you delay, by the time the renovation is completed in July, the price may drop by half.

Moreover, in the process of contact, she can learn a lot of experience related to the three major film festivals from other films.

Chu Xiangqian's three cinemas in the most prosperous areas of London are also the targets that most film producers have to win over.

Even in England decades later, the London box office market could still account for 20 to 30 percent of a film’s box office in England.

Therefore, the more prosperous the location of a cinema, the more it will be sought after by film producers.

As long as you have a good eye for selecting films, making money is not a problem at all.

On the contrary, the losses will be huge.
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Before they knew it, it was August. Chu Xiangqian, who had just returned to London from Beijing, saw Nata and Margaret teasing the three-month-old Chu Jingxing.

The little guy was upgraded to level 5 half a year earlier than his brother Chu Jingrong.

Therefore, from the moment he is born, he has shown that his physique is stronger than that of babies of the same age.

And because of the natural force in the body, it has been slowly increasing and slowly strengthening this boy's body.

Not only is he active and eats a lot, he also has more energy than ordinary babies.

This made Margaret a little worried, but also extremely proud.

It has been said many times that this kid is very much like his biological father Chu Xiangqian in terms of physical fitness.
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During the month that Chu Xiangqian had been back in Beijing, the three cinemas had not only been renovated, but had also been open for more than 20 days. Perhaps because the chairs had been changed, the fronts had been renovated to be more modern, and they were located in a prosperous area, the turnover since opening had not only broken even, but had even made a slight profit.

This made Nata more confident. Even during the month that Chu Xiangqian returned to the capital, she had already completed her wedding with the fiancé chosen by her family.

This girl only stayed in Liverpool for less than a week before running back to London to work on the cinema business.

Chu Xiangqian had a bit of a thief nature to begin with, so naturally he didn't care whether Nata was married or not.

When Nata and Margaret saw him coming back, they couldn't help but pull Chu Xiangqian to play poker with them.

Seeing that Chu Xiangqian took the initiative to ask about the wedding and his tone seemed indifferent, Nata began to complain repeatedly that her husband was a scumbag compared to Chu Xiangqian.

The disappointment made her more determined to live apart.

And in order to have fun with each other, this girl actually took the initiative to bring her man and appear in front of her group of girlfriends at the family banquet.

As for besties, it’s really great to have a relationship with them.

There are also fake sisters who seem to have a good relationship with Nata, but in fact, you don’t know how envious or jealous they are of Nata.

The lives of the nobles were chaotic, and within a few days he hooked up with a fairly pretty girlfriend.

By catching women and taking photos, Nata immediately took the initiative.

Not to mention going back to London, with the evidence in hand, getting married would not only give him a free meal ticket, but also a half share of the property.

Even Margaret gave Nata a thumbs up after she found out.

Then he looked at Chu Xiangqian with resentment.

This guy applied for a charity fund not long after he started dating her.

Although Margaret and her children are among the beneficiaries, and now Margaret and Chu Jingxing receive dividends of $1 million each year.

However, the actual control of the fund has always been in the hands of Chu Xiangqian.

Not to mention giving Chu Xiangqian half of his property, even if Chu Jingxing wanted to divide the family property in the future, it all depends on whether Chu Xiangqian likes him.

However, the annual dividend of 1 million US dollars is actually enough for Chu Jingxing to live a life of luxury.

So although Margaret was a little unhappy, she didn't hold any resentment.

Chu Xiangqian certainly understood what Margaret meant by her eyes, and he casually mentioned the export business of tiger bone wine, cattle, sheep, sika deer, and marine fish to her ear.

There is also Knightsbridge, Margaret has a 10% stake in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and there are also fund dividends, which leave this girl speechless.

Margaret knew very well that if she had not been with Chu Xiangqian, let alone millions of dollars a year, the tens of thousands of pounds of pocket money she could get from her husband every year would have been considered a sign of his generosity and love for her.

Not to mention the jewelry Chu Xiangqian gave him every year, the triple crown champion knights, and the horses that participated in the Olympic equestrian events.

Thinking of this, instead of complaining, Margaret loved Chu Xiangqian even more.

Then, she not only sympathized and understood Nata's decision to go back to London instead of living separately from her new husband, but she also wished she had Nata by her side to help her resolve Chu Xiangqian's seemingly endless anger.

Since the cinema had started off smoothly, Nata naturally became more concerned about what Chu Xiangqian had mentioned about buying the copyrights of award-winning films at the three major film festivals.

Not only was he preparing to attend the Venice Film Festival in August, he also encouraged Chu Xiangqian to take Margaret with him to Venice for a trip.

Chu Xiangqian was quite interested in this. As for Margaret, she was eager for Chu Xiangqian to accompany her on the trip.

But as a new mother, Margaret really couldn't bear to let go of Chu Jingxing.

Finally, Chu Xiangqian waved his hand and said that there was no shortage of nannies, bodyguards and servants, so the whole family, along with more than 20 entourage members, flew to Venice on a private plane.

However, before leaving, Chu Xiangqian and Margaret consulted several private doctors because of Chu Jingxing.

Most of the civil aviation regulations have also been confirmed, and babies who are one month old can fly.

That's why I didn't choose to take a boat to France first and then drive to Venice.

Chu Jingxing is not only 3 months old, but his physical fitness has increased by 5 points since birth. The kid didn't cry when the plane took off and landed.

Still blowing bubbles in Chu Xiangqian's arms.

Of course, Chu Xiangqian had also thought about it. If the little guy showed any abnormality, he would take him to the Novice Village to drink medicine.

When the plane landed in Venice, we saw five luxury cars parked outside the tarmac.

Since Chu Xiangqian was not short of money, in order to protect his privacy, he simply bought a four-story stand-alone villa in Venice with an area of ​​more than 4 square meters and a plate-type building in a downtown area.

These houses look like office buildings, and most of them have a history of dozens or even one or two hundred years.

But the interior decoration is extremely luxurious.

Just to buy this villa, which he would use exclusively in the future or as a residence for Nata when she came to Venice to select films, Chu Xiangqian spent $210 million.

The price is actually a bit high, but Chu Xiangqian doesn't mind spending a little more money so that his precious son can live more comfortably.

After the house was bought, a maid, a butler, and two ace bodyguards flew over on the same day to decorate the new house.

Margaret was very satisfied with the check-in.

After waiting for Chu Xiangqian's beloved son and looking the house up and down, Margaret and Nata were even more satisfied with the luxurious decoration of the house.

If it were Xue Jinglan, she would definitely complain that Chu Xiangqian was spending money recklessly. After all, the house might only stay there once a year, and it would be empty the rest of the time, which would be a waste.

But for Margaret, if she didn't spend the money she earned, she would be no different from Grandet.

There is indeed a huge difference between the two women in their consumption concepts.

As for Nata, this girl basically lives paycheck to paycheck.

Otherwise, no matter how good Chu Xiangqian is at playing poker or how handsome he is, with Nata's ability to spend money, she can only maintain that kind of relationship with Chu Xiangqian at most, and will not be willing to be his mistress.

In the evening, Chu Xiangqian held Chu Jingxing, who had slept for half the afternoon and was now full of energy, and took Margaret and Nata, who had put on makeup and done some disguise, to the most famous local restaurant for dinner under the protection of four ace agents.

Italian cuisine is quite reliable. Not only is the flavor richer than English cuisine, but there are also more dishes.

After 8 o'clock, you can't help but take the local gondola.

What satisfied Chu Xiangqian was that, perhaps because the number of local residents and tourists in Venice at that time was far less than that of a few decades later, he did not smell any strange smell when sitting in the gondola and walking on the water network of the water city.

However, because it was close to the film festival, there were still many fallen girls from Italy, France and Spain.

Together with many female stars, we played for more than two hours.

Probably because Chu Xiangqian had four bodyguards around him and two young women leaning on him, so even though he was holding the little baby Chu Jingxing, he was still waved and chatted up by dozens of women.

Chu Xiangqian thought that Margaret and Nata would be unhappy, but he didn't expect that not only were the two girls not angry at all, but the smiles on their faces became even brighter.

(End of this chapter)