China Entertainment: I just want to give my child a home

Chapter 399: 20 billion investment cost, Chen Dong went crazy (Please subscribe!)
China Film Group!

When Chen Dong appeared here today, the person who received him was no longer Han Shanping, but the new chairman La Peikang.

The purpose of his coming here was to select a release date for "Detective Chinatown 3". After all, he will devote himself to the preparation of "Nuwa Legend" next, and will not have extra time and energy to consider other things, so he should get things done first while this period is not too busy.

La Peikang treated Chen Dong very warmly, but this was precisely a sign of the fact that their relationship was rather unfamiliar.

After the pleasantries, La Peikang also handed the film schedule to Chen Dong, giving him the right to choose his own release date.

"Thank you, Mr. La."

Although Chen Dong had already chosen the summer schedule for "Detective Chinatown 3" before coming, he still scanned the screening list from beginning to end after he took it.

There were no domestic films released in April that he was particularly looking forward to, but there was an imported film that made his eyes linger for a second longer: Captain America 2.

Zhang Yimou's new film "Coming Home" is scheduled for May, and it was because he had just completed this work and was in a period of time before the next film was determined that he had time to take over the job of deputy director of Chen Dong's crew.

Later on, there are fewer movies on the screening schedule, and they are no longer comparable.

But when Chen Dong turned to June, La Peikang suddenly said, "Transformers 6 may be released in June."

Chen Dong stopped turning the pages, looked up and glanced at La Peikang. He did not ask whether the news was true or not, but nodded with a smile.

"Thank you for the reminder, Mr. La, but I don't plan to choose June."

After all, students haven’t had their June holidays yet… Chen Dong added in his mind.

He also skipped July. When he turned to August and saw that there was no sign of any movie being booked in advance, Chen Dong pointed at a date and murmured, "It's you."

At this time, La Peikang also followed the date where Chen Dong's finger landed, which was exactly August 8th.

After selecting a release date for "Detective Chinatown 3", Chen Dong did not just leave, but stayed to discuss with La Peikang about the investment in "Nuwa Legend".

That’s right, in fact, this is also the purpose of Chen Dong coming here today, but it’s just a by-product.

If La Peikang didn't mention it, he would definitely pretend not to know.

How could La Peikang not mention this issue?

In any case, the two companies have been close partners over the years. It is impossible for this relationship to be severed just because the head of China Film has changed.

So since La Peikang took the initiative to bring it up, Chen Dong was still willing to keep the China Film Group's share.

However, considering that La Peikang is more conservative in decision-making than Han Shanping, Chen Dong made appropriate cuts in his share.

La Peikang did have no objection. Of course, this was mainly because Chen Dong had made it clear. He emphasized that the investment this time would be huge, and the pressure to recoup the investment would be relatively high, and there might even be a loss.

……

“Has the investment budget been calculated?”

"Director Chen, putting aside the actors' salaries, our investment budget is 15 billion."

"so much!"

Even though Chen Dong knew that the budget for his film would be very high, he couldn't help but twitch his lips when he heard that the investment reached 15 billion, not including the actors' salaries.

The director in charge of the film budget seemed to have foreseen Chen Dong's reaction, but he had already prepared the data. He opened the folder, took out a stack of documents full of data, handed them to Chen Dong, and gave an explanation.

"It's mainly because special effects are too expensive. According to your request, Director Chen, the technical department quoted 12 billion just for the special effects, and also said..."

"What else can you say?"

“And they said this was a conservative price.”

Chen Dong was silent.

He continued to stare at the data sheet in his hand for a long time, but in fact, this process was not to determine whether there were any errors in the data above, but to convince himself to accept the result.

"If we add in the actors' salaries, will it be more than 20 billion?"

"That...it depends on which actors Director Chen invites."

Chen Dong nodded slightly. Although he did not hear the affirmative answer from the budget manager, he actually already had the answer in his mind.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked for the 20 billion.

The reason why Chen Dong thought that the actors' salaries alone would require 5 million yuan was that he already had a list of actors in his mind.

And the pay for this list may be worth just this much.

In fact, it’s only higher, not lower.

"If converted into US dollars, my investment budget this time has reached more than 2 million, no, it has reached 3 million US dollars."

Chen Dong rubbed his brows and said to himself with a guilty conscience: "It seems like this time things have really gone too far."

but,

"Why am I still a little excited?"

It's just that with such a large amount of cash, even if Chen Dong now has hundreds of billions of assets, it would be troublesome for him to take it out, mainly because his assets are all shares.

'If it doesn't work, I'll just take out a bank loan.'

Chen Dong believed that any bank would be willing to lend money to a high-quality customer like him.

Of course, Chen Dong’s worries were based on the premise that he would have to bear the bulk of the investment in this film.

After all, a movie budget of 20 billion can easily scare away a lot of investors.

Even if he is Chen Dong.

However, the fact is that Chen Dong was worrying too much.

"Director Chen, I heard that the budget for your next film, The Legend of Nuwa, is 15 billion?"

"No, 15 billion does not include the actors' salaries. If we include the actors' salaries, it's estimated to be over 20 billion."

"This... is so high?!"

"Yes, Mr. Ye, would you like to help me share the pressure? There is no limit on the share this time."

"Really?"

"Well, how much can you eat?"

“This needs to be discussed in a meeting.”

"It should."

There are no secrets in the entertainment industry, especially when Chen Dong took the initiative to reveal the 20 billion investment budget, it quickly spread in the circle. Then this news, which shocked not only his peers but also passers-by, also spread on the Internet. As a result, Chen Dong's phone calls came in one after another.

"Director Huo, what? A 20 billion budget, this is indeed true. Oh, Ying Huang wants to send a delegation to learn more about it? Of course, no problem, you are most welcome."

"Hello, Mr. Ren, yes, yes, it's been a while since I last contacted you... Yes, the 20 billion budget is not a rumor. What? Shanghai Film Group wants to invest? Of course there is no problem with that, but are you sure you don't want to see the project before making a decision?"

"..."

"Boss Wang, it's not that I don't want to answer your call, it's just that I have a lot of calls coming in right now, and I'm helpless."

Chen Dong kept receiving calls until he got off work. Finally, he couldn't help it and directly released an announcement on the company's official website. The general idea was to confirm the rumors about the 20 billion movie budget on the Internet. Secondly, Dongcheng Pictures will hold a media meeting for "Nuwa Legend" in three days. Investors who are interested in this project can come to the site on the same day to discuss cooperation.

"Oh my god, Director Chen is really going to make a movie with an investment budget of 20 billion. This is crazy."

"With a 20 billion investment budget, it would take at least 50 billion box office revenue to make back the investment. Is that possible? Or is Director Chen not afraid of losing money?"

"Perhaps Director Chen is not afraid of losing money. After all, some time ago, there was a media report online that his current net worth has exceeded 500 billion."

"It's still hard to understand. The highest domestic box office record is less than 17 billion. It's a waste to invest so much. It's better to donate more to charity."

"You may not understand, but there is no need to use moral blackmail, right? When has the country suffered a disaster and Director Chen not contributed? Or how much money have you donated? And you are really ignorant. It is true that the highest domestic box office record is less than 17 billion, but who says that Director Chen's movies can only be released in China? With such a high investment, it must rely on the global box office."

“I’m just curious now about who will be in the movie.”

"It should be said that there is nothing that a star would not want to miss."

"I know that one of the leading roles is definitely reserved for Director Chen's wife."

"Ahem, is there a possibility that Director Chen made this movie just for his wife?"

"Fuck, this is really possible. Isn't the movie called "The Legend of Nuwa"? There is a high probability that Liu Yifei is the Nuwa."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, I thought this was a big director's extravagant and inhumane artistic creation, but I didn't expect it to be a love story."

"In ancient times, the emperor set fire to the warlords just to win the smile of a beautiful woman. Today, Director Chen spent 20 billion to make a movie just to help his wife make a comeback. Answer, what is the horizontal banner?"

"Sweet, so sweet!"

"..."

Three days passed in a flash, and during these three days, people came to visit Dongcheng Pictures every day.

Some people come for the investment, some come for the roles, and some come simply for the excitement.

There is an old saying in the business world that goes like this: anything that is put on the negotiation table has actually already been priced in private.

The same is true for this media meeting, although according to the announcement released by Dongcheng, discussions on investment and cooperation should have started today.

However, in fact, those who really waited until today to discuss cooperation can no longer get a share, because even Chen Dong himself did not expect that his movie, which was likely to lose money, would actually be favored by many investors, so that it was divided up by many people in the past few days. By the time he reacted, there were only a few shares left in his hands.

'If I had known it would be so popular, should I have paid a higher price?'

Chen Dong immediately denied this greedy idea, because everyone is not a fool. Rather than saying that they are investing in the movie "Nuwa Ji", it is better to say that they are investing in Chen Dong as a person and the reputation he has accumulated through more than ten years of film production. Therefore, they cannot be too greedy.

What's more, Chen Dong is not short of money, so why should he do such a thing that would only cost him a small fortune?

It's hard work.

"Director Chen, you are asking everyone to crowdfund to make a movie for you."

Zhang Yimou has been dealing with his own personal affairs for the past three days, but he also attended the media meeting of "Nuwa Ji" today. When he saw the long list of investors, he uttered this sigh.

However, Chen Dong also heard a deep envy in these words.

"Then Director Zhang should do something big next time. I believe there will be many people willing to crowdfund for you to make a movie."

Zhang Yimou smiled and shook his head: "I definitely can't afford a 20 billion production like yours. I can barely scrape together or million."

Without waiting for Chen Dong to reply, Zhang Yimou continued, "I saw in the list of actors provided by Director Chen that there are still some roles that have not been decided..."

Lao Mouzi did not say the second half of the sentence, but anyone with a discerning eye knows what it means.

Naturally, Chen Dong would not be stingy with a few supporting roles, so he gave them to Zhang Yimou as a favor. After all, no matter what, this man was still the deputy director of his crew.

"Director Chen, Director Zhang, the media meeting is about to begin."

"Okay, come right away."

Following the host's introduction, Chen Dong was the first to go on stage.

Apart from the media reporters, the remaining half of the audience is very complicated, including bosses, agents, directors, actors, and others.

"Excuse me, Director Chen, why did you make a movie with such a high investment? Aren't you afraid of losing money?"

"Director Chen, there are rumors that you wrote this "Nuwa Ji" for your wife, Ms. Liu Yifei. Is this true?"

“Will there be public auditions for “The Legend of Nuwa”?”

"It's said on the internet that Director Zhang Yimou was tricked by you, Director Chen. Can Director Chen explain the real situation?"

“Is Director Chen confident that “The Legend of Nuwa” can attract investment?”

"..."

As soon as Chen Dong stood on the stage, a barrage of questions came at him, but he was not in a hurry. After they calmed down, he said slowly:

"It was a bit confusing just now, but I understand your urgency, so I didn't interrupt you guys to answer their questions."

"Now, I will answer them one by one."

"First of all, I will not hide it from you. The reason why I created the story of "Nuwa Records" is indeed related to my wife. However, her role in it only accelerated the birth of my work. That's right, because this story has actually been in my mind for a long time."

"I'm sorry, but I definitely can't tell you the story here, so as not to dampen your anticipation for the movie."

"But I know that some people, no, many people are questioning the high investment in this movie. I will not defend myself here, because your doubts are correct. Sometimes even I myself think that it is a bit too early to release this movie now."

"Maybe, but now that the momentum has been raised, I can't back down, right? So what I actually want to say is, I don't know if this movie will lose money, but since I have decided to make it, I will definitely shoot it with my heart and do my best to present a wonderful work to everyone. I don't want to think about other things for now."

"..."

"There will be no public auditions this time. In fact, I have already prepared a list of actors. After today, the crew of "Nuwa Ji" will invite the actors on this list. I'm sorry, but it's not convenient to make this list public."

"But I think everyone has guessed that my wife will play Nuwa."

"As for the rumor online that I tricked director Zhang Yimou here, why don't we ask director Zhang Yimou himself to answer this message..."

(End of this chapter)