Chapter 225: The Huge Profits of Red Cliff
Malibu, ocean view villa.

The midday sun is abundant and scorching, shining on the rippling blue sea. From afar, it looks like sparkling gems.

Inside the villa, Liu Zhou was sleeping soundly on the big bed with his body curled up like a shrimp, but the cell phone placed beside the bed suddenly rang.

"Beep beep beep..."

When the bell rang for the first time, Liu Zhou did not react. When it rang for the second time, he moved slightly, obviously being disturbed, but he still ignored it.

But Anne Hathaway, who was sleeping next to him, could not lie still. She turned over in a daze because of the ringing. However, she suddenly felt a pain in her scalp when she moved slightly, which woke her up.

"You're holding my hair down."

Anne Hathaway subconsciously reached out and pushed Liu Zhou beside her, but in return he just hummed twice and fell asleep again.

There was no other way, so Anne Hathaway could only sit up and shake Liu Zhou hard a few times. After waking him up, she put the phone beside the bed to his ear.

Liu Zhou rubbed his eyes and asked:

"Whose phone number?"

"It's in Chinese, so it should be from China."

"Hello, who is it?"

As a normal person, Liu Zhou's tone was a little bad because his sweet dream was disturbed in the middle of the day, and he was still a little grumpy after waking up.

"It's me, Han Shanping. It should be noon in Los Angeles. Why do I feel like you're still sleeping?"

Hearing the voice, Liu Zhou finally sobered up and said in a calmer tone:

"I was busy too late last night, and now I'm catching up on some sleep."

As he spoke, Liu Zhou couldn't help but glance at Anne Hathaway.

Yesterday, she came to Los Angeles to officially join the crew of "Edge of Tomorrow".

The two people who had not seen each other for a long time were like dry wood meeting fire, and they immediately started to burn with each other.

The fire burned until three or four in the morning before it gradually went out.

“Why didn’t I see you working so hard when you were filming movies in China?”

"It's not easy to make it in Hollywood, so you have to work hard." Liu Zhou changed the subject and asked, "Mr. Han, what's the matter with you calling from overseas?"

Han Shanping was about to sigh that Liu Zhou, as a wealthy man, was still working so hard, but when he heard Liu Zhou's question, he remembered the business and said:

"Did you forget what you promised me?"

"What's the matter?"

Liu Zhou really didn't remember what he had promised Han Shanping.

"The celebration party for Red Cliff. Didn't you say you would take time to come back to China to attend?"

"Red Cliff" is being taken down so soon?"

"It seems like you were so busy that you forgot everything. Red Cliff has been released for over a month and was just taken off the screen today."

Today is August 31st. "Red Cliff" was released on July 21st, which is more than a month ago.

“What was the final box office of Red Cliff?”

"The final box office was 3.2 million yuan, the first domestic movie to break million yuan. It's just a pity that it couldn't break the record of Titanic."

Even though Liu Zhou was on the phone, he could hear Han Shanping's joy and couldn't help but smile:

"Boss Han, you are too greedy. It's already great if the box office of the first Red Cliff exceeded 300 million.

As for breaking the record of Titanic, don’t we have the more exciting and better-looking Red Cliff Part 2? There is still a great chance.”

"That's right. There are no other domestic blockbusters released during the Lunar New Year period this year, and China Film Group has also excluded Hollywood blockbusters from the Lunar New Year period. Red Cliff will have the exclusive Lunar New Year period this year.

Even if we follow the rules this time, I will help Red Cliff break the box office record of Nickelodeon. "

"Boss Han, don't worry, I think there should be great hope."

Liu Zhou knew that the record of "Titanic" had always been a knot in Han Shanping's heart, and he had always wanted to resolve this knot.

And this is also a shame for all mainland filmmakers. You know, Japan and South Korea, their current box office record holders in their own countries are all local films.

Now only in mainland China, the box office record has been suppressed by "Titanic".

I had thought that "Hero" had a chance, but in the end it failed to prevent piracy, and the box office only stopped at 2.5 million, which is still a big gap.

Now it seems that "Red Cliff" is the most promising.

This time, not only Han Shanping but Liu Zhou is also ready to give full support to "Red Cliff" and remove the huge mountain that is weighing down the mainland film industry.

"Okay, let's talk about this later. The celebration party for the movie is about to be held. When are you planning to come back?"

"I'll come back today, because I'm about to start shooting my movie."

"No problem. I'll arrange the celebration banquet. Just come over."

After hanging up the phone with Han Shanping, Liu Zhou also breathed a sigh of relief.

The box office of 3.2 million can be said to be excellent.

Now it seems that the "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" project can be said to be a great success.

You know, the second part of "Red Cliff" is the essence of this project, and the results will definitely be even better.

"Liu, what are you so happy about?"

"One of my movies in China has achieved huge success, and they are planning to hold a grand celebration banquet there," Liu Zhou replied with a smile.

"So you're planning to go back to China? Doesn't Edge of Tomorrow officially start filming tomorrow?"

"I know. There is no other way but to postpone the start of the filming for another three days. I have to go back to China."

Not only because he had promised Han Shanping, he was also the investor and leading actor of the film. It would be inappropriate not to attend the celebration party, and Liu Zhou himself also wanted to go.

It just so happens that the filming here hasn’t officially started yet, so it won’t be too troublesome to arrange it if it is postponed.

"It seems that you attach great importance to that domestic movie."

“Of course, this film took a lot of effort on my part.”

"Then when are you going to go back?"

"Now!"

"So anxious?"

"Actually, there's no rush. We can celebrate first."

Looking at Liu Zhou's fiery eyes, Anne Hathaway immediately understood what he meant and said with a sweet smile:
"Do you still have the strength?"

Liu Zhou felt seriously provoked. How could he tolerate this?

Just because of the close combat last night, the armor on both of them had already been torn to pieces, and now neither side was protected.

Liu Zhou carried her directly to the French window, pointed outside and said:

"Annie, do you think the sea view in Malibu is nice? I'll drive you there."

After saying that, Liu Zhou held the steering wheel, then sat in it firmly, then gripped the steering wheel tightly and stepped on the accelerator.

The sports car first let out a cry of surprise, and then the engine began to emit a unique roar, high-pitched and loud.

Liu Zhou just bought this villa for more than 8 million US dollars.

After receiving the dividends from Source Code, Liu Zhou still had more than 9 million left, in addition to the investment in Edge of Tomorrow, so he bought the current villa. Originally, he wanted to buy a villa in Beverly Hills, but a slightly better villa there would cost at least tens of millions of dollars.

So I had to settle for the next best thing and bought a villa in Malibu, which is the one I own now, where I can move in right away.

Malibu is also a famous luxury residential area in Los Angeles, where you can enjoy beautiful sea views.

Now Liu Zhou felt the charm of the sea view. Facing the vast ocean, he seemed to have more motivation to drive.

……

After taking a flight for more than ten hours, Liu Zhou returned to the capital again.

After adjusting to the jet lag, Liu Zhougang went to attend the celebration banquet the next day.

Han Shanping also knew that Liu Zhou was quite busy in Hollywood, so he arranged the celebration party to suit Liu Zhou's schedule.

This celebration banquet was more grand than any previous one.

The first part of "Red Cliff" broke the box office record for domestic films. Han Shanping spent a huge amount of money to prepare for the celebration banquet and made full use of his connections.

Together with the other four major investors, each of them is a giant in the industry. Even if it is for their own sake, many invited people are willing to come.

This time we did not choose the Beijing Hotel, but the Beijing Shangri-La Hotel.

When Liu Zhou came over, he saw the door was full of media reporters.

Before they could react, Liu Zhou immediately walked in under the escort of bodyguards.

By the time these reporters found out it was Liu Zhou, the person had already gone far away and they could only sigh helplessly.

Although the venue provided by Shangri-La is larger, there are many more people coming this time.

So when Liu Zhouyi walked into the banquet hall, he still saw the hustle and bustle, but everyone inside was a well-known figure if they were put outside.

Liu Zhou's arrival also caused a stir. Wherever he passed, people, whether they knew him or not, would come forward to say hello.

Liu Zhou's face became stiff with smile before he walked through the crowd and came to the small private room inside.

Sitting inside were Han Shanping and a few others. They were talking about something and were laughing so hard that they couldn't stop.

"What are you talking about? You are all laughing so happily."

When they saw that it was Liu Zhou, Zhang Weiping smiled and said loudly:
"Say Cao Cao Cao Cao has arrived."

"So you were talking about me just now."

"Mr. Jiang was just complaining that he had been working in a first-tier university for more than half a month and had lost a lot of weight.

But compared to the first-tier universities, the foreign universities are more vigorous. Everyone is wondering if you will be exhausted after staying in Los Angeles for a month, hahaha!"

Only then did Liu Zhou understand what they were talking about.

When several grown men get together, the topic they talk about is always about women, no matter how high their status is.

No wonder everyone is smiling so happily.

"Do you think I've lost weight?"

"I don't think I've lost much weight."

"Do you think I'm an old man like you? I drive three horses every day in the United States!"

A man will never admit defeat in this aspect until his death. Even if he is a three-second strong man, he must be the king of words for half an hour.

A few people joked around and the atmosphere became a lot more relaxed.

Although the others were smiling, they couldn't help but admire Liu Zhou's youth and potential.

When working or communicating with Liu Zhou before, everyone would subconsciously ignore Liu Zhou’s age.

What Liu Zhou mentioned unintentionally just now made everyone realize again that Liu Zhou is not even thirty years old now, but he can already stand on equal footing with them.

It took them twenty or thirty years to get to this point. There's really no comparison.

"Mr. Liu, do you have any ideas in your mind now? The last idea you had led to the current "Red Cliff." Jiang Zhiqiang asked with a smile.

Hearing Jiang Zhiqiang's words, everyone else looked at Liu Zhou expectantly.

Liu Zhou noticed the looks of several people and couldn't help but rolled his eyes and said:
"It was just a sudden thought last time. I don't have so many ideas like this."

"Now you can have another sudden inspiration."

"If it's that easy, then why don't I just leave these sudden ideas to Jiahe? That way, I don't have to share the cake with you."

"Yes, a project like Red Cliff that has a box office explosion is something you only come across once in a while."

Seeing Jiang Zhiqiang sigh, Liu Zhou praised:

"The overseas box office success of Red Cliff is also thanks to President Jiang. He even nearly sacrificed himself just to get a little more box office revenue."

"Boss Liu, are you praising me or insulting me?"

"Of course I'm praising you."

This time, "Red Cliff" was a huge hit at the overseas box office, and Jiang Zhiqiang really put in a lot of effort.

The originally confirmed release date for "Red Cliff" was that it would be released simultaneously in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, one week later in Japan and South Korea, and another week later in other parts of Southeast Asia.

At present, "Red Cliff" has been taken off the shelves in Japan and South Korea, and its screening in Southeast Asia is also coming to an end, so the box office should not change much.

This time, "Red Cliff" not only earned 3.2 million yuan in the mainland, but its box office in Hong Kong and Taiwan was not so explosive, and its performance was mediocre.

The box office in Hong Kong only took in more than 24 million Hong Kong dollars, and Hong Kong audiences don't seem to be very interested in costume historical blockbusters.

Wanwan's performance is better, and it has already grossed over NT$100 million at the box office.

Moreover, the movie has not been taken off the shelves in Taiwan yet, and the box office is still growing.

In Wanwan, if the results are good, the screening time will generally be longer.

Over 100 million Taiwan dollars may sound like a lot, but it is only over 20 million RMB equivalent, which is not much more than the box office in Hong Kong for the time being.

In South Korea, it broke the record for the number of moviegoers for Chinese-language films set by "New World" half a year ago, and the box office revenue reached 11 million US dollars.

But the best box office performance was still in "Red Cliff".

As the country in the pan-Chinese cultural circle that is most obsessed with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", their love for this famous work is beyond our understanding.

When the TV series version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was being filmed, an investor wanted to get involved. This time, they also want to get involved in the filming of "Red Cliff".

Later, when the TV series "The New Three Kingdoms" was being filmed, they still wanted to get involved.

But unsurprisingly, I was rejected all three times.

Therefore, the box office of "Red Cliff" in China was extremely explosive, even higher than that in mainland China.

After one month of release, the film grossed 46 billion yen at the box office, which is about million US dollars, equivalent to more than million yuan.

This is the value of the largest film market in Asia and the second largest in the world.

Adding the box office revenue from various regions in Southeast Asia, the total amount is nearly 12 million US dollars.

In other words, the revenue from Asia alone for the first part of "Red Cliff" can fully recover the investment in this project.

The second part of "Red Cliff" was pure profit.

You know, the second part of "Red Cliff" is even more exciting than the first one, and the box office will definitely be higher.

(End of this chapter)