Chapter 374 Giving Up and Xingmei's Strength
After hearing the report from the head of the theater department, Qin Hong immediately swallowed back his words about increasing the publicity budget.

At the same time, she was somewhat shocked by the contents of his report, and her voice became louder:

"What did you say? Cut the schedule?"

"That's right. China Film Group has issued a clear instruction. Starting from June 24, the screening schedule of "Jinling Jinling" will be reduced by 5%. It may continue to decrease gradually afterwards."

"Did China Film Group give any reason?"

"No."

At this time, Qin Hong couldn't help but fall silent. In fact, he probably knew the reason.

Needless to say, it must be because of the movie "Jinling Jinling".

When the movie premiered, Han Shanping left the theater in anger after watching it.

At first he didn't quite understand why Han Shanping reacted so strongly, but now, after the release of "Jinling Jinling", it has caused huge controversy.

No matter how slow he was, he knew there was something seriously wrong with the movie.

But what can he do?

He is also very helpless!

The movie "Jinling Jinling" carries great expectations from Qin Hong and Xingmei.

No matter how controversial this movie is, Qin Hong has to hold on.

I can only blame myself for not being able to judge people well and choosing Lu Chuan, this scumbag.

But at that time, Lu Chuan's reputation was indeed very loud, and everyone inside and outside the circle praised him.

In addition, the project he was preparing at the time had been carefully prepared for five years, and the subject matter reflected the Nanjing Massacre, so it was very topical.

No matter how you look at it, this project doesn't seem to be a failure.

A well-known director, a topical project, and foreseeable good box office.

"Jinling Jinling" was tailor-made for Star Media, which was eager to enter the film production field at that time.

But what he never expected was that the famous Lu Chuan actually had problems.

Qin Hong never thought that Lu Chuan would not be able to grasp this subject matter. Damn, you have been preparing carefully for five years, and I really believed your lies.

No wonder China Film Group and Huayi Film Group, which had a good relationship with him, did not invest in his movie, and only I, foolishly and self-righteously, invested 80 million in him.

Up to now, Star Media has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in this movie.

Through this lesson, Qin Hong also realized that the film production field is not that simple. It is not enough to have money and channels, but also requires vision.

I was just intimidated by Lu Chuan's reputation. Now looking at the reactions of people in the circle and the comments online, Lu Chuan is just a fucking idiot.

Now that he was in a dilemma, Qin Hong could only blame himself for not being able to judge people well.

However, there is no point in worrying about Lu Chuan now. What Qin Hong faces now is how to deal with the follow-up.

Star Media and China Film have been working together for such a long time, and Qin Hong is quite familiar with Han Shanping. In fact, the relationship between the two is quite good.

So Qin Hong knew that although Han Shanping was a smooth official, he was a more serious person when it came to movies.

His attitude towards "Jinling Jinling" can be seen from the fact that he left the premiere without giving anyone face.

In addition, the movie has caused such a big controversy, especially touching the sore spot of the Chinese people.

Since Han Shanping cut the screening schedule of "Jinling Jinling" without even saying a word, it means there is no room for negotiation on this matter.

Han Shanping only started cutting the screening schedule three days after the film was released, apparently to give himself face.

So Qin Hong gave up the idea of ​​looking for Han Shanping to communicate again.

What we need to consider now is whether it is worthwhile to continue investing money to control negative public opinion tomorrow when the screening schedule of "Jinling Jinling" is going to be cancelled the day after tomorrow.

If he was still thinking about making "Jinling Jinling" perform better at the box office just now, now he no longer has any hope for it.

Negative public opinion about the movie is getting bigger and bigger. With the well-received "No Man's Land" lurking in the distance, and now the screening schedule is going to be cut again, it has almost declared "Jinling Jinling" a failure.

As a big boss in the industry, Qin Hong was not a hesitant person. After thinking for a while, he looked up and said to the person in charge of the theater:
"I know about this matter, you go and do your work first."

Then he looked at the head of the publicity department and said:
"There's no need to spend money to control reviews anymore, just maintain normal promotion of the movie."

"Boss Qin, are we going to give up on 'Jinling Jinling'?"

"Give up! The negative public opinion about this movie is too great, and now it is facing joint attack from two giants, China Film and Golden Harvest. It is doomed to fail, and further investment will not be worth it."

Qin Hong is not someone who cannot afford to lose, so he accepted the failure of "Jinling Jinling" this time.

Although there is a possibility of losing tens of millions, just consider it as a lesson learned, and Star Media can afford the loss.

Every failure makes one wiser. Qin Hong also realized his shortcomings. If he wants Xingmei to gain a firm foothold in the field of production, he still needs to find someone who knows the business.

"So you're not going to pay any attention to the public opinions regarding Director Lu Chuan?"

"Why are you caring about him when you don't even care about the movie? Let him die. There will probably be no chance for us to continue to cooperate with him in the future."

He gets angry whenever he talks about Lu Chuan, as he has lost tens of millions in vain.

Moreover, in the past two days, not only has there been a lot of negative public opinion about the movie, but there has also been a lot of complaints and criticisms about Lu Chuan personally.

For this reason, Star Media also invested several million to control the comments for him. Now thinking about it, it was all wasted.

"Okay, Mr. Tan."

After the head of the propaganda department left, Qin Hong couldn't help but sigh and then fell into deep thought.

It's not that he is still worried about the movie "Jinling Jinling". He doesn't care about it anymore. He just leaves it to fate as to how much box office the movie can get in the end.

What he is thinking about now is that China Film Corporation cut the screening schedule of "Jinling Jinling" without even saying anything to him.

He also knew that the problem was mainly with the movie, and there was nothing wrong with China Film Group doing this, but that didn't mean he felt comfortable.

After all, he just wasn't important enough.

If it were Liu Zhou, do you think China Film Corporation would still not say a word? Even if the public opinion was strong, Han Shanping would not cut the film's screening schedule.

After all, the movie has already been reviewed.

However, when thinking of Liu Zhou, Qin Hong felt somewhat complicated.

As one of the founders of Tianshang Renjian in Beijing, he has no shortage of background and connections, and he also has a lot of funds on hand.

At the beginning of the new century, Tianshang Renjian became so famous that he felt a little uneasy, fearing that he would attract attention.

So in 2001, he decisively changed his career and entered the entertainment industry. At that time, the entertainment industry was still small, and Qin Hong had money and connections, so Boss Qin was ambitious to become an entertainment tycoon in the mainland.

Now, eight years have passed, and Star Media has become a film and television giant in the mainland, and I have finally become a tycoon in the circle as I wished.

Although Star Media Group has not made a prominent statement, no one in the industry dares to underestimate the company's strength.

Not to mention other things, the China Film Star Media Cinema Line, established by Star Media and China Film, is the largest cinema chain company in China.

After the market-oriented reform of cinema chains, the mainland is similar to the Hong Kong film industry in the past, where cinema chains are king.

Therefore, among the film and television companies in the circle, if you want to make it in the film industry, no one wants to offend Star Media.

This cinema chain is also the best embodiment of Star Media’s soft and hard power.

Otherwise, how could ordinary people cooperate with China Film Group so soon after the cinema reform policy was announced?

Besides being rich, how could it be possible without some connections?

In addition to cinemas, Star Media has also built a film and television city in Huairou covering an area of ​​more than 380 acres, with four indoor shooting sheds and a four-star hotel.

In addition, Xingmei Film and Television City is currently the largest and most fully-equipped filming location and post-production base for film and television programs in northern China.

Moreover, Xingmei Film and Television City is adjacent to China Film’s digital production base. The cooperation between the two companies has formed the most intensive high-end film and television production industry cluster in the country.

Of course, in addition to these, there are also advertising companies, book and magazine publishing, and audio-visual distribution businesses, which are all quite strong, but they are not closely related to the film and television industry and are not very prominent.

Therefore, among all private film and television companies, Star Media’s strength can be said to be second only to Golden Harvest.

However, Star Media is far less famous than Golden Harvest, and is even inferior to Huayi, New Picture, Enlight and even Pony.

Therefore, every time the Film Bureau held a meeting or related industry leaders gathered, Liu Zhou was the center of the center, and other leaders had to accompany him.

And Qin Hong was also one of those who accompanied them and greeted them with a smile.

Qin Hong was certainly unwilling to accept this, but he was indeed convinced by the young man Liu Zhou.

He started from scratch and relied on his own talent to not only make a name for himself in the entertainment industry, but also became famous in the Internet circle and became the second richest man in the country.

Having achieved such achievements at such a young age, no matter which industry in China, there may be many people who don’t like Liu Zhou, but no one does not admire Liu Zhou.

But no matter how much he admires him, Qin Hong doesn't want to always be inferior to Liu Zhou in the film and television industry. I believe that none of the leading film and television companies want to replace Jiahe.

So in the past two years, Qin Hong has carefully studied the development path of Jiahe Group.

However, the more he studied it, the more disappointed he became. In his opinion, Golden Harvest's greatest strength was its strong overseas distribution capabilities.

But you can’t learn this at all. As for establishing overseas distribution channels, even if you have money, you don’t know how to spend it.

Jiahe has achieved its current scale through more than 30 years of continuous development and maintenance, and then Liu Zhou carried it forward.

Now even China Film’s overseas distribution is far inferior to Golden Harvest’s.

In this regard, even after another ten years, it will be difficult for Star Media to reach Golden Harvest's overseas distribution level.

Moreover, it is becoming increasingly difficult to develop overseas distribution channels, and the cost is also increasing.

It is extremely difficult for a company like Huayi to develop distribution channels in Taiwan and Hong Kong, let alone overseas.

In addition to its distribution capabilities, Golden Harvest’s greatest strength is its production.

Most of the box office hits that have appeared in mainland China in recent years are related to Golden Harvest.

It is either produced by Golden Harvest itself or co-produced with other companies.

In the field of film production, Golden Harvest can be said to be also far ahead.

However, overseas distribution is difficult to develop at the moment, but production is relatively simple.

Star Media has no shortage of money, nor does it have any shortage of domestic channels, and these two things are precisely the most important things for film production.

As for people, is it possible that you can’t hire people even if you have money?
So last year, Qin Hong prepared to enter the film production field.

In terms of overseas markets, Star Media will certainly not be able to catch up with Golden Harvest for a while, but in terms of domestic markets, Star Media can still compete with Golden Harvest.

Compared with Golden Harvest, Star Media is not lagging behind in all aspects. At least in the most important cinema industry, Star Media is stronger than Golden Harvest.

China Film Group Star Media Cinemas is number one in the industry. Although the controlling stake fell into the hands of China Film Group in 2007, Star Media still holds a 40% stake and holds considerable power.

In addition, in the past two years, Star Media has opened an independently controlled company, Star Media International Cinema Co., Ltd., which focuses on investing in high-standard cinemas.

Although the size of this company is far smaller than that of China Film Star Media, fortunately, it can have full control over Star Media International Cinemas.

After two years of development, Star Media International Cinema, a wholly-owned cinema chain of Star Media, is no less powerful than Golden Harvest Cinemas.

Golden Harvest Cinema Chain has four luxury cinemas and ten theaters in some cities in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, with a total of more than 120 screens.

Star Media International Cinemas has seven cinemas with a total of nearly 130 screens.

The number of screens is similar, but Star Media International Cinemas’ cinemas are all located in first- and second-tier cities, and they are all high-quality cinemas.

If we really have to compare, Star Media International Cinema is stronger and has greater value.

Qin Hong also knew that Golden Harvest was not short of money to build cinemas, but that they had used the money to acquire Hollywood film companies.

So after Golden Harvest built four luxury cinemas in four first-tier cities and renovated and modernized the theaters under the acquired cinema chains, Golden Harvest Cinema Chain stopped expanding and has been quiet ever since.

But Qin Hong believes that this is only temporary. After all, as a company as big as Jiahe, it is impossible for it to have such an obvious shortcoming.

This time when Golden Harvest goes public, the funds it raises will definitely reach tens of billions given its size.

Cinema chains will definitely be a key investment business for Golden Harvest after its listing.

Cinema chains are the absolute upstream of the film industry and can even decide the life or death of a film to a certain extent.

Nowadays, China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group are always present as film producers or distributors in most film and television companies in the industry.

This is because the film producers have to win over these two most powerful theater chains and make everyone "insiders". Only in this way will the film get enough screenings when it is released and will not be bullied by other films in the same period.

In fact, Star Media can barely do this. Some movies that intend to be released in China Film and Star Media cannot contact China Film, and the same is true for their cooperation with Star Media.

This is a business that makes money almost without doing anything. Except for a few companies like Golden Harvest, many private film and television companies are drooling with envy.

Therefore, companies such as Huayi and Bona are currently trying to squeeze money out of their teeth and obtain bank loans in order to build their own cinema chains, hoping that one day they will be able to take charge.

However, this time, China Film Group directly lowered the screening schedule of "Jinling Jinling", which made Qin Hong realize that China Film Group Star Media is the one that really has the final say.

Although Star Media is also a shareholder and seems to have the final say at ordinary times, when it comes to the critical moment, Star Media is nothing in front of China Film.

(End of this chapter)