Chapter 453 Huayi's IPO and the Summer Vacation
After the filming of "Aftershock" was completed, Liu Zhou finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This movie is different from any other movie he has made before. It is not just a movie, but also carries something else.

In fact, not only that, "Aftershock" can also be said to be the first original film of Liu Zhou.

Although the script was written by Liu Heng, the story outline, film theme, etc. were all determined by Liu Zhou.

The Liu Zhou version of "Aftershock" and the Feng Kuzi version of "Aftershock" are two completely different movies. The only thing in common is the name.

This is also the accumulation of Liu Zhou's more than ten years of career as a director. Although he feels that his interpretation of "Aftershock" is much better than Feng Kuzi's, and both the plot and special effects are better than the original version.

But the final result has not come out yet, and anything can happen. What if domestic audiences now like the sensational version like Feng Kuzi's?
However, Liu Zhou is still quite confident in himself. It has been twelve years since he filmed "My Sassy Girl" in 98, and he has not been copying all the time.

Now his understanding of movies, shooting techniques, special effects and application of colors have reached the level of a great director.

"Aftershock" is his first original film and also a special film. From any angle, he cannot relax at all.

He has put a lot of effort into this movie.

Although Liu Zhou was asked to leave home twice during the filming due to matters concerning the Golden Harvest Film and Television Industrial Park, he made sufficient preparations before the filming and was extremely focused during the filming.

I don’t know if it was due to Liu Zhou’s influence or because he knew the special significance of this movie, but not only was he very focused, but the entire crew was also very focused.

People like Liu Yifei and Zhang Yi get up at five o'clock every day to memorize the lines and set off at seven o'clock. If anyone recites the lines on the spot, the whole group will look down on them.

Almost no actor would go out to play. When they have nothing to do, they would stay in the house pondering their lines.

The two most popular stars in the crew, Zhou Gongzi and Liu Yifei, almost turned down all press releases during the filming and stayed in the crew wholeheartedly.

Together with the staff in the special effects department who have been working overtime, this film represents the hard work of so many people.

Now that the film has been completed, we will have to wait a year for the audience to see what the final result will be.

At this time, everyone in the crew was packing up, and then, led by the production director, they rushed to the restaurant that the crew had booked for the wrap party.

This time, Liu Zhouhao was so arrogant that he directly booked the wrap-up banquet at the Beijing Hotel and called everyone who participated in the film to come.

There were nearly eighty tables, all of which were of high standard. Including the drinks, the wrap-up banquet cost nearly a million.

The atmosphere at the wrap-up party was also quite lively.

We have been working together for more than three months. Although not everyone is familiar with each other, there are at least many people who are familiar with each other. Needless to say, the atmosphere is naturally good and everyone is relatively casual.

Liu Zhou also specifically instructed not to have toasts, as it would make the hierarchy so strict that everyone couldn't relax, so not many people toasted. Everyone drank if they could, and those who couldn't drink would never be forced.

However, despite what Liu Zhou said, several assistant directors and leading actors in the crew still toasted him with a glass of wine.

Although he only tasted a little, he still felt a little dizzy after seeing so many people coming.

The wrap-up banquet started at seven o'clock, and by the time we finished drinking, it was already past ten o'clock.

Liu Zhou came out of the restaurant and looked up to see the stars and the moon. The starry sky seemed particularly beautiful tonight.

Liu Zhou stopped for a few seconds, exhaled a breath of alcohol, and then asked his bodyguard to drive him home.

"Aftershock" is a highly anticipated movie, and the media inevitably gave it intensive coverage after the film was completed.

In fact, this can also be considered as part of the film promotion. Although "Aftershock" is very popular, it would not be a good thing if it remained silent and did not make its presence felt.

Although everyone will not forget it, if you promote it frequently, you can deepen the impression in everyone's mind. When the movie is released and the audience wants to watch a movie, it will be their first choice.

However, before the news of "Aftershock" had time to ferment, Huayi stole the limelight.

On June 20, Huayi was officially listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's Growth Enterprise Market, becoming the second listed film and television company in the mainland.

For this IPO, the Wang brothers tried their best. Not only did they invite the company's major shareholder Jack Ma to attend, they also imitated Golden Harvest and created a celebrity shareholder.

In addition to some big men behind the scenes in the Beijing circle, almost all the people are out in the open. Of course, the most eye-catching ones are Feng Kuzi, Jiang Wen, Ge You, Zhang Jizhong, Zheng Xiaolong and other influential star directors in the circle.

As the face of the Beijing circle, Huayi is now going public and has received full support from the Beijing circle.

Although the Beijing circle seems to have no advantage when facing Liu Zhou and Jiahe, it is still the most influential circle in the domestic entertainment industry besides Jiahe.

In fact, Golden Harvest does not belong to any circle, but as the largest film and television company in China, with the support of mainland China's richest man Liu Zhou, no one dares to ignore the existence of Golden Harvest.

Although Huayi's listing did not have as much influence and attention as Golden Harvest's listing, it was also highly anticipated.

Huayi can be said to be the second largest private film and television company after Golden Harvest, and it has the great director Feng Kuzi at its helm. The company's listing has still attracted great attention from the outside world.

The Wang brothers had originally wanted to list Huayi on the Shanghai Stock Exchange like Golden Harvest did, but later they thought too much and found that they were not even qualified to be listed on the main board, let alone the Shanghai Stock Exchange. They could only be listed on the Growth Enterprise Market which was established last year.

However, Huayi's listing was also quite successful. The issue price was 2.6 yuan, and the opening price soared by more than 4.2% to 24 yuan. The stock price reached a high of 16.8 yuan and finally closed at yuan.

The stock price increased sevenfold, and Huayi's market value soared from more than a billion yuan at the beginning to more than 8 billion yuan. The listing can be said to be a great success.

Liu Zhou was also a little surprised when he saw the picture of the Wang brothers laughing on the front page of the newspaper.

This time Huayi’s listing was even more successful than the listing of Huayi in the original time and space.

On the first day of Huayi's listing in the original time and space, its market value was just over 7 billion. And you must know that in this life, due to the existence of Golden Harvest, Huayi's influence and strength are much weaker.

But Huayi can still boost its market value to more than 8 billion. It can only be said that the current entertainment industry is much larger than the market in the same period of the original time and space.

But it’s normal to think about it. The market value of Golden Harvest is ten times that of Huayi, reaching a huge scale of 80 billion.

This is not just a giant company, it has also attracted a lot of capital attention to the entertainment industry and allowed more money to flow into the entertainment industry.

Therefore, it can be said that Huayi’s high market value is also due to the help of Golden Harvest.

Of course, Huayi as a giant in the industry cannot be ignored. This is also the main reason why it is favored by many capitals.

Huayi's listing also stimulated the leaders of several other domestic companies. Yu Dong of Bona announced the company's third round of financing, almost all of which was from the United States, and also widely publicized the news that he would lead Bona to go public in the United States at the end of the year.

Although Wang Changtian of Guangxian is not as high-profile as Yu Dong, he also announced that he will also be listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext at the end of the year.

Big Dog Brother, the less powerful but more ambitious Pony.com, has also signed a financing bet agreement with several capital institutions.

For a while, the entertainment industry was extremely lively.

Of course, the most discussed company is Huayi. After all, the other companies have only announced the news of their listing, while Huayi has already been listed.

The most important thing is that Huayi’s listing is also a feast of wealth.

Although it was not as exaggerated as when Golden Harvest first went public, it also created seven or eight billionaires and more than ten millionaires.

The biggest winners are of course the Wang brothers. The combined value of their shares is nearly 3 billion, making them new rich men in the industry. They will definitely have a place on this year's Forbes Rich List.

The Wang brothers were laughing so happily on the spot. Besides being happy about the successful listing of the company, the most important thing was the visible growth of their wealth.

After going public, the stocks you hold are real wealth, not just valuations like before, which seem a bit empty.

This finally made them feel proud.

People in the circle underestimated the ambition of the Wang brothers. Less than a week after Huayi went public, Huayi suddenly held a press conference and announced its investment in Jinyi Cinemas.

However, Huayi and Jinyi did not reveal much about the specific content of the transaction, but only stated that after Huayi subscribed to Jinyi Cinema Line shares, it would participate in the construction of Jinyi's new cinema.

Everyone knows that Huayi, which has raised a large amount of funds, will definitely make big moves. However, we did not expect that they would move so quickly and enter the cinema industry at the first opportunity.

But this is normal. At present, there should be no larger film and television company in China that is not envious of cinema chains, but the cinema chain industry is an industry that requires a large amount of capital investment.

Previously, due to insufficient funds, the company could only watch companies such as Golden Harvest, Wanda, China Film Group, and Poly Group rush to grab market share.

Now that Huayi is rich, it makes sense for it to invest in cinema chains. It’s just a little surprising that they didn’t build their own but instead invested in other cinema companies.

But many industry insiders believe that Huayi’s investment in Jinyi was a good move.

According to data released not long ago, Jinyi ranked sixth in the country in box office last year. In addition, there is a real estate group behind Jinyi Cinemas, which is very powerful. The cooperation between the two parties can be described as a win-win situation.

Huayi obtained the cinema resources they wanted, and Jinyi can collaborate with Huayi's major business segments.

For example, Huayi can mobilize celebrity resources to participate in the cinema's press conferences, meet-and-greets and other on-site activities, bringing direct influence to the cinema.

Throughout mid-to-late June, Huayi was the most popular guy in the circle, and most media reports were focused on them.

However, for Liu Zhou, this was just ordinary news. He didn't take it seriously after learning about it. Compared with Golden Harvest, Huayi after its listing was also not a rival. The gap in size between the two was still huge.

For Liu Zhou, the most important thing now is the post-production of "Aftershock".

There are more than 1300 special effects shots in "Aftershock", and the cost of special effects production accounts for 50% of the total investment, reaching 1.5 million yuan, which is 5 times that of Feng Kuazi's version of "Aftershock".

However, the special effects team does not have much time left. "Aftershock" is scheduled to be released during the summer vacation next year, which is in July or August, which is only one year from now.

Excluding the time required for previews, advance screenings, and other activities, it must be completed by May next year at the latest, which is a huge test for the entire special effects team.

Even though the special effects were produced simultaneously with the preparation of the film, for a film like "Aftershock" which has a large number of special effects shots, the post-production of special effects is not easy either.

As we all know, special effects production is very time-consuming, and one year is actually a bit tight.

So after resting for a few days, Liu Zhou also devoted himself to the post-production work of the film.

For him, he has to worry not only about the movie "Aftershock", but also another science fiction blockbuster "Interstellar".

Now most of the other post-production of "Interstellar" has been completed, and only some special effects shots remain to be completed.

But it doesn't mean Liu Zhou can just let it go. Sometimes he is needed to participate in the special effects production.

Dealing with the post-production of two special effects blockbusters at the same time made it difficult for Liu Zhou to relax, and he did not have much time to spend with Zeng Li.

Zeng Li's belly is now very big. Fortunately, the filming of the movie has been completed, so he can stay in Beijing, otherwise it would be very difficult for him.

And as we enter July, the battle for this year's summer movie season has officially begun.

This year's Hollywood blockbusters are not as fierce as last year. The only ones that attracted much attention are "Iron Man 2" and two animated films "Ice Age 3" and "How to Train Your Dragon".

Although "Iron Man 1" was a huge hit around the world, the superhero Iron Man has not yet become popular in mainland China, or it can be said that there are not many fans of Marvel superhero movies in mainland China.

As for Hollywood animated films, so far none of them has grossed more than 200 million yuan, and there are only a handful of them that have grossed over 100 million yuan.

Relatively speaking, this year's domestic blockbusters are more interesting.

The most anticipated one is Feng Kuzi's "1942", which attracted a lot of attention when the film was first launched. After all, this is Feng Kuzi's serious historical film, and it is also a film reflecting the Anti-Japanese War period.

This is also the painstaking work of Feng Kuzi, and everyone is looking forward to his transformation.

In addition to Feng Kuzi's "1942", two other highly anticipated films are "Chinese Partners" and "Those Years" produced by Golden Harvest.

The former features two popular male actors, Huang Xiaoming and Liu Ye, plus a new popular actor, Zhu Yawen, and it also tells the story of New Oriental's entrepreneurship. Both the cast and the story are very attractive.

The latter is the first movie starring Liu Yifei after joining Golden Harvest. The male lead Dou Xiao does not have much box office appeal at the moment, but Liu Yifei is also capable of carrying the main role alone.

Liu Yifei is still very popular now, and has not been smeared or suppressed by Huayi like in her previous life, so her ability to carry the box office is currently very strong.

Moreover, for a movie like "Those Years", as long as it can attract people to watch it in the early stages, the spontaneous dissemination effect is extremely strong.

There is currently no youth nostalgia movie in China. "Those Years" is not only a hit with young people, but also a hit with those in their thirties and forties whose youth has passed.

After the movie "Original Time and Space" was released to mainland China, many people who sang the song "Those Years" in KTV were those whose youth had passed.

(End of this chapter)