Chapter 265 276 [I like to show off, and now I have done it! ]

After half an hour.

Li Yishu walked out of Golden Harvest Film Company.

Amy followed behind and asked in confusion: “Boss, is the price we gave a little high?”

Zou Wenhuai wanted to exchange shares of Golden Harvest for those of Li Yishu’s Art Entertainment Group.

But after several negotiations by Amy, Li Yishu was still unwilling to give up more shares.

Zou Wenhuai also realized that he most likely did not want to exchange shares, but was unwilling to give up the idea of ​​Li Yishu becoming a shareholder of Golden Harvest, so he raised the sale price a little bit.

At a premium of 60%, 5% of the shares of Golden Harvest Film Company were sold. This number of shares just met the standard for public shareholders after the listing.

When Golden Harvest Films successfully goes public at the end of the year, Li Yishu will also be disclosed on the list of Golden Harvest’s shareholders.

“It’s definitely high, but it’s still good for us to invest in Golden Harvest now.”

Li Yishu certainly knows that with a 60% premium, there is basically no hope of making a profit. After all, Hong Kong films will decline in a few years and Golden Harvest’s shares will also decline. However, the stock price does not represent the specific market value of a company.

He also wanted to wait until around the millennium, when Golden Harvest’s stock price had fallen to the lowest point, and then slowly increase his holdings to complete his plan to acquire Golden Harvest Film Company.

Distribution channels are not something that can be purchased with money. Zou Wenhuai has been in the film industry for decades and founded Golden Harvest for more than 20 years. Its distribution channels have spread to countries such as Asia, Europe and the United States. Although it cannot compare with the six major film companies in Hollywood, it is not something that Li Yishu can compete with in just a few years.

“Benefits?” Amy didn’t see any benefits. To put it bluntly, 5% of the shares just meant one more seat on the board of directors. What’s more, the founder, Zou Wenhuai, was there. Was it possible for her to surpass him?
“Don’t just look at the immediate gains and losses, learn to look to the future!”

Li Yishu smiled and said, “I read in the newspaper before that Zou Wenhuai’s children don’t want to work in the film industry. Do you think that when Zou Wenhuai gets older, will he continue to hold shares in Golden Harvest, or will he choose to sell them like Jin Yong?”

“Boss, do you mean to acquire Golden Harvest in the future?!”

Amy was shocked, but then she remembered that Jin Yong sold Ming Pao two years ago, and she immediately felt that this was very feasible.

“Golden Harvest is just like Ming Pao. They both need someone with relatively outstanding abilities to take charge. Jin Yong is getting old, and his children don’t have a good relationship with him and are unwilling to inherit his Ming Pao business…”

In 1992, Jin Yong transferred the controlling stake of Ming Pao during its heyday to businessman Yu Pinhai. On April 4 last year, Yu officially replaced Jin Yong as chairman of the board of directors of Ming Pao Enterprise Co., Ltd.

At this point, the era of Ming Pao headed by Jin Yong has come to an end. Perhaps it was a period of decline after its peak. Since last year, the sales of Ming Pao in Hong Kong have begun to decline year by year. However, thanks to the reputation of its founder Jin Yong, it can still rank among the top three newspapers in Hong Kong.

Secretary Li Yi knew very well that Zou Wenhuai would sell Golden Harvest to Orange Sky Entertainment in the future. Besides the right price, he probably also hoped that the boss of Orange Sky could use the mainland market to bring the Golden Harvest brand out of the quagmire of Hong Kong films at that time.

But it is obvious that Orange Sky Entertainment failed to carry the banner of Golden Harvest Films, as the company with the strongest comprehensive capabilities in the Hong Kong film market in the 70s to 90s.

Even though Hong Kong films were in decline and there was a lack of young actors, they did see a resurgence after the millennium. Later series of films such as “Overheard”, “Cold War” and “Drug War” all had high box office results in mainland China.

“The boss is worthy of being the boss, he has a long-term vision!”

After listening to Li Yishu’s analysis, Amy immediately showed her admiration. She herself is from Hong Kong and has been engaged in this industry for many years. Naturally, she knows that in a few years, when Zou Wenhuai gets old, Golden Harvest Film Company will inevitably decline without a good helmsman.

Because film companies are different from other companies. They really value the ability of a leader. A strong leader can lead the company to take off. The result of insufficient ability is probably the same as that of Cinema City, which became famous in the 80s. After a few years of glory, with the departure of several veterans, it went from a large company comparable to Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers to a company that was betrayed.

This is also the reason why Uncle Run Run Shaw decisively sold Shaw Cinemas, and then Shaw Brothers stopped production and turned to running TVB.

Because Uncle Run Run Shaw knew that he was getting old, and Shaw Brothers had been running the business for decades but was unable to get rid of its remaining business, even though he knew that the Hong Kong film market environment was very good in recent years and that he could make a lot of money by just following the trend to make some zombie films, kung fu films, or Category III films, he finally chose to stop production in 1987.

Although a few movies are still made occasionally, compared with the dozens of movies produced in the past year, this amount is not much different from stopping production.

“Okay, you should pay more attention to Jiahe’s affairs. After the contract is signed, you will take my place as Jiahe’s shareholder representative.”

Li Yishu thought about it and said, “Amy, you have spent a lot of time in the United States. You should know that the influence of American films overseas is increasing year by year. After the Hong Kong film market was ravaged by Jurassic Park last year, it will sooner or later have big problems.”

“Big problem?”

Amy was slightly stunned. Hong Kong films are still thriving. “Drunken Master 2”, which was released in February, earned 2 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office. At the same time, “Rich Family”, which was released only three days later, also earned 4097 million.

In February, there were two movies that grossed nearly 2 million, not to mention other movies that grossed millions or tens of millions. Can there be any big problems in such a huge market?

“Take the long-term view!”

Li Yishu smiled and said, “Take one step and look two steps ahead. You should be able to see some trends by the end of this year.”

A Hollywood blockbuster will be introduced to the mainland by the end of the year. If nothing unexpected happens, it will definitely be “The Fugitive”.

Because Time Warner has already reached an agreement with the mainland film department, they will support the industrialization of Chinese films and will provide 10 places to study at Warner Bros. Pictures every year, and will also provide certain assistance in film equipment.

The arrival of “The Fugitive” has further squeezed the market share of Hong Kong films in the mainland. Coupled with Pioneer VCD, one can imagine how difficult it will be for Hong Kong films in the next few years.

Fortunately, Li Yishu is now only focusing on the Japanese and North American markets. If she wants to make a movie, she can only make commercial films that are suitable for these two places. As for art films, she should go the film festival route, win an award at the film festival and make some money.

Having successfully won the three major awards, Li Yishu also wants to try to win the “new three awards”, Best Director at Cannes, Best Director at Venice, and Best Director at Berlin.

If you can’t win, just give birth to some best actresses and best actors.

“I’ll pay more attention, boss.”

Amy seemed to be thinking about something. She didn’t think her boss was being mysterious. Although Li Yishu was just guessing that Zou Wenhuai was going to sell Golden Harvest in the future, Amy felt that it was very likely.

Because there is the example of Jin Yong.

His own children are not taking over Ming Pao, and Jin Yong is already old. If he doesn’t sell it, is he just waiting to be eaten alive by others in the future?
Like Ming Pao, Golden Harvest was the only option for Zou Wenhuai as he had no successor to inherit the company. It was better to have the cash in hand than to have the company taken away by someone else in the future.

Golden Harvest will be listed at the end of the year. If Zou Wenhuai does not sell it in the future, if the capital wants to play tricks, there are many ways to do it.

“Okay, I’m leaving now, you can go back by yourself.”

Li Yishu waved his hand, got in the car and drove straight to Qingxia’s Repulse Bay. He would be taking the crew to Cannes, France to attend the Film Festival tomorrow morning, so he had to spend some time with Qingxia today.

Two days later at noon.

Cannes, France.

Coming to Cannes again, Lee Yi-su has a different personal feeling.

Last year, he was just an ordinary Golden Lion Award-winning director. Now, as he steps into Cannes again, he is already a European triple-gold Grand Slam director and the godfather of Asian cinema, and his state of mind is different.

In a resort hotel outside Cannes, Li Yishu had already arranged a room.

dong dong——

Just as Li Yishu was packing her luggage in her room, someone suddenly knocked on the door. “Who is it?”

“Yishu, it’s me!” Gong Li’s voice came from outside the door.

He strode to the door, opened it, and saw Gong Li standing there, with Zhang Yimou and Ge You behind her.

“Director Zhang, when did you come?”

Li Yishu was very surprised. He didn’t expect Zhang Yimou and others to come so early.

Zhang Yimou smiled and said, “I arrived the day before yesterday. I just ran into Director Han downstairs and knew you were here too.”

“Haha, I didn’t expect we were staying in the same hotel.”

Li Yishu said with a smile: “Director Zhang, Sister Gong Li, Brother Ge, come in and talk!”

“I won’t go in.”

Zhang Yimou shook his head and said, “I came to see you this time to ask if you have time this afternoon.”

Li Yishu raised her eyebrows: “Afternoon? I have time, what’s wrong, Director Zhang?”

Zhang Yimou said, “An American film company called Miramax held an afternoon cocktail party and invited all the participating film crews and creative teams. I was wondering if you would be interested in going over to take a look?”

“Miramax?” Li Yishu raised her eyebrows. This old guy Harvey really has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

Zhang Yimou nodded: “Yes, a movie invested by this company, Pulp Fiction, was also shortlisted for this year’s Cannes Film Festival.”

“Okay, let’s go and have a look together.”

Li Yishu thought about it and decided to go to the scene to take a look, so as not to let Zhang Yimou be deceived by this kid Harvey.

“Then we’ll wait for you?”

“No need, you guys go down first, I’ll tell Director Han and take him over to have a look.”

This is a good opportunity for communication. Li Yishu will take Han Sanping to get familiar with the nature of these foreigners so that he won’t be cheated like in the previous life.

2 p.m.

A restaurant in Cannes has been booked out by Harvey.

He brought Quentin to greet them personally at the door, and he welcomed every crew that came. Thanks to the reputation of Disney Pictures, almost all the creative teams of the shortlisted films came to the cocktail party he hosted this time, and there were even many directors who brought their films to Cannes to promote them.

“Wow!!”

When Harvey saw Li Yishu getting out of the car, his eyes lit up and he immediately walked up to her enthusiastically: “Look who this is, our godfather of Asian films, the youngest director in history to win three European Golden Globes.”

Li Yishu laughed happily: “Xavi, you don’t mind coming here uninvited, right?”

Li Yishu accepted Harvey’s compliment with peace of mind.

To quote Chen Danqing: I like to show off. I have been doing so since I was a child, and now I have finally succeeded.

Li Yishu’s current state of mind is similar to that of Chen Danqing at that time. From the moment he said “Ride your dreams like a horse” at the Venice Film Festival, he started his pretentious journey. Now that he has become a three-win director, there is naturally no need for him to be humble.

As for the title of Godfather of Asian Cinema, many people do not quite agree with it, but Time magazine has made it known that Lee Yi-shu has won three Golden Globes and is also the director with the highest box office record among Chinese directors in the world. If you disagree, you can also win three Golden Globes and break his box office record, and then you can talk about whether you deserve it or not.

“Of course not! Li, your coming here really makes my cocktail party shine!”

Harvey smiled and said, “I also contacted the organizers of Cannes before, but they said you hadn’t come yet, so they didn’t come to invite you in person. I’m really sorry, Li.”

“It’s okay. I just arrived in Cannes too.”

Li Yishu waved her hand and then introduced Han Sanping beside her to the other party.

When Harvey learned that Han Sanping was the director of China Capital National Film Studio, he immediately showed great enthusiasm.

Although his Miramax Films is small and mainly produces independent films, the backing of Disney has enabled Harvey to surpass the vast majority of small and medium-sized American film companies in terms of intelligence information. Naturally, he is aware that the Chinese market is about to introduce ten foreign films.

If they could negotiate with this Chinese leader and allow Miramax Films to get a spot in a movie, they would make a fortune!

Whether sending his own films to be released there or distributing them for other film companies, it is a sure-win business that can further enhance and expand Harvey’s popularity in North America.

Thanks to Li Yishu’s advice before coming, Han Sanping remained vigilant when chatting with Harvey, even though he enjoyed the compliments from a foreigner.

Quentin said, “Lee, long time no see. I heard you have another movie going to the Venice Film Festival?”

“Not bad.” Li Yishu nodded with a smile.

Quentin said with emotion: “Wow, this is incredible. It is hard for me to imagine that you can make three movies a year. This movie of mine almost consumed all my energy. You are indeed a genius. Only a genius’s thinking can ensure the quality of the movie while making more high-quality movies.”

“You know, I’m still young and full of energy.” Li Yishu smiled, then he pulled Zhang Yimou over and introduced him to him.

“Zhang, I know you.”

Quentin has always liked Hong Kong martial arts films. It is for this reason that he pays more attention to Chinese films than other European and American directors. So when he learned that the director who looked miserable was Zhang Yimou, he immediately said excitedly: “I have seen your films Red Sorghum and The Red Lantern. Your shots always give people a strong oriental flavor.”

“Thank you!” Zhang Yimou didn’t expect that this director who was shortlisted for the film festival had actually seen several of his films.

After Harvey chatted with Han Sanping for a few words, he found that this Chinese leader was very tight-lipped and had no intention of talking to him anymore, so he prepared to go back and think of a solution.

He clapped his hands and said, “Okay, everyone. It’s getting late. Let’s go in. There are many outstanding directors coming to the cocktail party this afternoon. I believe you can find common topics.”

Just as the group was about to go in.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind: “Hey, Harvey! Are you here to greet me? Why did you bring a bunch of Asian assistants with you?”

(End of this chapter)