Hollywood Hunter

"Mr. Qin, let me introduce to you, this is the founder of Carlyle Investment Group, see Chairman Mr. David Rubinstein. Carlyle plans to invest at least US$2 billion in China in the next few years, mainly in the field of machinery and heavy industry. "

Inside a hotel ballroom in midtown Manhattan.

The time is the evening of December 19th, and a celebration reception for China Telecom's successful listing on Nasdaq is being held here.

Chen Qing introduced David Rubinstein to a high-level telecom executive. While helping translate, he patiently chatted with Rubinstein and President Qin. Chen Qing remembered one thing and asked, "David, what about Ukraine? , is there any progress on Carlyle's side?"

David Rubinstein nodded and said, "I just sent Simon a document this afternoon about this matter."

Chen Qing paused and didn't ask any more, but planned to ask her boss for documents.

After chatting a few more words, Chen Qing waited for Rubinstein to leave, and explained to President Qin next to him: "I just asked Carlyle about helping import technology from Ukraine to China, President Qin, I hope you don't mind," said He lowered his voice slightly: "You know, President Qin, the Black Sea Shipyard in Ukraine has an aircraft carrier. The country intends to buy it, but there is a lot of resistance. And Carlyle has deep connections in Washington, if they help, our success will be The rate will be much higher.”

President Qin, who was really dissatisfied with Chen Qing's conversation with the American just now, stunned when he heard the words, shook his head quickly, and lowered his voice subconsciously: "Of course I don't mind, this is a big deal."

Chen Qing smiled slightly, and then motioned not far away: "Mr. Qin, there is Mr. Helton, the president of Nokia's US branch. I'll introduce you to him."

"Of course, I just happened to know some things recently. Regarding some past events between Mr. Westeros and Motorola, China Telecom is about to start a large-scale expansion. In order to thank Mr. Westeros for his support for this telecom listing, We will definitely increase our cooperation with Nokia in the future and reduce our purchases from Motorola."

"It's really good news, I will tell Simon as soon as possible, he will be very happy to know."

The entertainment continued until after eleven o'clock in the middle of the night, when the reception was over, Chen Qingcai and Lin Su returned to their residence in the Upper West District together.

After a busy day, Chen Qing's mood is still high.

After taking a shower, and considering the jet lag, it was less than nine o'clock on the west coast, so I tried to call my boss. at the premiere party.

Chen Qing also paid attention to Hollywood, and her boss mentioned it, and then she remembered.

Of course, it is only known.

Chen Qing didn't have the energy to pay too much attention now. After confirming that her boss didn't want to hang up the phone too quickly, she talked about the general situation of China Telecom's listing today.

Although China Telecom (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., the predecessor of China Mobile, plans to list in Hong Kong and New York at the same time, the listing time in New York is one day earlier, and the next day is Hong Kong. Of course, if the time difference is calculated, it is actually only 12 hours apart, and the stall where the two are talking is about to open in Hong Kong.

Overall, this IPO has been very successful.

With the full support of the Westeros system, due to the good feedback from the previous global roadshow, the final issue price of China Telecom's new shares on Nasdaq was determined to be US$5.35. Based on the launch of 500 million new shares in North America, the amount of funds raised reached At US$2.675 billion, the scale of financing in Hong Kong is comparable to that in North America.

Converted down, China Telecom's listing, the total financing amount of more than 5.3 billion US dollars.

Although the actual capital received is less due to the existence of cornerstone investors such as several major consortia in Hong Kong and the Westeros Corporation who have subscribed for a large number of stocks at a discount in advance, the successful completion of the $5 billion financing is definitely a big win. win.

On the first day of listing on the North American side, due to being labeled as a Westeros concept stock, coupled with the recent instagram listing, which has just stimulated the technology stock market, even as a Chinese concept stock, it will inevitably encounter a lot of negative views that are not optimistic. According to reports, China Telecom's stock rose by 27% on the first day, and the closing market value of the day was as high as 26.9 billion US dollars.

Westeros Corporation and a group of capital from Hong Kong, as the cornerstone investors for China Electric Trust, invested 500 million US dollars in advance to buy a large number of stocks. According to the discount of these stocks and today's single-day increase, it is only one day. Profits are already close to 50%.

Of course, profit is only secondary.

The 50% appreciation of US$500 million in a single day is only a small amount of money for Simon. The key is that the success of this IPO has paved the way for further cooperation between the two parties.

In any case, the listing of China Telecom this time is much better than the tragic first-day breakout in the past because of catching up with the financial turmoil, which almost failed in the IPO and even succeeded reluctantly. With the same proportion of stocks, the financing amount has also increased by nearly $1 billion.

Pretty happy ending.

After chatting for a while, Chen Qing mentioned the matter of Carlyle and Ukraine again. Simon hadn't had time to read the document from David Rubinstein, but he also promised Chen Qing to let girl a take the time to transfer it to her.

The party scene at a hotel near the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Simon stood in the corner of the hall on the phone with Chen Qing, and finally heard the girl say that the team of "Vogue" magazine in China has given a positive reply, saying: "Then I will say hello to Semel tomorrow, and the rest is up to you. You can do it... go to China? You know I'm definitely not free at this time... let's just... um, goodbye."

hang

After dropping the phone, Simon sorted it out a little, and didn't continue to focus on it.

After all, it is only one part of its many layouts in China. When China Telecom took a step forward in the roadshow, Simon was not worried about the follow-up at all.

Handing the phone to the girl next to her, she just took the glass of champagne handed by the female assistant. Not far away, a few girls headed by Elizabeth Jagger rushed over, provoking Kate, who was just about to get in front of her. Beckinsale was visibly depressed.

Reaching out and rubbing the head of the slender girl, Simon pretended to be in pain and said, "Every time you have to run over like this to watch the premiere, it's a lot of money, what should I do?"

Elizabeth was very dissatisfied with Simon's messing with her hair. She shook her head and shook his arm, and said confidently, "I'm calling you dad, isn't that enough?"

"..."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and reached out to grab Nikki Hilton next to her: "Niki, come here too, call Dad."

Nikki Hilton looked at the man in front of her with bright eyes, and shook her head subconsciously: "I don't."

Elizabeth was careless: "I know you like my dad, but, you know, men actually like to be called dad, it will be very exciting."

Nikki is not a little chick who doesn't understand anything. Two blushes flew on her face when she heard this, and she glanced at Simon shyly.

Simon raised his hand and gave Elizabeth a chestnut, watching the girl cover her forehead in pain, and said, "Okay, I'll let you kick you out if you keep making trouble."

Elizabeth immediately restrained her small expression, looking very insincere, and asked, "Dad, do you have any plans for the weekend?"

"Yes, work, and it's not your turn if you don't arrange it," Simon said, waving his hand: "Go play, you can only stay here for half an hour longer, and you must go back to your residence before ten o'clock."

"Well, it's really ruthless and long-winded."

Simon turned to the female assistant next to him: "a, help them arrange the car."

Elizabeth immediately covered her ears and pretended not to hear, and left playfully with a group of girls.

When the group of girls joined the crowd, Barbara Blockley, the female producer of the 007 series, came over first and raised her glass: "Simon, I have to admit, this movie is really good."

Simon smiled and said: "It seems that you think "Charlie's Angels" is qualified to be linked with 007, right?"

Barbara Bullocky immediately resented again: "Can I say no?"

"Unfortunately, I can't. Besides, just talking about "007 Spectre Party", the facts have proved that the plan I gave is a wise choice."

Although Barbara Brockley did not agree, she already agreed with a certain man's statement.

The "007 Spectre" in the summer season, after half a year's release, has now accumulated more than 750 million US dollars at the global box office. Even if the inflation factor is calculated, this film surpasses any other 007 series. You must know that after calculating inflation, the most successful "007 Thunderball" before, according to the 1996 standard, is equivalent to only the global box office. $680 million.

Not only that, but having seen Charlie's Angels today, coupled with the success of the DC Cinematic Universe series and The Conjuring Cinematic Universe series, Barbara Bullocky is also full of expectations for the planning of the equally ambitious Agent Cinematic Universe series.

Mainly, "Charlie's Angels" is really good.

The first is the three heroines, Kate Beckinsale, Merchen Amick and Catherine Zeta-Jones, not only have their own characteristics, but the roles they play are also distinct, completely surpassing the previous TV series, which were only three. The shackles of the vase, whether it is the strong fighting ability of Kate Beckinsale's character, the top female gunslinger played by Machen Amick, and even the wisdom and thief responsibility of Catherine Zeta-Jones, all make people's eyes shine. .

Secondly, although the beginning of this series is still a high-concept story routine, it roughly tells the story of three angels accidentally involved in a huge human trafficking network and destroying it through a rescue of hostages in a kidnapping case, but there are many bridges, such as Kate Beckinsale's restaurant fight scene, Merchen Amick hitting a wall at the same time, Catherine Zeta-Jones' crossing the infrared alert network, and more, are all full of innovation.

Finally, this opening also sets the stage for the fusion of the Agents movie universe.

The human trafficking network that the three angels worked together to destroy is one of the huge industries under the Spectre Party. Therefore, in the ending egg, the Spectre Party not only came to the door, but also many details in the story are not difficult for people to discover. Charlie, who is behind an angel, may have inextricably linked with the Spectre party.

As for whether it is a positive or negative connection, we can only wait for the follow-up to be announced.

Thinking of this, Barbara Bullock couldn't help but ask: "Simon, after "007" and "Charlie's Angels", which project is MGM planning to develop next, "Bourne Bourne"?"

"The Bourneage is still a bit early. At least there will be a sequel to "007" and "Charlie's Angels" before I will consider other series."

Barbara Bullocky didn't know if she was lucky or regretful for a while: "It seems that I have to speed up the development of the next 007."

Because of some scheduling, MGM chose to premiere on Thursday, the day before the large-scale opening. However, the next day, the word-of-mouth and popularity of "Charlie's Angels" continued to ferment rapidly. In addition, there was a special agent movie universe plan that was confirmed again through the film. For a time, the fans of the special agent film cheered, and other Hollywood studios came again. Great enemy.

The two major movie universe series have already occupied a large and fairly fixed market share, and now, there is another one, how can we not let everyone's pressure double.

What's more, the final comprehensive media score of "Charlie's Angels" series is 8.2 points, which is higher than that of "Jumanji" which opened last week.

With the opening of "Charlie's Angels" on December 20th in North America with a scale of 3,136 screens, it is the box office data of the first week of the highly anticipated Christmas period that has just ended.

From December 13th to December 19th, in the first week of Christmas, "Jumanji" reached the top without any suspense, with a box office of 63.35 million US dollars in the first week, an opening scale of 3,539 screens, and an average of 17,900 US dollars. Even if it can't be compared with "Wonder Woman 2", it still perfectly meets the expectations of the two producers.

It broke through US$60 million in the first week. Not surprisingly, "Jumanji" basically locked the domestic box office of US$200 million.

The production cost of "Jumanji" was 82 million US dollars, and the publicity investment was 35 million US dollars, totaling 117 million. Therefore, just being local, this project is expected to recover all costs and enter a profitable cycle.

The second place on the list is "Wonder Woman 2".

Due to the re-entry of the popular Christmas season, despite the impact of "Jumanji", "Wonder Woman 2" still has a box office drop of only 35% this week. Of course, this is actually still a very high decline, because in previous years, many movies at the end of the year even experienced a reverse decline when they entered the Christmas season.

Regardless, in its fourth week of release, "Wonder Woman 2" went on to gross $38.81 million for a cumulative total of $353.11 million.

The third place is "Good Will Hunter".

This literary and artistic drama, which was once crushed by "Titanic" and still achieved a dazzling box office, still shows a dark horse attitude this time.

In the first week of its large-scale release, "Good Will Hunter" earned as much as $23.92 million with just 1,746 screens, and the average museum reached $13,700. Compared with the subject matter and volume of the film, this is almost a small miracle. Counting last week's screenings, "Good Will Hunting" has a cumulative box office of $29.35 million within two weeks of its opening.

The total investment in the production and publicity of the film is only 20 million US dollars. Not surprisingly, all costs will be recovered and profitability will be realized next week. After the large-scale first week, Gaomen Pictures also responded quickly. In the new week, the number of screens for the film was increased to 2,125.

Under the dominance of the three strong films from Daenerys Entertainment, the most direct consequence was the dismal opening of the other two large-scale films last week.

The fourth place on the list, "Jingle All the Way", this family comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, only made $12.17 million at the box office in its first week, and its production cost of $30 million is equivalent to three times that of "Good Will Hunting". The box office is only half of "Good Will Hunting". Under such a start, the domestic box office of the film is expected to be only 30 million to 40 million US dollars, and the producer Fox can only expect to recover the cost from overseas and surrounding areas. And Schwarzenegger's voluntary half of the salary cut comes with the sharing contract, which basically becomes a piece of waste paper.

Disney's fifth-place black comedy "Angel Bodyguard" cost $40 million more than "Jingle All the Way". It didn't even break 10 million at the box office in its first week, and it made only $9.69 million in seven days, which is even more bleak.

Lastly, I would like to mention that "The English Patient", which was screened in the Los Angeles area on 10 screens last week, not only won praise from critics in terms of word of mouth, but also reached an average of 49,000 screenings in a single week on a small scale. The US dollar basically followed the winning route set by Simon and made steady progress.

December 20.

In the new box office week, in addition to the menacing "Charlie's Angels", this week also opened together with an animated film from Paramount's "Defined Four and Big Head" and Madonna's "Mrs. Bellon".

"Charlie's Angels" needless to say.

"The Depressed and the Big Head" is a movie version of a popular serial animation adapted by Paramount. It has a 2D style and a style similar to "The Simpsons". In short, it is a cannon fodder.

"Mrs. Veron", in which Queen McKay gave it a go, is on point.

Although it has won a series of Golden Globe nominations and Her Lady Queen has also received an endorsement from Simon, Paramount still adopts this rather conservative distribution strategy in order to avoid the crushing of a number of strong films at the end of the year, and even plans to Zhou's New Year's Day week will continue to be screened until the end of the year.

In addition, this week's "The English Patient" is still screened, but the screen size has been increased from 10 screens last week to 27 screens, and a large-scale opening is planned next week. .