Rebirth In Hollywood

This time is an official visit. Ryan is not visiting as a Hollywood star, but the chairman and controlling party of Disney. In other words, unlike the previous pure film behaviors, this is a very formal business visit. .

Because Disneyland is about to officially settle in Shanghai. Shanghai.

After more than three years of operation and tug-of-war negotiations, the two sides on both sides of the Pacific finally reached a final agreement on the Shanghai Disneyland project. At the end of 2004, it also passed the high-level review of the other side.

One of the biggest purposes of Ryan's trip was to sign the final agreement on behalf of Walt Disney.

After he joined Disney, the group's media, including TV stations, rarely published remarks against China. In addition, he released enough goodwill over the years to finally end this marathon negotiation as soon as possible.

What's more, Disney will invest at least 30 billion RMB in the entire project. In a place where the economy is in command, how many officials would refuse such a large investment?

From the moment the special plane landed at Pudong Airport, Ryan has enjoyed the treatment that can only be seen in the news broadcast in his previous life. Not to mention the applause, welcome sound, and the shutter sound of the camera pressing the shutter, and the Young Pioneers presenting flowers is even more essential. There are few projects. Fortunately, he is just a businessman, and the reception ceremony is not too complicated.

Afterwards, there were a series of formulaic activities, such as meeting with the chief and deputy of Shanghai Shanghai City, participating in a reception reception, and a formal dinner organized by the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce and so on.

Although I didn't see April 86, the man who was famous for his acting skills flew over to have an open and formal meeting with him.

As the third person on the Forbes rich list, the Chinese side has given him enough attention, although in the eyes of some people, he is even more famous for his lack of business.

Of course, this is a completely equal conversation, and Ryan is just treating this side as a business rival and partner, even in meetings held on all formal occasions. He used a translator throughout.

After decades of experience, Ryan is very, very clear that it is not whether they can speak Chinese and like Chinese culture that determines the relationship between the two parties, but only interests!

Even if he can speak fluent Chinese. These people who have cultivated into essence, will they regard him as their own?

Don't be kidding, even if he donated his shares of Disney to this side, this side will probably stare at him with scrutiny, trying to see what conspiracy is behind him.

Interest is the only link that maintains the relationship between the two parties.

To put it bluntly, after the completion of Shanghai Disneyland, both parties can reap huge benefits from it.

The day after his arrival, Disney and Shanghai jointly held a press conference. On behalf of Disney, Ryan officially signed the "Disney Amusement Park Project Book and Memorandum" with the Shanghai Municipal Government, which will be jointly with Shanghai and Shanghai. City Hall. Build the first Disney theme park in mainland China, the second in China, the third in Asia, and the sixth Disney theme park in the world in Pudong.

Shanghai Disneyland covers an area of ​​1,000 acres with an investment of US$5.5 billion.

The centerpiece of the park will be a Magic Kingdom-style theme park. The entire park will present Disney's classic stories and characters through seven themed areas, including the Harry Potter area.

After completion, future tourists can experience the highest and largest Disney castle "Fantasy Fairytale Castle" and the world's first pirate-themed park "Pirate Bay" in Shanghai Disneyland. Two Friends Garden". A number of musicals, including "The Lion King" and "Toy Story", will be staged in the world-class Walt Disney Theater in the form of the world's first Mandarin version.

There is also a free Disney town in front of the park, which covers an area of ​​up to 500,000 square feet and is rich in food and a variety of Disney-related products. It has always been a major source of income for the park, and it is also a best-selling place for Disney movie peripherals.

As for the construction funds, Disney Group, with the assistance of Shanghai, has easily obtained a large amount of preferential loans from several large state-owned banks here, whether it is interest or repayment period. Far more cost-effective than financing from North America.

You know, including some other projects settled in the surrounding area, the investment that Disneyland indirectly brings to Shanghai will reach 100 billion RMB.

This is just an investment. On the third day after Ryan officially signed the agreement, Shanghai held an on-site auction for several pieces of land in Chuansha New Town, Pudong New Area, near the park. Land prices in these places have increased by a factor of fifteen, and the completion of Shanghai Disneyland will create at least 50,000 new local jobs.

In addition, Disney promised that in the future, students from major universities in Shanghai can go to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, to participate in the international summer internship program hosted by Disney, providing them with an opportunity to accumulate work experience in the tourism industry. Also get exposure to career development plans at Shanghai Disney Resort.

Hiring the vast majority of employees locally will save Disney a significant amount of labor costs.

In short, the reason why the two sides can reach a final agreement as soon as possible is because they see the prospect of a win-win situation.

After signing the agreement, Ryan's trip to China was about to come to an end. Before leaving, he also met another person who flew here.

It was the chairman of Wanda who came over, and the two sides were talking about nothing more than the construction of the theater chain.

As early as the beginning of last year, the joint venture theater company established by Disney and Wanda Group was completed. In March of the same year, the first joint venture Wanda Cinema was completed in Tianjin.

The controlling shareholder of Wanda Cinema is Wanda Investment Co., Ltd., which holds 340 million shares, accounting for 58% of the company's total share capital. Disney has invested in technology and capital, occupying 40% of the shares, which will not only help the cinema company provide learning and training opportunities, and adequate support for technologies such as 3d and imax.

As part of the cooperation, after Disney's films enter the Chinese market, Wanda will definitely give priority to guaranteeing the demand for Disney's films unless the superiors force the films to maintain the gear ratio.

In the future, Wanda Cinemas will be located in cinemas in first-tier cities, and there will inevitably be no less than one imax3d cinema.

The reason why Ryan chose Wanda is very simple. Wanda Cinemas is not only a cinema company, but also a cinema business. It can "eat" about 5% of the box office and about 50% of the theater's account at the same time. Its profitability is higher than that of most theater companies.

More importantly, the operating model of bundling commercial real estate and developing together can be the key to the sustained high growth of Wanda Cinemas.

Of course, if you ask Wanda Cinemas what the most profitable item is, it will definitely not be movie tickets, but popcorn.

In the last year of the previous life, in the cinema where Ryan worked, the annual income of popcorn reached 5.78 million yuan. Although it only accounted for 13.4% of the total income of the studio, the gross profit rate was 78%!

The profit in this area completely exceeds the profit in the box office.

He still remembers how some senior executives in the industry described some theater chains in North America—using movies to attract audiences and making money by selling popcorn.

Whether this is a joke or not, relying on selling products to earn a part or even most of the profits is a true portrayal of most theaters.

In this era of more and more entertainment, it is becoming more and more difficult for theaters to rely solely on movie box office to make money, just like producers.

Speaking of which, those sold items can also be counted as part of the movie peripherals.

In addition, the other party proposed a plan to build Eastern Hollywood, and Ryan also expressed his intention to cooperate. According to the inference of the previous life, the annual box office limit of China in the next ten years will be about 3 billion to 4 billion US dollars. With the copyright system gradually perfected, the benefits of the surrounding area can be described as infinite potential.

Carving a big piece of the pie from this market is definitely one of the business strategies he and Disney have been implementing.

Afterwards, Ryan left Shanghai and flew directly to London.

Taylor was doing publicity in London. He didn't say hello in advance, he just wanted to come and see her. When the initial freshness disappeared, it was very hard to run the publicity announcement.

Only when he came to the Hilton Hotel in the evening and knocked on Taylor's presidential suite, it turned out to be Scarlett Johansson who appeared in front of him.

"Scarlett, why are you here?" The girl opposite seemed unnatural.

"I... I'm filming in Paris." Scarlett touched her face subconsciously, and quickly let Ryan into the room, "I'm here after a few days of rest."

"Don't you know?" Tyler walked out of the bedroom wearing a loose turtleneck, yawning a little, "Scarlett took over the role of daughter in "Hurricane Rescue".

"I think Liam Neeson would wonder why he was so tall and gave birth to such a short daughter."

While muttering, Tyler quickly walked to Ryan's side and hugged him tightly, "I'm so tired, I miss you so much, I miss Nicole so much."

"Honey." Ryan patted the girl on the back comfortably, "We miss you too."

Tyler's head was lowered, just like when he was a child, he habitually pressed his forehead on his shoulder a few times, that is, at this moment, Ryan noticed that there seemed to be two faint marks on Tyler's neck under the collar. purple prints...

Before he could see clearly, Tyler suddenly released him, rubbed his neck, walked to Scarlett who was sitting on the sofa, and complained, "It's all your fault, Scarlett, you pinched my neck out. Bruised!"

"Hey, you provoked first, okay?" Scarlett glared at her.

The two guys put on a cockfighting look again, and Ryan couldn't help covering his forehead, "Okay, Scarlett, and Alison, have you had dinner?"

"Not yet." The two girls shook their heads.

"Go back and change clothes." Ryan shook his head in the direction of the bedroom, "Let's go to dinner together." ()