Chapter 459: Layout of MGM

Wu Lanfang felt the strength of the little man's chest and wished time would freeze at this moment.

She was willing to have a child for him, even if it was not named or given to him.

At the beginning, he chose me to be his assistant, and I had some intentions of seducing her. At that time, my intentions were not pure.

But after two or three years of seduction, he remained unmoved. Instead, she began to look at him with admiration and unknowingly, engraved him in her mind.

Later, once the taboo was broken, things got out of control.

It turns out that love is really such a wonderful thing in this world.

When the heaven and the earth parted forever, she had to sigh that she had a miserable life and would never deserve a good person or good love.

After getting it back, I just thought that whatever Wang Yuanchao said was true. He had already run away, but he was still thinking about coming back to find me!
When he learned that he might be able to have a child, he asked himself and decided that he wanted to have one!
She might not be able to possess him for long, but she wanted a child with him.

She gently stroked her belly, hoping that the seed had been planted...
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Originally in history, "Enter the Dragon" was released in the United States in August, and Bruce Lee passed away in July.

But at this time and space, in May, Bruce Lee was forced by Wang Yuanchao to rest for three months. In August, he was taken to Hollywood for a stroll to show his face and build momentum for "Enter the Dragon".

Originally, Warner Bros. was quite critical of the delay in timing, but no matter what, "The Godfather" and "American Graffiti", both of which were invested by Orange, were huge successes, so for the upcoming "Enter the Dragon", it will have some bonus effect. People are more superstitious about and admire successful people for continuing to be successful.

Bruce Lee was also able to follow the promotional rhythm of "American Graffiti" and the Woodstock Music Festival and take advantage of a wave of promotional resources across the United States.

They even performed several interactive shows at the music festival as a break between song programs, and the shows were broadcast live on TV to thousands of households.

As one of the investors, Wang Yuanchao did everything he could. If he had known that he could acquire MGM, he should not have cooperated with Warner at that time. But who knew about this?
Warner was even unwilling to calculate the publicity and promotion costs with him!

Forget it, let's just consider it as a contribution to promote Chinese Kung Fu to the best of my ability.

Bruce Lee also knew that publicity is very important for a movie. No matter what his position was, he was always conscientious in publicity.

It was also at this time that Bruce Lee realized that Wang Yuanchao also had such great resources in the United States!
After the promotion, he returned to Hong Kong to complete the follow-up work such as dubbing and editing of the American version.

After the English version was completed, Warner couldn't wait to start previewing it.

Originally in history, Warner made reservations.

After all, the times have not changed, and the general environment of racial discrimination in the United States has not changed. The Hart-Celler Immigration Act was not passed until 1965. Before that, the US Immigration Service was still allocating visa quotas to immigrants from Asia based on race rather than nationality, and strictly stipulated that the annual Chinese immigration quota was 105 people. This is a naked portrayal of all kinds of discrimination.

Enter the Dragon was filmed in 1973, not far from 1965. Warner did not dare to take too much risk. Although it was a great feat to invite Bruce Lee back, in order to hedge the risk, Warner did not invest much in Enter the Dragon. In total, the investment amount was only 85 US dollars, which was the joint investment amount of Warner and Golden Harvest.

"Enter the Dragon" achieved a box office of 2500 million US dollars, which was extremely successful for an investment of 85 US dollars (about 500 million Hong Kong dollars, which is considered a huge investment in Hong Kong).

In terms of return on investment, Enter the Dragon has achieved a return of about 30 times, which is half higher than The Godfather! It is a great success.

Now, with Orange Pictures joining the US, although the investment is not large, Bruce Lee undoubtedly has a better creative environment. In addition, Orange Pictures also promoted the film at its own expense.

In the end, it grossed $3070 million at the box office!
Bruce Lee instantly became an idol for American teenagers. He was so cool! Not only was he very good at punching and kicking, but he also used three weapons: a stick, a Philippine short stick, and a nunchaku. The fighting scenes were very exciting.

Warner was very satisfied with the investment. In addition to being an investor, they were also the distributor, and took the fattest piece of meat at the box office. They only invested $30 and earned $1000 million.

Starlight and Concord invested 30 US dollars and earned 250 million US dollars, about 1500 million Hong Kong dollars, and they were very satisfied. In Hong Kong, the box office is not so high, and this is just the box office share in Hollywood!
As the second largest shareholder of Concord, director, leading actor, and screenwriter, Bruce Lee's personal share of the North American box office alone could earn him 250 million Hong Kong dollars. Wang Yuanchao sold off his shares wantonly, but Bruce Lee was unwilling to do so.

Not to mention the copyright revenue sharing in Southeast Asia, Europe, South America and other places.

Hong Kong newspapers published various shocking reports, which shocked all Hong Kong film professionals.

The share prices of Starlight and Concord both rose against the market trend!
This collaboration with Hollywood seems to have opened the door to a new world for Hong Kong filmmakers.

Orange invested $30 and earned $250 million, which is not bad in theory, but compared with "The Godfather" and "American Graffiti", the profit was greatly reduced.

Orange Films also began to gain fame among Hollywood film companies. There was no way around it. Every investment was profitable. Warner's distribution share was as high as 25%, and it easily took 750 million in distribution share!

At this point, it becomes clear how necessary it is to have our own distribution company - MGM.

It's just that apart from the 007 series, MGM has no major films to release for the time being, and it can't compare to the popularity of Paramount, Warner and Universal. No wonder tycoon Kerkorian wants to sell the distribution department.

Wang Yuanchao did not attend the celebration party for "Enter the Dragon". After acquiring MGM, just like in Hong Kong, he lived a secluded life and tried not to appear in public in a high-profile manner.

Being too famous is not comfortable enough.

However, after MGM acquired it, it still had to have a good talk with the management team. This is his largest acquisition so far.

“The Godfather, American Graffiti, and Enter the Dragon are the three films Orange Films has invested in since its establishment.

The Godfather has grossed over 2 million worldwide! American Graffiti has grossed over 3000 million in North America! Even Enter the Dragon has grossed over 80 million in North America, and its investment was only US dollars!
So, Orange Film, I, have rich investment experience.

Just think, folks, how much money we would make if we, MGM, were distributing these films!"

Wang Yuanchao said it very calmly, but the ironclad fact is here and anyone can see it in the newspapers. So the remnants of MGM, who were originally losing interest, couldn't help but be encouraged. The future described by the boss was really good!

In recent years, among the six major distribution companies, MGM has been the worst off, and has basically relied on the 007 series to survive.

If they had nowhere to go, there would probably be only a few kittens left by now.

MGM's dire situation did not happen overnight, so Wang Yuanchao only replaced the heads of finance and human resources, as usual, and did not make many changes to other positions. He needed organizational stability, and then human resources and finance to gradually understand the company's financial status, technical capabilities, employee situation, key talents, and potential legal issues.

Although the acquisition has been completed, we still have to conduct a thorough investigation and sort out some hidden loopholes and landmines in advance.

He knows a lot about the upcoming blockbusters, and there are plenty of opportunities to make money.

How to stabilize the current company?
It is enough to demonstrate strength and depict vision.

In addition, he also needs to understand MGM's distribution capabilities. It seems that they have declined over the years and need to be slowly repaired and improved.

So as for the original CEO Clark Green, he tried to retain him and help him lay a solid foundation and ensure execution.

As for investment, he personally takes charge of it.

The biggest risk for a film company is the investment risk. The boss took on this risk personally, and Clark Green naturally had no objection. If the execution was not done well, then he, as the CEO, would have nowhere to go.

When he was working under his former boss Kerkorian, he was only responsible for the distribution business and investment. Except for the 007 series, all other operations were almost completely suspended.

The job content is not much different even though the boss has changed, so Clark is very willing to cooperate. It’s not easy to find a CEO job, right?
Orange Films invested, and MGM was responsible for distribution, because MGM could also attract external investment, and perhaps follow-up investment, and take more of the light. After all, Orange Films' record is there, who wouldn't be tempted?
After brainwashing the team of the new company, Wang Yuanchao asked people to take out the projects that the company had recently received, including scripts and finished films, and look through them.

The script is something that people come and recommend themselves with their scripts.

A finished film is when someone brings their movie to a distribution company to buy out the film or to profit from its distribution.

Distribution also has costs, such as copy production costs, theater public relations and negotiation costs, publicity costs, and even award-winning costs, etc. You can't just make money when the box office is booming, but fail to see that distribution suffers huge losses when the box office is plummeting.

If it is a buyout, the buyout fee is also a cost. Whether you can make it back is a test of your vision and luck.

Wang Yuanchao couldn't finalize a project just by looking at the catalog. After all, the name of the project might change, and the English name and Chinese name might be different. Without looking at the synopsis, it would be impossible to evoke memories of some classic films.

Moreover, if it is not a particularly famous blockbuster, we have no idea how much the other party has done at the box office. Some classic films are well-received but not popular, so they can only be regarded as a name for investment.

It is impossible for Wang Yuanchao to watch movies at MGM headquarters all the time. He also has to go out for social events and pay taxes, right? Other companies cannot just ignore it. He is in the United States, right?
Even for the Christmas Eve dinner, SHE managed to take on a commercial performance near home so that they could have a meal together as a family.

As long as they are not divorced, the sense of ceremony of the family is still necessary.

(End of this chapter)