Chapter 131: An Amazing Teammate

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The 14th of February marked a full two weeks since the first screening of “Wa-wah Robot: A Brilliant and Brave Rescue.” The latest box office number was 5.812 billion. It far surpassed that of the previous box office champion, “Battle Dragons 2,” and seized that title for itself. It broke the movie box office records in Z country.

This result caused an intense debate in the film communities of Z country. The response amongst netizens who loved this movie was very enthusiastic. Many of them shouted, “I strongly support this,””Wa-wah is impressive,” or “I contributed to box office sales too.”

It had also attracted much attention and reports from the overseas media. A movie typically or typically about a month in the cinemas. Some movies might be screened for a longer duration of two to three months. “Wa-wah Robot: A Brilliant and Brave Rescue” had only been screened in cinemas for half a month.

Various industry professionals tried to evaluate and speculate on its final total box office sales.

“The sales from the first week that a movie runs in the cinemas usually represent 40% of total box office sales. Two weeks could represent 70% of the total box office sales. There was not much potential that could be tapped in the following weeks. However, assuming that ‘Wa-wah’ could still tap on a 30% sales potential, that meant that the total box office sales could reach 8.3 billion… A terrifying number.”

“8.3 billion? Impossible! This is equivalent to roughly 300 million viewers from the cinemas. But Z country’s movie chains have not been able to achieve a national distribution rate of 50%. Most farming villages and small towns have no cinemas at all. A movie so good that it can attract 50% or more of its viewers to go to a cinema? That’s practically impossible. Box office sales in the later period will only reach a maximum of one billion.”

“Who said it’s impossible? The average price of a ticket to see the ‘Wa-wah Robot’ is $38. 8.3 billion divided by 38. It only has to be good enough to attract 218 million citizens to go into the cinemas and watch the movie. This also means that out of three people who walk into a cinema, as long as one of them buy a ticket, box office sales of 8.3 billion can be achieved. It’s not impossible!”

“No matter if it’s impossible or not, the record-breaking sales of 6.5 billion in national box office sales by ‘Wa-wah Robot’ has created a new box office record that will be hard to surpass. This will soon be an unchangeable fact.”

“A director who’s not even 24 and a fresh grad to boot; a tech company that has only been established for just over a year. The two joined forces to create a new box office record. One cannot help but lament: This era ultimately belongs to the youth.”

…

After smashing through all previous records of box office sales, Chen Jin called Shi Xiaotao and consulted with her on some questions. “Xiaotao, what do you think will be the final sales of this movie?”

“Erm…” After some thought, she replied, “I think it shouldn’t be too hard to achieve seven billion. I dare not imagine a greater number. Moreover, the movie is pretty good, so there are many film distributors from various countries who are looking to collaborate with us. Merica, Japan, Gorea, the Southeast Asian states, and the European states… more than 50 countries and regions want to import this movie. We are urgently producing overseas subtitled versions. If we can screen it overseas, with their considerable scope, it would not be difficult to rake in another three billion from overseas box offices.”

“Doesn’t that mean that global box office sales would reach 10 billion?”

Shi Xiaotao said calmly, “Yes, ‘Wa-wah Robot’ will not only be the first movie to break through box office sales of one billion in the domestic market, but it will also be the first movie from Z country to break through box office sales of one billion in the global film market. We’ve fully surpassed ‘Battle Dragons 2’ and brought Z country’s movies to a whole new level.” Mentally, she felt very calm too. Although she was very proud of these accomplishments, she felt more stress than pride. The heavy burden that she carried on her shoulders also bore the expectations of countless citizens.

At only 20-some years of age, she could not allow herself to rest on her laurels and live off her past glories. She could only continue to create more glories of an even greater magnitude. If her next movie brought in box office sales of less than three billion, she might even be seen as a failure by others. With the first spotlight on her from the top directors, she was not allowed any chances of failure.

…

“10 billion in total box office sales?” Chen Jin took in a deep breath. He never thought that making movies could be so profitable. How much money could he portion out from the 10 billion in box office earnings?

He calculated Shi Xiaotao’s share.

Firstly, based on the current box office sales of 5.8 billion, he calculated the 5% tax that he would have to pay the specialized fund office as a contribution to the funds for the filmmaking industry. After which, he had to pay a 3.3% business tax. After subtracting the required tax payments from the total box office revenues, he was able to get the net box office profits. From the net profits, he subtracted another 600 million. If the remaining number was greater than three million, he would have to pay another 1% in fees to the movie issuing agency.

Of the net box office profits that were currently left, the cinemas and their respective chains would receive a cut of 57%. The production and publishing organizations would receive 43%. Shi Xiaotao did not own any publishing organization. Hence she forked out 100 million to buy out a movie publisher and completed the publicity and distribution of the movie.

After subtracting all that should be subtracted, 2.16 billion of box office profits were left for the production organization.

Of which, Chen Jin received a 50% cut of 1.8 billion as well as a 1% cut of total box office sales, which was 5.8 million. He received a total of 1.14 billion. The remaining one billion was remuneration for Shi Xiaotao and other investors.

Chen Jin did some mental calculation and said, “Xiaotao, you mentioned that you invested a total of 300 million in this movie. However, according to this method of distribution, you’ll not only earn nothing, but you’ll also make a significant loss? That is if box office sales of ‘Wa-wah’ was less than two billion.”

“Hmm, yes.” She nodded. “I’ll lose an estimated 10 million. But a movie’s profits do not only come from box office sales. It can also create and promote plenty of merchandise on the side to acquire copyright royalties from third-party distributors. It could be made available on the movie libraries of smart TVs where the audience would pay for videos on demand. It’s entirely possible to break even in the end. Therefore… as long as box office sales of ‘Wa-wah’ is not lower than two billion, it can be considered a success.”

Moreover, the overseas market was a significant source of sales that could contribute to a certain amount of earnings. With two billion in box office sales, not only would she break even, she would even make a small profit. However, now that box office sales of ‘Wa-wah’ was rapidly approaching six billion, the hard-earned money of Shi Xiaotao and her parents was recouped at least three times over. After all the suffering came the reward.

As for the next plan of action, Chen Jin asked, “What do you plan to do after this? What kind of movie are you preparing to do next?”

“I’ve not thought about it properly. I plan to have a good rest for one month. Then, I’ll think about it.”

Suddenly, Chen Jin said, “How about this, you don’t have to think anymore. Your next movie will be ‘Wa-wah Robot 2’!”

“Ah! President Chen, you still want to collaborate with me for the sequel to ‘Wa-wah’?” Shi Xiaotao was pleasantly surprised. Her next plan of action was to do a sequel to “Wa-wah Robot.” But, she did not dare to propose this idea. There were too many famous directors who had set their sights on the intellectual property of ‘Wa-wah.’ There were certainly many who approached President Chen for a collaboration. With her own background and lack of connections, there was a high probability that she could not hold onto the intellectual property rights to this giant of a movie. She also did not dare to ask for the production rights to the sequel as she feared that she would leave a greedy impression on President Chen. After all, it was a movie that could bring in tens of billions. Could it be hers simply by asking? Hence, she could only find an opportune moment and probe his attitude. She had never thought that he would broach the subject and give the production rights to her directly.

“I don’t like to change working partners on a constant basis. I have fewer worries about working with you. In addition, I hope that you can start on the sequel ‘Wa-wah 2’ as soon as possible, preferably by March, so that it can be completed by the end of the year. I want it to be on the screening schedule of the next Spring Festival! Your mission is very important. Time is of the essence! In addition, a very important character will be joining the cast of ‘Wa-wah 2’. It’s a robot that’s almost as important as Wa-wah. It will occupy a significant portion of screen time! It is also the second type of robotic product that will be launched by Xing Hai Technologies! At the earliest, it will be launched at the end of the year. Therefore, I hope that you can complete this movie before the launch of this product by Xing Hai Technologies.” Chen Jin asked, “Lastly, the same old rules apply. I’ll provide you with the source materials for the characters in the animation and post-production optimization! Can you, again, be an amazing teammate that I can count on and finish this project together?”

With excitement coursing through her, Shi Xiaotao immediately promised, “President Chen, that won’t be a problem at all!” Actually, it was not necessary for her to exhibit an “amazing” standard for this project collaboration. She only had to be slightly smarter than a pig and avoid being the weakest link. With the lead of Xing Hai Technologies and the mysterious team of experts, box office sales of the movie ‘Wa-wah Robot 2’ would definitely reach five billion. If that number was not attained, she would commit hara-kiri as a total “incompetent pig.”

This collaboration was a done deal!