Chapter 1972: The Channel Is King

Zhao Fusheng had never before revealed his ambition for theater chains.

Not that he didn't want to, but the timing wasn't right.

The development of China's theater chain industry began with the four-trillion-yuan stimulus plan, which spurred the real estate sector.

Real estate companies have large amounts of cash, and in developing real estate, they hold the initiative in property resources.

Take Sicong's father as an example: his family's philosophy is to integrate shopping malls, creative leisure districts, film-themed parks, hotel clusters, and office buildings into the design of the entire plaza, creating a giant "consumer kingdom" that combines culture, tourism, and sightseeing, with the cinema serving as the core traffic entrance of the entire plaza.

The waters here are deep.

How deep?

For instance, if Future Films were to venture into theater chains in the future, they could acquire land at relatively low prices under the guise of cultural development.

After building a commercial center, they could attract traffic through cinemas and shopping malls, drive up property prices, and then quickly recoup funds by selling apartments and office buildings.

It was through this business model that Sicong's father built numerous commercial plazas across the country in just a few years, becoming a leading enterprise in China's commercial real estate.

Conversely, this approach could also increase the number of movie screens and boost box office revenue.

Zhao Fusheng had always had a clear vision for the future direction of Future Films.

Cherishing ideals, developing film animation, and laying out third-party ticketing platforms and upstream and downstream derivative industry chains, never being satisfied with the status quo.

That was Zhao Fusheng's idea.

Moreover, he was also considering the business of internet distribution.

After all, in his previous life, Zhao Fusheng knew that most people bought movie tickets online through limited-time purchases.

The film industry relies heavily on promotion and distribution; once the distribution channels are blocked, the already uncertain profitability of film box office would be further exacerbated.

Therefore, he had to prepare for the worst.

That was the reason he came to see Ye Jing today.

Of course, Ye Jing certainly didn't understand, so after listening to Zhao Fusheng, he frowned slightly: "Aren't we moving a bit too fast lately?"

In his view, recently Future Films had been acting out of character, launching new projects on a large scale, even with a sense of non-stop urgency. Zhao Fusheng seemed a bit impatient.

That was not good.

The development of a company requires not only drive but also stability.

At the very least, blindly starting new projects like this was not a good thing.

Even if, due to Zhao Fusheng's own wealth, the company's capital chain wouldn't break, the problem was that developing in this way would give Future Films the impression of biting off more than it could chew.

Whether as a friend or a subordinate, Ye Jing felt he should remind Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled, naturally understanding what Ye Jing's concern meant.

"Have you ever thought about what characteristics these things I'm considering and these projects I'm focusing on have?"

Looking at Ye Jing, Zhao Fusheng slowly asked.

"Characteristics?"

Ye Jing frowned at these words but did not immediately answer Zhao Fusheng.

Film bases, small theaters, and now theater chains.

Vaguely, Ye Jing seemed to grasp some clues.

But these clues were somewhat messy; he needed to piece them together in his mind.

Seeing Ye Jing lost in thought, Zhao Fusheng was not anxious and calmly picked up the tea in front of him to drink.

People are like that; when encountering something unknown, they always go through a gradual process of acceptance. What others need is not actually help in solving the problem, but sufficient patience.

At least, Zhao Fusheng felt his patience was fairly good.

After a long while, the expression on Ye Jing's face suddenly became animated.

Looking at Zhao Fusheng, he asked with some surprise: "You're not planning to focus on channels all along, are you?"

He had thought for a long time and finally realized that whether it was the film base to be built, the small theater in the capital, or the theater chain Zhao Fusheng was so confident about, in the final analysis, it was all about distribution channels.

"Of course."

Zhao Fusheng smiled upon hearing this: "The channel is king. Think about it, if we have theater chains, film bases, and small theaters in our hands, can't we make our own movies, promote our own people, and form a complete industrial chain?"

“This…”

Ye Jing was instantly dumbfounded.

Not because Zhao Fusheng’s idea was so wildly imaginative, but because he suddenly felt that, perhaps, maybe, probably, what Zhao Fusheng had said could actually be realized in his own hands.

If it were an outside company, abruptly entering this industry, it might provoke universal resistance.

But Future Films was different. After years of development, Future Films had long established a foothold in the entertainment industry and grown into a behemoth.

Though it couldn’t compare to the scale of the entire Future Group, no one in China’s film and television industry dared to ignore the power of Future Films.

Under these circumstances, if one wanted to expand and strengthen, the issue of distribution channels truly needed consideration.

But Ye Jing hadn’t expected that Zhao Fusheng would start laying out distribution channels at this very moment.

This guy’s ambition was simply too great!

Yet on second thought, this was exactly in line with Zhao Fusheng’s usual style of doing things.

This guy, while others only looked at the present or thought about the next three or four years, had already set his sights ten years ahead.

Ye Jing could even be certain that once Zhao Fusheng’s plan was implemented, as long as the leaders of Future Films didn’t court disaster, there would be no risk for at least twenty years.

Any enterprise that mastered both production and distribution channels would undoubtedly possess a “get-out-of-jail-free card.”

No matter how fierce the market competition, it wouldn’t shake their position.

After all, investing in film production might lose money, but theater chains that collected money while sitting still rarely lost money.

Why were film distribution companies so arrogant? Wasn’t it because they controlled the channels? Even investors had to bow their heads before distributors.

It was said that Third Master Han was the true big shot of Chinese cinema, ultimately because he was the head of China Film Group.

What did China Film Group do?

Whether it was a domestic film or an imported one, in the end, during censorship, it had to have his approval.

Legend had it that the reason Huayi was later hammered by Xiao Cui was because Third Master nodded his head.

Of course, from a filmmaker’s perspective, Third Master actually did quite well; he was an absolutely low-key, high-level film director and investor.

He invested in the earliest batch of domestic blockbusters. Though films like *The Promise* were flashy but insubstantial, they still stimulated the opening of various channels in China’s film market, expanding the audience, inflating the film industry, and pushing film technology to new heights.

From an overall perspective, Third Master’s support and investment were very beneficial to Chinese cinema.

Not only that, he also supported a batch of directors with fresh ideas, such as the newly emerged Xiao Pao, Kaige, Ning Hao, and Lu Chuan. Though how far they went depended on the individual, their debut works were exceptionally stunning and indelible in Chinese film history.

And he himself was indeed a very capable director. Although *The Founding of a Republic* and *Beginning of the Great Revival*, due to their large time spans and the many figures and events involved, adopted a plain and straightforward narrative method, they were still excellently made films in terms of camera work, editing, color, dialogue, pacing, and details.

Because of this narrative method and their tribute nature, they didn’t delve deeper into history, but these two films remain the most historically accurate and detailed popular artworks depicting the grand panorama of the Republican era.

Regarding imported films, during Third Master’s era, the main imports were first-tier Hollywood blockbusters that were sure to make money.

But to be honest, there wasn’t much to criticize, because the aesthetic taste of those who constantly complained about cuts was limited to popcorn movies, or they just jumped on the bandwagon to complain about so-called restricted content, making a fuss over nothing.

What was regrettable was that, in that era, China rarely imported art films or films from outside Hollywood.

Of course, this isn’t to say that Third Master was a perfect man, but at the very least, he contributed to the development of Chinese cinema.

Zhao Fusheng didn’t intend to become a second Third Master Han, nor could he, after all, the latter had background and status, and China Film Group was a state-owned enterprise, while Future Films was at most a private company.

But Zhao Fusheng felt that he could make Future Films even better.

“So, are you in or not?”

Zhao Fusheng looked at Ye Jing and asked with a smile.

As the general manager of Future Films, this matter naturally couldn’t be decided by him alone; he had to discuss it with Ye Jing, at least to gain his support.

Ye Jing thought for a moment and nodded: “I’m in.”

He was also a man with ideas. For one thing, given Future Films’ situation, if it wanted to develop further, competing for channels was inevitable.

As the helmsman of Future Films, Ye Jing naturally hoped the company could develop better.

“But since that’s the case, shouldn’t we consider going public?”

Ye Jing looked at Zhao Fusheng, thought for a moment, and said: “I think the ChiNext doesn’t seem suitable for us.”

To be honest, both Ye Jing and Zhao Fusheng knew very well what the domestic stock market was like. If Future Films set its sights on distribution channels, then listing domestically might not be the most suitable choice.

“Contact the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.”

Zhao Fusheng pondered for a moment and said to Ye Jing: “You’re right. It seems it’s time for us to make a choice.”