novellhall Chapter 44: Settlement of Payments for Three Consecutive Films After Screening
Chapter 44: Settlement of Payments for Three Consecutive Films After Screening
After Han Sanping and his group left, several films invested in by Lin Dong also entered the countdown to their end of screening.
May 24th, 10:00 AM.
When Chen Xinjian placed the two settlement reports on Lin Dong's desk, it was raining outside.
"The horror films 'Hotline' and 'The Way We Are' both finished their run early this morning. The cinemas have already transferred the revenue sharing to us."
Lin Dong opened the first report.
The total box office of "Hotline" was 370,000. It was shown in the midnight slot for less than three weeks, and the occupancy rate dropped from 30% at the beginning to less than 50% on the last night.
Based on a 43% revenue-sharing ratio, and after deducting copying costs, his share would be slightly over 14 yuan. The copyright was valued at 18 yuan and is already in the acquisition process with Tengda Company. Combined, he recouped his investment of 32 yuan.
An investment of 300 million yuan resulted in a net loss of 268 million yuan.
Then came "The Way We Are," which had an even lower budget, with an investment of 80 HKD, but only a pitiful 12 HKD at the box office.
This is an art-house film. The copyright was valued at 80,000, the total cost was 125,000, and the net loss was 675,000.
Lin Dong opened the system panel and pressed "Confirm Settlement". The system displayed a review progress bar, which completed in just 20 seconds.
The system notified: 2680 million + 675 million have been returned. Adding to the 1725 million returned from "The Unemployed Emperor", the personal account has now firmly reached over 5000 million.
Lin Dong stacked the two reports together and placed them on the corner of the table. He silently calculated in his mind that, with the remaining 50 million from the original loan that had not yet been spent, he had 100 million Hong Kong dollars at his disposal.
A smile played on his lips as he picked up his teacup and took a sip. The tea was still warm, and the sweet aftertaste of the Pu'er lingered on his tongue.
After Chen Xinjian finished his report, he left. Just as the door was pushed open, Li Jiaxin walked in with a lazy gait.
She was wearing a light blue silk shirt and white wide-leg pants. She sat down on the sofa, propped her chin up with one hand, and looked at Lin Dong.
"Ah Dong, I've been the manager of the artist department for almost two months now."
Her tone was a little aggrieved, yet also a little coquettish, "I only have two people under me—one is Zhang Baizhi, who is always thinking about how to climb out of my position; the other is Fan Binbin, who is still in mainland China, and we haven't even finished negotiating his contract termination."
She stood up and walked to the side of the desk, her fingers resting on the edge, leaning slightly forward. "I want to hire people. Sign up a few good prospects. Otherwise, being a manager is—too boring."
"You can arrange it yourself." Lin Dong put down his teacup. "Sign if you see something suitable."
Li Jiaxin's eyes lit up, but before she could speak, Lin Dong added, "Huang Baiming's 'Love Dream Ship' starts filming next month, and you're the female lead, don't forget."
"Of course I haven't forgotten." She walked behind him, placed her hands on his shoulders, and whispered in his ear, "When have I ever delayed your plans?"
Lin Dong patted the back of her hand. "Is there anything else?"
"There really is one." Li Jiaxin walked back to him, sat down in the chair again, and switched her tone from coquettish to a leisurely gossipy tone, "Your former secretary, Xiang Hailan, made it to the finals of yesterday's Miss Hong Kong semi-finals."
Lin Dong raised an eyebrow slightly.
"The paparazzi also dug up that she used to be your secretary at Tengda. It was mentioned in the entertainment section this morning—with a photo of her at the semi-finals, and your picture in a small box next to her."
Looking at Lin Dong's expression, a playful smile appeared on her lips. "Would you say I've discovered a promising talent for you? Should we sign him?"
Lin Dong shook his head.
What Xiang Hailan did in the office on the day she resigned was like the final settlement of a transaction—she owed him nothing, and he owed her nothing.
It was just a fleeting romance.
"Let her develop as she will," Lin Dong said.
5 month 26 number.
"Ah Qiang's Last Night" also ended its run today.
After Chen Yaowen was replaced, the new director Zheng Baorui, sent by Chen Xinjian, recovered the overspending, but the quality of the finished film did not improve significantly.
With an investment of 120 million, the final box office was 46 – this figure is the best among the films released in the same batch, but it is still far from breaking even.
Revenue sharing of 17.5 yuan and copyright valuation payment of 25 yuan resulted in a total return of 42.5 yuan. Net loss was 77.5 yuan.
The system returned ten times the amount, totaling 775 million.
"Mongkok Street" is still holding on thanks to Lam Tung's name, with a box office of HK$680,000, but the occupancy rate has dropped to less than 20%, and it is estimated that it will be pulled from theaters in a few days.
Lin Dong is very excited because after the settlement of "Mongkok Street", he may be able to access HK$1.5 million.
That evening, Happy Valley.
The bedroom was filled with the scent of shower gel and a faint smell of sweat, and the bedside lamp was turned to its dimmest setting.
Li Jiaxin leaned on his shoulder, her hair spread out on the pillow, her cheeks still flushed. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing gradually evened out.
"Ah Dong."
"Um."
"Let me check the stocks."
She turned over, picked up the stock trading machine from the bedside table, and skillfully entered the code. The screen lit up, illuminating her face. Then her fingers stopped.
She sprang out of bed, the blanket sliding up to her waist without her noticing, her hands gripping the stock trading machine, her eyes fixed on the fluctuating numbers on the screen.
"It's fallen. Ah Dong—a big drop. 118."
The voice was tense, with the final syllable rising upwards.
For the past month or so, Amazon's stock price has been fluctuating around $130 or $140, with little variation.
Her cost basis was only 69.5, and at its peak, her unrealized profit exceeded 1700 million US dollars. So she didn't pay much attention to small fluctuations—she wouldn't move unless Lin Dong gave the order.
But something's not right tonight. The number has dropped drastically. With her refresh of the page again, the number that popped up again was 117.5.
It has already dropped by 12%.
"The market hasn't closed yet. It's still falling." She turned to look at Lin Dong, her expression somewhat tense.
Lin Dong took the stock trading machine, stared at the number on the screen, and frowned slightly.
He quickly went through his memories of his past life—Amazon's trend was upward, rising from tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars before the dot-com bubble burst.
He couldn't recall the details of whether there had been any significant pullbacks. All he knew was that the overall direction was correct, and every decent pullback was an opportunity to make money.
"Don't panic." He handed the stock trading machine back. "Buy more shares."
Li Jiaxin blinked.
"I'll transfer HK$100 million to you tomorrow, and then you can talk to the brokerage firm."
Seeing that Li Jiaxin didn't understand, Lin Dong patiently added, "Your account currently has a large enough unrealized profit, so the risk control team won't be too strict with you. Once the money is in your account, you can ask them for the highest leverage ratio."
"It's already this high, why are you still using leverage?" Li Jiaxin was a little surprised, but she didn't have much doubt.
Lin Dong glanced at her and said decisively, "Just do as I say!"
Li Jiaxin quickly and obediently nodded, then thought for a moment and said, "Any amount of the additional funds I add is yours!"
Lin Dong laughed and patted her bottom. "Of course it's mine. You think you can just swallow my money?"
Seeing that Li Jiaxin was still staring at the stock chart, Lin Dong said impatiently, "Stop looking at it, go to sleep."