Chapter 224: Malicious obstruction

'Mr. Zhou Ming, I know that there may be some difference between the box office revenue of 30,000 US dollars a day and your expectations, but please forgive me for saying so bluntly, but for some low-budget movies is already a very good box office revenue, because after one week, it has already made 210,000 USD, which is enough to convince the cinema chain to show it the following week. This is generally enough.'

Aiger then said to Ming Zhou, 'But I think you, Mr. Ming Zhou, are definitely not satisfied with this box office revenue, so are you still planning to continue to increase the scale of the screenings? If I'm afraid the buyout fee will have to continue to increase. This is already written into the contract.'

Zhou Ming could hear the mockery in Egg's words, but what he said was also true. When the contract was first drawn up, there was already a clause for continued expansion of the screening scale.

30,000 US dollars a day at the box office, which translates to an average attendance rate of only about 10 to 15 percentage points. This is a fairly decent attendance rate for a small-budget movie.

Generally speaking, if you can maintain this attendance rate while increasing the scale of the screening, you can also receive a good return, at least recoup your costs and make a small profit. However, the key is that under the contract for a share of the box office, as long as the scale of screenings is increased, the distribution company can also increase its income, and of course it is happy to increase distribution. However, Zhou Ming is now signing a buyout contract, and without a continuous increase in the buyout fee, the distributor has no incentive to increase the scale of screenings.

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and said to Eiger: 'The scale of the screening will definitely increase. After all, as early as when the contract was signed, I said so. But the box office of 30,000 US dollars is only for the first day, and there may be changes in the future.'

Eiger smiled and said, 'It seems that Mr. Zhou Ming still has a lot of confidence in his film. However, as an experienced distributor of animated films, I need to remind you that animated films are not the most popular genre in the market, let alone independent productions. Therefore, it is relatively good to have this box office revenue.'

'By I think I should also remind Mr Zhou Ming that since your film had a preview three days ago, technically yesterday was not the first day of release, so in my opinion, unless a miracle happens, it is unlikely to continue to grow.' Eg added.

'I think that people should still have a little hope, after all, miracles can still happen!'

Zhou Ming After optimistically throwing out this point of view, he ended the call with Eiger. Although Ming spoke with confidence, in reality he was also very puzzled. After all, a box office of 30,000 US dollars a day was also beyond his expectations.

If If this was really the first day of release, perhaps Zhou Ming could understand, but the problem is that, as Eger said, there was a preview before, so today is not the first day of release, and it's actually only so little, which makes people worry.

Could it be is it really because I asked Jobs to release this movie too early that the quality of the animation has declined?

Zhou Ming felt a little doubtful, but although he could no longer remember the specific plot or the animation quality of Toy Story, he had personally went to the cinema myself, and both the overall quality of the film and the nostalgic emotions it evoked were still very well expressed, so it shouldn't have been that bad.

At this point, Tang Ran suddenly asked, 'Ming, have the box office statistics for yesterday's film come out yet? How did it do?'

'One was only 30,000 US dollars, which was not particularly good.'

Zhou Ming did not hide the truth and told Tang Ran the most realistic answer. Tang Ran then listened carefully and counted on her fingers: 'If it is 30,000 US dollars a day then a week is 210,000 US dollars, even if it is played continuously for four weeks, it is only 8.4 million US dollars, and this money still has to be divided with the cinema chain, so there is not much left!'

'Indeed true.'

Zhou Ming said with a bitter smile. Then he thought of something and asked Tang Ran, 'Ran, go ask Xiaoxue to ask her classmates what they think of the movie.'

'But I think the movie is great, I want to watch it again and again! And yesterday was the first day of the movie's release, didn't we go to the cinema then? I saw that there were a lot of people there, it wasn't exactly packed, but there were more than half a dozen people there!' Tang Ran said, a little confused.

Zhou Ming rubbed Tang Ran's little head and said, 'But just because we think it's good doesn't mean other Americans will think so too. Similarly, the cinema we went to yesterday doesn't represent all cinemas. So we need to find out more to find out what's wrong.'

Tang Ran nodded nodded, but muttered, 'These Americans are really bad, they don't appreciate it at all!'

Subsequently, Zhou Ming went to the café with Tang Ran to find Xiaoxue. In response to Zhou Ming's question, Xiaoxue said that she had already contributed to the box office at the cinema, but her classmates had not yet called, so she did not know what the situation was like.

At Zhou Ming's request, Xiaoxue called Li Tao, who was the guy who was chasing her, the main investor in the coffee shop, and the administrator of the Stanford community. He supported Zhou Ming's online promotion, so he was definitely the most reliable and would go watch it on the first day. It was just that Zhou ming. What they didn't expect was Li Tao's news.

'Li Tao said he paid to take his friends to the cinema yesterday, but when they arrived at the door, someone wouldn't let them in. And it wasn't just not just them, but also many other people at the door were in the same situation. Someone here asked them what movie they were watching, and as long as they were watching Toy Story, they were not allowed into the cinema, so many people just gave up like this,' Xiaoxue said to Ming Zhou.

Ming Zhou sighed in response said with a sigh. Tang Ran was a little surprised and asked, 'What do you mean, Ming? Did you guess someone would do this? It must be those people from Disney who did it. They just want you to pay more for the exclusive rights!'

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'I don't think it was them. Although I signed a buyout contract with them, was booming, I would also increase the scale of the screenings, and they would also receive more buyout fees. On the whole, they still had an interest and would not stoop to such despicable actions.'

'Then would it be the other heirs?' Tang Ran himself dismissed the idea, 'It shouldn't be them either. After all, they have already formed an alliance with Tang Lin and Ming Ge through you, and this alliance is obviously beneficial to them beneficial to them. I don't think they would be so stupid as to plot against you behind your back. Besides, Tang Lin would never agree to it.'

'But if it wasn't them, then who else could it be?' Tang Ran asked, puzzled.

'Whether We can't guess here, we'll have to ask them.'

Zhou Ming then went with Tang Ran to find Tang Lin. At this time, Tang Lin was still verifying the box office data of Toy Story yesterday. After all, a daily box office of 30,000 US dollars looked like a blockbuster. And since Zhou Ming had been so convincing, and he had invested so much money, he was determined not to let it all go down the drain for nothing.

It was precisely for for this reason, Tang Lin believes that Disney has falsely reported the box office, with the aim of confusing them, and then continue to increase the number of screenings and offer more buyout fees.

However, today Zhou Ming and Tang Ran came over, and the result surprised him: 'Zhou Ming, you said someone was maliciously preventing those audience members from entering?'

Tang Ran nodded and said, 'Yes, this is what Xiaoxue's friend told us personally. They were going to the cinema to watch the movie, but someone stopped everyone who wanted to see Toy Story at the door, so they lost a lot of box office.'

Zhou Ming took over Tang Ran's words and continued, 'We now suspect that it was done by other Tang heirs, but Tang Lin, you said last time that you had already formed an alliance with the other heirs, so it doesn't make sense for them to do this.'

'No, there's there is someone who has not formed an alliance, and that is the family's second-in-line successor, Tang Yu. The other day, he had a falling out with Tang Yi and Tang Wan'er, so I didn't wait for him. We are not considered allies, and even if he came, I don't think I could successfully form an alliance with him.' Tang Lin said and was a little unsure, 'But whether it is him or not, I think I still need to investigate.'

Tang Lin said, and in front of Zhou Ming and Tang Ran, he made a phone call, simply and clearly to find out who was blocking people from entering the cinema at the cinema entrance.

Subsequently, Tang Lin then made another call, directly to Tang Yi and Tang Wan'er, asking if they had been involved in the incident. The result of this call was obvious. Both Tang Yi and Tang Wan'er denied any involvement, and in the end, he could only wait for the results of the investigation.

While Zhou Ming was waiting for the results at Tang Lin's, something else was happening in a luxurious private room at San Francisco's St. Nella's Restaurant.

Tang Yu was sitting in his seat, but unlike before when he was accompanied by Tang Yi and Tang Wan'er, today he was sitting here alone, and he no longer had his usual elegant posture. He exuded a ferocious aura.

Suddenly, the door to the private room opens, and a large man with a scar on his face walks in. He walks over to Tang Yu and sits down opposite him. He looks around and says with emotion, 'You really are the second-in-line successor of the Tang family. . This private restaurant, Shengna, I knew about it long ago, but I never thought that I would be able to dine here one day. But thanks to Mr. Tang Yu's hospitality.'

Facing the big man's flattery compliment, Tang Yu frowned unhappily. He took out a suitcase, placed it on the table, and pushed it towards the big man while saying, 'This is your reward. I hope you continue to do a good job in the future.'

The big man didn't mind Tang Yu's slightly offensive tone of voice. Instead, he opened the suitcase in front of Tang Yu, carefully checked the money inside, then closed the suitcase and said to Tang Yu thank you: 'Don't worry, I will do my best to carry out your task. Anyone who wants to see Toy Story, I and my men will stop them outside the cinema.'

After saying this, the big man left, except that before he left, he shook his head and muttered, 'These rich people really don't know what they're thinking. There are actually people who don't let other people watch movies. That's really sick!'

After the big man left, Tang Yu slammed his hand down on the table. But instead of cursing the big man, he let out a ferocious smile: 'Damn you, Zhou Ming, I won't let you get your way. Whether it's Jackel or Toy Story, as long as it's your project, I'll do everything I can to stop it! Because I am the sole heir to the Tang family!'

'Everyone else can go to hell!' Tang Yu roared.