Millennium director

USA, Los Angeles, Wu Yuan's home in Beverly Hills.

As soon as he arrived in Los Angeles, before he could go to the company to inspect, John took the initiative to visit Wu Yuan.

"Daniel, "World War Z" has started shooting in Australia and is expected to be completed before the end of the year."

"As for Jennifer Lawrence, the company has also reached an agreement with her and signed a contract for "The Hunger Games". She will become the heroine of three movies in this series."

"Gary Ross agreed to direct the series after reading the script, but the film won't start filming until February next year."

"If everything goes well, it will be released at the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013."

The three film production projects of Light and Shadow Era this year are all on track. The fastest-moving "World War Z" has been filming for more than a month, and Wu Yuan's "The Martian" is about to start filming.

Overall, this year should be the year with the most projects and film productions since the establishment of Light Times.

If we also count the two "Twilight Saga" movies that were filmed at the beginning of the year and are scheduled to be released in November this year and next November, Light Times will be planning to produce five movies in one and a half years.

The company's originally abundant liquidity was almost completely drained by these five movies.

After all, in addition to this, the company also has cooperation with Fox and New Line.

The Alien prequel, which was renamed "Prometheus" from "Paradise", and "Kingsman 2" from New Line, both of which require one-third to half of the financing.

"Prometheus" is almost finished. Zhu Yawen and Jin Sha have gained a lot of gold in this crew. After returning to China, their net worth will rise a lot.

After "Prometheus" is released, if the two of them are more shameless, they can publish press releases to promote themselves as Hollywood movie stars, or even international movie stars.

Fan Xiaopang can brag like this. It makes no sense that the two people who actually acted in Hollywood blockbusters and served as the background of the protagonists in the movie can't brag like this.

Cheng Long, a real international superstar, will also continue filming the second part of "Kings Agent".

"Kingsman 1" received a good response in North America and even around the world. The global box office was 384.14 million, which was far behind, but the gap was mainly in the mainland market.

The original "Kingsman 1" was released in 2015, and the mainland box office market is huge. It grossed 150 million in the first three days, and even 300 million in the second week.

This achievement was achieved in 2010, which only "Avatar" could achieve.

Even with Cheng Long starring, the box office of "Ace Agent 1" in the mainland was only over 200 million yuan, which was far behind the original version.

However, because Cheng Long's fame and influence are now at their peak, "Kingsman 1" has performed even better at the international box office than the original version released in 2015.

With this decrease and increase, Cheng Long's version of "Ace Agent" only received 3.8, which is less than 30 million US dollars.

This result is undoubtedly very good. At least New Line and Light Times still made a small profit.

Later, Cheng Long was invited by Wu Yuan to make a film "Kung Fu Dream".

Although this "Kung Fu Dream" has little presence in China, it also performed very well at the box office when it was released in the mainland. It is very incompatible with the country.

But scripts that cater to the Hollywood aesthetic have become a hit in overseas markets, especially North America!

With its sparkling young and old cast, exciting fights and American-style laughs, "Kung Fu Dream" impressed audiences around the world (except China).

The low cost of US$25 million has leveraged nearly US$170 million in North American box office, ranking 11th in the North American annual box office list, and the global total box office is as high as US$360 million.

Cheng Long once again used his appeal to prove that he truly deserves his international superstar status.

So New Line immediately started the project and production of "Kingsman 2". According to the outline roughly discussed by Wu Yuan and New Line at that time, we found a screenwriter to perfect the script, arrange the schedule, and strive to film and release it before 2013.

In fact, Wu Yuan himself doesn't know whether this movie will be successful.

Because this second part has actually been changed beyond recognition. Except for some core settings that have not changed, the plot is completely new written by the screenwriter that Guangming hired.

However, since the starring role is still Cheng Long, Wu Yuan believes that the second part should still be profitable.

Cheng Long's kung fu comedies really have a strong base in the international market. He would have to invest in two or three movies in a row before he would squander all his base.

Even if the final film of "Kingsman 2" is not good, it can at least protect its capital and make a small profit, and the risk of losses will not be until the third film.

So Wu Yuan still asked Light Times to follow up on the investment in "Kings Agent 2".

This also completely cleared the liquidity on the company's books.

John, who was used to being a "miser", felt a little uncomfortable, so he came to complain to Wu Yuan.

"Daniel, the current liquidity in the company's accounts is less than 50 million US dollars. This money must be prepared as the budget after your subsequent filming overruns."

"If both you and Gary Ross go over budget and New Line needs to invest additional money, the company will be unable to come up with the money and the funds will be exhausted."

John had a slightly worried look on his face. In the many years since Light Times was established, he has never encountered such an imminent risk of funding rupture.

"Don't worry, John." Wu Yuan smiled nonchalantly: "Fifty million is enough."

"After surviving this year, next year the accounts of "Twilight Saga 4" will begin to arrive one after another, and the company will have money."

"Don't worry, even if the budget of "The Martian" exceeds the budget during the filming, I will make up for it with my own money first."

"It will not delay the normal operation of the company."

Just because Guang Times is out of money doesn't mean Wu Yuan is out of money.

After ten years of diligent development, the three major companies of Light Times, Light Times, and Light Times Cinemas can now bring Wu Yuan an income of 200-300 million yuan every year.

This income is the remaining balance after deducting the funds needed for the company's normal development and the funds needed to expand operations.

Of this money, Wu Yuan invested half of it in Guangying Kuaibo's Asian expansion strategy, and the rest was saved. Now he has four to five billion.

Light Times is a company solely owned by Wu Yuan. Although John can also enjoy 5% annual dividends, this is only a dividend and he does not hold any equity.

Therefore, Wu Yuan’s investment in Light Times was completely a left-handed move.

This was something he did deliberately, just to facilitate the transfer of large amounts of funds from the Light Era back to China in the future.

Only in a sole proprietorship can he withdraw money and use it for other things at will. If other shareholders are brought in, it will be a lot of trouble.

"John, don't worry about the company's account funds." Wu Yuan said easily: "The company has no money, but I have money!" (End of Chapter)