Super Zoo

The Legend of the Gods set new records for terrible films, met with a disastrous reception and box office performance, and the two-point special effects were scorned and criticized mercilessly.

By contrast, the various mounts and Magical Beasts, played by real animals and enhanced with post-production special effects, became the film's sole bright spot.

Objectively speaking, it can't be said that the film had no highlights; the several hundred million investment was at least satisfactory in terms of the animal performances.

Blame can only be laid on the significantly misleading promotion. As previously predicted by Taoyuan Film and Television, the audience felt cheated: fake cast lists, fake legends, fake acting... Amidst the multitude of complaints about the inauthenticity, the 'realness' of the animals paradoxically stood out.

It's always the comparison that kills; the fake emphasized the value of the real, and Taoyuan Film Industry which helped provide the animal filming, managed to become a topic of discussion.

Many viewers and critics reached a consensus that Huaxia Star seriously dragged down Taoyuan Film and Television this time, as Taoyuan Film and Television had boarded a sinking ship.

However, Suming didn't see it that way. The failure of The Legend of the Gods didn't affect Taoyuan Film and Television; it was just a missed unexpected 'dividend,' and Suming didn't care about such a trivial sum of celebratory money anyway.

On the contrary, due to the real-versus-fake contrast and following the previous low-budget Terror Animal City, Taoyuan Film and Television's reputation had soared domestically, becoming the epitome of conscience in cinema...

What's a good reputation? A good reputation is trust, a guarantee for the box office of the next film.

It's future money.

Of course, this was something Suming had not anticipated, leaving him speechless. Naturally, he wouldn't discuss these matters with Long Wu.

Long Wu was overwhelmed. A box office of just over three billion had Huaxia Star suffering substantial losses.

Ultimately, this film was meant to bolster Xiang Zuo, and with Long Wu currently in the chairman's seat at Huaxia Star, his pressure was tremendous.

"Lost a lot of money?" Suming was surprised. "Surely not, Brother Ten, with an investment of a billion or so, and a box office of over three billion, even if you don't make back the cost, you couldn't have lost too much, right?"

According to the standard revenue-sharing model, a box office of over three billion would definitely bring in over a billion after taxes for Huaxia Star. After all the calculations, a loss of twenty or thirty million tops was quite bearable, an amount that shouldn't make Long Wu too distressed. He had even made a special call – was it just to complain?

Impossible. A man like Long Wu, weathered by the vicissitudes of life, could swallow his teeth if they were knocked out, he never regretted his actions post-facto or made tearful complaints like a resentful wife.

"Part of the box office numbers are fake..." Long Wu chuckled, not going into detail, but making his point.

Suming understood.

Huaxia Star was inflating box office numbers!

Previously, he couldn't quite grasp why distributors would engage in the 'stupidity' of buying their own box office tickets, as it seemed like a total loss.

Spend fifty bucks for a ticket, and get only twenty back in the revenue split? Wasn't that just foolish?

The box office may look more impressive, but doesn't that mean you lose even more?

Only after entering the industry did he grasp the intricacies involved. Losing money was indeed true, but higher box office figures could create an illusion of success, luring more people to spend real money on tickets.

Additionally, there are some unwritten malpractices within the industry, and the film industry is no exception.

Nowadays, everything is linked to performance. The quality of school education is judged by the rate of advancement and exam scores; the success of government officials is evaluated by economic growth speed; even personal success is measured solely by how much money one has made...

While the most direct numerical assessment methods are fair and scientific to an extent, they can also lead to neglecting the event itself, focusing only on surface data, and even the occurrence of data fabrication.

A high box office directly results in major theaters increasing the screening rates, and they will give special consideration to the company's next movie. The media will also provide extensive coverage, effectively offering "free" publicity.

On the other hand, if the box office is low, the screening rate will immediately drop, and theaters will be cautious with future films produced by the company.

Of course, theaters aren't foolish. They know very well which box office earnings are real and which are fabricated.

For the theaters, it doesn't matter whether the audience is paying for tickets or the production company is buying them. To them, there is no difference – they get their share of the money either way. If all the tickets are bought by the production company for empty screenings, the theaters even save on equipment maintenance and wear-and-tear costs, so why not?

Huaxia Star is, after all, a Xiangjiang company and wouldn't be too "rampant" on the mainland. Out of over three billion in box office earnings, roughly forty million was from fake box office sales.

So the real losses for Huaxia Star were not just the twenty to thirty million that Suming had previously thought, but closer to fifty million, including this part of the investment. Even for Huaxia Star, this wasn't a small sum.

What really gave Long Wu a headache wasn't the box office sharing, but the slump in ticket sales, which led to a plummet in Huaxia Star's stock!

Huaxia Star is a publicly-traded entertainment company, and Long Wu and his wife are the major shareholders.

In any industry, the stock prices of entertainment companies fluctuate in close relation to the company's movie performance.

Initially, when the production of the fantasy epic was announced, Huaxia Star's stock price had risen for a week straight and surged even more in the days leading up to the release. But as soon as the movie hit theaters on the first day, the stock began to fall, and the longer the movie played, the faster the stock plummeted.

Almost every additional day "The Legend" remained on the big screen, the market value of Huaxia Star and the wealth of Long Wu and his wife shrank.

According to previous plans, "The Legend" could have stayed in theaters for four weeks, which was extremely terrifying. Seeing this scenario, Long Wu decisively pulled the movie from cinemas nationwide after only fifteen days of screening. Even so, the stock dropped to a level that even he found unacceptable.

As the major shareholder, Long Wu can bear the loss since his family's business empire is massive and robust, and for him, the stock market money is sometimes just a number that doesn't genuinely affect his standard of living.

However, the rest of Huaxia Star's small shareholders weren't having it, ranging from group partners who held tens of millions to billions of Hong Kong dollars in shares to ordinary investors with only a few hundred shares. They all turned their criticisms toward Long Wu.

Everyone was no fool; the rapid stock plunge was due to "The Legend's" box office failure, and "The Legend" was a film especially made by Long Wu and his wife to promote their son.

When the stock was up, shareholders didn't say much; now that it's down, of course, they expected Long Wu to take the blame.

While company owners may appear glamorous, they carry significant responsibilities, particularly evident in publicly-traded companies. Not only do the company employees rely on the owner for their livelihood, but the owner is also accountable to the shareholders who bought stocks.

Legally speaking, even if someone bought only one dollar's worth of stock, they are a shareholder and have the right to voice their demands.

As soon as Long Wu mentioned stocks, Suming paused for a moment, deep in thought for several seconds.

The sudden substantial fluctuation of the company's stock could fault Long Wu and might even affect his position as the Chairman of Huaxia Star.

Was Long Wu expecting him to help, to intervene and stabilize the market by purchasing some stock to boost the market price?

With that thought, Suming hesitated briefly.