In Lewood, Kansas, in the central United States, a signing ceremony is being held at the headquarters of AMC Cinemas. Li Xuan's personal investment fund, LH Fund, will make a strategic investment in the second-largest cinema company in the United States, with a 30% stake.

The 80s were definitely a lost decade for the American film industry. After the end of the glorious "Star Wars" trilogy, the annual box office champion in North America has jumped from $500 million to $800 million to $300 million to $500 million. Small-budget action and art films began to become popular, but the global influence of American films has fallen to a new low.

Of course, the reasons for this slump in Hollywood are complex. For example, the popularity of video recorders and cable television has made audiences more willing to stay at home to enjoy movies, which has severely affected the box office.

Another example is that traditional prop technology has been developed to the extreme, and it can no longer bring more intense sensory stimulation to the audience. Over time, the audience will naturally develop aesthetic fatigue. In fact, the U.S. film industry waited until the bloodthirsty T-Rex of "Jurassic Park" was released before it began to flourish around the world again.

However, LH Fund has always been more optimistic about the future prospects of the U.S. entertainment industry, taking advantage of the fact that the U.S. film industry is at a low ebb, which is a good opportunity to buy the bottom. For example, in recent years, the domestic box office in the United States has shrunk year after year, which has put many theater companies in the United States in a difficult situation.

The AMC cinema chain in which LH Fund has a stake is not only one of the largest cinema chains in the United States, but also the most innovative cinema company in the United States. As early as 1963, the AMC Cinema Line was the first to introduce the concept of "multiplex theater", thus completely subverting the single theater model of movie theaters in the United States.

But the theater companies in the United States. In order to maximize the use of space, most of the multiplexes are now available. The interior layout is very narrow and dim, which does not give fans a good viewing experience. This has also been the case in recent years. An important reason why audiences are losing from the big screen to the small screen quickly.

This time, with the financial support of LH, AMC Cinemas will once again subvert the theater culture in the United States. It is preparing to build five multi-functional super theaters with 15 screens in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other metropolises.

These super-theaters will feature stadium-style seating, so that the view of the audience in the back row will not be obstructed by the audience in front at all. At the same time, the screening room will be equipped with the best sound equipment, so that everyone can enjoy a high-level sensory experience that cannot be presented in front of the TV at home, so as to attract fans back to the cinema.

Of course, in addition to receiving capital injections from the LH Fund, AMC Cinemas has also reached a package of cooperation agreements with the Eastern Group. For example, AMC Cinemas will strongly support the arrival of Asian Pictures' films in the U.S. market. Another example is the arcade machine of Oriental Game Company. It will appear in the ticket halls of all AMC cinemas. Strive to make the coin income of arcade games an important part of the non-movie ticket income of theaters.

In fact, the first arcade machines produced by Oriental Games Company became famous in one fell swoop through Hong Kong cinemas. Teenagers tend to make up the largest proportion of moviegoers, which is completely consistent with the target consumer group of the game industry. These audience members usually have a considerable waiting time between the time they purchase their tickets and when they enter the screening hall to watch the movie. And these boring fragments of time are actually the perfect time to attract everyone to play arcade.

Because large shopping malls began to rapidly replace neighborhood grocery stores in the United States, arcades lost significant survival space in the American market. Since last year. The trend of the US arcade market shrinking has become more and more obvious. Although the gradual decline of arcade machines has been irreversible as new and more convenient ways of playing such as handheld game consoles, home game consoles, and computer games have matured.

But under the current technical conditions, whether it is a handheld computer, a home computer, or a computer game. In terms of graphics quality and playability, the game has not completely surpassed the arcade. In other words, although the arcade machine is a little tired, in fact, it is far from the stage of retirement.

Of course, the premise is to give the arcade a stage to continue to show its charm. If the arcade machine disappears directly into the lives of game fans because of the change in the shopping pattern in the United States. Then no matter how wonderful its game is, it is destined to die instantly.

Movie theaters are the most frequented places by teenagers in the United States. In fact, Oriental Game Company has begun to notice this position as early as a few years ago. But it has not progressed smoothly over the years, and the most important reason for this is that most theaters in the United States have relatively compact layouts. Except for the windows selling popcorn and drinks, there is not enough space for the arcade machine.

Even if some theaters can squeeze out a little space for arcade machines, the onlookers attracted by the arcade machines can easily make the already small sales area even more crowded!

The launch of a large-space giant multiplex theater by AMC Cinemas this time happened to give Dongyou the opportunity to bring its own games into American cinemas. Each super theater built by AMC Cinemas will have a dedicated game area.

In addition to promoting the sales of arcade machines in the United States, these game zones are more important to give Dongyou an excellent promotional platform.

If AMC Cinemas' Super Theater Project succeeds, it will reshape the American theater industry in the same way as the multiplex reform of the '60s. Oriental Game Company, on the other hand, can rely on the successful cooperation experience with AMC to quickly spread the Oriental Game District to every new cinema after the reform.

If Oriental Games can open up a game area in every movie theater, then its new games can be displayed very directly and effectively in front of young people across the United States through this platform. You must know that the number of moviegoers in the United States is as high as 1 billion people throughout the year, which is more efficient and targeted than advertising through newspapers, television and other media!

Just as the headquarters of AMC Cinemas was opening champagne to celebrate the strategic cooperation with the LH Fund, Wang Shi had just walked into a cinema in Fo Tan, Sha Tin. Li Xuan, the reborn butterfly, has changed Hong Kong the most, and the first recommendation is Hong Kong's Fo Tan Industrial Zone.

At the beginning of 1981. When Dongfang Electronics Company first settled in the Fo Tan Industrial Zone, there were many industrial buildings here. They are all textile factories, garment factories, toy factories, and watch factories. However, at that time, the trend of Hong Kong's light industry moving northward had already begun to emerge, and these industrial buildings in the Fo Tan Industrial Zone. The vacancy rate reached a small peak at the end of 1982.

However, with the establishment of the Oriental Incubation Park in the Charcoal Industrial Zone, in just four or five years, it has transformed from a declining industrial zone into the hottest entrepreneurial hotspot in Hong Kong.

Even the Hong Kong government just announced in February this year that it would change the name of the Charcoal Industrial Zone to the Charcoal Pioneer Park. As more and more new companies are incubated in the park, business here has also become prosperous.

Wang Shi walked in the Charcoal Pioneer Park, and he could feel a completely different atmosphere from the downtown areas of Central and Kowloon. Being on the streets of Central, surrounded by high-rise buildings, you feel a rush of coming and going. But in the charcoal fire. Wang Shi seems to be able to experience the same surging passion as the deep-sea special zone on the other side of the Jiehe River.

Wang Shi's first stop when he came to charcoal was naturally to go to the famous café street and appreciate the enthusiasm of Hong Kong entrepreneurs. After sipping a cup of coffee priced at HK$20 and listening to the chatter of a few dreamers, he casually walked into a movie theater on the corner.

Hong Kong's moviegoers are similar to those in the United States, and young people also account for the largest proportion of all age groups. The Charcoal Pioneer Park is one of the places where young people in Hong Kong gather the most, so Golden Harvest Cinemas Line opened a cinema with 5 screens here last year!

Because today is the weekend. Therefore, in the ticket hall of the movie theater, there are not many audiences who come to buy tickets to watch the movie! Wang Shi glanced around, and the first thing that caught his eye was the promotional posters of the various films that were being released.

For example, every summer file, Asia Pictures will launch the urban love light comedy "Chasing Girls". This is already the 5th film in this series. Although the box office of this series of movies rarely squeezes into the top ten of the annual box office list in this city.

But it has already formed a good reputation among young audiences, and the series has never relied on big investments. Instead, it is won by the interesting plots conceived by the screenwriters scratching their heads. Even many Hong Kong boys will learn various romantic methods of picking up girls from the movie "Chasing Girls"!

When Wang Shi walked into the movie hall. There was just the end of a film screening. So there was quickly a large number of people in the hall who came out of the screening hall after watching the movie. It's summer vacation. Many of the people who came to see the movie were students on vacation.

Several boys who watched the movie together did not leave the movie theater in a hurry, but walked to the corner of the ticket hall with a smile. Wang Shi's gaze followed the direction of their footsteps, and soon found a row of about a dozen arcade machines standing by the wall.

Wang Shi couldn't help but step forward with great interest, and before he could approach the group of students who were playing games, he had already heard the familiar sound of video games in his ears. This background music, Wang Shi should have listened to it many times in Hong Kong in the past few days, and he can guess the game sound of "The King of Fighters 2" by reflex.

Wang Shi's visit to Hong Kong this time is actually to conduct a comprehensive investigation of Hong Kong's video games, especially the arcade game industry. Because since he inadvertently communicated with the boss of the Oriental Group last time, the famous "God of Wealth Lee" in Hong Kong, the Oriental Game Company did not come to the school because of the import of pirated arcade game motherboards by Hyundai Scientific Instrument Company, but sent them an invitation to cooperate.

Dongyou hopes that Hyundai Scientific Instrument Company can become their exclusive arcade agent in China. In order to squeeze pirated game consoles out of the domestic market, Dongyou will provide the latest and most popular arcade games to Hyundai Scientific Instruments.

But after Wang Shi got this opportunity, he was not overjoyed, but decided to come to Hong Kong in advance to inspect the arcade industry here, so as to make himself more confident about whether to accept the olive branch thrown by Dongyou Company.

During the two days he came to Hong Kong, apart from attending the Asia Securities Share Reform Forum, he spent most of his time wandering around arcades throughout Hong Kong. Compared with the arcade halls that Wang Shi has been to in China before, the business environment is obviously much more standardized.

According to Wang Shi's understanding, most of the arcade halls in the Deep Sea Special Zone are very small in scale. Many bosses even need to rent half a storefront and set up a dozen game consoles to open their doors. Most of these arcades are cloudy, smoky, and often a mixed gathering place of mixed people.

The environment of Hong Kong's video game halls is obviously much better, and Wang Shi can find the business conventions posted in the most conspicuous position at the entrance of each game hall. There are a number of regulations such as no smoking, no entry for minors under the age of 18 in the arcade during school hours, etc.

Wang Shi learned from the waiters of several game halls that in fact, three or four years ago, the environment of Hong Kong game halls was also very bad. And because many students skipped school because they were addicted to playing video games, the game hall once became a street rat that parents and teachers in Hong Kong severely denounced.

Later, Oriental Game Company took the initiative to promote all the game hall owners in Hong Kong to get together and set up an industry association to formulate standardized industry operating standards. Any arcade that does not want to join the association will be directly blacklisted by Dongyou Company, and anyone will be prohibited from selling their arcade products to it.

The Hong Kong government has also begun to introduce a series of regulations for electronic business halls. For example, the police found that minors were staying in any of the arcades during school hours. Then the game hall will not only be fined 100,000 Hong Kong dollars, but will also be suspended for one month.

It is important to know that all police stations in Hong Kong will arrange police patrols in the district at every time period, and entertainment venues such as game halls are naturally the focus of inspections. And once caught by the police, the loss of the arcade owner will be very heavy.

Under the double pressure of the Hong Kong government and the Oriental Group, Hong Kong's video game arcade industry quickly reversed the unhealthy trend and began to operate in a regular and law-abiding manner! Therefore, what Wang Chengcheng saw was actually a situation after a reshuffle.

At present, the number of arcade machines in each game hall in Hong Kong is generally more than 100, and the types of games exceed 20! Those arcade halls that do not have enough capital or are not well managed have been ruthlessly eliminated in the fierce market competition.

Of course, Wang Shi came to the Charcoal Pioneer Park today, not to drink coffee in the Entrepreneurship Coffee Street, let alone to watch a movie, but to watch the Hong Kong Arcade Club League on the main board of the Hong Kong Arcade Game Hall Association!

The venue of this league is located in an industrial building in the Tanhuo Pioneer Park. When Wang Shi arrived here, there was still more than an hour before the start of the game, so he deliberately walked around. By the time he returned to the arcade club tournament, the game was about to start.

Wang Shi glanced at the audience, there were about three or four hundred spectators to support the scene, and the atmosphere was very lively! Wang Shi found an empty seat in the corner of the back row and sat down. )