On the morning of January 28, the streets around Blockbuster's headquarters were cordoned off by U.S. police and secret services, and pedestrians were closed to traffic. Snipers patrol the rooftops of nearby buildings. The headquarters building of Blockbuster was also cordoned off, and only exits were not allowed to enter, and the office area was mixed with many US secret service personnel.

At 9:35 a.m., a long line of motorrad drove in front of the Blockbuster headquarters building. The people waiting in front of Blockbuster's headquarters were boiling, holding up bilingual banners and slogans in Chinese and English and cheering loudly, their eyes full of excitement.

Zhang Ran hurriedly walked up, shook hands with the No. 1 chief, and said, "Chief, welcome to visit BesTV!"

Chief No. 1 smiled and said, "Blockbuster is a model of Sino-US cooperation, and we are very pleased with your success in the United States. ”

The No. 1 leader cordially shook hands with the management of BesTV, looked at Zhang Ran and smiled: "Take us to the company to have a look." ”

Zhang Ran hurriedly led the way: "Chief, please come here." ”

Under the leadership of Zhang Ran, No. 1 first came to the Blockbuster real-time data monitoring center. On the huge electronic display in the middle of the hall, images and data such as "Blockbuster real-time transaction dynamics" and "consumer price index" are displayed. In the center of the display is a scrolling image of the globe, showing the sales of thousands of Blockbuster stores around the world in real time.

Zhang Ran pointed to the images and data on the display screen, and briefly introduced the business and operation of Blockbuster to the No. 1 chief. Zhang Ran told the No. 1 chief: "From this map, we can see the transactions of more than 5,000 Blockbuster stores around the world, as well as the distribution of goods. In the past two years, Bestview has developed particularly well in derivatives, with revenue reaching $5.4 billion and a profit of $1.1 billion last year. Now Blockbuster Online has become the largest online seller of derivatives in North America......"

In fact, in Zhang Ran's original plan, after the acquisition of Blockbuster, he would close the store business and concentrate on streaming media, but because many parliamentarians opposed Zhang Ran's acquisition, in order to win the support of parliamentarians, Zhang Ran gritted his teeth and made a promise not to lay off employees and not close stores.

In order to keep the Blockbuster store alive, Zhang Ran decided to learn from Disney and let Blockbuster transform into a derivative experience store. However, Blockbuster's model is a little different from Disney's, using the O2O model, and making efforts online and offline at the same time. Due to the lack of influential IP in the hands of Century Peak, Blockbuster's business was dismal in the early stage of transformation. It wasn't until the box office explosion of "Twilight" and the entry of a large number of Marvel derivatives that Blockbuster quickly got out of the predicament.

At this time, Zhang Ran realized that if Blockbuster could attract other derivatives sellers to settle in while operating online, it would be able to build Blockbuster into an online derivatives sales platform. If Blockbuster can account for more than 30% of the entire derivatives market, then the peak of the century is equivalent to dominating the derivatives market.

Wang Jianlin hopes to become the world's largest cinema operator through the acquisition of movie theaters, so as to break the monopoly of the Big Six; if Zhang Ran masters the derivatives market, I am afraid that except for Disney, which has its own chain stores, other Hollywood film companies will have to cooperate with Century Summit to sell derivatives through Blockbuster, which is the real breaking of the monopoly of the Big Six!

Zhang Ran told the No. 1 chief that Blockbuster will build its own logistics system next, while ensuring coverage, so that customers can receive goods in the shortest possible time, so that Blockbuster is in a favorable position in the competition with other e-commerce, and he hopes that within five years, Blockbuster will be able to occupy more than 30% of the derivatives market, and the sales of the entire platform will reach 75 billion US dollars.

The No. 1 chief was a little surprised to hear that BesTV's sales reached 75 billion: "Is the derivatives market so big?"

Zhang Ran explained with a smile: "There is a famous locomotive theory in Hollywood, that is, as a locomotive, movies may not make money in themselves, but after a movie catches the audience's attention, derivatives such as advertisements, audio and video, toys, and clothing can bring a lot of profits to the movie." The North American film market has a box office revenue of $10 billion a year, while the derivatives market for film and television entertainment in North America is as high as $150 billion, and the global market is $250 billion, which is higher than the GDP of Malaysia and Portugal in a year. ”

Chief No. 1 was very surprised to hear that the derivatives market was as high as $250 billion, and understood why the U.S. government attached so much importance to Hollywood: "I didn't expect the derivatives market to be so big, it's a huge industry!"

Zhang Ran nodded and said, "Yes, derivatives are a huge industry. The Chinese population is 4 times that of the United States, and if our derivatives market is done, this market will definitely be larger than the United States, 200 billion, 300 billion is completely possible. However, our Chinese derivatives market is still very small and has not developed at all. ”

Chief One asked, "What's the problem?"

Zhang Ran explained: "The most important problem is two aspects, one is the content, the movies suitable for derivatives are mainly action, fantasy, and cartoon films, while domestic films are generally comedy, drama, and literary films, which are difficult to develop effectively." Blockbuster's transformation from a DVD rental company to a derivatives chain was made possible by our acquisition of Marvel. Without the acquisition of Marvel, it would have been difficult for Blockbuster to succeed in its transformation. We lack high-quality content like Marvel in China. However, the state proposed to develop heavy industry films last year, and heavy industry films are more suitable for derivatives, and I believe that it will be a great boost to the derivatives market. Another reason for the difficulty in the development of the domestic derivatives market is piracy, genuine derivatives involve development and licensing, and the cost is often relatively high, while piracy is relatively cheap. Therefore, I really hope that the "Film Law" can be promulgated as soon as possible to protect the derivatives market. ”

The No. 1 leader looked at Zhang Ran and said with a smile: "This is the suggestion you wanted to make the night before yesterday, but you didn't make it, right?"

Zhang Ran directly admitted: "Yes, this is also particularly important for Chinese films. As long as the box office of Hollywood blockbusters in North America is about the same as the cost, it will basically return to its original cost, because the box office only accounts for 20% of the film's revenue, but not in China, and the box office needs more than 2.5 times the cost to pay back, so it is very risky to make blockbusters in China. If derivatives can be made, domestic film companies will have more money to invest in production, which can drive the upgrading of the domestic film industry. The potential of the derivatives market is very large, it is a market of hundreds of billions of dollars, if this market is done, it will also be a strong pull for our country's domestic demand and economic growth, and it can solve the employment problem of many people!"

The No. 1 chief nodded and gave an affirmative reply: "The country's determination to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights is unswerving, and in the future, it will definitely increase the protection of intellectual property rights, increase the cost of infringement and illegality, and deter illegal infringements!"

After visiting the data monitoring center, the No. 1 leader came to the exhibition hall to visit the goods sold by BesTV.

In addition to DVDs and comic books, there are hundreds of derivatives on display, including plush toys, clothing, mobile phone accessories, home decoration accessories, etc., and there are various types of goods, which can be said to be varied.

The No. 1 chief found that they were all derivatives of American film and television and animation, and there were almost no products related to China, so he looked at Zhang Ran and said: "I can't see derivatives with Chinese characteristics at all, it seems that China's gap in derivatives is indeed very large." ”

Zhang Ran said solemnly: "Derivatives rely on film and television works, the more popular film and television works are, the more popular the derivatives will be, but we lack influential film and television works on a global scale." The North American film and television market is a very closed and difficult market to overcome, and it is difficult for Chinese film and television works to break in. In the North American market, as long as it is a foreign language film, whether it is a Chinese film, a French film, or an Indian film, the mainstream cinema will not show it, and it is basically thrown at the art cinema chain. Our film and television works can't open up the situation in North America at all, and derivatives naturally can't be done.

In the case that mainstream channels can't get in, we can only expand our influence through other channels, such as DVD and streaming. Netflix now has 45 million subscribers, and we put domestic high-quality movies and TV series on Netflix, and other TV series and movies on YouTube for everyone to watch for free. If 100 viewers watch domestic film and television works, and 10 find them good, then they may watch more, and then they will slowly become loyal viewers. The process of cultivating an audience will be long, maybe five, ten, or even twenty years, but we're willing to put in the time and effort to do it!"

Speaking of this, Zhang Ran picked up a comic book and handed it to Chief No. 1, saying, "This is a comic book that we launched in the United States last year, and it is completely a Chinese story. We hope to use Marvel's influence to build Chinese superheroes, and use Chinese stories and Chinese characters to convey Chinese culture to the global market!"

The No. 1 chief took the comic and looked at it, and found that in addition to English, there were two Chinese characters written with a brush on the cover, "Dragon Group", he reached out and flipped through it and found that the characters and scenes in it were indeed Chinese, and the scenes were quite modern. He closed the Dragon Group comic and asked, "How is this manga selling in the United States?"

Zhang Ran shook his head: "It's not ideal. "Dragons" sold just over 4,000 copies a month, ranking just over 290 on the U.S. comic charts. However, in mid-April, the "Dragons" TV series will be broadcast simultaneously in China and the United States, and the TV series will only have 18 episodes, but the cost of one episode is $2 million, which is not inferior to any American drama in terms of production standards. I believe that after the broadcast of this TV series, it will be able to attract many American readers. ”

When the No. 1 chief heard that Zhang Ran was promoting Chinese culture in a down-to-earth manner, he was very happy and beckoned to the Xinhua News Agency reporter next to him: "Come here and take a picture of me." ”

Zhang Ran was slightly stunned when he saw the No. 1 leader holding the "Dragon Group" to take pictures, and a warmth rose in his heart. The No. 1 chief must have known that taking such a photo would wait for major media and attract attention, but he still did it, he should have felt that Zhang Ran was not easy, and he was really working hard for Chinese culture to go out, so he was willing to help this young man!

At the end of the inspection, Chief One visited the staff in the Customer Research Department. The arrival of the No. 1 leader made the customer research department boil. The employees welcomed the No. 1 leader with warm applause, and also gathered around to shake hands with the No. 1 leader.

Chief No. 1 delivered a brief speech praising Blockbuster's achievements. In his speech, he said that Blockbuster is a model of mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States, and that if the Sino-US relations are well developed, there will be better conditions for cooperation between American enterprises and China, and he hoped that Blockbuster will make more contributions to the development of Sino-US economic and trade cooperation and the development of bilateral relations.

Half an hour later, Xinhua News Agency published the news that the No. 1 leader visited Blockbuster, and among the five accompanying photos, the No. 1 leader smiled and held the photo of the "Dragon Group" cartoon on the list!