After talking to the Nolan brothers, Link didn't immediately decide whether to enter the film industry.

He and Jessica took Hannah shopping in the afternoon. When he returned to the hotel in the evening and had dinner in his suite, he told Jessica what he thought.

Jessica didn't object, but she didn't support it as strongly as he did: "I think you need to think about the money. If you do a cinema, the investment is very large, the rate of return is not high, and I feel that the risk is quite large. Because I remember as if only a few movies could be a big hit. And the entire U.S. movie box office is only $15 billion. ”

She was vague, but he knew she was right.

He also just learned something about the film industry from the Nolan brothers.

For example, Americans don't really like to watch movies as much as foreigners think. In fact, only 12% of people in the United States are die-hards in movies, and each of them watches movies more than 12 times a year on average. This part of the movie fans contributed more than half of the total box office of American movies. Another 27% of the population almost never goes to the cinema to watch a movie.

The $15 billion box office seems to be up more than 20 percent from five years ago. But in reality, the increase is mainly due to the increase in ticket prices. The growth in moviegoers is actually not growing fast.

In recent years, the Hollywood model in the United States has made the filming cost of movies higher and higher, and the money has made those big stars earn. And the operation of celebrities has also made them more and more famous. And a considerable number of hardcore fans are star chasers. They prefer to watch movies starring big stars. As a result, the appeal of big stars at the box office of movies is getting higher and higher.

This makes it easy for only a few big cast productions to get high box office. And this high box office may not actually make the movie profitable. Because the actor's salary may go to tens of millions of dollars or even hundreds of millions. The higher and higher costs also make film investment more and more risky.

And the production company wants to ensure its own profits, and the dividend ratio of the theater chain is also being compressed. When there are only a few movies in theaters that can make large profits within a year, the annual profit margin is actually not high. The application of new film technologies has made the investment in technology renewal of cinemas increasing every year. These costs also make it more difficult for the theater chain to operate.

Therefore, although the United States is the world's largest movie box office market, it is not a very profitable business to operate a theater chain in the United States, in fact, the theater chain in the United States is being acquired by foreign capital.

However, Link's main purpose for running a cinema chain is not to make money.

He thought for a moment and said to Jessica, "I'm thinking about those factors too. However, investing in cinemas, I can't buy too many cinemas at once. "Filmmaking is predominantly Hollywood, but theaters are distributed all over the United States. Investing in movies and investing in cinemas are two different things.

He paused and said, "Christopher also reminded me that if I want to run a theater chain, I have to have a good management team. Only then can a profitable film be selected from hundreds of films per year. And reasonable screening arrangements must be made in order to maintain the profitability of the theater chain. ”

Jessica isn't familiar with how to run a movie theater chain, but that doesn't stop her from giving some advice, saying, "If you're really going to invest in a movie theater chain, I think you can start small and grow big." You can buy a small cinema line first. In addition to the screening of those big cast films, those well-made literary films and C films are also screened. Those movies have a more loyal audience. ”

"Hmm. If I were to run a cinema chain, I would definitely buy a company that was qualified to distribute films at the same time. It is mainly used for the distribution of those small production films and those foreign shooting films. ”

Jessica smiled and nodded, "That's a good idea." Many countries have large and small film festivals. Some independent films will look for opportunities. Maybe you can get some out of those film festivals. ”

Link smiled and said, "I'll let Martha and them do an analysis first, and then I'll make a decision when their analysis results come out." He paused and asked again. "Tomorrow we're going to Sacramento? You haven't seen your parents in a while. ”

With a hint of emotion in her eyes, she said, "Good!"

On Monday morning, Link and his family flew out of Los Angeles and returned to Ozette Farm in the evening after a half-day stay in Sacramento.

After carrying all her luggage back to her room, Hannah looked around in confusion and ran up to her room, then came down and ran up to Link, staring wide-eyed and saying, "Daddy, my teddy bears, they're not back!"

He was stunned for a moment before he reacted, and said with a smile, "They won't come back with us." Let's go ask William. Look if they're coming. He called William.

"Have you received anything from Los Angeles in the past two days?"

William immediately said, "Yes." It's all teddy bears! ”

"It's all Miss's stuff. Send the lady to her room. ”

"Yes!"

As soon as William left, Hannah pulled Link and shook it and said, "Daddy, Daddy, are they coming?"

"It's already here. William will have them taken to your room right away. ”

"Great. I'm going to play with them. ”

They were talking about the bear dolls they bought for her when they went shopping in Los Angeles. The biggest teddy bear is taller than him. At that time, Hannah couldn't take his eyes off it, and he saw that she liked it and bought a few for her. And if she can like a bear toy, it means she's coming out of the Halloween scare. Having a bear toy is also good for her.

After returning from Los Angeles, their lives returned to the way they were before.

Link calls Martha and asks her to help him do an analysis about investing in film distribution and theatrical chains.

Martha answered without saying a word. But it didn't take long for Catherine to call him: "Link, I heard that you are interested in the cinema chain. ”

Link remembered that Martha had told him that Catherine was researching a media company called West Hollywood, which also had a small theater chain.

"Yes, what do you recommend?"

Catherine laughs, "I'm not very familiar with the film industry. But didn't you say you wanted to have your own media? I found a media company that wanted to get financing. They are now facing financial difficulties and want to be invested. Morris and I went to investigate them. We thought it might be a good idea to buy or invest in it. ”

"The company is called West Hollywood Media, and it has a news website with more than 5 million hits a day, a newspaper that sells more than 70,000 copies in California, and a weekly magazine that sells 30,000 copies," she emphasized. And, of course, the cinemas you're interested in. They have a small cinema line with two hundred and five screening halls. ”

It was only after listening to Martha talk about her goal that Link really made the decision to invest in the cinema chain.

Now when I heard her talk about this, I asked her, "What about the situation you investigated, what kind of theaters are it? What kind of movies can be shown? For example, can 3D movies be shown?"

"There are only 38 screening rooms that can show 3D movies, but it's not the mainstream glasses-free 3D now. Their projection equipment is still within the best working years. Of course, that's just a theoretical number of years. ”

That is to say, if he wants to use those movies to undertake the screening of those big productions, he also needs to upgrade that theater. However, if it is just a small 2D movie, there is no problem. If all those devices are within the optimal working years, it also means that he can use this theater to show the literary films that Jessica said.

He thought for a moment and asked, "You and Morris both think it's worth buying?" Since it is a media company, of course, it is completely under his control.

Catherine replied, "We are still doing the final analysis. However, we initially think that it is a good acquisition target. However, we are still analysing the purchase price they might accept. ”

"Send me your investigation report. If you both think it's worth buying, and the price is right. Maybe you're going to be the president of a media company. ”

He doesn't have many talents in his hands now. Catherine was the only propaganda talent in his hands. And once that company is acquired, the operator will of course be replaced by his people. Catherine was the best choice for him.

"oo~ That's just amazing!" Catherine made no secret of her ambitions. "Link, don't worry. If the company is not a good fit, I will also find a suitable acquisition partner for you as soon as possible. You know, it's crazy for me to be president. ”

Link laughed and said, "Then you need to work harder!"

Soon, he received an email from her. The attachment to the email is large and is divided into several emails.

He looked at it for a long time. It wasn't until the afternoon that Jessica came to the study with Hannah in her arms to look for him: "Are you busy?"

He looked up at her, and at a sullen Hannah, "Yes." He looked at the clock on the wall again, and saw that it was half past five in the afternoon. It's already dark outside.

He stretched, stood up and walked up to her, and when he saw Hannah looking at him with gagged eyes and sparkling eyes, he reached out and hugged her. Hannah smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

Jessica looked at them with a smile and said, "What are you up to?" Hannah said you hadn't been downstairs all afternoon. She looked at Hannah as she twisted her fingers and smiled. "She also said that when she was painting, you didn't accompany her!"

No wonder the little guy was sullen just now. He quickly apologized and said, "I'm sorry, Hannah. Daddy didn't get to paint with you just now. But that's because Daddy is too busy. You see, in the past, Daddy would accompany you as long as he wasn't busy, right?"

Hannah's eyes were fixed as if she were really remembering the past. After a while, she nodded, "Yes." Daddy used to be with me. ”

Link smiled and said, "So, in the future, too, if Daddy is not busy, he must accompany Hannah." Okay?" though today he just forgot the time, not that he was too busy to have time. But he couldn't make a promise to Hannah that he would be with her in the future. It is easy for a child to get into the horns, and if he promises and can't do it, the little one will feel cheated in his heart.

Hannah was still a child, and all she wanted was the attention of adults. Now that Link is apologizing and promised, she has long been satisfied. She smiled and stretched out her little finger and said, "Pull the hook!"

After coaxing his daughter, he told Jessica what he had just done: "Catherine sent an investigative report about a media company. ”