Super Zoo-Chapter 783 - 762 Two Grand Sorcerers

After a successful start, Hou Longtao resolutely implemented Suming's strategic plan, insisting on not expanding and instead focusing on building Yangchuan City Peach Blossom Cinema's reputation. The cinema entered a stage of healthy operation, and gradually, Suming could withdraw himself from day-to-day management.

As expected, news came from other regions that about four or five cities had taken the lead in establishing art cinemas, imitating the Taoyuan Cinema model to support niche films.

It seemed Taoyuan had lost its initial advantage. Some people felt regret for Taoyuan in secret, believing that if Taoyuan had laid out its plans earlier, it might have taken the lead nationally in heading up the art cinema circuit.

Now that local officials and cinema chains had begun to get involved, it was not so easy for Taoyuan to enter the fray.

Others believed that the national market was vast, with hundreds of cities, and only a few had established art cinemas so far. Taoyuan could still make a move if it acted now.

Suming paid close attention to the cities that had taken the initiative to establish art cinema chains and found a common pattern: they were all led by local officials, with the participation of well-known local cinema chains, jointly forming the art cinemas.

This was within reason. In terms of profit, art cinemas were incomparable to commercial cinemas and considered an expendable rib by large cinema chains. Without the local government's administrative steering, the chains would not be motivated to take action. Since the government was leading the charge, it was bound to avoid handing this task to any single cinema chain. Whether it was for the sake of so-called equitable benefits or shared responsibility in case of failure, local cinematic industries were necessarily involved collectively.

Baoke Group, too, was paying attention to the art cinema chains elsewhere. Jin from the marketing department said with some regret, "It's never too late to mend. Shouldn't Taoyuan seize the market while there's still an opportunity, and, at the very least, take control of the art cinema market in our province?"

Mr. Qian smiled, "Why rush into action now? What if we get burned?"

Jin did not quite understand Mr. Qian's meaning. Mr. Qian had many insights from upper levels which were not convenient to share directly with Jin, so he simply smiled and told him to go about his business.

The Baoke cinema chain had a presence in major cities and was involved in four of the five cities that had established art cinemas.

With the government's involvement, the art cinemas were set up quickly, but many issues arose. Managers from Baoke in the four cities commonly reported a bleak outlook.

These endeavors were not profitable, or at least, the efficiency of earnings was not as high as that of commercial films. Consequently, the large cinema chains were not particularly interested and unlikely to dedicate much effort. The representatives they dispatched were marginal figures within their organizations, without authority, further preventing them from securing excellent resources. These peripheral figures were also generally less capable, dooming the art cinema chains to inferiority in talent, physical, and financial resources.

The relationship between those leading and those executing was another issue. The separation between the leadership and the actual operations layers meant that the interests of the leaders were not aligned with the performance of the art cinemas. Some leaders didn't even understand the film market.

The most troublesome issue was the abundance of executors. With three or four major cinema chains involved in a single small art cinema, conflicts were numerous and often insoluble.

Though cinemas were established, those in the four cities had collectively shown less than a hundred screenings so far. The film lineup wasn't even fully confirmed, with most energy devoted to internal disputes. Many conflicts seemed insoluble, only worsening with attempts at resolution.

In such a situation, for Taoyuan to make a move would be like a 'cat on a hot tin roof', likely to get burned.

Pulling chestnuts from the fire at least yields chestnuts, but what would be gained now? Hostility from other cinema chains? Dissatisfaction from the local officials? A multitude of intractable and complex troubles?

Making a move at this time would be foolish.

Mr. Qian's thoughts aligned perfectly with Suming's. Suming's last instruction to Hou Longtao was to hold steady, conserve strength, and observe the changes.

When the fire had died down, or all the trouble had been burned away, it wouldn't be too late to come to the rescue then.

The cinema's affairs had temporarily come to an end, and Suming checked his schedule, finding nothing particularly demanding his attention in the near future.

For the helmsman of this group, things could be difficult if said to be difficult, and simple if said to be simple. Having established a clear direction and framework, and with the right people in place, there was nothing more for him to do once the development proceeded as planned.

As for market expansion and relationship maintenance, which originally required his utmost concern, they were not the focus for Taoyuan overall.

The reason was nothing other than the fact that good products sell themselves.

On the Yangchuan City forum, some enthusiastic members had discussed this very point, noting how Taoyuan Group had skyrocketed within a year. Yet the true helmsman of Taoyuan Group remained mysterious to most people, rarely appearing in public events after the initial few months, though the occasional explosive news was always eye-catching.

Some said that the CEO was effortlessly successful, while others believed Suming was orchestrating behind the scenes, playing a big game of chess.

Only Suming himself knew that the smooth development of Taoyuan's enterprises was half due to taking the right path, and the other—and perhaps the majority—of the reason was the help he received from Friends of Animals.

Speaking of Friends of Animals, the zoo had been somewhat quiet recently, as a large number of animals had been drafted to participate in the filming of World of Warcraft.

The filming of World of Warcraft involved not only animals but also an old acquaintance, Mr. Cage.

After the production of World of Warcraft had begun, several investors racked their brains over casting.

This was a significant investment even by Hollywood standards, qualifying as a top-tier blockbuster that required participation from well-known actors. However, Hollywood stars commanded horrifyingly high salaries, and even with an investment surpassing a hundred million US dollars, hiring several A-listers was a tight squeeze.

As for Mr. Cage, he was in a slump. His fame and talent persisted, but a series of flops had almost turned him into box office poison, and Hollywood investors naturally wouldn't want him.

For Cage, starring in a movie like World of Warcraft, with investments, fans, and fame, couldn't be more suitable.

If World of Warcraft became a hit, Mr. Cage could use it as a comeback and re-join the ranks of A-list actors without a problem—for age and looks have never defined Hollywood;

If World of Warcraft turned out to be a flop, Cage would still not lose anything. A movie adapted from a world-famous game was bound to attract high levels of attention, and even if it ended up as a flop, it would still be a highly talked about big flop, allowing him to re-emerge in the public and media spotlight.

For his role in World of Warcraft, both sides agreed seamlessly, and Mr. Cage took a symbolic fraction of the usual salary, introducing another past-their-prime big-name actor to the film: Keanu Reeves. fгeewebnovёl.com

This actor, who had starred in a series of blockbusters such as The Matrix, Speed, and Interview with the Vampire, had debuted with a fresh-faced image and once dominated Hollywood. After a midlife crisis, just like Cage, he had fallen on hard times.

Cage was set to play the fallen archmage Medivh, and Keanu Reeves, after slimming down, would play the role of the young wizard Khadgar.