Chapter 411: The Decision of Chen Cong and Du Ziteng

Beijing,

Sky Pavilion Game Club.

Chen Cong leaned back in his office chair, slowly hung up his phone, and turned to look at Du Ziteng.

“President Chen’s movie is hitting theaters on August 15th.”

“Hmm, isn’t that a good thing? We can go and show our support when the time comes.”

Du Ziteng nodded. He had been paying attention to the news regarding President Chen’s new movie and had even discussed it in detail with the two managers from Blue Film Studio.

“I’m just a bit confused, though,” Chen Cong said, his expression clouded with doubt.

“Confused? About what?”

Du Ziteng looked at him, puzzled, unsure of what was bothering his friend.

Chen Cong looked back at Du Ziteng and asked, “Tell me, would anyone release a movie in theaters without doing a single bit of promotion after finishing it?”

“That seems unlikely. No matter how good a movie is, if there’s no promotion, no one will even know it exists.”

Du Ziteng shook his head dismissively.

Finishing a movie and not promoting it? That was impossible.

Nowadays, which movie didn’t run a promotional campaign before its release?

Some directors even wanted the whole country to know about their films, hoping for a massive opening day.

Doing no promotion at all was unheard of.

“President Chen hasn’t done any,” Chen Cong said slowly. Wang Bin from Blue Film Studio had just called him to inform him of the release date and give him an update on the movie’s current status.

“None at all?” Du Ziteng asked, sounding uncertain.

“Not a shred,” Chen Cong confirmed with a nod.

“This…”

Du Ziteng fell into a brief silence. Doing zero promotion after finishing a film: what exactly was President Chen trying to achieve?

After a moment, he snapped out of it and looked up at Chen Cong. “So, what do you plan to do?”

He knew Chen Cong intended to put President Chen’s movie in his family’s cinemas and arrange for it to be shown during prime time slots.

However, if President Chen’s movie had no promotion, it would undoubtedly have a massive impact on the theater’s occupancy rate.

Chen Cong let out a long sigh. “I’ve decided to keep supporting him.”

“Aren’t you worried the movie might be terrible? If it’s total trash, it’ll tank your cinema’s box office revenue,” Du Ziteng said, looking at him curiously.

Chen Cong’s family owned Tianda Plazas^[1] all across the country, and every Tianda Plaza had a Tianda Cinema.

Allocating prime time slots across every Tianda Cinema in the nation for President Chen’s movie was undoubtedly a very risky move.

After all, it hadn’t been long since President Chen founded Blue Film Studio. Moreover, when they had drinks with those two managers from Blue Film Studio last time, they had learned a bit about the production’s setup.

First, when Luo Xiao filmed this movie, he only had two previous directing credits to his name, both of which were failures.

Second, the actors cast in this movie were all amateurs, meaning they brought zero star power or traffic.

Third, as they had just learned, the movie hadn’t undergone any promotion whatsoever.

A director who had failed twice, actors with no experience and no following, plus zero promotion.

When you combined those three points, anyone would think this movie had nothing going for it.

If Chen Cong were just doing it to give President Chen face by offering a little help, it would be understandable. But staking the entire national cinema chain on such an uncertain film seemed genuinely unreliable.

“I am a bit worried. But when we drank with Luo Xiao and the other guy last time, I could sense that those two were extremely confident in the upcoming movie.”

“More importantly, even if the movie is bad and fails, all I lose is some money. Does my family lack money? It’s just a matter of earning a little less.”

“Besides, it’s better to offer help in a time of need than to just add to someone’s success^[2]. I suspect the reason President Chen didn’t invest in promotion is that he doesn’t have any spare capital left. I know that recently, President Chen’s Clothing Factory has been torn down for reconstruction. The entire Industrial Park has become President Chen’s Clothing Factory.”

“Tearing down and rebuilding such a massive Industrial Park requires an enormous amount of capital. It’s very likely that President Chen poured all of the group’s funds into the factory’s reconstruction, leaving him with no extra money to promote the movie’s release.”

“By ignoring the risks and giving President Chen’s movie prime time slots in Tianda Cinemas nationwide, I am undoubtedly providing help when it’s needed most.”

“Once President Chen finds out what we’ve done, we will surely earn his friendship. And once we have his friendship, won’t our future collaborations with Cangxue Games go even more smoothly?”

Chen Cong spoke at length, a faint smile playing on his lips.

He felt this was a perfect opportunity to build a solid relationship with President Chen.

Listening to Chen Cong’s explanation, Du Ziteng nodded in agreement, but soon looked at him with doubt again.

“Will your father allow you to do this?”

He had just remembered that Tianda Cinema didn’t belong to Chen Cong; it belonged to his father, Chen Tianlin.

Chen Tianlin was a veteran businessman. Would he really allow Chen Cong to be so reckless with such a risky move for the cinemas?

“Him? He’s been wanting to retire for the last two years. He wants to groom me so he can hand Tianda Group over to me. If he doesn’t agree, then he can forget about me ever going to work at Tianda Group. He wants to retire? Not a chance.”

Chen Cong spoke with an air of total indifference.

Taking over a conglomerate meant dealing with an endless mountain of work; he wasn’t interested in that at all.

Ugh!

Hearing Chen Cong’s words, Du Ziteng paused, then thought of his own situation.

Wasn’t he in the exact same boat?

His own old man was just like that, constantly nagging him to take over parts of the company’s business, trying to hand the group over to him step by step.

Sigh!

Du Ziteng couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

Hearing Du Ziteng sigh, Chen Cong also couldn’t help but sigh.

The two of them looked at each other and shared a helpless laugh.

“Since we want to earn President Chen’s friendship, I have a few ideas too. I can’t let you do everything yourself.”

After a long moment, Du Ziteng looked up and spoke slowly.

“What’s your plan?”

Chen Cong looked at him curiously, wondering what other ways Du Ziteng had to win over President Chen.

“Didn’t you say President Chen might not have enough funds to promote the movie? Then I’ll find a way to help promote it.”

At this point, Du Ziteng smiled slightly.

“Don’t forget about Tiger Head Live. We just need to have the person in charge of Tiger Head Live issue a task, getting the streamers to help promote President Chen’s new movie. Wouldn’t that work?”

“Hmm, that is a great idea. And we can have Jiang Jiu and the others try it first.”

Chen Cong’s eyes lit up.

He would be responsible for arranging the best screening times for the movie, while Du Ziteng would handle the promotion on Tiger Head Live.

With the two combined, wouldn’t it be perfect?

At that thought, the two of them looked at each other and smiled.

Translator’s Notes

1. Tianda Plaza: A play on ‘Wanda Plaza’ (万达广场), one of China’s largest real estate and cinema conglomerates. The character Chen Cong is likely a parody of Wang Sicong, the famous ‘wealthy second generation’ son of Wanda’s founder. ↩

2. offer help in a time of need than to just add to someone’s success: A reference to the Chinese idioms ‘sending charcoal in the snow’ (雪中送炭) versus ‘adding flowers to a brocade’ (锦上添花). The former is highly valued in Chinese culture as it represents true friendship and loyalty during hardship. ↩