Huace Film and Television's IP layout dropped again, saying that films will enter the top five in the industry

On the afternoon of December 9, Huace Film and Television took another step forward in terms of IP and invested in the Time Sea Culture Company founded by Zhang Jiajia. The two sides will jointly create projects including "The Last Life" and "The Last Ten Minutes of the Earth", and based on Zhang's IP, carry out comprehensive strategic cooperation in the development, production and operation of product matrices such as dramas, movies, and programs across the network.

Following the purchase of a 26% stake in Guo Jingming's Shishi Culture for no more than 180 million yuan in December 2013, on the afternoon of December 9, Huace Film and Television took another step forward in terms of IP and invested in Shihai Culture Company founded by Zhang Jiajia. The two sides will jointly create projects including "The Last Life" and "The Last Ten Minutes of the Earth", and based on Zhang's IP, carry out comprehensive strategic cooperation in the development, production and operation of product matrices such as dramas, movies, and programs across the network.

Huace Film and Television did not disclose the funds involved in this cooperation."It is an equity cooperation, accounting for a relatively small proportion. The main purpose is to support Zhang Jiajia and Wang Haiyun (Note: General Manager Shi Hai) in starting businesses and provide more young authors with development opportunities." On December 9, Wang Cong, deputy general manager and secretary of Huace Film and Television, said in an interview with reporters. He said that it was only an early stage of cooperation and would not disclose the amount of cooperation between the two parties for the time being, but denied that the funds were comparable to the previous acquisition of Guo Jingming's equity.

Zhang Jiajia, a writer born in the 1980s, claims to be the leader of the "Young Creators Alliance". Last year, she served as a guest on the live review of "If You Are the One". According to Wang Haiyun, general manager of Time Sea, the company's product types are love and comedy, but it also dabbles in science fiction. The film "The Last Life" that Huace and Time Sea are about to create will be directed by Liu Ruoying. The copyright of "Passing Through Your World" written by Zhang has already belonged to Huace. The work initially set a record of 400 million readings on Weibo. Zhang Jiajia said that originally publishing houses were reluctant to publish short works collections. As the fragmented reading habit changed, the short works collections he created were favored by publishing houses.

The cooperation with Zhang Jiajia is only one of the epitome of Huace Film and Television's SIP layout. Wang Cong explained to reporters in detail the SIP concept proposed by the company this year, which means giving the same IP to create different products, corresponding to different consumption scenarios, and using IP to connect them in series to achieve seamless connection. For example, transforming from books to movies, and then from movies to games, comics, etc. "In the past, IP was a divided authorization, each doing its own thing. Cooperation with Time Sea hopes to make an IP different from the beginning."

Huace Film and Television started out as a TV series, but it also plans to spare no effort to become stronger in film, with the goal of entering the top five film companies. "It may not be achieved next year, but it will definitely be achieved the year after. In addition, I hope that Huace, as the first producer, will earn 2 billion yuan at the box office of the movie." Wang Cong said. In April 2014, Huace invested 40 million yuan in Shanghai Goge Film and Television. In October of the same year, it acquired a 15% stake in South Korean film and television giant NEW for 323 million yuan. These measures are regarded as Huace's emphasis on the film business.

Wang Cong told reporters that in 2015, there were four films released by Huace himself."The Assassin Nie Yinnian" won the Cannes Best Director Award, followed by "The Winner Is King", including "My Girl's Age", which is still being screened. This drama has reached about 340 million yuan in box office. The number of other joint investments is even larger, such as "Tiny Times 4","Taiping Wheel","Returning to Twenty", etc. "The film business will become one of Huace's three major business segments in the future. In addition, full-network dramas and variety shows will also become one of the pillar segments of listed companies."

During the interview, Wang Cong repeatedly emphasized that Huace's important strategy is to do a good job in SIP, which contains three meanings: "super IP, superstar and super manufacturing." He hoped that Huace could systematically improve the manufacturing capabilities and entry barriers for full-network dramas. He believes that the reason why Korean dramas are popular is because of their high investment and good creativity. Domestic companies need to invest more resources in IP incubation and artist appointment to improve product quality.

"Globally, every major media company starts out with content, adheres to content as king, and carries out post-monetization based on content. Huace wants to create more popular products with solid content, which will help the industry compete in a leading position." Wang Cong said,"This cannot be solved by simple investment."

In addition to the above-mentioned layout IP, Huace Film and Television is also seeking channel cooperation for video products. On December 7, Huace Film and Television also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei. Huace stated that the two parties will rely on the advantages of a large number of video entertainment products, all-media channels and full business chains to reach a strategic partnership in the field of Huawei's terminal consumer products and operators. to jointly promote the development of video business domestically and overseas.

The third quarter report released by Huace Film and Television on October 30 showed that revenue during the reporting period was approximately 410 million yuan, a decrease of 13.36% from the same period last year; net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of listed companies was approximately 1.2932 million yuan, a sharp decrease of 98.55% from the same period last year. Huace Film and Television said in the announcement that the film, television and entertainment industry has always been in a state of full competition. In recent years, many institutions have landed on capital platforms to gather resources to expand rapidly. As well as the intervention of giant BAT, Internet products such as online dramas have become popular, which has made the industry Competition is intensifying and the landscape has undergone drastic changes.

The report pointed out that Huace has expanded its main business to film production and distribution. Although it has the inherent advantage of rich experience in film and television drama shooting, production and management, and certain talent resource aggregation advantages, there may still be risks of uncertainty. The company has gradually increased its investment in the film business. Although it has initially established a publicity and distribution team, there is still a certain gap between its film distribution experience and leading companies in the industry. The company may not be able to accurately grasp the best strategy for film distribution, thus affecting the maximization of the economic benefits of the film.

Editor: vian