Chapter 185: Global Strategy

What is the most crucial market in Southeast Asia? Even a fool can answer—that’s Japan. Japan is currently the second-largest market after North America, with a box office revenue of several billion dollars each year. The only market that Phantom has yet to conquer is Japan. South Korea has indeed secured control of theaters and theater distribution, but in Japan, Phantom has not been able to break through so far.

However, everyone has overlooked another market—Mainland China, a vast market of over a billion people. Even if only 30% of this market is tapped into, it would be enough for Phantom to compete fiercely with Hollywood. As long as Xiao Ran doesn’t overlook it, which he certainly won’t, given his keen insight, he has already positioned Phantom to establish itself in China.

“What would Hollywood be without its overseas markets?” Xiao Ran didn’t directly answer Wei Dongling’s question but instead emphasized it indirectly: “Don’t forget that Hollywood’s seven major studios can release nearly 200 films each year. If we keep attacking Hollywood, the most likely outcome is that we’ll be assimilated by them!”

“And don’t overlook Hollywood’s extensive overseas distribution networks. Distributors in major countries and regions around the world purchase their films!” Xiao Ran smiled faintly—it wasn’t a joke. “By the time we start challenging Hollywood, we might find that both Southeast Asia and our domestic markets have already fallen.”

Xiao Ran’s words weren’t exaggerations. Wei Dongling had heard him explain this before. Xiao Ran said that since Phantom had transformed into a distribution company, its audience should not be limited to locals, and the films produced should become increasingly international.

For example, the success of *Spy Change* lay in Xiao Ran cutting out scenes with overly strong patriotic emotions, so that audiences in other countries wouldn’t feel alienated. His directing style used universal visual and action elements, along with action sequences that appealed to people of all races and skin colors, which naturally led to the film’s huge success.

*God of Gamblers* succeeded because Xiao Ran used gambling—a universal human weakness—as its theme, making it easy for audiences in any country or region to relate to it. Additionally, his approach involved crafting a mythic and legendary narrative, which easily created an idol-like image for the characters. This is also why *God of Gamblers* became so popular in Japan and South Korea.

It’s a simple principle: Phantom’s films have a market in Southeast Asia. In such a situation, if you plan to make a film related to the resistance against Japan, don’t even consider the Japanese market. If you make a film meant to appease Japan, it’s highly likely you’ll lose most of the markets in Southeast Asia.

Of course, this doesn’t specifically refer to politics, nor is it absolute. For instance, there were many films that contained vicious attacks on Mainland China in the past. Xiao Ran didn’t choose to ignore them; instead, he watched them while cursing inwardly. But this required one condition: the status of those films in that region had already become deeply entrenched.

Thus, the films in which Phantom currently invests or distributes generally have a certain market in Southeast Asia. Of course, this is decided by the planning department.
To take a very simple example, “New Dragon Inn” is popular locally and performs well in Southeast Asia, but its box office performance in Europe is much worse. Yet Xiao Ran still insists on having these wuxia and action movies shown in theaters, and even demands that Shuxiang Media quickly enter the publishing industry to help Westerners accept wuxia culture.
Since Phantom already has a certain market in both Southeast Asia and Europe, it must consider how to select films and themes that best serve its interests, so as to maximize audience reach when distributing them.
Since audiences in various regions prefer large-scale police and crime films, Phantom focuses on producing such films while using other niche works as supplements, gradually attracting audiences and making them part of the mainstream market.
Although this approach can easily lead to losses, Xiao Ran continues to do it. He knows well that wuxia films are the essence of Chinese culture, similar to science fiction in the West. To make Westerners fully accept Chinese-language movies, wuxia films must become popular there. This is what Xiao Ran means by controlling and guiding the market, rather than letting the market dictate the film companies.
So, it’s quite simple: if Phantom tries to fully compete with Hollywood, it will inevitably neglect the Southeast Asian market. At that time, it won’t be difficult for Hollywood to take advantage of the situation, as it takes years or even decades for Eastern culture to gain a dominant position in the Western market.
Realizing this, Wei Dongling understood Xiao Ran’s intention. If the Southeast Asian market is strengthened and made a loyal supporter of Hong Kong movies, combined with current film technology that is no less advanced than that of the West, Hollywood can definitely be driven out. At the same time, by focusing on and expanding the European market, Hollywood will be trapped and unable to come up with any effective strategies.
With a bitter smile, Wei Dongling realized that this change in the company’s strategic goals would likely require corresponding adjustments from many subsidiaries. After hesitating for a moment and realizing the losses wouldn’t be severe, he nodded heavily and said, “No problem, we’ll do it as you say!”
Seeing that Wei Dongling finally understood his intentions, Xiao Ran smiled in relief. If even Wei Dongling didn’t understand, there was no point in carrying out the plan. Then, with a sense of shame, he said, “I made a mistake. I used to think that acquiring a Hollywood company would suffice, but now I realize it brings no real benefit to the company.”
It never brought any benefit in the first place, and now Xiao Ran understood that. Acquiring a film company would only make Hollywood stronger, just as Sony did—maximizing profits in that market at best. But his goal wasn’t to make money; it was to develop cinema. So, this deal was simply not worthwhile.

“And I always thought there was no need to release the company’s films in North America, unless it was in mainstream theaters!” Xiao Ran now wished he could slap himself. If he had realized this mistake two years earlier, maybe he could have helped Phantom Defeat Hollywood two years sooner. “But now I understand—I was wrong. For people in one region to accept movies or culture from another region, the most important thing is frequent exposure! If we don’t even give North American audiences any chance to be exposed, how can they come to appreciate it in the future?”
Xiao Ran thought of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, both of which were released in mainstream U.S. theaters. But this path was paved by countless Hong Kong films. If not for those Hong Kong films being shown in non-mainstream theaters first, allowing North American audiences to get familiar with and understand Chinese-language movies, how could there have been so many fans later on!
It’s possible to make a big splash, but constantly expecting to do so is simply foolish. If you think about things from a different perspective, you’ll understand—gentle and steady progress can also work.
“What do you mean?” Wei Dongling smiled bitterly. Sometimes, when a company reaches a certain stage, it has to make difficult choices like this. One wrong decision can mean starting over from scratch.
Xiao Ran nodded heavily. “That’s right. Tomorrow, have Lan Hua contact the seven major Hollywood companies and negotiate with them. We must find every way to sell these films!”
Lan Hua used to be Ge Wenqiu’s deputy. After Ge Wenqiu went to Europe, Lan Hua rose to power through his own abilities. Xiao Ran suggested this because all seven major companies had sent people to contact Phantom Defeat Hollywood, hoping to buy the North American rights to several of their films.
Actually, since Xiao Ran won an award at Cannes, the seven major North American companies had contacted Phantom Defeat Hollywood one after another. Especially after Spy Change, the contacts became more frequent. But the terms were never agreeable. Only Warner was willing to release Spy Change in non-mainstream theaters first, gradually increasing the number of theaters if it performed well. The others only offered art-house theaters.
“As for which company to choose, that’s a problem…” Wei Dongling hesitated for a moment. Every time he thought about those seven companies, he wanted to curse. Those bastards weren’t there to do business—they were there to rob.
Fox, under Murdoch’s media empire, offered a decent price, but first, it refused to release the film in mainstream theaters, and second, it wanted to buy out all the rights—everything related to the film.
Such terms treated Xiao Ran like a fool. Not to mention rights for related products and video tape distribution, the fact that Fox wanted lifelong rights to the film alone almost made Xiao Ran want to find that negotiator and beat him up.
Xiao Ran didn’t even have time to buy a film library right now, and he was still expecting to sell the rights? Wasn’t that like daydreaming? Moreover, after Phantom Defeat Hollywood acquired New Art City’s film library, it made a huge profit just from video tape distribution, and it also made a fortune from related products for HeroHero (HeroHero) -> HeroHero (HeroHero)—its first profit from such products. Giving up the rights was the only sensible choice.

As for MGM, after learning from Xiao Ran that it was controlled by the mafia, Wei Dongling didn’t hesitate at all. Paramount was actually quite good, though its business was mainly concentrated in North America, making it slightly weaker in overseas distribution. Warner, on the other hand, was fine—its terms were acceptable, and the prices were high enough; copyright could be negotiated. After some thought, he quickly decided, “Let’s consider Paramount and Warner. Since it will take four or five years before we can start making inroads into Hollywood, I can sell them the distribution rights for North America for five years!” Xiao Ran nodded. Fortunately, his trip to North America had made him aware of this issue; otherwise, the collapse of the Phantom Movie Empire might have been just around the corner. After some further consideration, he told Wei Dongling, “You know our focus is on the mainland, so I think it’s necessary to buy two plots of land there to set up filming bases. Otherwise, if real estate becomes popular, we’ll suffer another loss!” Xiao Ran thought it might be time to talk to Yindu, or even to more high-profile parties—it was essential to lay a solid foundation for the future. As he thought this, something related to television popped into his mind, and he immediately said, “In the television industry, news cannot be ignored; we should use bold and innovative ideas. As for media…” Mentioning this, Wei Dongling immediately remembered something—earlier, Xiao Ran had asked him to find a comic artist with delicate writing skills and knowledge of football to create a series of comics. Since Shuxiang was already involved in publishing, things were much easier. “I’ve found the comic artist you wanted—Shuxiang says they’re all very good, carefully selected!” Wei Dongling grew increasingly confused about what Xiao Ran really wanted. “But why bring them in? Do you want to create comics yourself?” Xiao Ran nodded. He had read two football novels online earlier—“Do You Care When I Play Football?” and its sequel “We Are Champions.” This series could become popular easily if it could be sold in the mainland. Later, it could be adapted into animations, thus dominating the Chinese animation market. Things were getting more and more complicated. Xiao Ran felt the path he was taking became increasingly difficult. Movies, television, print media, animations, publishing, stocks, real estate—all these messy matters were entangling him, even preventing him from having time to direct a film this year. Xiao Ran suddenly realized that Phantom had to take a path of cultural monopoly, which often seemed inevitable. With enough financial resources, it might not be a bad thing to support other domestic cultures. But this only led to deeper entanglements; perhaps in the future, they would even be forced to enter the gaming industry. While that would indeed make them a super empire in cultural entertainment, Xiao Ran guessed he’d be exhausted by then. “They’ve all left. Why don’t you two go rest too?” The hostess, Lin Qingxia, stepped lightly over to them and asked, “It’s already very late. You have a lot of work to do tomorrow!”

Xiao Ran nodded and smiled at Lin Qingxia, took her hand to signal her to sit down, then lay carefree by the pool: “A Dong, it seems we haven’t had a private chat in ages. Every time we’re together, it’s just about work—so exhausting!”
“Don’t talk about being tired in front of me!” Wei Dongling completely dropped his work mode and snapped, “You don’t even work as much as I do in half a year!”
“It’s not that exaggerated. But you really do work hard. Without you, I really don’t know how I’d manage this huge company!” Xiao Ran faintly saw a hint of amusement in Wei Dongling’s eyes. In truth, they were both exhausted—every decision affected whether their ideals could be realized, and they never had time to rest.
“What’s the point of talking about this? If you want to thank me, why not give me a Rolls-Royce?” Wei Dongling also lay down like Xiao Ran, feeling the cold ground, and suddenly felt relaxed: “I’ve long wanted one, but I’ve never been willing to spend the money on it!”
Seeing the satisfied expressions on Wei Dongling and Xiao Ran’s faces, Lin Qingxia hesitantly lay down as well, but felt uncomfortable and half-lay on Xiao Ran, gazing at the sky and chatting casually: “A Dong, I think you’re just waiting for an opportunity like today to extort Xiao Ran!”
Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling both laughed. None of the three of them cared about the most expensive car in the world. Xiao Ran wanted to give Wei Dongling shares worth another billion, but Wei Dongling refused to accept them—so what was this car compared to that? Lin Qingxia looked at the faint stars, feeling the slight warmth from Xiao Ran’s body, and suddenly laughed: “As your sister-in-law, I’ve never given you anything. How about I give you something this time?”
“That can’t be right. Isn’t Xiao Ran yours?” Wei Dongling sat up abruptly, pretending to be confused as he glanced at Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia: “Besides, I remember Xiao Ran is a few years younger than me—she should be the sister-in-law!”
“What does that have to do with it? As the sister-in-law, I should have given you something long ago!” Lin Qingxia and Xiao Ran said in unison, then exchanged a look before Lin Qingxia added with a smirk, “Don’t forget, Xiao Ran is the boss—it’s normal for him to call me sister-in-law!”
Wei Dongling shrugged helplessly: “I really can’t deal with you two. If Qingxia is willing to let me call you ‘old lady,’ then fine, I’ll call you sister-in-law!”
“Better not!” Xiao Ran immediately rejected the idea, sneaking a glance at Lin Qingxia, who was pretending to be angry, before saying, “Otherwise, I won’t be able to go to bed after you leave!”
“Xiao Ran, what are you talking about…”
“Hahaha…”