Houde Qianhai Fund, established on 20 13, focuses on investment in cultural industries, ranking in the top 5 in China box office, and Houde Qianhai is behind The Wandering Earth in Hi Mom and Wolf Warrior. Therefore, among the investment institutions in the entertainment industry, Houde Qianhai is known for its "high hit rate".
Chen Yujian, the chairman and partner of Houde Qianhai Fund, rarely shows up, but when it comes to companies such as Meng Tao, Taihe Music, New World, Netflix and Culture, he is unavoidable.
As the only financial media with deep cooperation in 1 1 Film Festival, China Business Daily conducted an in-depth interview with this rare investor during the Beijing International Film Festival. In Chen Yujian's view, it will be difficult for several years. Whether it can remain open depends on innovation, and the future must be combined with technology and consumption.
Photo by Chen Yujian: Photo courtesy of Beijing International Film Festival
"What would it look like if Musk shot?"
Under the haze of the epidemic, Spring Festival travel rush has made a good start this year. Hi, mom has won the slot, and the box office of 5410.40 billion yuan has been the runner-up in the history of China movies.
Chen Yujian said that investment in all projects should be postponed for three to five years. For example, "Hi, Mom" was opened in 2022, and the preparation time in the wandering earth was earlier.
Hi, mom. Stills: Cat's Eye Professional Edition
But Chen Yujian doesn't think there is a so-called "theory". "It's not a creation, it's an accident, it's just the mood of the year. It is the director's persistence for several years, and even the schedule has no opponent's luck. "
Having said that, Houde Qianhai has actually invested in many well-known directors and production companies through its sub-funds, such as Ning Hao's Bad Monkey Film, New Film, New Technology University Film, Chen's Kung Fu Film, Zhang's Shibuya Film and Cultural Media.
Houde Qianhai has deep cultural roots. Kai Xinbao showed that Song Ge, the chairman of Culture, had previously served as the chairman of Houde Qianhai before quitting in May 2022. Will frequent cultural explosions have an impact on Houde Qianhai? This question is not answered by Houde Qianhai.
The epidemic has dragged down the industry, and so has investment. "Now is not the time to' run', just use the cold winter to practice kung fu, and maybe run faster in the future." Chen Yujian said.
With the decrease of industry income, the upstream funds are bound to be more calm, and the budget of the previous project is sufficient. Now, the fund has generally reduced its investment budget.
In the present environment, there is an invisible hand, which makes the hospital walk on thin ice. I don't know when to withdraw the file and when to close the door.
Because of this, Chen Yujian thinks that the content can be "light" because it is already the main battlefield. "Don't add such an example to making a movie now. Shooting short plays is one way. It will be broadcast soon, and there are many opportunities inside. "
High-cost creation means a long cycle, which takes 3-5 years to shoot. There are not a few problems when broadcasting, and it will be released after 7 years. The fundamental way to reduce risks is to "shorten the cycle of creation and recovery"
Regardless of the scale of funds or the amount of creation, Chen Yujian thinks that it is a good thing to be smaller than in previous years. "A lot of content should not be in the cinema, but in short films and short films, suitable for small steps to correct mistakes." Just as real estate is not suitable for building too many skyscrapers, the industry also needs reasonable input and output.
Upstream funds have become cautious about building a "skyscraper"-like business giant. If you jump out of box office measures, such as art, Chen Yujian can still be outspoken, and people have always voted.
Looking ahead, Chen Yujian is optimistic about science fiction. From the perspective of investment, the realization path is more yuan. "Jumping out of the common palace fights and family struggles, science fiction has a broader vision and more imaginable things, which can be turned into animations and even games."
Jin Yong created the martial arts world of China people with a pen, and Liu painted a large space of science fiction world with a brain hole, whose value has already surpassed the box office. Chen Yujian believes that it is more important to have epoch-making sex works.
Wandering Earth Stills: Cat's Eye Professional Edition
But apart from wandering the earth, there are not many teams that can prove themselves in science fiction projects, and Houde Qianhai will make a lot of investment and preparation. "In addition to the known directors, we have two or three times more director reserves than now, but they are all practicing their hands with short films. Directors are all in our system, research and development system, and creative system. "
Chen Yujian often fantasizes about what Jobs and Musk would do if they did. On the other hand, China is excellent. "We have done a good job of cross-border ourselves and can surpass the cognition of many foreigners, but we are still trying."
Chen Yujian firmly believes that this industry needs to cross the boundary between technology and consumption. In addition to training itself, there will be a future by combining with excellent teams in larger industries. "I don't think this industry can make a particularly big change by fighting with itself."
"Wal-Mart" of Spiritual Consumption
Houde Qianhai has a wide range of investment, involving many stages and fields of the industry, such as content, culture+technology, tourism and sports, IP derivative and so on. In terms of regions, it is content+scene+consumption.
In Chen Yujian's words, Houde Qianhai's grand strategy is to make a "spiritual IP matrix" and then continue to combine with each other. "We have a Wal-Mart with material consumption, and we will definitely have a Wal-Mart with content consumption. We are a supermarket for spiritual products. "
The overall environment is not ideal, and everyone's cash flow is tightening. People can not watch for a year, but eat three meals a day. "There is no oil and salt store that cannot be opened, and consumption just needs high frequency." Chen Yujian said that private enterprises have solved the cash flow, and consumption projects have become quick results.
The consumer market has been very hot in the past two years. It is precisely for this reason that after differentiated competition, the content demand will continue to float.
Hospitals have also reached the moment of transformation. Facing the constant closure of hospitals with poor benefits, Chen Yujian doesn't think this is bad news. "The advantage is that the concentration of the cinema should be higher, and its payback period and intensity are better."
But Chen Yujian also believes that China will be better in the future, but its form of existence will change. "It is not a bad thing for the hospital to open less. If it is too much, it will be diverted. It is said that the low return is because there are too many bad films and too many people with bad or unprofessional locations. "
Script killing may be one of the recent explorations, and Chen Yujian prefers to understand it as "immersive consumption". "Universal Park is an immersive consumption, and the script is a closed paradise with a small unit. The game is smaller, and there will be many scenes in the future. I don't expect to rely on a cinema. "
In the case of reduced content, it may be a good direction for hospitals to switch to immersive business. "It's good to be different. The demand for transformation has not changed, but everyone's demand is not on it. This hall is a script, that hall is a game hall, and that hall is a concert hall, which is almost a diverse entertainment space. "
Imagine such a scene, Chen Yujian was satisfied: "This is enough to bring you pleasure, happiness and a good experience. You associate with people and get to know each other. As long as everyone is willing to come more. Its form is suitable for the present. " This is also the concrete imagination of "spiritual consumption".
Photo: Houde Qianhai WeChat
To sum up, Houde Qianhai is still exploring, and there are gains and losses, but Chen Yujian insists that "science and technology" is the direction, and science and technology also endows the content with more forms of expression.
Chen Yujian believes that VR will become a big industry, and technologies, chips, cloud computing and edge computing are all upgrading. "From the evolution of content to technology, we are all doing this."
When there is no smart phone, people think that having a smart phone is enough. After the emergence of smart phones, the market expanded rapidly. There is no end to technological innovation. After the phone is folded, where is the next form of expression? Chen Yujian wants to find it, too. "Nothing is the ultimate product. Will there be AR augmented reality technology, smart glasses or voice control? I don't know, there must be. We have many needs, many opportunities and concentrated talents, which will all appear in unexpected ways. "
"I really want to do something practical for the industry. It's still climbing when it's cold, and several people are still planting trees, but I think these people can come out. " Chen Yujian said.
National business daily
The above is related to Chen Yu's 9000-year longevity, and it is about the sharing of wandering earth. I hope this will help everyone who has finished watching "Three Thousand Years of Longevity"!