Super Zoo

When Hou Longtao mentioned firing all the employees earlier, he only felt slightly surprised, and not overly shocked.

He had personally witnessed the work attitude of the cinema staff, and while the decision to fire everyone seemed drastic, it was unexpected yet sensible.

But running an art cinema and showing only art films was completely incomprehensible.

Making technical films is difficult and thankless, just as showing art films is unprofitable. Even in his early years, Wong Kar-wai's films, which won countless awards in Hong Kong and Taiwan, were absolutely box office poison.

Once people have money, they often chase after so-called idealistic sentiments, even if it means losing money. However, Hou Longtao felt that Suming didn't seem to have the financial capacity to casually throw tens of millions at a passion project.

Besides, the so-called art films present not just an economic problem.

It's hard to define the line between art and commercial films.

What constitutes an art film and what constitutes a commercial film is not clear-cut. You can't simply say that films with more montage, fewer dialogues, pretentious or realistic acting are definitely art films, and those that meet market demands are definitely commercial films.

From its origin, cinema had nothing to do with art.

The earliest films were known as 'zoetropes,' a form of circus and street performance, connecting many pictures together, with the sole purpose of creating a spectacle just for entertainment. The insistence on tying contemporary cinema to art, to some extent, deviates from the essence of cinema which is 'to see a spectacle, for enjoyment'.

Cinema has a low barrier to entry. Readers, at the very least, need to be literate, but an illiterate person, as long as they are not deaf or blind, can go to a cinema to watch a movie. The audience threshold also dictates that movies are unlikely to become a high-end art form. Even in the West, the most popular and best-selling movies are commercial ones like Star Wars.

The absence of a clear distinction is one aspect, but that's not the most important thing. People are not machines, and they don't need explicit instructions for everything. One can rely on their own thinking to judge whether a movie is commercial or artistic.

Even if not profitable, showing only art films certainly won't sustain a cinema; the number of art films is too few. The production speed can't keep up with the screening schedule, and it wouldn't take long for the cinema to face the embarrassing situation of having no films to show.

This year alone, the television market may have hundreds of shows, but the pure art films can be counted on one hand.

"You misunderstood,"

Suming smiled, "What I mean by 'not following commercial standards' to decide screenings and scheduling doesn't mean only showing art films and not commercial films."

Hou Longtao thought for a moment and asked, "What do you mean exactly?"

"The current so-called commercial standards are basically a few points: whether it has a large investment and grand scenes, like Legend of the Gods; whether it has a major director, like those few domestic ones who rely on the glory of one or two films and then keep making bad ones; whether it has popular stars involved, or a certain fan base, like a big movie from a certain TV show."

Investment, director, fandom, and marketing—these are the current commercial standards.

But in reality, these factors cannot determine the quality of a movie, and sometimes they may even mislead the audience. When filmmakers focus their attention and money on these aspects, which do not directly determine the essence of the movie itself, they often neglect the content of the movie. What I mean is, stripping away all external factors, even ignoring the economic concerns, and starting from the movie itself, to choose movies that truly "tell a good story" for screening.

The key is two words: captivating.

As for whether it's so-called art films or commercial films, that is also not within the realm of consideration. As long as it's captivating, even the most cliched commercial films can be screened. If it's not captivating, not even the biggest-name or most nostalgic art films will be screened."

Before cinema chains purchase film sources for screening, distributors will invite them for internal film viewing to let the cinema side inspect the movie in advance. What Su Ming wanted Hou Longtao to do was this job, choosing 'captivating' films based on his own feelings.

Of course, this was just one of Hou Longtao's tasks, which, no doubt, Xin Linli from the film company would probably also be involved in.

"Even..." Su paused, then said, "Even some old films with good reputations could be screened. These films have already proven to be accepted by the audience, and because of the time factor, the rights are very cheap. It wouldn't cost much to buy them for screening."

"That's actually a good idea. Most of the people who came to my private cinema preferred to watch classic old films—a sense of nostalgia. In terms of price, it's even more expensive than going to the movies, but the vast majority of cinemas are unlikely to screen old films."

Hou Longtao nodded, hesitated for a moment, then said, "Su, there's something I still don't quite understand."

"Hmm, go ahead," said Su Ming.

Gathering his thoughts, Hou Longtao slowly said, "If I'm not mistaken, since it's about running a cinema, your goal is still to serve economic benefits, right?"

"It's not entirely for economic benefits; there are other considerations. However, what you said isn't wrong. The money for the cinema is definitely not spent in vain, Hou, I can tell you for sure, I'm not spending money to buy nostalgia," Su Ming said with a smile. "If it were just about my own love of watching good movies and old films, I might as well buy the most luxurious home theater system and watch by myself at home. Why bother buying a cinema?"

"Hmm, if that's the case, why go through such a huge detour, to stand out as being innovative?" Hou Longtao said. "I admit that the market is mostly filled with bad films nowadays, and it's getting worse, but the total box office in the country has been climbing over the years. That proves that even bad films are very profitable. Just follow the trend in screening, and the cinema's economy is secure. Your idea sounds good, but isn't it a bit risky? If it's for economic benefits, how can you compete with the big cinema chains without following the trend?"

Su Ming laughed, "Hou, has Changhe Cinema made any money by following trends in screenings? Has it ever been able to compete with the big cinema chains?"

Hou Longtao was startled—indeed, the films screened at Changhe Cinema were no different from those at Wanda, Jackie Chan, and other big chains. Yet, the harsh reality was that they were losing money terribly. Not to mention competing, surviving was difficult.

"That has something to do with its service, right? And yes, the equipment too, Changhe's equipment is too outdated to satisfy the viewing experience of big films," Hou Longtao said.

Su Ming nodded, "That's correct. We can replace the staff, and we can replace the equipment. But replacing is different than just replacing..." He pondered for a moment, then said, "Changing staff can rid the cinema of stagnant air and bad habits, and for us, it's not about spending more money, but a one-time minor investment that can get things sorted out. But what about changing the equipment?"

Counting on his fingers, Su Ming listed, "Wanda, Jackie Chan, Poly, China Film... There are seven or eight big cinema chains in Yangchuan City, each supported by billions of dollars in funds. If we compete with them, who has better equipment? Whose venues are more luxurious? Impossible. Even if I put all of Taoyuan Group's funds into the cinema, it wouldn't be enough, at most we'd just be following behind others. So you tell me, if I were to invest a large amount of money in equipment and the effect is still not as good as other big chains, should I raise the prices or not?"