Chapter 524: Xizi Doing Business

Chapter 524: Xizi Opens for Business

After the Shanhai Animation Festival ended, the heads of Penguin Animation, 8 Station, and Shanhai Animation Studio met together. Strictly speaking, this was the first formal meeting of the three jointly established film company, "Xizi Pictures"—named simply after the place.

Xizi Pictures: each of the three parties held 30% of the shares, with the remaining 10% belonging to individual shareholders, all of whom were bigwigs with distribution resources. Their voting rights were mandatorily assigned to Shanhai Animation Studio under the agreement. In other words, Shanhai Animation Studio still held the most voting power in Xizi Pictures, though not absolute control.

After the meeting went through some previously unfinished procedures, the real agenda began: the projects Xizi Pictures would undertake next. It was true that a five-year, three-film deal had been signed with Pixar, but the purpose of founding Xizi Pictures was not merely to collaborate with foreign studios, but to build up Chinese animation on its own.

More and more companies in China were making animated films, but relative to the country's rapidly growing film market, their presence was barely more than a drop in the bucket. There were many reasons—too many, strictly speaking—but the root cause was that the money came too slowly. An animated film that could turn a profit in the market required too long an investment of time, so long that many investors shied away. Without capital, animated films—which demanded heavy investment in every frame—took even longer to produce, falling into a vicious cycle.

It was only in recent years, with the rise of domestic animation—especially children's animation—that IPs with national recognition emerged, allowing studios to quickly secure funding or use their own capital to produce films quickly. Even if the quality was mediocre, the IP's influence could still make money.

Beyond that, the few films in recent years that had turned a profit or earned good word of mouth had all been polished over long periods, repeatedly delayed due to lack of funds, and nearly abandoned multiple times during that process.

With the rapid growth of both China's animation and film markets, practitioners of animated films did enjoy a better creative environment than before, but it was still limited. Investment remained hard to secure—not impossible, but most available funding came with many strings attached, strict control over spending, and overall, significant constraints. Of course, one could argue the other way: that Chinese animation studios lacked production capability, so investors lacked confidence, and thus interfered at the slightest sign of trouble. That argument also held water, since few problems were ever one-sided; they were usually a mix of factors.

This time, the three parties jointly established an animated film company not only because of the combination of major platforms and Meng Fan's fame, but also because of the resources consolidated through this Shanhai Animation Festival. Two key resources: talent and capital. As for project content, that was truly not in short supply.

What lay before the meeting now was the problem of having too many projects to choose from!

With so many resources consolidated, Xizi Pictures had to select a project that would achieve a strong start; otherwise, the impact on the future would be significant.

The choice of project naturally focused on box office and word of mouth. Once made, if it could achieve either, it wouldn't be a failure. Of course, a double win in both box office and reputation would be ideal, but that was no easy feat—not even for a newly established animation studio, and not even Pixar had a 100% guarantee.

As for animated films and even animation itself, Chu Tiankuo, though trained in the field, was not an expert. So during the meeting, he mainly listened. But with his eye and aesthetic sense, he was determined to have the final say in decision-making; otherwise, he wouldn't have fought so hard for so many voting rights.

As for the films themselves, since no related tasks had been triggered, Meng Fan certainly wouldn't spend time on in-depth study, despite his strong learning ability. So he wouldn't be heavily involved in the production process.

At the end of the meeting, two major IPs and one original comic were selected as final candidates. Everyone then turned to look at Meng Fan.

"Short on money?"

"Short on people?"

"Since neither is lacking, then let's do them all!"

Meng Fan made the bold decision: "Everyone here is a seasoned or uniquely skilled professional in this industry. During production, the strengths and weaknesses will become clear. By then, you'll all know which one to release first for a strong start. In short, if you need money, you'll get money; if you need people, you'll get people!"

After the meeting, Meng Fan went to the capital for the final rehearsal of the Lantern Festival Gala, and the next day, the recording took place—the CCTV Lantern Festival Gala was pre-recorded.

Before that, he didn't return to Hangzhou. After spending a day with Wu Tong at their home in the capital, he headed to the training base, while Wu Tong resumed her normal work of restoring paintings at the Forbidden City.

Shortly after the Lantern Festival, March arrived. Meng Fan, who had rested for about half a year, was about to enter the competition season for athletes. Starting in April, there would be a dense schedule of events, requiring him to regularize his life, rest, and training a month in advance.

Before Meng Fan appeared at the training base, the first-tier athletes of the weightlifting, wrestling, and judo national teams had mostly reported in. Apart from those unable to attend due to injuries, Meng Fan continued to serve as a coach during the training camp. In truth, given Meng Fan's current strength, he only needed to maintain his competitive form through training. The weightlifting coaches were particularly eager for Meng Fan to achieve higher weights, while the wrestling and judo coaches didn't know what to demand of him—he was simply too dominant.

In early April, there would be Grand Prix and Masters events in wrestling and judo. All the athletes were eager to achieve good results. The weightlifting, wrestling, and judo center had set a target: besides Meng Fan, they aimed to win at least five medals and two golds across other men's and women's weight classes. Wrestling was uncertain, but in judo, they wanted to solidify the two-power rivalry with Japan.

The training camp lasted half a month. Time passed quickly. For Meng Fan, everything was fine—there were no rigid requirements for his training or coaching hours, and he could come and go freely, able to visit Wu Tong in the capital anytime. The only thing that bothered him was the food. Though the training base's chefs varied their dishes and the taste was genuinely good, he still didn't enjoy eating. Every time he thought of hotpot, his mouth watered.

After returning to Hangzhou, Meng Fan became even busier. Besides daily training and painting, he had to take make-up exams—he had missed many school exams due to his status as a national team athlete, which allowed him to retake them anytime—and write his graduation thesis. As for the graduation exhibition, he had neither the time nor the inclination to work on it.

Additionally, whenever he had free time, he would stroll over to the Xizi Cultural and Creative Park. With Xizi Pictures moving in and the influence of the Shanhai Animation Festival, the park was now completely full. Even the areas still under expansion were mostly booked up, solidifying its position as the top cultural and creative park in Hangzhou.

Meng Fan kept a close eye on the progress of the three animated films.

(End of chapter)