During the test film of "Chasing Girls in Hardcover", Zou Wenhuai was taken by Xiang Huaqiang and Xiang Huasheng brothers to watch it in person. (Literature Museum) only saw the name of the production staff at the opening, Zou Wenhuai's face became a little unnatural because the lineup of the production team was too irritating.
First of all, Wang Jing, the director of "Hardcover Chasing Girls", is a Shaw Brothers person. One of the stars Chen Baixiang is a contracted actor on TVB, while another starring Feng Suifan is not only an actor on TVB, but even became a director five months ago to make a movie for Shaw Brothers.
Secondly, the male and female protagonists are actually Zhou Runfa and Guan Zhilin of Oriental DreamWorks, and the production manager of DreamWorks Eric Tsang is also one of the leading actors. What’s more damn, that is, the screenwriter of this movie is actually Kang Jianfei!
During the filming, the crew photographer, lighting artist, prop artist, etc. were invited by Xiang Huaqiang from Jiahe, while the artists, clothing and other personnel were borrowed from Oriental Dream Factory. The editing and soundtracks during the post-production were from Jiahe and Lishi, and the action guide was invited by Hong Jinbao's Hong family class members.
I have to say that Xiang Huaqiang's "connections" are really wide, and the complexity of the creative team of this movie can't be solved by other producers.
Zou Wenhuai wanted to ask Kang Jianfei if he had any investment in this movie, but fortunately, after watching this movie, he did not see the words "Oriental Dream Factory".
"It was good to shoot." Zou Wenhuai nodded, but he did not directly agree to arrange when the drama will be released.
In fact, the reason why Zou Wenhuai agreed to help Xiang Huaqiang film was mainly to give Xiang Huaqiang a favor. Cheng Long was the actor signed by Luo Wei, and He Guanchang persuaded Luo Wei's ex-wife and son to be introverted, and dug Cheng Long into Jiahe Film.
Luo Wei felt so hatred. Not only was Cheng Long, the money tree, robbed by Jiahe, but his wife and son also helped outsiders to poach him. The more he thought about it, Luo Wei made a ruthless statement and spent a huge sum of money to contact the people in the club. He threatened to look good to Cheng Long and Zou Wenhuai. After being threatened and causing trouble, Zou Wenhuai was so scared that he almost sent Cheng Long abroad to avoid the limelight. In the end, Zou Wenhuai asked someone to find Xiang Huaqiang's brother Xiang Huayan, and Xiang Huayan spoke in person to settle the matter.
So some time ago, I told Huaqiang that he wanted to make a movie and wanted to film in Jiahe Theater. Zou Wenhuai agreed without thinking much. In addition to returning favors, why didn’t Zou Wenhuai have the intention of getting along well with Xin Yian?
Xiang Huaqiang smiled and said, "I also think this movie is well made. Mr. Zou, what do you think is the screening on New Year's Day?"
Zou Wenhuai did not refuse directly, but said, "We need to check the screening situation in the theaters first. I will try to adjust."
Xiang Huaqiang heard Zou Wenhuaiyan's insincere meaning, and was dissatisfied and could not express it directly, so he could only nod and said, "Okay, I'll go back and wait for Mr. Zou's good news first."
Zou Wenhuai kept sending Xiang Huaqiang's brothers out of the building before he found the general manager of Jiahe Cinema to ask about the screening schedule in the new year. It turned out that Jiahe had no heavy weight videos that could be shown.
This situation was caused by Zou Wenhuai's investment decision-making route. In the past two years, Jiahe Pictures has invested in 19 movies in Hollywood. Some of these movies have made some losses, but overall it has made a lot of money. However, when filming movies in Hollywood, they invested in US dollars, and the funds for filming are slow to recover. Although "Sky" was sold well in North America during the summer season, Jiahe's box office was only received three months ago.
Because of the success of "Sky" in the United States, Zou Wenhuai took advantage of the victory and invested in two Hollywood films, which made Jiahe not have much money to shoot blockbusters in Hong Kong. He could only do some low-cost productions.
He Guanchang, who was in charge of Jiahe production business, strongly opposed Zou Wenhuai's decision, but Zou Wenhuai finally convinced He Guanchang. Because from the books, investing in Hollywood films is indeed more profitable than making movies in Hong Kong.
Since "The Dragon Master", Cheng Long has not appeared in movies again, but has spent time running his own Quanwei Film Company. This New Year's New Year's Quanwei Film Company also released a film, written by Huang Bingyao and directed by Feng Ke'an.
"Beware of Little Hands" by Hong Jinbao's Weihe Film Company is still in the late stage at this time. The movie is also written by Huang Bingyao and is scheduled to be released during the Spring Festival.
After watching Jiahe Cinema's New Year schedule, Zou Wenhuai drew circles on two small production movies and said to Chen Zhiqi, general manager of Jiahe Cinema: "These two movies will be postponed and their theater will be given to "Hardcover Chasing Girls". This is Xiang Huaqiang's phone call. If you arrange it, you will contact him."
Chen Zhiqi took Xiang Huaqiang's business card and said, "Okay, Mr. Zou, I'll make arrangements right away."
After Chen Zhiqi left, Zou Wenhuai rubbed his temples with a headache. After the "Sky" was sold, Zou Wenhuai invested in two more Hollywood films. One of them was released some time ago, but the box office was extremely different. With an investment of more than 5 million US dollars, the final box office in the United States was only more than 6 million, which was almost a slump to outer space.
After closing his eyes and resting for a while, Zou Wenhuai invited his old partner He Guanchang in, and sighed: "Achang, it seems that I was wrong this time. Hollywood movies are really not something that Hong Kong companies can do."
He Guanchang finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Zou Wenhuai's words. He comforted him: "Don't think too much. Calculate the Western films he has made in the past two years, but we have not lost money."
Zou Wenhuai shook his head and said, "Although there is no loss, Jiahe's share in the Hong Kong box office market has been reduced by half, making Oriental DreamWorks and New Art City bigger. Although "Sky" sold $70 million in the United States, we can only get 18% of the box office share, barely recovering the production cost. If you want to make money, you have to rely on the box office in Canada, Europe and Japan, so
I have to wait for at least half a year, and the funds are recovering too slowly, let alone those failed investments. Alas, I have decided not to touch Hollywood movies within five years, and after all the funds are collected, I will develop in the Asian market with peace of mind."
He Guanchang took the opportunity to say: "I decided to let Cheng Long and Hong Jinbao and his brothers work together to make a movie after the beginning of the year."
Zou Wenhuai asked, "Are there any specific plans?"
"Aaron and Deng Jingsheng are already screenwriting, and this time it is not the kind of old-style kung fu movie." He Guanchang explained.
Zou Wenhuai nodded in agreement. He still trusted He Guanchang and Deng Jingsheng's abilities very much.
After thinking about it, Zou Wenhuai suddenly asked: "There is still no news for Kang Jianfei?"
He Guanchang was also puzzled: "Yes, it seems that the world suddenly evaporated, and there is no news at all. New Year's Day is coming soon, and his new film will definitely not be released on the New Year's Day. If there is no promotional news for his new film within half a month, Kang Jianfei will probably give up this year's New Year's Day."
When Zou Wenhuai heard that Kang Jianfei gave up this year's New Year's schedule, he felt relaxed and asked with a smile: "Where did you think Kang Jianfei has been hiding in the past two months?"
He Guanchang also smiled and said, "How do I know? After all, this young man is only 20 years old. It is worth enjoying more when he becomes rich. He can't say that he will go abroad for vacation with any confidante."
Zou Wenhuai lit the cigar and said, "It would be better that he can play abroad for a year or two."
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The Christmas season in Hong Kong this year is not lively. Shaw Brothers can no longer produce any good movies. Cheng Long and Hong Jinbao on Jiahe have not made much appearances. "Rat Street", which is a producer, has a mediocre box office after its release, which greatly dampened his confidence in being the boss of a film company.
On the other hand, "The Little Scary" produced by DreamWorks is the only one that has made a big box office debut before Christmas. In the end, it took advantage of the good time of Christmas to win more than 14.6 million yuan in one fell swoop. This movie is a low-cost comedy. Even if a big singer like Alan Tam is invited to star in the role, the cost is only more than 2 million yuan, which can be said to be a big profit.
After Christmas, "Brothers in the Desperate" in New Art City was released immediately. The cost of this movie is similar to "The Little Scary", but the lineups of Shi Tian, ​​Wu Yaohan, Lam Zixiang, Alan Tam, Zhang Aijia, Mecca, Liu Jiarong, Cao Dahua and Xu Ke are really strong. As for the role of Chung Chuhong in another time and space, it was replaced by Taiwanese actress Liu Lanxi.
It was released in the first few days of Christmas until the New Year's Day approached that the box office of "Brothers in Desperate" quickly exceeded 10 million, and it was full of momentum. Judging from the current situation, it is absolutely fine to increase the box office by another six or seven million.
After tens of millions of box offices, Lei Juekun held a celebration banquet for "Brothers in Desperate", and Alan Tam successfully transformed from a popular singer to a top-notch comedian because of starring in two comedies with a box office of over 10 million in "Brothers in Desperate".
At this moment, Xiang Huaqiang Yongsheng Film Company's "Chasing Girls in Hardcover" also began to be released on Jiahe Theater after some promotion.
When "Chasing Girls in Hardcover" was still in its promotional period, it received strong attention from the Hong Kong media because the creative lineup of this movie is too weird.
The name of the movie alone reminds people of the "Chasing Girls" in New Art City. The screenwriter of the film is Kang Jianfei, and the male and female protagonists are Zhou Runfa and Guan Zhilin from DreamWorks. What's even more strange is that the director of this movie is Wang Jing of Shaw Brothers, and the other actors and behind-the-scenes personnel belong to several companies.
Taking advantage of the popularity of "Chasing Girls" last year, the credibility and quality of screenwriter Kang Jianfei was hyped up, and it also won the support of fans of Zhou Runfa and Guan Zhilin. Coupled with the media's discussion, the box office response of "Chasing Girls in Hardcover" is no worse than that of "Brothers in Hardcover".
Chapter completed!