The 28th day of the 12th lunar month, a whole week before "The Great Stars" was released.
It's New Year's Eve in two days, and the movie teahouse in the Peninsula Hotel is particularly lively. Many big stars call friends to come here for afternoon tea, and then find a place to play mahjong.
During this big holiday, if there is no reservation, there is no seat at the Peninsula Teahouse.
Zou Wenhuai drank tea and looked into the distance. Shao Yifu was drinking tea and chatting with his old friend Qiu Degen, while Fang Yihua, the actual controller of TVB, was also accompanying him, interrupting from time to time to create an atmosphere.
"The box office of "The Gambling Saint" has exceeded 15 million, right?" Zou Wenhuai withdrew his gaze and asked him about He Guanchang at this table.
He Guanchang nodded: "It seems that it exceeded 15 million the day before yesterday. According to this momentum, the box office of "God of Gamblers" must be more than 30 million."
Liu Lianghua said disgustedly: "Another 30 million is exceeded. Kang Jianfei is really unbeaten to death. He is still alive when he was banned by Taiwan."
After entering the 1980s, the standard for selling blockbusters in Hong Kong was to have a box office of over 10 million, and at least 20 million could it be called a box office hit. As for the magical films with a box office of over 30 million, there has not been more than 5 movies in a few years, and director Kang Jianfei accounts for half of them.
"The Gambler" was released on Friday of the 19th day of the 12th lunar month, while Jiahe's "The Stars of Lucky" was two days late, because of the adjustment period, it was released on the 21st of the 12th lunar month. As for "Congratulations on the Richness" of Xinyi City, it was placed between two movies, which was premiered on the 20th lunar month.
After the nonsensical craze in "Love Saint" in the summer, many film companies, including Jiahe, followed suit, but the audience seemed to have recognized Zhou Xingchi and did not buy into other nonsensical comedies.
Kang Jianfei then asked Zhou Xingchi to film "The Gambling Saint", which was in line with the eager demands of the majority of Hong Kong audiences. This movie, which broke the Hong Kong box office record in another time and space, received a box office of 2.47 million on the first day of its release, and the box office reached as much as 14 million in a week.
Now "The Saint of Gambling" has been released on its tenth day. Although the box office statistics in the past two days have not yet been released, the box office has reached at least 17 million.
"The Best Stars" starring Cheng Long, Hong Jinbao and Yuan Biao has just been released for one week, with a box office revenue of 12.76 million, which is nearly 2 million less than the first week of "The Gambler".
As for "Congratulations on the Richness" in New Art City, the movie is serious about the plot and boring laughter. Fortunately, some of the plots are well designed, and fans of Alan Tam and Lin Zixiang are bought by fans. In addition, Shi Tian's comedy appeal, the box office was also sold for 7.32 million in eight days of release.
Whether in the previous time and space or now, "Congratulations on the Richness" is a watershed in the decline of New Art City from its prosperity.
The core creative team of New Art City, Xu Ke and Shi Nansheng, have already left and cooperated with DreamWorks to establish a film studio; then Zhang Aijia ran back to Taiwan, helping Jiahe film some time ago; recently Teddy Robin also had a conflict with Mecca, Shi Tian, ​​and Huang Baiming. Teddy Robin did not participate in the production of this "Congratulations on the Richness", and it is estimated that he will leave New Art City soon.
The former core creative team is now the only three bosses, Mecca, Shi Tian and Huang Baiming. Among these three people, Shi Tian and Huang Baiming, are not the same. Shi Tian and Huang Baiming feel that Mecca has too many shares and have repeatedly asked to redistribute the company's equity, but they are all mercilessly rejected by Mecca. If they had not had common interests, I am afraid that New Art City would have split up.
Moreover, the mentality of the three bosses of Xinyi City has long changed. They started their business with great ambitions and passion, and often worked all night to discuss the plot.
But what about now?
There is a computer in Mecca's office. This guy's daily energy is not on creating movies, but on studying the Hong Kong stock market. Since September last year, the Hong Kong stock market has been rising, and all of Mecca has continued to invest in the stock market. Now he earns much more money to buy stocks than filming movies. How can he focus on film creation?
Shi Tian is in similar condition to Mecca, but he is not investing in stocks but building buildings. Last year, the news that Kang Jianfei made hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate speculation was exposed. Shi Tian's eyes were so envious that he turned red. Even when filming "Congratulations on the Richness", he always had a bunch of real estate books.
Huang Baiming is not as vulgar as the first two, but this elder brother doesn't want to be so tired after he has money. He has been traveling abroad some time ago. I guess he will come back to continue making movies after spending almost the money.
"Congratulations on the Rich" was filmed under this situation. It didn't have much thought in it. It was able to get more than 7 million yuan in 8 days, and it was purely supported by several star actors.
"New Art City is not worth mentioning, DreamWorks is the most powerful opponent." He Guanchang sighed.
Zou Wenhuai nodded and said, "It would be nice if Xinyi City can last for another three years and not break up. At that time, the pattern of the Hong Kong film industry will change dramatically."
He Guanchang and Zou Wenhuai are not gods. The reason why they dare to conclude in this way that the New Art City cannot last for a long time is very simple. Just look at the people behind the recent movies of New Art City to know.
In the past, the best movies in New Art City were basically involved in Mecca, Shi Tian, ​​Huang Baiming, Teddy Robin, Zhang Aijia, Xu Ke and others, but now each movie can only appear one or two, basically doing their own things.
In another time and space, there were no good films produced in the New Art City in 1985 years later. Fortunately, directors such as Ko Jisen, Yu In-tae, McDonald and other directors joined in and continued until the 1990s.
As for good films such as "The True Color of Heroes", "A Chinese Ghost Story", "The Dao Ma Dan" and other good films, although they are marked as produced by Xinyi City, they are all works of Xu Ke's Film Studio, but the film studio is only affiliated with Xinyi City.
Now Yu In-tae and McDonald are all in DreamWorks. Gao Zhisen's famous work "Happy Ghost" has been filmed by Kang Jianfei, and even Xu Ke's studio is under the name of DreamWorks. Mecca, Shi Tian, ​​and Huang Baiming have lost their passion and ambitions when starting a business. It is really hard to say whether New Art City can last for three years.
When Liu Lianghua saw Zou Wenhua sighing, he comforted him: "Our "Happy Stars" is not bad, and the box office in the first week was only about 1 million lower than "The Gambling Saint".
"This is not what I worry about," Zou Wenhuai's turbid eyes shone with a wise light. He looked at Shao Yifu who was leaving in the distance and said, "Now someone has called Zhou Runfa and Zhou Xingchi 'Bian Zhou'."
He Guanchang's face also became serious, because he already understood what Zou Wenhuai was worried about.
At that time, Zou Wenhuai, He Guanchang and Liang Feng broke up with Shaw's brothers and formed Jiahe. In fact, it was not very smooth at the beginning. The appearance of Bruce Lee allowed Jiahe to develop smoothly. If it were not for Bruce Lee, Jiahe would probably have gone bankrupt in the early 1970s. It can be said that one Bruce Lee supported the entire Jiahe, and Jiahe relied on it to grow. The independent accounting sharing model that is still being implemented was set specifically for Bruce Lee.
After Bruce Lee died, Jiahe signed in again the Xu brothers, and now Cheng Long and Hong Jinbao. Anyway, Jiahe has its own pillar stars in each period. These stars are Jiahe's main box office source and the fundamental reason why Jiahe can grow step by step.
Although there are Lin Qingxia and Zhong Chuhong at DreamWorks, female stars are not the mainstream of Hong Kong movies after all, and real signature stars still need male stars.
DreamWorks had only one Zhou Runfa before. Now, with the support of two movies Kang Jianfei, Zhou Xingchi has already launched like a rocket. In the future, DreamWorks will definitely create movies with "two weeks" as the center.
"Zhou Runfa cannot dig it up. Is it possible to dig Zhou Xingchi?" He Guanchang asked suddenly.
Liu Lianghua shook his head and said, "Zhou Xingchi's ten years will not expire in more than nine years. If the liquidated damages plus the money given to Zhou Xingchi, you must prepare at least 15 million."
He Guanchang smiled and said, "With Zhou Xingchi's potential, if it can be dug up, 15 million will be worth it."
Six years ago, Jiahe spent 5 million to dig Cheng Long. At that time, the average ticket price of Hong Kong movies was only 7 yuan, but now the ticket price has become 17 yuan, and the average box office of the movie has increased by more than three times. According to this standard, the 15 million dig Zhou Xingchi is actually similar to the price of digging Cheng Long back then.
Please note that He Guanchang is talking about "using Zhou Xingchi's potential", rather than "using Zhou Xingchi's current fame". Jiahe was desperate to dig Cheng Long because the kung fu film began to decline at that time, and Cheng Long's humorous kung fu film was unique.
The same is true for Zhou Xingchi now. Hong Kong audiences only recognize Zhou Xingchi's nonsensical comedy. If this comedy style can continue to be popular, then Zhou Xingchi's value will not be inferior to Cheng Long.
This is the sarcastic view of Zou Wenhuai and He Guanchang. Other investors and directors only saw Zhou Xingchi's fame, while Zou and He were judging from the potential for cultivation and development.
"Let Yongchang go and talk, he is good at speaking." Zou Wenhuai thought about it and said.
Cheng Long was dug by Cai Yongchang, and Zou Wenhuai wanted to use the same trick again on Zhou Xingchi.
...
...
While Zou Wenhuai and He Guanchang were discussing poaching people, Pan Disheng and Cen Jianxun were also discussing the same thing.
Pan Disheng had just sent Yang Ziqiong to the airport, and as soon as he came back, he invited Cen Jianxun to his house to discuss the company's development plan. Pan Disheng first founded Debao Film Company, and the main purpose was to promote his jewelry brand, but the sales of his entrepreneurial work "Owl and Dumbo" in the Christmas season made Pan Disheng taste the sweetness of making a movie for the first time, and he felt unstoppable.
"Ah Xun, Sammo Hung is busy with his own Baohe, and he has never had time to make movies for Debao. What kind of scene should we do now?" Pan Disheng is still an amateur in movies. Everything has to be decided by Cen Jianxun, and he is only responsible for paying the money.
In fact, before "The Owl and Dumbo" was released, Cen Jianxun invited director Liang Puzhi and invited Zhou Runfa, Ye Tong and Wan Ziqi as the starring actors, preparing to make a realistic film "Waiting for the Dawn".
As a result, "Waiting for Dawn" was just one week after filming, the Taiwanese authorities suddenly announced the ban on Kang Jianfei and his company. Zhou Runfa and Wan Ziqiu, among the three protagonists, were affected by Chi Yu, and "Waiting for Dawn" had to be put on hold indefinitely. Pan Disheng did not want to be labeled as a leftist because of a movie.
Cen Jianxun did not answer what movies to shoot next, but asked back: "Mr. Pan, are you leaving after you want to make a movie and get a few votes, or are you going to do it as a career?"
Pan Disheng said in surprise: "Is there any difference?"
——
Chapter completed!