If you want to know how bad the box office of the 1993 summer movies were, you can check out the movies released at the same time as "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural".
Johnnie To invites three stars, Anita Mui, Yang Ziqiong and Zhang Manyu, to shoot "The Three Heroes of the Oriental" for Huang Baiming's New City Film Company. The combined pay for these three female stars alone is more than 8 million.
After the release of "The Three Heroes of the East" sold 810,000 on the first day, 640,000 on the second day, and more than 200,000 on the third day. After 5 days of decreasing the number of games, Xincheng Cinema had to decline "The Three Heroes of the East" in advance, with only a pitiful box office of 1.93 million.
"One Sword" directed by Sammo Hung is slightly better. The starring of this movie is Di Long, Anita Yuen and Yang Liqing, who beat "The Three Heroes of the Orient" with a box office of 1.97 million yuan.
Celebrity director, a movie with a box office of 1.93 million and a movie with a box office of 1.97 million. He was so crying that he was about to cry. He had already lost his way out of a new realm.
If you look at the box office of these two movies, you will understand why so many Hong Kong film production companies have gone bankrupt this year. Who is willing to do the losing business?
In comparison, "Chasing Boys", invested by Taiwan Changhong Company, and Wang Jing invited many celebrities from Hong Kong and Taiwan, has a vulgar plot and old jokes, but the box office still exceeded 10 million mark. Plus... Shanghai box office and video sales, and VCD revenue, "Chasing Boys" can still make a small profit.
It is worth mentioning that Liu Zhenwei helped Wong Kar-wai make up for his missed son, "The East is the West". This movie, which was filmed in his spare time using the original cast of "The East Evil and the West Poison", was completed in just over 20 days, and the box office even sold for more than 24 million yuan.
In terms of actors, in addition to Cheng Long and Zhou Xingchi, the one with the strongest box office appeal is Li Lianjie. "Fang Shiyu" and "Fang Shiyu Sequel" filmed by him and Yang Dengkui. The box office sold more than 30 million and more than 20 million respectively, all of which entered the top ten box office list in Hong Kong this year.
As for Zhou Runfa and Tony Leung, the movies they starred in are fluctuating in the box office, with high comedy and action types, while those with relatively low literary and artistic genres.
Just as the summer vacation in Hong Kong was in a state of sorrow, Kang Jianfei's new film "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" was released.
In sharp contrast to the failure of "One Sword" and "The Three Heroes of the East", "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" was popular on the first day of its release. Although many viewers found it not good-looking, they liked it more, with a box office of 16.92 million in the first week.
"Movie Biweekly" published the special topic of this movie at the first time, and there were as many as four reviews of the light and shadow, which conducted in-depth analysis from different perspectives such as plot, light and shadow, composition, sound effects, and acting skills.
I have to say that Kang Jianfei has already received the treatment of an international master. Many details in the new film have been overly interpreted by film critics, and even he himself did not expect some so-called meanings.
In addition to the excellence of the movie itself, Huang Qiusheng and the young girl Cai Zhuoyan's acting skills were also particularly pointed out, and a film review wrote:
"After ten years of hard work, Huang Qiusheng's acting skills are no longer the same as before. He played Dao Zai in "God of Gamblers", his acting skills are immature and immature, but his performance in this film is extremely vivid. He showed the psychologist's pride, regret, persistence, give up, pain and relief in a slight sense. The entire transformation process is natural and profound, especially the look he looked at his ring finger at the end, and the shock and suddenness were deeply rooted in people's hearts.
The young actor Cai Zhuoyan is another highlight of the film. The introvert and indifference that is inconsistent with age. It is hard to imagine that it will appear on a 10-year-old girl. Cai Zhuoyan's eyes have a chill that pierces the soul, and she will make your vest suddenly chill.
There is a joke in Holihuo: Don't act in movies with children or dogs. The reason is that they will perform unexpectedly. Either ruin the entire film and make everyone give up; or they perform extremely well and steal the protagonist's lottery.
The most exciting part of this film is the rivalry between Huang Qiusheng and Cai Zhuoyan. The confession scene between two actors, one big and one small, in the church is definitely one of the most classic scenes in Hong Kong in the past decade..."
This film review highly praised Cai Zhuoyan's acting skills, believing that Kang Jianfei has discovered a good seedling for the Hong Kong film industry, but he didn't know that the little girl often gave Kang Jianfei a headache dozens of times.
Even if it is a dog, each shot can be shot dozens of times or dozens of times, so it can still be shot with great acting skills. Fortunately, Cai Zhuoyan suddenly became enlightened halfway through the filming, otherwise this film would not be able to catch up with the summer season, and it would have to be shot in the second half of the year before it can be completed.
Unfortunately, Hong Kong movies emphasize the word "fast", and there are few directors who can tolerate dozens of actors.
Attitude determines everything, why did Hong Kong films decline this year?
It's because the attitude of the filmmakers has changed.
Why has Cheng Long been popular for a long time? In addition to his humorous fighting style, he is also very serious about every shot of his movies, which is extremely rare in the impetuous Hong Kong film industry.
In another time and space, "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" was the second largest annual box office in North American movies in 1999, with a box office of nearly US$300 million and a global box office of nearly 700 million.
Even such a high-box movie, Kang Jianfei couldn't guarantee that it would be very popular in Hong Kong. Many details were converted into Hong Kong during the shooting.
Products produced by famous artists must be high-quality products, which is the subconscious idea of ​​people.
Kang Jianfei's fame has attracted countless viewers to watch this movie seriously, otherwise Hong Kong audiences would not have such good patience to watch slow-paced movies.
So even though many people don’t like it, “The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural” has a very high evaluation among film critics and ordinary audiences. This good reputation has been converted into a box office driving force through publicity, which is such a virtuous cycle.
Taiwan has a very shortage of summer film sources this year. Half a month after "The Sixth Sense of Supernatural" was released in Hong Kong, Judeng Company completed the Mandarin dubbing and was released in Taipei in Mandarin.
Compared with the Hong Kong market, "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" is obviously more in line with the appetite of Taiwanese audiences, and this film is praised over the past. In addition, the craze for the director of "Jurassic Park" has fermented, and Taiwanese media have both Kang Jianfei and "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" have come to an end.
Initially, "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" was only released on Oriental Theater (Taiwan) and China Cinema. Perhaps because there were no good movies to play, several other theater companies asked to screen the film after seeing the popular sale of "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" in several cases.
There were originally five major theaters in Taiwan. Two years ago, Kang Jianfei and Yang Dengkui jointly built an Oriental theater. In total, there are six large theaters. "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" is now available in these six theaters at the same time. Taiwanese audiences can see this film whenever they enter a theater, completing an unprecedented feat of Hong Kong films!
Even though the other four theaters have relatively low screening volumes, it still causes insufficient copies of "The Supernatural Sixth Sense". It is too late to make temporary copies, and major theaters can only arrange copies through the number of scenes. A copy basically needs to be rotated to be screened in three different theaters.
"Other movies are sold for stars, and Kang Jianfei's movies are sold for directors. There is no doubt that Kang Jianfei is the favorite director of Taiwanese audiences, no doubt about it." - "Zhongshi Evening News"
"Kang Jianfei's films have a charm, which will attract you to watch them patiently, which is very different from those Hong Kong films that rely on fighting and funny as their selling points." - United Daily News
"It is difficult for some people to understand why Lin Qingxia and Lin Fengjiao chose a married man at the same time. The answer is already very obvious. Talented men and beautiful women are naturally attractive." - "Star Entertainment Weekly"
The praise of "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" by Taiwanese media is somewhat abnormal, thanks to the poor quality of the Hong Kong films recently released in Taiwan. They are not afraid of not knowing the goods, but are afraid of comparing goods. When compared with those bad movies, "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" becomes tall and elegant in an instant.
...
On the plane from Taipei to Hong Kong, three girls were flipping through several newspapers, and each of the entertainment editions had articles praising Kang Jianfei.
Xie Jinyan said admiringly: "Godfather is so amazing, his new film is selling well again."
The girl had an unreliable father, and her mother divorced and remarried early. When she was in despair, Kang Jianfei came to help and wrote a song herself to praise her as a popular singer, which moved Xie Jinyan very much.
After Kang Jianfei occupied her body, Xie Jinyan tied all her feelings to Kang Jianfei, treating him as a lover, as well as a brother and a kind father. In Xie Jinyan's heart, Kang Jianfei is the most perfect and outstanding man, so he should obey his words for granted.
Yang Caini had a charming smile on her face. She looked at the photo of Kang Jianfei in the newspaper and said to herself: "We have been to Japan for so long. I wonder if my godfather thinks of us. I must give him a surprise when he goes back this time."
Xie Jinyan also smiled and said, "Yes, a big surprise. The godfather was going to deflower Xuanxuan last time, but unfortunately he was delayed. I must make up for it this time. Hehehe, by then, we three sisters will all be the godfather's women."
"I'm going to die. Tell me this on the plane. Be careful to be heard." Xu Ruoxuan said shyly, thinking that she was playing with her godfather all over her body.
Speaking of which, although the three girls are famous Asian stars, their personal lives are very pitiful. They spend a lot of time dancing, practicing songs, recording songs, promoting, announcements, and commercial performances. They have very little free time and it is difficult to communicate and contact with outsiders.
The most private entertainment activity of the three girls is to use the method taught by their godfather, to play and comfort each other in bed, and to be intimate while fantasizing about being with their godfather.
Xu Ruoxuan heard the two little sisters talk about the beauty of her godfather countless times, and she always made her feel itchy. She regretted why she didn't beg her godfather a few times and asked her to enjoy her body to let her experience the joy of being a woman.
This time I must give myself to my godfather, Xu Ruoxuan thought silently in her heart. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!