Manager Sha and his wife were sent to a waiting room to wait temporarily, but Zhang Shihui did not stay longer.
After saying a few polite words and asking them to sit patiently for a while, and saying that he would inform them, Zhang Shihui walked out of the reception room again and walked straight to the garden inside.
After entering the second gate, there is a long stretch of row houses along a long corridor.
Only half of these row houses are now used as warehouses because there are too many visitors, and the other half has been converted into guest rooms, just like the place where Manager Sha and his wife were housed just now.
Therefore, after passing here, Zhang Shihui could clearly hear the chatter coming from these rooms, as well as the sound of tea and water being made.
It has to be said that the years he spent at Tan Gong Restaurant were not in vain.
With his current level of knowledge, he could tell who was in which of these reception rooms just by the movement.
Of the two quietest rooms, one was occupied by people from the Yamen Gate, and the other was occupied by teachers and students from the Agricultural University and the Academy of Fine Arts.
These are either people of high status or intellectuals. The common feature is that even when chatting, their voices are not loud.
The people in the most noisy room talking loudly were media reporters.
This group of people has a bit of a literati temperament but does not have the restrained self-cultivation of a literati. They are all passionate young people who care about the country and the people, and they talk about loving God.
There is also the happiest room, where there are often bursts of unbridled laughter, mixed with a few coquettish voices from women.
This is not surprising, because models and people from the literary and artistic circles gather here.
As far as Zhang Shihui knows, Chen Peisi, Liang Tian, Chen Baoguo, Zhang Qiang, Jiang Wen, Liu Xiaoqin and several well-known models are all in there now, it's like having a small Spring Festival Gala tea party.
Needless to say, their private exchanges are definitely more exciting than the real Spring Festival Gala.
At this moment, the door curtain of this room opened, and a waiter came out carrying two empty thermos bottles.
Zhang Shihui and him looked at each other for a few times.
This guy was obviously very satisfied with his job of serving celebrities. He nodded to Zhang Shihui with a smile and winked tactfully.
This mischievous and mischievous spirit made Zhang Shihui burst out laughing, and it reminded him of the time when he was working as a receptionist at the Chongwenmen Hotel. He was the same age as his boss, and they were playful and playful.
However, because of this, he immediately felt indescribable confusion and confusion that once made him lose his mind.
You know, at that time, he and Ning Weimin were pretty much the same.
How come a few years have passed and the gap between them has become so big?
Especially the time when Ning Weimin sacrificed himself and left the Chongwenmen Hotel.
He had felt sorry for this brother countless times, and couldn't help but worry about Ning Weimin's future.
Unexpectedly, at that exact moment, Ning Weimin began to rise higher and higher, becoming a big shot that even he could not catch up with on horseback.
Not to mention that the wealth this guy now possesses is no longer beyond his imagination.
Even the power he holds in his hands and the network of relationships in all aspects are beyond his imagination.
How old is he that during the Chinese New Year, he can actually have so many distinguished people come to visit him to pay New Year greetings?
The people in these few rooms include almost celebrities from all walks of life.
Among them are not only cultural figures and big stars, but also many powerful people from the yamenmen.
Looking at what this guy can do, it seems that there is no one in the entire capital that he can't get in touch with, and there's nothing he can't accomplish.
To be honest, if I hadn't seen with my own eyes how Ning Weimin got to this point step by step.
He certainly couldn't believe that there really were geniuses in this world who could start from scratch and leap over the dragon's gate.
Now he is so good at it. If ten or twenty years pass, how far this guy can go is really a bit scary to think about...
After walking past the terraced houses and bypassing the courtyard wall that was once covered with morning glories and cypress trees, Zhang Shihui finally arrived at Kang Shude's small courtyard.
This small courtyard is now very different from Xia Jingtian.
Except for the demolished ceiling, all the windows were covered with red window grilles, and lanterns were hung under the eaves in the courtyard to decorate the new year.
The patterns of window grilles range from simple to complex, and the simple ones include kittens, puppies, and little roosters.
The more complex ones include "Lotus gives birth to a noble son", "Hehe two immortals", "Guo Lao rides a donkey", "Two dragons play with pearls", "Phoenix plays with peony", "Lion rolls hydrangea" and so on.
The shape of the lanterns is also full of different flowers, birds, fish and insects, which are very strange and pretty.
Its colors are different from red, orange, yellow and green, and are gorgeous.
The themes include "Three Yangs bring prosperity", "Four Seasons of Peace", "Five Sons Win the First Prize", "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea", "Wealth and Prestige", "Deer and Crane Spring Together".
Even during the day, when the window grilles and lanterns reflect each other, the colors are bright and joyful, which is already extremely beautiful.
If it comes at night, when these lanterns are lit up, the lights in the house will shine through the window grilles, and the house will be reflected, making it extremely beautiful.
You know, if you are in it, you will feel like you are in a fairyland.
Regarding this, Zhang Shihui, who was envious, could only comment on it in two words - he knows how to play!
In his eyes, the most popular lantern riddle gallery at the Temple of Heaven Park Garden Party is just that.
Ning Weimin can actually enjoy this kind of fun where he lives, and it is a daily fun. Who can compare with it?
This was no longer an ordinary blessing, it was enough to put everyone in the capital who claimed to be rich to shame, including himself.
To be honest, there is no use in envy.
He is already worth a small million, but living such a magical life every day is something he can only imagine.
Not to mention just having money is not enough.
Not to mention whether you can afford such a house or not, and whether you can afford it for daily consumption.
Let's just say that leisure and elegance, this kind of wealth and leisure, are not a taste that everyone can have.
Then you have to be educated and knowledgeable to know how to enjoy life.
Otherwise, it would be said that if you compare goods, you will have to throw away, and if you compare people with others, you will die.
Nowadays, there are many people in Beijing who can brag.
All of them have good backgrounds. They are either the president of a group company or the manager of an investment and development company. It seems that everyone has a good background.
But he believed that no matter who it was, as long as they brought them here to talk about things, they would all shut up and never dare to talk about it again...
This was absolutely true, because before Zhang Shihui opened the door and entered, he had already heard Ning Weimin's voice coming from inside.
Although he still couldn't hear it clearly, it was high and low intermittently, but even he was unconsciously surprised by what was mentioned.
"...Mr. Lin, don't be so polite. You are a senior in the film industry and the head of Yindu Organization, a left-wing film company in Hong Kong. It is indeed a privilege to meet you here today under the recommendation of the leaders of the Film Bureau.
It's my honor. I can't take you for granted. If you need anything, just ask..."
"...Actually, even if you don't say anything, I can probably guess your reason for coming. You probably want to take care of the Japanese film market. You hope that I can help sell Yindu Agency's films to Japan, right? I think it should be no problem.
I personally am very willing to support the film industry of domestic films, whether they are shot in mainland China or in Hong Kong. After all, after 1997, we are all one family..."
"...Don't say that, you are so rich. The reason why Fog Studios spent 30 million Hong Kong dollars to buy "A Chinese Ghost Story" and its sequels is mainly because the Japanese prefer ghost culture. Hong Kong City's
The box office is high, so we would make such an attempt. We are not acting impulsively."
"Frankly speaking, the theater chains in Japan that we can get now are the Shochiku theater chain and a few independent theaters in Tokyo. If it is a good movie that is a hit, we can get more than 300
screen resources. If it is a literary film, I am afraid it will be reduced by half. So I don’t know which movie you want to cooperate with me? What kind of cooperation method do you want..."
Thirty million Hong Kong dollars!
Yindu Institution!
These nerve-wracking keywords came into Zhang Shihui's ears, which shocked him.
Even though he claimed to know Ning Weimin well, he also knew that Wu Studio's two movies, "Li Xianglan" and "Crazy Rich Asians", had spent tens of millions of dollars on the production.
But like today, in the presence of the leaders of the film bureau, it was the first time that I could see Ning Weimin and a well-known film company in Hong Kong discussing such a big deal face to face.
Therefore, he hardly dared to take a breath when he entered the room, and he did not dare to make a sound after entering, lest some guests would be distracted by him and disturb such an important conversation.
So when Ning Weimin looked at him, he just nodded, and like Luo Guangliang, who was responsible for serving tea and water, he found a seat in the corner and sat down.
He waited patiently for the conversation to end or for the guests to take a break before talking to Ning Weimin again.
At this time, Lin Bingkun, the general manager of Yindu Agency, also stated his intention to sell a big-budget movie directed and starred by Jet Li to Ning Weimin.
In 1986, Jet Li and Lau Kar-leung collaborated on "North and South Shaolin", which became a box office hit upon its release and became one of the top ten best-grossing films in Hong Kong that year.
However, during the filming of the movie, there was a lot of unhappiness due to the huge difference in treatment between the mainland crew and the Hong Kong crew. This made Jet Li feel disgusted with making movies and even had the idea of giving up his film career.
Needless to say, Yindu institutions will definitely strongly oppose it.
After all, Jet Li is the most famous action actor launched by Leftist Film Company in Hong Kong. His Shaolin Trilogy was a hit every time. How could the company's top management let him go?
So in order to retain Jet Li, Lin Bingkun directly offered to invest in him as a director and make movies according to his own ideas.
This condition worked, so there was "Heroes of China" directed and starred by Jet Li.
The story tells that after the end of the Anti-Japanese War, a group of wounded National Army soldiers headed by Xiaojie were sent to Qingdao for "retirement resettlement". However, they were all people who had come off the battlefield. The differences between National Army soldiers and American soldiers were treated.
treatment.
In the end, in order to resist the tyrannical American soldiers stationed in China, avenge his relatives, and safeguard the dignity of the nation, Xiaojie fought with his fists and sacrificed his life.
In order to make this movie a big hit, Yindu Agency even designed a large war scene for Jet Li at the beginning of the movie. Not only did they mobilize a large number of actors to film the group battles, but they also borrowed tanks and cannons from the mainland's troops.
Help out.
This is something that is simply unimaginable in Hong Kong City. No one in Jiahe or Xinyi City can create such a scene.
Jet Li also integrated his experience of unfair treatment on the crew into the story of the movie.
The conflict between national soldiers and American soldiers was used to express this dissatisfaction, so the martial arts scenes in this film are also extremely explosive and full of angry power.
Coupled with Xu Xiaoming's martial arts design, the effect is extremely shocking, completely different from the "Shaolin" trilogy, which only presents the beauty of martial arts moves and routines.
Therefore, both Yindu Agency and Jet Li have great hopes for this film.
During the Lunar New Year period in 1988, this film finally landed in major left-wing movie theaters in Hong Kong, challenging the Lunar New Year films from the three major film companies: Golden Harvest, New Arts City, and Debao.
But what Yindu Agency and Jet Li never imagined was that because the film lacked comedy elements and was too tragic, the film was completely defeated by the combined forces of Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat, and Sammo Hung.
The box office is simply not good enough. It has been a week since its release and only HKD 6 million has been received. It is expected that it will only cost HKD 10 million by the time it is released.
This result is not even as good as the "Shaolin Temple" that Jet Li made his debut six years ago.
It can be said that Jet Li's first time as a director ended in a disastrous failure.
And because the subject matter of this film involves multiple sensitive issues, the mainland has never been able to pass the review. The reply to the Yindu agency was that it could not be released in the mainland for the time being.
As a result, Yindu Organization, which invested tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars to shoot this film, suffered a huge loss, and is expected to lose at least six million Hong Kong dollars.
Only then did the leaders of the film bureau help connect the film and introduce Lin Bingkun to Ning Weimin to talk about Japanese distribution.
Needless to say, for Lin Bingkun, Ning Weimin is probably his only hope. Now he hopes that Ning Weimin will be his successor so that he can recover some costs.
But no one is a fool. Even Zhang Shihui and Luo Guangliang understood it. How could Ning Weimin not understand it?
The protagonist of this film is an anti-Japanese soldier, and he has to clash with the US military and fight in the ring.
Considering the feelings of the Japanese, it would probably be difficult for a movie like this to be shown in Japan, and even if it were shown, there probably wouldn't be many viewers.
For this reason, Lin Bingkun naturally did not dare to make too many demands and took the initiative to lower his body.
He didn't have high expectations for the box office in Japan, so he hoped to buy out the copyright and sell it to Ning Weimin.
The asking price is only six million Hong Kong dollars, and the goal is probably to protect capital, as long as it can make no loss or profit.
However, he did not expect that after patiently understanding all the circumstances, Ning Weimin not only did not negotiate a lower price, but actually increased the price quite a bit.
"How about 10 million Hong Kong dollars? Mr. Lin, you have to make some money in the city."
"What? Did I hear you correctly, Mr. Ning, are you... kidding?"
"I'm not joking, but my conditions have increased. I not only want the Japanese copyright, I want the copyright for the entire Asia, including mainland China. Even the copyright for Europe and the United States, is that okay?"
"Mainland China? Mainland China, this movie has not been censored. Have you forgotten..."
"That's just now. Can I wait, maybe ten years, maybe only five years, before it can be released? I don't believe that such a good movie will never be released to the public."
"Well...I can only say that you are gambling on your luck."
Lin Bingkun shook his head in astonishment, "What about Europe and the United States? Mr. Ning, you don't mean to say that you also have distribution channels in Europe and the United States. As far as I know, only Jiahe in the entire Hong Kong City can do this..."
"Frankly speaking, I can only talk about cooperation with French film companies at the moment, but I can wait. Again, I believe that our movies, especially excellent movies, will not be stuck in the status quo forever. Sooner or later, we can
Enter the international market..."
Lin Bingkun had never seen anyone doing business like this before. He didn't know whether to say that Ning Weimin didn't know the business or was too idealistic.
I was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to answer the question.
On the contrary, Ning Weimin smiled and raised his hand casually, "Mr. Lin, I know you are worried about me. However, no one likes to lose money, and I only offered this price to you after serious consideration.
An elder has always told me that few people can make money from it. This is
Big business. If many people can make money from it, it is not a big business. I am optimistic about the actor Jet Li, I also like this subject, and I believe in Yindu's shooting ability. In my opinion, the failure of this movie is not at all
There is something wrong with the quality. I’m afraid it’s the subject matter and playing time.
There is a problem. Forgive me for being offended, what Hong Kong people currently lack most is the feeling of home and country. They have been colonized for too long, and it is difficult for them to find emotional resonance from such movies. Especially during the Chinese New Year, most people definitely like to celebrate.
, hate pessimism and. So I think this movie is only
If you find the right market, you will definitely be able to sell it well. And from my personal point of view, I also hope that banks can support Jet Li to continue filming movies, not only because he is my hometown fellow in Beijing. But also because the lack of feelings about family and country,
The more movies like this are needed to change them..."
Lin Bingkun was stunned for a moment, and finally showed a happy and convinced expression.
"Mr. Ning, it's better to meet each other than to be famous. Thank you very much for helping me."
"Wherever it goes, it's thanks to your help that "Li Xianglan" can be released in Hong Kong City. To say thank you, we should all thank the leaders of the Film Bureau."
"Yes, that's right. Then for 10 million, I will give you all the copyrights you want. We have settled this matter."
"It's settled."
Lin Bingkun nodded vigorously, almost bursting into tears with gratitude.
He had never thought that requesting such a big thing could be done so effortlessly.
This is self-evident. For him, there is no way to recover the 10 million Hong Kong dollars through market operations.
Whether it was because, as Ning Weimin said, he was really optimistic about this movie, or he was just doing it to support the creation of the movie for national support, anyway, he remembered this favor.
In this way, Ning Weimin accompanied Lin Bingkun and several cadres from the film bureau to the door and repeatedly asked them to rest assured.
He said that when the contract was signed, he would pay the check, so he appointed Luo Guangliang to continue sending these guests to the car on his behalf.
As for Zhang Shihui, although he had the opportunity to report to Ning Weimin about Manager Sha at this time, he completely forgot about it because of his mental shock.
After watching the conversation just now, he couldn't help but feel in awe of Ning Weimin.
You must know that in Zhang Shihui's eyes, both the leader of the film bureau and the general manager of Yindu Organization are unattainable big shots.
Such people actually came to Ning Weimin's door so politely today and asked him to buy Jet Li's movie.
But Ning Weimin bought it when he said he would buy it, and he didn't worry about losing money or losing money at all.
Ten million Hong Kong dollars can be spent as easily and naturally as they spent a thousand dollars in foreign exchange coupons.
What kind of psychological quality is this?
What does this mean?
Just thinking about it makes me sweat...
He would never be able to do it anyway, and this scene convinced him even more than the exaggerated pomp and ceremony when he saw Ning Weimin getting married.
This buddy of his has grown tremendously now, always bringing him amazing discoveries.
It's impossible to look straight at it, which makes people look up at the mountain.
Even Zhang Shihui himself didn't realize that his mentality towards Ning Weimin had undergone a fundamental change, from simple admiration to worship and admiration.