There are generally three ways to distribute Hong Kong movies:
The first is "selling movie tickets", which is to pre-sell the release rights of the film in advance. For example, one day Kang Jianfei's film company runs out of funds, he can announce that he is about to shoot a movie, and then find film companies and theaters to sell movie tickets to raise production costs.
This method is a kind of gambling behavior for production companies and theater operators. It was extremely popular in Hong Kong in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For example, a company spent 2 million to sign a film contract with Andy Lau, but the film has not yet started filming.
, with a film contract, you can sell 8 million film flowers to Taiwanese businessmen.
This thing is similar to pre-sales of off-the-plan properties before construction begins.
(In addition, Hollywood’s film purchase fee means that if a theater chain wants to buy a film from a film production company, it must purchase all the films of the company for the entire year, including those that have not been previewed)
The second is to use an agency distribution company to help distribute. In this way, the film production company only needs to contact the distribution company and does not need to deal with the cinema;
The third is to release it in a certain theater chain. Kang Jianfei's Oriental DreamWorks does this in Hong Kong, directly contacting the Golden Princess Cinema Line, eliminating the intermediate distribution costs.
In the past, Golden Princess Film Distribution Company helped to contact Oriental DreamWorks for overseas distribution of its films. Now, except for Taiwan and Nanyang, DreamWorks has taken back its overseas distribution rights.
For example, when "The Royal Sister" was released in Japan this time, DreamWorks directly contacted Japan's Shochiku Pictures, and was then distributed by Shochiku Pictures.
Today, the most prominent and profitable company in Japan is Kadokawa Pictures. Although Shochiku Pictures is one of the top five film companies in Japan, the number of films produced last year was only a few more than that of Kang Jianfei's Oriental DreamWorks.
The two actors, Hiroyuki Sanada and Keiko Matsusaka, in "The Royal Sister" are both pillars of Shochiku Pictures. In addition, the quality of this movie is great, so even if Shochiku Pictures does not have any good films of its own, it will naturally give it its full support.
The distribution of "The Royal Sister" in Japan. If this movie is successful, then Shochiku Pictures will not only receive a lot of distribution fees, but it will also be able to promote its own stars.
Shochiku Pictures, like Shaw Brothers Pictures, is an established film company with its own cinema chain. It was very easy to find 21 theaters to screen "The Royal Sisters".
If Princess Jin continues to help with distribution, it is estimated that "Royal Senior Sister" will have to wait half a year to be released in Japan.
Kyoto Shijo Minami Tower.
The name sounds really weird, but in fact, it is a luxury theater just like the Lee Stage. It can perform traditional dramas and hold concerts for singers. It can also be used as a cinema to show movies.
Kyoto's Shijo Minamiza, like Tokyo's Kabukiza, are properties owned by Shochiku Pictures.
Half a month ago, when Kang Jianfei was promoting "The Royal Sister" in Hong Kong, Shochiku Pictures was also promoting the movie. As for the promotional expenses, Shochiku Pictures naturally paid for them first and then deducted them from the box office revenue. This is also a big deal.
This is what most companies do when issuing agents.
When "The Royal Sisters" was promoted in Hong Kong, the focus of promotion was naturally Kang Jianfei and Lin Qingxia; but when it was promoted in Japan, the promotion center was changed to Hiroyuki Sanada and Keiko Matsusaka.
It has to be said that Hiroyuki Sanada and Keiko Matsusaka's box office appeal is still very good. On the first day of New Year's Day, "Royal Senior Sister" was screened at Shijo Minami Tower in Kyoto, and the attendance rate for the first show was 74%.
Takeshi Kitano, the "Emperor of Japanese Cinema" who will be as famous as Akira Kurosawa in the future, was still a cross talk actor at this time. He performed cross talk at Shijo Minamiza yesterday, and his partner received two movie tickets for "The Royal Sister". Today they are in another theater
After finishing the cross talk show at Kabukiza, we went back to Shijo Minamiza to watch a free movie.
"I heard this is a Hong Kong movie." Kitano's partner Akihito Yamaguchi said.
Takeshi Kitano nodded and said: "I heard about it too. Shochiku Pictures has been promoting this movie recently. I hope it will be good."
Yamaguchi Akihito said: "I only like to watch Bruce Lee's Hong Kong movies. I don't know other Hong Kong actors."
Kitano Takeshi smiled and said: "Cheng Long is not bad either."
Yamaguchi Akihito shook his head and said: "His "The Killer" was terrible. I heard that the production cost alone was 3 billion yen. You might as well use the money to arrange cross talk for us."
"Haha, we don't need 3 billion to arrange cross talk. 30 million is enough." Takeshi Kitano said with a smile.
While the two were talking, a beam of light was projected on the big screen, and the movie finally started.
Music and images do not respect national boundaries. The opening animation of Oriental DreamWorks made Kitano Takeshi and Yamaguchi Akihito immediately quiet down. They felt that this film company that called itself DreamWorks seemed a little different from other film companies.
After the opening animation, a scene released by Shochiku Pictures was added, which was temporarily added before it was released in Japan.
The movie opens on the streets of Tokyo, which immediately makes Japanese audiences feel familiar and reduces the sense of cultural isolation that many people feel when watching imported films.
It started with Lin Qingxia rescuing a Japanese from a Japanese gang, and her clean and neat skills immediately attracted many viewers, including Takeshi Kitano.
However, it was not until Hiroyuki Sanada, who is familiar to Japanese audiences, appeared that the atmosphere in the theater became lively. Especially Hiroyuki Sanada showed off his skills on the plane. At the critical moment, he stuffed the detonated grenade into the storage cabinet, thus saving the entire passengers on the plane.
At this time, a burst of cheers erupted in the screening room.
The benefits of Kang Jianfei inviting Japanese stars to join the cast are finally revealed. If this film is placed in Taiwan, Taiwanese audiences will definitely watch Lin Qingxia, while Japanese audiences will watch Hiroyuki Sanada and Keiko Matsusaka.
When Keiko Matsusaka appeared on the stage, Takeshi Kitano heard someone in the back seat exclaiming: "Keiko is indeed the most beautiful woman in Japan. This hairstyle suits her very well, like a gentle and good wife and mother."
"Sanada-kun and Keiko's daughter is also very cute. They are such a happy family."
"Sanada-kun's skills are amazing."
"Of course, he is Chiba Shinichi's disciple."
"..."
"Boom!" A violent explosion sounded, and as flames burned in the car, all the spectators were stunned.
"Baga!"
"How could this be possible? Qingzi and her daughter were actually killed by the bomb."
"Abominable director, abominable screenwriter."
"Kill the bad guy!"
"..."
When watching this scene, the Japanese audience reacted even more strongly than the Hong Kong audience. Especially when Hiroyuki Sanada was thrown into a big pit later and was about to be buried alive, many viewers were so excited that they were sweating, for fear that the director would kill him.
Hiroyuki Sanada was also shot to death.
Until Lin Qingxia fought with the villain to save Hiroyuki Sanada, the Japanese audience immediately had a great impression of Lin Qingxia, praising Lin Qingxia for being beautiful and capable of fighting.
There was a long plot in the middle, and Hiroyuki Sanada did not appear. Just when the Japanese audience was impatient to wait, the scene in which Michael Kang played by Kang Jianfei committed suicide finally moved the Japanese audience who were unfamiliar with him.
By this time, more than half of the movie had passed. Japanese audiences had always regarded Kang Jianfei's character as a clown who made jokes, but now they finally regard him as "one of their own."
Yamaguchi Akihito breathed out and said: "This is really a good movie that made me feel emotional ups and downs, and the fighting, speeding and explosion scenes are really great."
Kitano Takeshi nodded and said: "Yes, Yamaguchi-kun, what do you think we also go to act in a movie?"
"Huh?" Yamaguchi Akihito asked casually, but his eyes were fixed on the big screen. When he saw Mi Gao's body being dug up, he couldn't help but cursed, "Baga! How shameless."
The final battle was very enjoyable for everyone to watch. The only thing that made the Japanese audience unhappy was that in the final battle, Hiroyuki Sanada carried a saber and injured his leg early. He did not participate in the subsequent life-and-death struggle, leaving Lin Qingxia alone.
Showed his face.
However, the final ending still satisfied the audience. The bad guys got their evil rewards and justice defeated evil.
After watching a movie, an audience member asked: "Who is the heroine? She looks so beautiful, and her skills are great."
"I don't know. There are posters posted outside. Just go and look at the posters and you will know."
"I know who she is. She is Taiwanese star Lin Qingxia. Her movies were screened in Japan before."
"..."
Lin Qingxia is very popular in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and South Korea, but she is not well-known in Japan. Although many of her movies have been screened in Japan, they have little influence.
But from now on, Japanese audiences will remember that besides Cheng Long, there is another Chinese star named Lin Qingxia.
After watching the movie, some idle Japanese viewers ran to see the poster information. A man suddenly shouted: "I unexpectedly discovered that the actor who played Michael is actually the director of this movie!"
Takeshi Kitano stared at the poster for a while, but he decided to become an actor. The future emperor of Japanese movies was already middle-aged. After watching "The Royal Sisters", he suddenly wanted to be an actor.
"Royal Sister" had five screenings on the first day, and the attendance rate for the last two was close to 80%, which made the person in charge of Songzhu Cinemas very happy.
On the second day of its release, which is New Year's Day, the average attendance rate of "The Royal Sisters" gradually increased to 83%. In addition to the New Year's Day holiday, such a high attendance rate was mainly due to the box office performance of Hiroyuki Sanada and Keiko Matsusaka.
The appeal is very powerful.
In the following days, as the reputation of "The Royal Sister" gradually spread, the number of moviegoers increased sharply.
Even "Asahi Hoshibun" in its entertainment section called "Royal Senior Sister" a box office dark horse in this year's New Year's season, and praised Lin Qingxia and Hiroyuki Sanada as a very compatible on-screen partner. The two are handsome and beautiful.
The appearance combined with the powerful skills will definitely be the box office elixir in the future.
Japan's professional film magazine "Movie News" exclaimed: Hong Kong's film production level has surpassed Japan's, "Royal Sister" is a real action movie, and Japan's action movie shooting techniques are still stuck in the 1960s...
Shochiku Pictures saw the success of "The Royal Sister" and after some discussion and consideration, took the initiative to contact Oriental DreamWorks, hoping to distribute "Mr. Zombie" as an agent.
Just the day after "The Royal Sister" was released in Japan, Kang Jianfei's second novel "The Misty Journey" was officially serialized in "Oriental Daily" on New Year's Day. (To be continued) 8
