Due to the early prosperity of Hong Kong films, the film quality and audience taste of Hong Kong films have improved a lot at this time. The result of this is that the Hong Kong film industry has become increasingly chaotic.
More and more film companies are opening, and there are even people who don't know much about movies, but are willing to invest all their wealth in making movies. It seems that as long as they enter the film industry, everyone can be Kang Jianfei, and they can soar into the sky and become worth hundreds of millions.
Most of these small film companies produce shoddy films, and the quality of their films is extremely low. Nine out of ten films cannot be released in major theaters.
What are they going to do if it can't be shown?
Don't forget that in addition to the four major theater chains, there are also many neighborhood theaters and rural theaters. Even if there are hard bones to chew, there is still meat.
In another time and space, the total number of theaters in Hong Kong in 1980 was 83. In 1981, due to the collapse of the stock and property markets and the economic downturn, the total number of theaters dropped to 82, but in 1982 it soared to 89 (
This year was the beginning of the prosperity of Hong Kong films).
But now it is completely different. Because of the butterfly effect brought about by Kang Jianfei's indiscriminate entry, the early prosperity of Hong Kong films has not only led to the addition of a large number of small film companies in Hong Kong, but also caused the number of theaters to continue to grow. In addition to the newly opened Golden Princess Cinema 4
In addition to the home cinema, many scattered small cinemas have also been added.
It is only the early autumn of 1981, and the total number of cinemas in Hong Kong has grown to 88.
Those low-quality films produced by small film companies are shown in numerous scattered small theaters. Although they can only sell a few hundred thousand box office, it is enough for them to recover their costs and make a small profit.
Especially those illegal erotic films, one man and one woman can be made with one bed, one camera, and they are not even sent to the censorship office for review. After filming, they are directly released in underground theaters.
While the prosperity of Hong Kong movies is accelerating, Shaw Brothers Pictures is declining prematurely.
The sign of Shaw Brothers' decline is not the decrease in the number of films it produces each year. On the contrary, its film production has increased dramatically this year, producing 17 films in the first half of the year alone.
Why does this happen?
It's because the attendance rate of Shaw Brothers' movies is too low. Each movie has to be released in advance within a few days of its release. And the Shaw Brothers theater chain has a big stall there. If it doesn't show movies, it will lose money every day, so Shaw Brothers has to
Do not increase film production to meet the needs of its own theater chains.
This creates a disgusting cycle. Poor film quality leads to low attendance. Lower attendance leads to a reduction in the number of days a single film is released. With the reduction in release days, more movies must be made to make up for the scarcity of film sources. In order to make more movies
This will inevitably reduce the production cost of a single movie, and the reduction in production costs will lead to a decline in the quality of the movie.
This is a dead knot that cannot be untied at all.
Shaw Brothers Pictures and Shaw Cinemas, two companies that were supposed to complement and promote each other, are now dragging each other down and becoming each other's burden.
Shao Yifu has realized this, but he is unable to do anything about it.
Compared with Shao Yifu, the boss Kang Jianfei is very leisurely. When Shaw Brothers was first established, Shao Yifu was already a millionaire. He was 51 years old at the time and still directed or produced films himself. And Shao Yifu invested in TVB
At that time, he was already over 60 years old, but he lived and ate on the set every day and directed the work.
Whether it is Shaw Brothers Pictures or TVB, it is Shao Yifu's hard work, and he cannot give up either one.
However, now that the film industry has become increasingly sluggish, and Fang Yihua insists on developing TV stations, Shao Yifu has to favor TVB, his younger son, and gradually reduce his support for Shaw Brothers Pictures, his eldest son.
and attention.
The Chinese Rookie Singing Contest was organized by China Star Records. At that time, China Star was just a department of TVB. It did not have a single signed singer and was only responsible for helping TVB act as an agent for record distribution and music production.
In another time and space, the first Chinese Rookie Singing Contest was supposed to be held in 1982, but now Shao Yifu transferred more funds and energy to the TV station, causing the singing contest to be held a year ahead of schedule.
The reason why the singing contest is held is actually very simple, that is to cultivate signed singers for China Star Records, and to cultivate stars for the TV station, and by the way, it also increases the ratings of TVB variety shows.
The first singing competition for new talents has come to an end. The champion of the first singing competition is Wei Qishan, who has become the first signed singer of China Star Records (Shen Dianxia, Zhao Yazhi, Shi Xiu and others, although they have already released records or singles in China Star Records).
song, but did not officially sign a record contract).
In the following days, Zheng Shaoqiu, Luo Wen and others who were signed to the entertainment record company all transferred to China Star Records. At the same time, China Star Company announced to reporters that the company had officially transformed from a department company under TVB to a real company.
record company.
…………
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Peninsula Hotel Tea Restaurant.
Hong Kong filmmakers like to have afternoon tea here, which was started by Shao Yifu, and he has not changed it even in his old age.
At this time, Shao Yifu and his concubine Fang Yihua were sitting in the tea restaurant, drinking afternoon tea slowly and enjoying the moment of relaxation after busy work.
"Ah Hua, you did a good job in this singing competition." Shao Yifu praised in a rare voice. Compared with Shaw Brothers Pictures, which made him anxious, the TVB TV station controlled by Fang Yihua now made him much more comfortable.
It is not that Hong Kong has never had singing competitions before, but this time China Star Records teamed up with TVB to add entertainment elements to every aspect, making this singing competition a great success. The ratings were much higher than LiTV's program of the same period.
Fang Yihua put down her tea cup and said: "The company is hiring someone to write songs for the champion Wei Qishan, and we plan to record a record for her this month while it's hot."
Shao Yifu nodded and said, "It's okay. Although the singing competition is over, the heat hasn't completely dissipated yet. It's a good time to release a record."
Fang Yihua smiled and said: "Chen Meiling from the entertainment record company has also made it clear that we can sign a contract with Huaxing Company next month."
Chen Meiling is a beautiful female star who became popular in Southeast Asia in the early 1970s. She is only in her early 20s now. Although she is not well-known in the Hong Kong music scene, her records are selling well in Nanyang. If China Star Records signs Chen Meiling, then Nanyang
The record market is pretty much guaranteed.
Shao Yifu nodded, but his mind turned to movies. Movies were his most beloved career, and he could not give it up no matter what.
However, Shaw Brothers and Shaw Brothers Cinemas have already suffered losses since the third quarter of last year, and will suffer even more losses this year.
The film company can still earn back the lost money by sending it to overseas box offices, but there is no possibility of earning back the money lost by Shaw Brothers Cinemas.
There are a total of 16 movie theaters under the Shaw Theater Company, but only 11 of them actually belong to Shaw. The remaining 5 are franchised by others and are large movie theaters located in busy areas.
Those five large cinemas will generate large profits every day if they have good movie sources. But if the attendance rate is very low, then their operating costs will be much higher than other cinemas, so their losses will be more serious.
Due to the sluggish performance of Shaw Brothers movies, the owners of the five theater franchises of the Shaw Brothers Cinemas chain have begun to make noises about disbanding.
Shao Yifu thought for a long time, but he couldn't think of a good and safe way. To solve the current problems of Shaw Brothers Pictures, he must use a knife to dig out the carrion. But this treatment method is too drastic, and maybe the disease of Shaw Brothers Pictures is not cured.
Okay, the company has already been dissolved.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Shao Yifu stood up and said, "Let's go!"
Fang Yihua immediately came over to help Shao Yifu out, and their followers came from another table and followed them holding their belongings.
Not far from the tea restaurant, suddenly seven or eight reporters who had been waiting for a long time ran forward and aimed their spears and cannons at Shao Yifu and Fang Yihua.
Both of them thought that the reporters were here to interview news about the singing competition. They had become accustomed to it these days, so they had no objection and walked slowly to cooperate with the reporters.
As expected, the reporters came to cover the singing competition. One reporter asked first: "Ms. Fang, do you remember that there was a female contestant named Anita Mui in the Chinese Rookie Singing Competition?"
Although the Chinese Rookie Singing Contest was created by Fang Yihua, she has a lot of things to do all day long. She only cares about the finals and semi-finals, so how can she watch the knockout rounds?
Fang Yihua had no impression of Anita Mui at all, but she was afraid that she would forget her memory and did not dare to speak nonsense. Instead, she smiled and nodded: "Every contestant is great. I hope they can continue to work hard in the future?"
Another reporter asked: "Then did you know that Anita Mui became a signed singer of Fengxing Record Company after being eliminated from the singing competition?"
When Fengxing Records was mentioned, Fang Yihua immediately thought of Kang Jianfei and looked at Shao Yifu with a slightly changed expression.
Shao Yifu has been through big storms, so naturally he will not show any strange expression because of such a trivial matter. He smiled and said: "Everyone has the right to choose. Since the singer named Mei chose to sign with Fengxing Records, then we can only
Respect her choice."
These seven or eight reporters had been squatting outside the Peninsula Hotel for a long time, because many people in Hong Kong knew that Shao Yifu liked to have afternoon tea here.
While waiting for Shao Yifu to come out, these reporters had obviously discussed it and set up a trap for Shao Yifu and Fang Yihua to get inside.
However, Shao Yifu and Fang Yihua are both mature and sophisticated people. They answered several questions in a polite manner and did not fall into the trap at all.
Finally, a reporter couldn't help but said: "Shao Daheng, Ms. Fang, and Ms. Anita Mui's singles were played on two Hong Kong radio stations yesterday. As soon as the song "Thousands of Ques" came out, it was requested by the audience.
Yes, don’t you know?”
Shao Yifu's face changed slightly, but Fang Yihua's face turned dark because they knew nothing about it.
In fact, there are not many people in Hong Kong who know that Anita Mui sung "A Thousand Thousand Ques Songs". These seven or eight reporters were all informed by Kang Jianfei's people. The purpose of doing this is not to disgust Fang Yihua, but to want to
Taking advantage of the singing competition, which has not yet dissipated in popularity, as well as wireless stations and China Star Records to promote it, Anita Mui's fame has rapidly expanded.
Kang Jianfei didn't want to disgust Fang Yihua, but Fang Yihua was really disgusted. Thinking about it gave her a headache. A singer who was eliminated in the Chinese Rookie Singing Competition signed a contract with a popular record and released a single and achieved good results in the blink of an eye. This is not the case in
If you slap Fang Yihua in the face, do you think she is blind? 8