Hundreds of stars participated in the disaster relief movie "The Banquet", which was undoubtedly a grand event in the Hong Kong film industry. There were three other major events happening at the same time.
First, Anle Cinemas, which has been run by the Jiang family for 30 years, officially joined Kang Jianfei's Oriental Cinemas; second, Pan Dickson sold Debao Cinemas to real estate developer Luo Luo Cheng and renamed it Yonggao Cinemas; third, Huang Baiming
After breaking up with Golden Princess Cinemas and cooperating with Luo Jie Cheng, Vientiane Pictures changed its name to Yonggao Film Company.
For Hong Kong filmmakers, Roger Cheng-wan is a complete newcomer. Just like Dickson Poon, he suddenly appeared and entered the film industry with a lot of money. He used to be an industrialist and had a factory in the Mainland.
I made a lot of money by investing in the real estate industry in the past few years. Seeing that the prosperity of Hong Kong movies was beginning, Dickson Poon happened to sell Debao Cinema again. Roger Cheng, who was not short of money, bought Debao Cinema with a check.
.
However, just having theaters without film sources is not enough. Today’s Hong Kong film industry is no longer the era when theaters were king 10 years ago. Due to too many theaters, Hong Kong movie theaters are overrun and the number of movies produced every year is
There are only so many, so now theater chains are rushing to buy good movies, and top film companies and blockbuster directors have become the targets of theater managers' favor.
So Luo Jiecheng found his friend Huang Baiming. Huang Baiming and Princess Jin didn't work well together, so Yonggao Film Company and Yonggao Cinemas were formed.
For the disaster relief movie "The Banquet of the Rich", other major theater chains only showed it in a few symbolic screenings because the share was too low. Only Yonggao Cinemas was the most active and used "The Banquet of the Rich" as its first screening.
The film is screened across the board.
Today's theater chain structure in Hong Kong is that Oriental Cinema Line is the largest, with 26 theaters and 82 screening halls; Golden Harvest Cinema Line is second, with 21 theaters and 66 screening halls; Xinbao Cinema Line is third, with 16 theaters
The theater has 52 screening halls; the Yonggao Cinema Line is fourth, with 15 theaters and 50 screening halls; the Golden Princess Cinema Line has been shrinking in size, and now has only 11 theaters and 32 screening halls.
In addition to these five large theater chains, the left-wing Yindu Cinema Line and the newly restored Shaw Theater Line do not have more than 10 theaters.
Counting the scattered small cinemas in Hong Kong, the number of cinemas has exceeded 160, and the density is so high that it is almost explosive. In the past, it was the uncles who owned cinema chains, but now they are all grandchildren. Film company owners who can make good movies
It's the ancestor.
Of course, Kang Jianfei and Zou Wenhuai will always be the bosses, because they have their own companies providing abundant film sources, and there will never be the embarrassing situation of having no films to release.
The real tragedy is that Xinbao, Golden Princess, Yonggao and other theater chains. Although they also invest and support film companies, the production volume of those film companies is far from meeting demand.
Such a situation has caused these theater companies to lower their quality requirements for film releases. When there is an extreme shortage of film sources, shitty movies made by Cats and Dogs can be screened without any deposit or guarantee fee. This is even more
This has stimulated many film company owners and directors. Since they don’t have to worry about the movie not being released anyway, they often finish a movie in a week or two, and then continue to shoddy and make bad movies after showing it to make money.
There are still many knowledgeable people in the Hong Kong film industry. They have called for reducing the number of theaters and improving the overall level of Hong Kong films. However, no one is willing to listen to these calls. On the contrary, more and more people see the profits and join in building theaters and filming.
Among the ranks of bad movies.
In another time and space, this trend continued until 1993, when the number of cinemas in Hong Kong peaked at 190.
This situation makes the Hong Kong film market seem more prosperous. Even second-tier actors are constantly booked for filming and cannot start production. As a result, actors' salaries have skyrocketed. The increase in actors' salaries has led to an increase in film costs. In order to pass on the costs, producers have.
The first is that the production is more shoddy; the second is that the cost of purchasing films in overseas markets continues to increase.
This behavior of Hong Kong producers has offended two types of people. One is the movie audience. After all, no one wants to spend money to go to the theater to watch bad movies; the other is offend overseas film producers. The high purchase fees make the film
It is difficult for a businessman to make money.
When Taiwanese film producers united to boycott Hong Kong films and asked them to control costs and lower actors' pay to no avail, the tragedy of Hong Kong films began.
For big directors like Kang Jianfei, or big stars like Cheng Long and Zhou Runfa, there is no problem selling movies to Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. But for most small film companies, Taiwan is the largest overseas market.
After Taiwanese film producers began to boycott Hong Kong films, countless film companies instantly lost their way out. They almost had to pay for each film they made, because the local box office in Hong Kong simply could not afford the high production costs. Not counting the Hong Kong film companies that went bankrupt in the past two years.
Its number.
The chain reaction caused by this was terrifying. As small and medium-sized film companies closed down one after another, a large number of cinemas in Hong Kong had no films to show and had no choice but to close their doors. As a result, in just one year, 190 cinemas in Hong Kong
This dropped sharply to only 106 companies left.
Hong Kong movies have declined since then!
This is what happened in another time and space, 1994.
Speaking of it afterwards, I couldn’t figure out whose fault it was, because at that time the entire Hong Kong film industry was caught in a strange circle: Hong Kong films made money by selling well--so a lot of hot money poured into the film industry--leading to a crazy increase in film production--
As a result, the number of movie theaters also increased - which in turn led to an increase in demand for film sources - and then a large number of bad films were produced, and actors' salaries skyrocketed - resulting in high film production costs - overseas film purchase costs increased year by year - and finally overseas
Film dealers are unable to purchase films - a large number of film companies have lost overseas markets - the production volume of Hong Kong films has dropped sharply - nearly half of the cinemas have closed down - funds have withdrawn from the film industry - film practitioners have dropped sharply - the direction of Hong Kong films
decline.
In this entire process, investors, producers, directors, actors, local theater companies, and overseas film companies are all pursuing profit. Who wouldn’t want to make money if they have it? But it is the profit-seeking behavior of everyone combined that leads to prosperity.
The Hong Kong film market is heading for collapse.
The simplest and crudest solution is to forcibly suppress the salary increase for Hong Kong actors, because when Hong Kong movies develop to a deformed level, most of the cost of a movie is actually the actors' salary. You can imagine how ridiculously high the wages are.
situation.
Cheng Long received a salary of over 10 million a few years ago, but now his minimum salary for each movie is 8 million; Stephen Chow and Tony Leung also earn about 8 million; Chow Yun-fat, Xu Guanwen, and Li Lianjie earn more than 5 million; Leslie Cheung and Hung Kim-bao earn 4 million
10,000. Liu Dehua, Liang Chaowei 2 million...
Just two or three years ago, a movie with an investment of 50 million was regarded as a super-large production, but now the salary of a single actor is several million. This cannot be blamed on the director for shoddy production. We cannot persuade the stars to reduce their own salaries, so we can only
Reduce costs by sacrificing video quality.
The scariest thing is that the salaries of Hong Kong actors are still rising. If this trend continues, the salaries of Stephen Chow and Tony Leung Ka Fai may exceed the 10 million mark next year.
In a rented conference room at the Peninsula Hotel, the participating Hong Kong directors were discussing the issue of actors' remuneration.
Wu Siyuan said: "Many directors are complaining now, saying that actors' salary increases are unbearable. A few years ago, a low-cost film could be made with 5 million, but now 5 million is not even enough to pay all the actors."
Hong Jinbao said: "What can be done about this? Now the Hong Kong film market is getting more and more popular. We can't just let the producers and movie theaters make money, and the actors can watch it, right?"
Huang Baiming said: "The problem is that the salary has increased too much. In the past, if you made a movie, you could make money from the local box office. Now you have to make money at the overseas box office."
What is being held at the moment is a temporary meeting of the Hong Kong Directors Guild, and everyone present is a director.
Cheng Long sat next to him without saying a word. His status was very embarrassing. He was both a film director and the highest-paid actor in Hong Kong. He was not a human being in any way.
Xu Ke answered: "It is impossible to suppress actors' pay. Whoever speaks will offend others."
John Woo said: "There is no point in discussing this matter. The overseas market for Hong Kong films is enough to ensure the film's profitability. This is enough."
Zhang Tongzu asked: "What if we lose the overseas market one day?"
There was discord between Gao Zhisen and Zhang Tongzu. He sneered and said, "How is that possible?"
Zhang Tongzu was too lazy to talk to Gao Zhisen and snorted coldly: "Short-sighted!"
Zhang Jianting said: "The focus of our discussion today seems not to be the issue of actors' remuneration."
Shun Jianxun smiled and said: "Yes, I invite you all here today mainly to talk about making a movie to raise money to build a building for the Directors Association."
Lin Lingdong said: "The story has been written by Xu Ke, Zhang Tongzu and Huang Bingyao. It is a tailor-made script for Cheng Long, and Xu Ke and I are the directors."
Teddy Robin said: "The heroine has not been determined yet, but the other actors are all guest stars from the directors here. Now I will distribute the script to everyone and discuss their choice of roles."
Zhang Aijia laughed and said: "Why don't we female directors take over the heroine's role?"
Zhang Wanting and Xu Anhua waved their hands repeatedly. They are not good at acting.
Everyone was laughing and joking after reading the script. Wu Siyuan asked Kang Jianfei, who had not spoken much: "Mr. Kang, which role are you interested in?"
Kang Jianfei turned over the script and said, "I'll play the hotel manager."
Kang Jianfei is now the leading director in Hong Kong, and there is nothing up for grabs for this kind of guest appearance. Seeing that no one here objected, Wu Siyuan said: "That's it, Mr. Kang will play the hotel manager."
Chen You raised his hand and joked: "Then I will play Mr. Kang's subordinate, the hotel clerk."
Liu Jialiang said: "I will play a kung fu doctor. This was agreed upon when I wrote the script."
Wang Jingdao: "I play the role of a qigong master."
Both Liu Jialiang and Wang Jing participated in the script creation, and these two roles were tailor-made for them.
The directors quickly divided up the roles. Kang Jianfei's role as the hotel manager was about four or five scenes, with only a few lines. Like Xu Ke, Lin Lingdong, and Shun Jianxun only had one scene.
, three people sit together and play poker, as long as they are really funny.
Kang Jianfei is very busy these days. He will soon go to the island of Brunei to design the filming base of "Jurassic Park" with Cameron, and then he will come back to attend the Miss Oriental beauty pageant finals. Next, he will make "Tomb Raiders 2"
of supervision.
Moreover, Guan Zhilin and Li Yanshan are about to give birth, and he has to spend a lot of time with them. Breaking one person in half is not enough. (To be continued) r466