When Kang Jianfei returned to Hong Kong, it had already passed the Kitchen Festival, and many companies in Hong Kong had taken annual holidays. The celebrities who were usually too busy to sleep for a few hours a day, except for those who took on the Spring Festival commercial performances, all returned home to enjoy the rare holiday
Leisure time.
Kang Jianfei, however, couldn't take any time off. He stayed in Taipei and Tokyo for more than two months, and there were a lot of things waiting for him when he came back. He didn't need to get involved in the company's specific affairs, but he had to grasp and understand the general direction.
, followed by the annual meeting and the celebration of Phoenix TV.
After a few busy days, it's already New Year's Eve.
A total of nine films were released during the Spring Festival, among which the best-performing films were "City Hunter" directed by Wang Jing, starring Cheng Long, Qiu Shuzhen, Wang Zuxian, Li Ming, and Kumiko Goto; and "City Hunter" directed by Gao Zhisen, starring Xu Guanjie, Leslie Cheung,
"Happy Event in the Flower Field" starring Guan Zhilin, Mao Shunyun, Wu Junru and Huang Zhan.
"Happy Events in the Flower Field" is obviously following the trend of last year's best-selling "Happy Events in the Family" during the Lunar New Year, but Gao Zhisen followed suit and came up with a new idea. Not only is the storyline free from any suspicion of plagiarism, but the film's background is also set in the Tang Dynasty.
"Flower Field" was released four days later than "City Hunter", but its box office surpassed "City Hunter" in its second week. Gao Zhisen, who has been on the block for more than a year, once again proved his ability as a blockbuster comedy director.
It is worth mentioning that Gao Zhisen has returned to his master Huang Baiming. This "Happy Event in the Flower Field" is his first work after joining Metro Film Company, and it is also Huang Baiming's first New Year's film after Metro Cinema opened.
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Oriental DreamWorks' New Year's Eve film this time is "The Storm" directed by Huang Tailai and starring Zhou Yunfa and Zhong Chuhong. The production cost of the film was 32 million, and it also invited guest stars such as Li Lianjie and Zhou Billy, Dong Wei, Cheng Kui'an, Lin
The supporting cast including Xue, Yang Liqing, Ji Zi, Yukari Oshima and others is also quite strong.
Unfortunately, perhaps the audience was tired of watching this kind of hot-blooded gangster movie, so the box office results of "The Strongest" did not meet expectations. The audience was robbed by "Flower Field" and "City Hunter" released at the same time.
This is the biggest failure of DreamWorks in the Spring Festival in the past ten years. In the past, even if it could not win the Lunar New Year championship, it was at least second place, and it had never been ranked third.
Just after the New Year, director Huang Tailai went to Kang Jianfei's house to plead guilty in the name of New Year greetings.
Huang Tailai is also an old director who has been in charge of photography for more than ten years. At this time, he was ashamed in front of Kang Jianfei and said: "Boss, I didn't see the market correctly this time..."
"Who knows the box office accurately?" Kang Jianfei interrupted him before he could finish, "Okay, just be more careful in the future. Isn't the box office of "The Strongest" ranked third in the Lunar New Year period?"
Kang Jianfei said it easily, but Huang Tailai was always uneasy. The box office this time was really bad. It cost more than 30 million to shoot a big star and a big cast. Judging from the current attendance rate, the box office will be over 20 million in the end.
The most important thing is that "The Strongest" broke DreamWorks' tradition of competing for first place during the Lunar New Year and only finished third. This is a serious crime.
Huang Tailai is not a direct director trained by Kang Jianfei. He was originally a producer of Li TV, and later became a director of Oriental Television Production Company, and finally moved to DreamWorks as a director. This box office failure, although DreamWorks' film planning
The department has to take the blame, but his responsibility is not small. What Huang Tailai fears most is being sent to the bench by Kang Jianfei.
(Lao Wang has confused Huang Tailai and Huang Yuetai several times before. Huang Tailai is the director, and Huang Yuetai is the gold medal photographer. Currently, the three major photographers of DreamWorks are Chung Chi-wen, Huang Yuetai and Du Kefeng)
After Kang Jianfei finally calmed Huang Tailai back, Zhou Runfa came to the door again.
Kang Jianfei joked: "What, Brother Fa, are you here to plead guilty too?"
Just as Zhong Chuhong came over with coffee, she gave Kang Jianfei an annoyed look: "What do you mean by asking for forgiveness? The movie box office is not good, and it has nothing to do with the actors. I am the heroine of "The Wind and Cloud", do I have to apologize for you too?
Already?"
Before Zhong Chuhong could apologize to Jing, Kang Jianfei quickly apologized to her with a smile: "No, can I apologize to you? Hong Gu, you are so important, please don't let me kneel on the washboard tonight."
Zhong Chuhong said angrily and funny: "I'm talking nonsense again. This time I went to Japan and cheated on a girl. I haven't settled the score with you yet."
The two were flirting in front of him, which made Zhou Runfa feel very embarrassed. After taking a sip of coffee, he coughed and said: "Boss, I want to leave Hong Kong and go to Hollywood."
"What?" Kang Jianfei, who was joking just now, looked at Zhou Runfa in surprise. Instead of asking him why he wanted to leave Hong Kong, he asked, "You want to go to Hollywood, do you understand English?"
Zhou Runfa nodded and said, "After the filming ended last year, I went to English training classes and there was no problem in daily communication."
"Can I ask you why you want to leave?" Kang Jianfei couldn't help but ask.
In another time and space, Zhou Runfa also wanted to go to Hollywood, but that was two years later. And there were various rumors at that time, the most credible one said that Zhou Runfa had a conflict with the Xiang brothers and had to take refuge in the United States.
But Kang Jianfei felt that this was unreliable. Furthermore, Hong Kong films were already on the decline when Chow Run-fat left. Chow most likely went to Hollywood for his own development. But now Hong Kong films are at their most prosperous, so why would Chow still want them?
Want to leave?
Faced with Kang Jianfei's question, Zhou Runfa hesitated for a moment and said what was in his heart: "Boss, thank you very much for your care over the years. The TV series "Shanghai Bund" that made me really famous was the one you recommended me to director Wang Tianlin.
After that, "God of Gamblers" made me a movie star. It can be said that without your support, I might still be just a TV actor..."
"Don't talk so much nonsense, just talk about the key points." Kang Jianfei interrupted him.
Zhou Runfa tidied up his words and said: "In the past two years, Zhou Xingchi has become extremely popular. Li Lianjie has also become as famous as Cheng Long through the "Once Upon a Time" series, and Liang Jiahui has starred in "The Truman Story" and
"Jurassic Park" became famous. Among the so-called four kings of DreamWorks, I am in the most embarrassing situation. In the past three years, few of the movies I have starred in have a box office of more than 30 million, but my salary is
It is the standard for top stars. Therefore, my appeal to investors is not as good as that of new stars, because they are cheaper than me, and their box office appeal is not much lower than mine. I feel that my development has reached a bottleneck period. Continue
If you stay in Hong Kong, it will be difficult to break through, so I want to try Hollywood."
Zhou Runfa's words made Kang Jianfei thoughtful. Among the four heavenly kings he appointed, Zhou Runfa was the first to become famous. But now, although he cannot be said to be the worst off, his situation is indeed quite embarrassing.
Kang Jianfei did not want to persuade him, but said: "Did you know that Hollywood is very xenophobic, and the xenophobia I am talking about excludes Asians. If you go to Hollywood now, you can only be a supporting role, or even a walk-on. Honggang
The four kings of the film industry, the best actors in the Academy Awards and Golden Horse Awards, are you willing to go to Hollywood to play a small role?"
Zhou Runfa hesitated for a moment and said with a wry smile: "I have to try it."
Zhong Chuhong suddenly interrupted: "A Fei, aren't you a shareholder of Paramount? Since Brother Fa is going to Hollywood, you ask the directors at Paramount to give him a few more roles to try."
Zhou Runfa also looked at Kang Jianfei with expectant eyes. The reason why he came to the door to say this was to get Kang Jianfei's support.
Unexpectedly, Kang Jianfei shook his head and said: "It's useless. If I do this, Fa Zai will at best become a relatively well-known Asian supporting actor."
Just when Zhou Runfa was disappointed, Kang Jianfei suddenly said: "Unless Fa Zai can directly play the starring role."
Zhou Runfa was stunned for a moment and said: "If I just play the leading role, will the American audience accept me?"
"This requires a good script and director, as well as local American actors as partners. This will be more conducive to American audiences accepting Asian faces." Kang Jianfei thought of Cheng Long's "Rush Hour", which was a hit series.
Cheng Long, in addition to Cheng Long's unique sense of humor, his interaction with black actors is also a highlight.
Audiences are unfamiliar with and repulsive to Asian faces, and many white people even think that Asians look the same. Having a local white or black actor to play the role will make it easier for the audience to accept it.
"A good script, a good director, and a good partner?" Zhou Runfa didn't understand what Kang Jianfei really wanted, but he knew that it was difficult to get these three elements together.
Kang Jianfei did not explain to Zhou Runfa, but picked up the phone and called Li Meifeng and said: "Meifeng, help me contact Wu Yusen, and I will ask him out for afternoon tea."
…
"What, Mr. Kang asked me to have tea? Oh, I'm free, I'm free...tomorrow afternoon...Okay, okay, I have time! Well, please, Miss Li, goodbye!"
After hanging up the phone, Wu Yusen suppressed his inner surprise and said to Zhang Jiazhen: "Ah Zhen, Mr. Kang asked me to have tea tomorrow afternoon."
"He asked you out? Did he invite you to join DreamWorks?" Zhang Jiazhen asked equally surprised.
Given Kang Jianfei's current influence in the Hong Kong film industry, just a phone call from his secretary was enough to make Wu Yusen and Zhang Jiazhen think wildly.
Wu Yusen said: "If Mr. Kang really personally invites me to join DreamWorks, do you think I should refuse or agree?"
"This... I can't say." Zhang Jiazhen said.
Zhang Jiazhen initially followed McDonald's, and later joined DreamWorks with McDonald's. By chance, Zhang Jiazhen and Wu Yusen became close friends, and they were invited to join Wu Yusen's film company.
Due to the butterfly effect, Wu Yusen did not make the classic film "Across the World" in this time and space, but he also made many gunfight movies for Princess Jin.
For example, last year's "The Dangerous Detective", although the film's box office in Hong Kong was average, due to Zhang Jiazhen's success, "The Dangerous Detective" received a good response and also won the favor of Hollywood film producers.
Because of this, Wu Yusen and Zhang Jiazhen decided to go to the United States to open a film company and work hard in Hollywood by attracting investment to make adult movies. Before the Spring Festival was over, the two gathered at Wu Yusen's house to discuss going to the United States. Who knew that this would happen?
At that time, I actually received an invitation from Kang Jianfei.
Wu Yusen thought about it and said, "Mr. Kang also has an industry in Hollywood. There is no harm in establishing a good relationship with him. Let's go see what he wants to do with me first."
