The reasons for the slump in the box office of Hong Kong films are extremely complex, creating a vicious cycle that cannot be solved.
Let’s not talk about external factors such as Taiwanese capital and the Taiwanese market. The proliferation of piracy is also a very important reason. Now that VCDs have long been popular, the production cost of pirated movies is so low that they are not only flooding the streets and alleys of Hong Kong, but also
It spread all over the inland and coastal areas.
Except for big directors, big stars, big productions, and ordinary small films, Hong Kong citizens no longer have much interest in going to the cinema.
Cutting production is the strategy of Oriental DreamWorks.
In 1999, the company produced an astonishing 1 movie. In 1996, DreamWorks only planned to produce 16 movies, with an error of no more than 1 movie.
Kang Jianfei gave a death order that he must strictly control the creative process and put the quality of the film first. Shoddy films will never have a chance to make it to the big screen.
At the same time, Oriental Cinemas is also reducing its scale. There is only one cinema left under its umbrella, all of which are in relatively prime locations. As for the corner areas, they are directly given to other theaters for screening, or they are divided into accounts, or sold out.
, anyway, consider it as appropriate.
Contrary to Oriental DreamWorks' production reduction plan, Golden Harvest, which has just been successfully launched, is rapidly expanding its film production.
In another time and space, Golden Harvest only produced 8 films in 1994. In 1995, after its listing, it participated in investment or produced as many as 66 films, more than doubling its production volume.
This situation is related to Jiahe's development strategy. Only by constantly filming and screening movies to build momentum can investors have confidence in Jiahe, which will facilitate Jiahe to make money in the stock market and then use the money to invest in real estate and other industries.
In 1995, Golden Harvest had changed its flavor. It was no longer a pure film company. It was first and foremost a listed company with great success.
From Kang Jianfei's point of view, Chow Wenhuai and others have gone crazy. They are committing suicide by producing 66 films per year when the Hong Kong film market is shrinking.
But is Zou Wenhuai really stupid?
not necessarily!
First, he can make money through the stock market, and then use the money to invest in other industries.
As for the darker speculations, these people are probably desperate for Hong Kong movies. They plan to make a big profit before Hong Kong movies die completely and before Hong Kong returns to the embrace of the motherland!
After 1997, Jiahe will become a bad company riddled with debt, but all of its shareholders will definitely be rich, because they are all full.
Alas, the world has changed.
If Hong Kong filmmakers did not have the doomsday mentality of giving up on themselves in 1997, and if the British Hong Kong government could establish a film bureau to regulate the market, Hong Kong films would never have declined so quickly.
Totally blaming the invasion of Hollywood blockbusters, blaming it on Taiwan, and the shrinking Southeast Asian market are all manifestations of self-deception. You have to be tough yourself to make iron work. You are messing around yourself, and you still blame others for not giving you face?
Kang Jianfei was too lazy to care about other people's affairs. He just wanted to run the Oriental Entertainment Group properly.
Who said that Hong Kong films would be completely dead after 1995? Galaxy Video, which insists on conscientious production, will still be very popular after 2000? Because the films made by others can be watched, and they are not messing around.
Hong Kong’s film market is there. Imported Hollywood films can sell like hotcakes, so why can’t local films?
However, Oriental DreamWorks can only take the high-quality route in the future, and a large number of layoffs are certain, because it cannot support so many people. The overall film production environment is definitely bad, and the reserve film talents will also wither. The only thing Kang Jianfei can do is to retain
Seeds to avoid the embarrassing situation of a shortage of film talents.
At the beginning of 1995, Cheng Long was the most famous person in the Hong Kong film industry. Golden Harvest's shareholders also made a lot of money and held a grand celebration banquet for "Red Zone" at Fulinmen Restaurant.
These are all superficial things, just like Hong Kong's economy.
The British guys are about to bid farewell to Hong Kong. They made a wave of gains in the stock market last year, causing countless Hong Kong stockholders to go bankrupt. They will continue to play tricks this year. The Hong Kong stock market rose repeatedly in the first half of the year, attracting a wave of investors to enter the market and then harvest immediately.
Then it fell again and then rose again, completely destroying the Hong Kong stock market in countless reincarnations. By the second half of the year, no fools would invest in stocks anymore.
As of 1996, the Hong Kong stock market was still in a sluggish state. Seeing a slight recovery in 1997, Soros and other international giants came to stir up trouble again. It was really a chaotic scene of demons dancing around.
1995 was obviously an eventful year.
Shortly after New Year's Day, a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 occurred in Japan, and the local people were in dire straits.
Cheung Chi-keung, who was imprisoned for robbing a cash transport truck, would also be released this year, and would receive HK$8 million in compensation from the police, making him a well-known villain in Hong Kong.
Cheng Long's "Red Zone" had just been released, and the 7-treasury debt incident broke out in mainland China. January 1, 1995 was called the darkest day in the history of China's securities. There was a futures trader named Chen Wanning, who had just turned 0
Years old, his trading seat lost more than 70 million on that day, and his own assets of 1 million were also wiped out.
Ten years later, this trader wrote the script "Wulin Gaiden" and successfully completed his career transformation.
Without further ado, let’s go back to Hong Kong.
While Cheng Long was hosting a celebration banquet, Kang Jianfei disappeared. He personally led a team to India, inspected the shooting location with Xu Ke, and established good relations with the local government and local tycoons.
The paparazzi can't take pictures of Kang Jianfei's gossip, so they only want to take pictures of his women. Recently, Guan Zhilin and Li Jiaxin are at odds again. The reason seems to be that Guan Zhilin's diamond ring is bigger. After being reported by the media, Li Jiaxin was very unhappy and specifically looked for foreign jewelry.
The company ordered one.
These reports are not surprising, and Hong Kong citizens are numb. The even more exciting news is that reporters photographed the singing queen Anita Mui, traveling hand in hand with mainland boy Zhao Wenqian. The two looked so intimate that they looked like a couple.
Although Zhao Wenqian has starred in several dramas in the past two years and is considered a newly rising kung fu actor, there is still a big gap compared with Anita Mui. When they first heard the news that the two were dating, Hong Kong citizens thought it was a fantasy and they would not kill them.
believe.
Anita Mui and Zhao Wenqian expressed silence on this, and their agency quickly held a press conference to clarify that they were just ordinary friends.
The storm stopped and it turned out to be just a misunderstanding.
It was not until more than ten years later, long after Anita Mui passed away, that Zhao Wenqian told the media about this past incident. They did fall in love for a whole year, but unfortunately they broke up in the end.
By the time Kang Jianfei returned to Hong Kong again, the Spring Festival had passed, the nomination list for the Academy Awards was released smoothly, and the Hong Kong Directors Guild's Spring Tea Party was held as scheduled. Kang Jianfei successfully stepped down as president, and the new president was Er Dongsheng.
At the same time, the mainland film "The Wind" was quietly released in Hong Kong, and Kang Jianfei also announced his new film plan. (To be continued)