Tang An spent a day in the capital. In addition to the literature of the Han and Tang Dynasties, Li Rui happened to have just returned to the capital, so Tang An stopped by to meet him.
Nowadays, although Li Ruigang cannot be said to have controlled Shaw Brothers and TVB, his voice and influence are gradually strengthening.
As the chairman of the board of directors of Shaw Brothers Films and the vice chairman of the board of directors of TVB, coupled with his previous status as chairman of China Media Broadcasting Corporation, it was only a matter of time before he took control of TVB and Shaw Brothers.
Xiangjiang Movies originally started out on the basis of movies from Shanghai. Due to the Anti-Japanese War, a large number of movie makers from Shanghai went south, and the Shaw Brothers all came from Shanghai.
More than half of the directors, screenwriters and actors from Magic City went to Xiangjiang, which allowed Xiangjiang to gradually become a center for overseas Chinese investment in films from a region specializing in the production of Cantonese films for eastern Guangdong, Singapore, Malaysia and other places.
At the end of the 1940s, although the Anti-Japanese War was over, the war was still going on, the situation was turbulent, and another group of filmmakers and capitalists went south. In 1948, Xiangjiang produced 157 films in the whole year, setting a record.
At that time, the center of domestic movies and music was the Magic City. With the move of Magic City movies and musicians to the south, Xiangjiang assumed the status of the Magic City's entertainment center.
Although many years have passed and few of the older generation are still alive, with such a relationship and the decline of the Hong Kong entertainment industry, it was relatively easy for Li Rui to take over Shaw Brothers and TVB.
Otherwise, as soon as he left, the chairman of Shaw Brothers' board of directors suddenly fell ill.
Although Shaw Brothers has declined, it once had a complete distribution network in Southeast Asia.
Shaw Brothers has ceased production since the 1980s, but it still distributes Hong Kong films to the southeast.
The foundation is there, and re-establishing a distribution network in Southeast Asia is better than nothing.
However, the current Shaw Brothers is not of much use. Tang An plans to attract Southeast Asian countries such as China, Singapore, and Yuenan to join in and jointly form a new distribution company.
Even if we give up some of the profits, as long as we can build a complete distribution network so that most Chinese-language films have the opportunity to be released in Southeast Asia, that will be enough.
Even if Southeast Asian audiences are not used to mainland movies, at least some big-budget blockbusters are more receptive.
Over time, Southeast Asian audiences can also subtly accept Chinese-language films.
Just like watching Japanese dramas and Thai dramas, you may not get used to them at first, but you will get used to them the more you watch them.
This matter can be carried out at the same time as the establishment of the Xiangjiang Cinema Line. Regarding the reclassification of cinemas in Xiangjiang as cultural and entertainment facilities, the Xiangjiang government is already discussing it under the promotion of the Ministry of Xuanxun.
Tang An doesn't expect to be able to get a store at a very low price like he did in the 1970s. That's unrealistic.
As long as it's cheaper than it is now, it doesn't matter even if you lose a little.
The monthly rent of a movie theater in Times Square in Hong Kong has now reached 25 million Hong Kong dollars. This is just the rent. Who can afford it? Opening a movie theater is just throwing money away.
As long as the cost is slightly lowered, Tang An will be confident enough to control most of the Xiangjiang cinema market.
Other theater chains are in business and they want to make money.
Tang An can accept losses and influence Xiangjiang culturally, but losing a little money is nothing in comparison.
If two or three years doesn't work, then five, eight, or even ten years, a large number of mainland movies will be released in Hong Kong. Let the Hong Kong audience watch them for ten years or so, and they will naturally accept mainland culture.
Nothing can't be changed by time. At that time, the popular songs in Xiangjiang were still mainly in Mandarin. Cantonese songs were only a niche. They were slowly becoming popular. Mandarin songs were no longer popular.
The same goes for early Hong Kong films. In the 1950s and 1960s, Cantonese films were of the worst quality and lowest grade. Only small companies would make them, and big companies would disdain them.
And at that time, there was probably such a chain of contempt in the Hong Kong film market: rich and educated people watched English films, rich and uncultured people watched Mandarin films, and poor and uncultured people watched Cantonese films.
In 1972, 82 films were produced in Hong Kong, but none of them were Cantonese films. This shows how bleak Cantonese films were at that time.
The market in Hong Kong is too small to support the film industry in Hong Kong. It must rely on the Chinese community in Southeast Asia and the Baodao market, and Mandarin is the language that can communicate smoothly with Chinese people around the world.
Even in the early days of Xiangjiang, there were a large number of immigrants who spoke Mandarin, and the top management of Shaw Brothers all came from the mainland and spoke Mandarin.
The older generation of Hong Kong filmmakers and actors can all speak fluent Mandarin.
In the early days, Li Xiaolong's films also had to be dubbed in Mandarin before being released.
It was not until 1973 that Shaw Brothers made the first Cantonese film "Seventy-Two Tenants" for the first time, and beat Li Xiaolong to win the annual box office championship. After that, Cantonese films slowly revived, and by 1977, the number of Cantonese films ranked first
more than Mandarin films.
From Mandarin to Cantonese, it only took four years.
For Hong Kong audiences to accept mainland films, double the time should be enough.
As a filmmaker, you have to do something for this industry. Promoting Chinese films to Southeast Asia and becoming one of the mainstream films in Southeast Asia is Tang An's goal at this stage.
...
After staying in the magic city for a day, Tang An flew back to the capital.
I commute to and from get off work on time at the company every day, and my life is finally a little bit normal.
As for "The Jungle Book", Tiangong Yicai is still continuing its early special effects preparations.
There is no room for sloppiness in this movie, the focus is entirely on CG, and Tang An doesn't give random directions and will only check their results regularly.
The technology of Tiangong Yicai and the digital field is still inferior to that of Weta Digital. Fortunately, it has begun to use Kingsoft Cloud's cloud rendering farm, which can undergo more calculations and strive to be the best.
It's easy to shoot, so there's no need to rush it. Children's scenes are actually the best to shoot.
Adults have various looks, heights, personalities, and temperaments. It is not easy for actors to match their roles.
But little kids?
When a child plays a child, there are no other professions or personality restrictions, and he is completely acting as he is.
In many film and television dramas, child actors and even children who have never been exposed to acting often perform very well.
Especially children aged five or six do not have such complicated personalities and tempers.
Just before Tang An watched the variety show "Actors", several children were found to co-star in several episodes, which was more natural than real actors.
Zhang Yimou likes to use newcomers because the newcomer is like a blank sheet of paper, and the content on it depends on the director's training and is easier to shape.
...
August has passed, and with the arrival of the back-to-school season, the domestic film market has begun to enter a nearly month-long lull.
However, Wanda Film's market value exceeded the 80 billion mark on its third day of listing, surpassing Huayi to become the film and television company with the highest market value.
Then four days later, the market value exceeded 90 billion.
However, it still failed to break through the 100 billion mark. At its peak, the market value once reached 96 billion, but it could not go up.
It is much worse than the original listing of Wanda Cinema Line alone, which had 11 consecutive daily limit increases.
After the rise, it began to fall. It is estimated that it will stabilize at 90 billion in the end, which is good.
Wanda's listing was an absolute success, and it stole the show during the back-to-school season.
Soon after, the cooperation between several major companies could no longer be concealed.
Originally only a few senior executives knew about it, but they hid it very well, but once the contract was signed, so many projects became involved, and more and more people needed to participate in the follow-up, so it was naturally exposed.
At the beginning, there were only rumors that several companies were involved in "Legend of the Gods" and that a certain company purchased a share of "Ip Man 3". But these things were put together and all the movies they collaborated on were sorted out. Naturally Something strange was discovered.
...
Hantang Media, Tang An convened a meeting with the company’s management above the director level.
"Tell me, what's going on now."
In September, the market is off-season, and several other companies have begun to make big moves.
Tang An felt something was wrong due to Wang Zhongjun's abnormal attitude and the gathering together in the Magic City. It turned out that they were starting to connect with each other.
"Chairman, it has been determined that several major companies will produce at least ten blockbusters in the next two years, as well as film projects with good box office potential, and have added other investors..."
The publicity and marketing director of the film division was in front of the curtain explaining what happened in the past two days.
Tang An also looked at some data synchronized with the small screen and curtain on the table in front of him.
"The Great Wall", a major production with a production cost of over 100 million US dollars, was originally invested and distributed by Wanda's three companies, Legendary Pictures, Lay's and Universal.
Legendary Pictures got the largest investment share, and Lay's finally came up with Zhang Yimou and obtained the main distribution rights in the mainland.
However, in Entertainment Baoli, a subsidiary of Zhifu Bao, there has been an investment reservation for the "Great Wall" project.
Yuyubao has been online for some time, but the most important movie before was only "Tiny Times 4".
Because the third film failed to meet expectations, Lay's and Ahli came up with a movie financial management gimmick to make everyone make money.
Ahli Pictures also issued an announcement, announcing that it had acquired a portion of the box office proceeds of "The Great Wall" at a high price.
China Film Group Corporation and Maoyan Films have also become one of the joint distributors of "The Great Wall".
In other words, this blockbuster has the participation of China Film, Ah Li, and Guang Xian.
Ah Li's three films, "Unbelievable", "Havoc in Tianzhu" and "The Ferryman", also had the participation of other companies.
The same is true for Bernard's "Operation Mekong" and "Omen2".
There are more than ten high-quality projects, and suddenly other large companies are participating.
After the report, Tang An looked at everyone's expressions. They were all a little solemn, and they obviously knew what this meant.
Tang An smiled, attracted their attention, and then said, "Obviously, the cross-investment of these major companies must have led to some cooperation, and we, who were excluded, should have promoted their cooperation. reason."
Zhang Qiang nodded and echoed, "Director Tang, if the seven major companies plus one are happy, we are the only ones kept in the dark. It is obvious that they are targeting us. We must be prepared, it will not be easy to deal with."
Everyone can see that this is not a cooperation between two or three companies.
There are grievances between several major companies. Wang Changtian and Zhang Zhao can be said to be mortal enemies, and they always want each other to die.
Lay's and China Film had a feud over "The Expendables 3". Lay's acted as an investor, the mainland copyright holder, and the buyer of the film batches. However, it couldn't help but still distributed it to China Film, giving up 20% of the profit.
Guangxian's "White Legend" went viral on the Internet, causing the publisher Wanda to lose a large amount of distribution revenue.
It is not that simple to get them to let go of their grievances between each other. If they want to divide the market of the Han and Tang Dynasties together, it makes sense.
"Dr. Tang, with the combined energy of the eight major companies, it will be difficult for us to fight against it. What we will face may then be film schedules and lagging behind in all aspects of publicity and marketing. In my opinion, we should contact Bernard and Guangxian immediately to persuade them to withdraw!"
"Not only in terms of promotions, but now they have enough high-quality projects. If they really want to deal with us, it will be really difficult to attack one with two or three movies."
"Their alliance must be disintegrated. As long as they pay enough benefits, they will naturally destroy themselves."
...
Each director and vice president expressed their opinions one by one. Without exception, they did not believe that Han and Tang could resist the alliance of the eight major companies.
Han and Tang have been able to sweep the domestic film market in the past two years, but that doesn’t mean that they are really stronger than the other companies put together. After all, other companies are also competitors with each other.
However, the most important thing is that Tang An will not have any movies released within a year or two. Otherwise, Tang An will still maintain the pace of one movie a year. Even if the eight major companies join forces, they will still be confident.
Tang An's one movie costs 4 billion, which is enough to sweep through popular schedules such as the summer and Spring Festival.
Li Nan, deputy general manager of the film division, suggested that Tang An make a simpler movie to cope with the siege from major companies next year.
Although this is a bit bad, just like the national pigs lose every day, you can't let the leaders of the pig association win.
Everyone still agreed with this plan in their hearts. Tang An decided to make a simpler and easier movie to cope with next year's problems.
But no one spoke up and asked the boss to do the work, who had the nerve to say it.
Tang An secretly shook his head, making a movie by himself is indeed the simplest and most effective way.
Tang An has this self-confidence. If he didn't have a new film released within a year or two, others would never dare to do this.
The alliance of these eight major companies must be missing at least three companies!
"Okay, it's not a big deal. We don't need to be nervous. We should do whatever we need to do and be prepared for the release of each movie."
"The National Day schedule will be here soon. We have two films, "Charlotte" and "Rescue Mr. My Life" invested by Song Ge, Du Yang and others. Ignore the others for now, we will show them the National Day schedule. We have to deal with it. It wasn’t that easy in the Han and Tang Dynasties!”
Tang An is not afraid of their cooperation at all. With the current resources of Han and Tang, he can independently support a movie with a box office of 4 billion, without the help of other resources.
And they can't risk everything to deal with themselves and besiege one of them with four or five blockbusters at the same time.
Even if you do this, it will only hurt both sides. Tang An can fully bear it, and at most he will make less money.
Han and Tang's current profitability is much stronger than any other company. If they suffer heavy losses, the alliance will not be far away from disintegration.
What promotes their cooperation is interest. Even if it is not to deal with themselves, cross-cooperation and sharing of resources are still very beneficial.
But once there is a loss, some people will definitely quit first, or even switch sides.
Besides, Tang An holds several trump cards, and it is impossible for both parties to lose.
What Tang An has decided, everyone can only accept now and fight the National Day battle well.
Tang An was relieved to leave these matters to them. In just two or three days, not only did he collect enough information, but he also re-evaluated the other party's projects, as well as the possible schedule of each movie, and which movies were what.
The opponents at that time and the advantages of both sides were clearly analyzed.
...
After the meeting, Tang An made appointments with Ning Hao, Xu Zheng, Wu Ershan and Wu Jing.
The next day, I met the four of them in the office. They were one of the most important assets of the Han and Tang Dynasties and Tang An's trump card.
The older generation of directors have all gone out, and almost all of the new generation of directors are under his command. This is where Tang An's confidence lies.
The "Feng Shen" series currently being filmed, "Wolf Warrior 2", and "The Wandering Earth" in preparation can defeat the eight major companies!
But only Tang An knows this. Now that the Han and Tang Dynasties are under siege by the eight major companies, no one knows what they are thinking, whether they are a little pessimistic or even want to get off the ship.
It was necessary for Tang An to meet and chat with them, and drink some chicken soup by the way.