Chapter 055 A young expert who is good at singing and dancing
When it comes to Hong Kong movies in the 1980s, the local box office alone really couldn’t support so many people, nor could it support so many companies.
Making money comes from other places and overseas.
Among the tycoon-level groups, Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest have strong distribution capabilities. At least in Wanwan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and other places, Shaw Brothers is not inferior to Golden Harvest, but in the island country, which is a large ticket warehouse, Golden Harvest is the best.
Princess Jin is okay, but she was beaten by Jiahe in the island country.
It’s okay not to mention the later Disheng Entertainment.
As for rushing to Hollywood and Europe, there is only one Jiahe left, whether it is Zou Wenhuai repeatedly investing in Cheng Long to support his development in Hollywood, or working with Hollywood companies to develop Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the late 1980s.
They all have international vision and courage that ordinary movie tycoons do not have.
And Jiahe was able to create a golden body in the island country because of Bruce Lee and Cheng Long.
After the Bruce Lee era, there was only one Cheng Long left. In the 1980s and 1990s, Double Monday became famous everywhere. Even a decade or two later, this term was also familiar to countless movie fans in the mainland.
But in fact, in Hong Kong Island, Wanwan, Xingma Tai and other places, Zhou Yunfa and Zhou Xingxing can catch up with Cheng Long. When it comes to Hong Kong, Hollywood and other places, Fortnight is actually one or two levels behind Cheng Long.
To give a simple example, why did Five Lucky Stars, a popular hit in the summer of this year, cast Cheng Long? It seemed that Cheng Long was a guest star, but he also crashed a row of more than 50 cars.
Money is much more expensive than the main line of the Five Lucky Stars Anti-Counterfeit Banknote Group.
Because when the crew was preparing for the film, Hong Qinbao and others felt that it would not be sold in the island country without Cheng Long.
Only by bringing in Cheng Long as a guest star can we make money in the island country.
Is it an exaggeration? No... The box office of "Five Lucky Stars" was 1.5 billion yen in the country, 1.35 billion yen in "Lucky Stars", and 2.7 billion yen in "Summer Lucky Star". The first three films had guest appearances by Cheng Long and Yuan Biao.
The fourth one is Best Lucky Star, produced by Golden Harvest. Best Lucky Star has a box office of 23.1 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong Island, which is definitely not bad. It has Hong Yanbao, Baldy Mak, Sylvia Chang, Andy Lau, Tam Wing-lin, Zheng Zeshi, etc., but there is no Cheng Longhe.
Yuanbiao.
So even if Best Lucky Star sells well in this city, can you believe that it is not available in large-scale theaters in the island country?? Without Cheng Long and Yuan Biao, even more major theaters will not be available to you.
This is still a big series. The first three parts were all sold well in island countries. No matter how you think about it, the fourth part shouldn’t be too bad. But in the end, you can’t get into theaters. It’s like entering a rural theater!
No matter how popular Hong Kong Island is in this era, what status has been established by the Five Lucky Stars? After leaving Hong Kong Island, Wanwan, Xing, Matai and other places, when arriving in the island country, he will be on a human level.
In the 1980s, Tan and Zhang were competing for supremacy in Hong Kong's music scene. Alan Tam's status in the music scene was at its peak, but when he went to the island country to release songs, he would not make waves even if he sang every time. But Cheng Long? Many people may not believe it.
Cheng Long released several albums and held concerts in the island country in the 1980s.
Still very popular!
Countless Hong Kong musicians cover songs from the island country. Cheng Long is the biggest lyricist and composer there and writes songs for him, and top singers sing singles with him.
Tan Yonglin has repeatedly failed in the island country's music scene. In 1986, he collaborated with Cheng Long on "Brothers and Tigers." This principal released a movie soundtrack. He obviously sang it alone, and Cheng Long's face occupied half of the cover of the album.
Then the album sold well, and Principal Tan took advantage of the situation and became popular in the island country's music scene.
In the 1980s and 1990s, there were many male singers in the Hong Kong music scene, but their fame and status in the music scene of the island country were far less than that of Cheng Long, an action star who made a guest appearance.
He is good at singing and dancing there, which means he can literally sing, dance and act.
Like a Dragon's Heart, Police Story, etc., all have extended versions in the island country, and "The Dragon Brothers and the Tiger Brothers" were first released in the island country for half a year before being released on Hong Kong Island.
In the box office rankings of Hong Kong films in the island country in the 1980s and 1990s, more than 30 of the top 50 films starred or guest-starred by Cheng Long.
Cheng Long's blockbuster films in Hong Kong, such as The Outrageous Boxer, Dragon Fist, and The Eight Steps of the Snake and Crane, have firmly occupied the box office list of Chinese-language films in the island country.
Ah Fa, Sing Tsai, Andy Lau and others have made blockbuster films in Hong Kong. Even in the island country, there are few box office figures that can match the box office figures of films like Boxer.
Just talking about the Asian island market, Cheng Long is the bug among Hong Kong male stars after the era of Bruce Lee!
Golden Harvest has seized on this opportunity and often sells movies in island countries, that is, packaging. If the distribution company there wants to distribute Cheng Long's movie, you have to package one or two other Hong Kong films.
Therefore, in Jiahe, Cheng Long is the biggest brand, and his salary and status are far inferior to even Hong Xinbao's, let alone the money.
Hong Xinbao will leave Jiahe in a year or two... It can't be said to have left Jiahe completely. Hong Xinbao has opened several companies, one company helps Jiahe make movies, and the other company makes movies for Debao Cinemas established by Pan Disheng.
But as the filming continued, Cheng Long participated in and guest starred in less and less films with Lao Hong, and Hong Yinbao continued to decline, gradually becoming unknown and playing a minor role. After the millennium, he became more popular with Yip Man, Sha Po Lang, etc.
This is largely due to Lao Hong himself.
But Cheng Long's influence is also very important.
When Zhao Donghuai recalled this, he knew that he somewhat admired Zou Wenhuai's international vision and ambition, but if he cooperated with Jiahe in the future, if there was a conflict, he would definitely be given up by Jiahe.
This can be selected with your toes.
It's not that he and Cheng Long have any personal conflicts, but conflicts such as movie release schedules, publicity, investment, etc.
If there is any conflict over the production and sale of a film, Golden Harvest will only support Cheng Long to the maximum extent and will not care about him.
Hong Qinbao, who followed Jiahe in the 1970s and practiced the Five Lucky Stars series from the trough period, all because the treatment was so different from Cheng Long, he went to play with Pan Disheng after a year or two, or in other words, he had both sides.
Does anyone else need to say it?
As a peer and competitor, he admired Zou Wenhuai, after all, he was not a time traveler.
If you want to join Jiahe or become a satellite subsidiary of the other party, then it is better not to do so.
But if the film he produces wants to go beyond Hong Kong Island and can cooperate with Golden Harvest, he would be quite happy.
After thinking about it, Zhao Donghuai smiled and said, "Thank you Zou Sheng and He Sheng for their respect. I really hope you two can help me if we have the opportunity to cooperate in the future."
The cooperation he mentioned must be different from He Guanchang's intention, and it is of a different nature.
He Guanchang just couldn't guess that much. He laughed when he heard this, "Okay, I hope one day!"
This time he came just as usual to say hello and leave a good impression. He didn't expect to directly recruit people. He was already satisfied with such superficial courtesy.
After all, in April 1985, Shao Daheng's Hong Kong Island Cinema Line began to be leased and sold to Dickson Poon, which meant that the tycoon stopped playing... and focused on TV stations. It is now October 1983, which is not that far away.
Shao Daheng, who has been working hard in the film industry for most of his life, does this when he is over 70 years old. Do you think he is willing to do this? Or has he never had a similar idea before and decided to sell it more than a year later with a slap on the forehead?
Of course not, this is a last resort and a helpless move made by Shaw Brothers, which has accumulated a lot of trouble and is collapsing bit by bit, unable to resist.
The shortcomings that have been in place for many years have gradually collapsed, and naturally some people in Jiahe can see it. It is impossible to accurately judge and cannot be sure when Shaw Brothers will be finished, but the general trend can be seen clearly.
As for Princess Jin? As Guanchang said, she is in trouble both internally and externally.
Internally, it's because the big bosses of New Art City are not sharing the money evenly, or some people are no longer interested in movies. Externally, it's because the distribution and sales of films in other places are far inferior to those of Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest. If it doesn't work, the money won't be enough.
The fire was cooking, and due to the combination of internal and external factors, Jiahe did not regard Princess Jin as a serious enemy. The ingenious plan of Five Lucky Stars was indeed prepared by Hong Yinbao in order to become the best partner in Xinyi City.
But as Guan Chang said, with Cheng Long's terrifying film-selling ability, Hong Kong Island is a step or two behind. Counting many other places, especially the island country's box office market, the New Arts City is not enough.