In this life, after Honggu met Sun Dahai, her development trajectory soon changed. Her name appeared in the cast of "A Better Tomorrow".
Although Hong Gu's role in the film did not have much of a role and was just a role that was almost like a vase, it was a huge box office hit for herself.
Although film critics did not have many positive comments about Hong Gu's performance in "A Better Tomorrow", in a film that is definitely about men, Hong Gu's role is only a little, and it is almost incomparable to the female supporting roles in other films.
Above. She can perfectly connect the plot and characters, which is enough.
Although Hong Gu did not improve her acting skills in this movie, she successfully participated in the highest-grossing movie in Hong Kong film history.
This halo, which is similar to that of a box office mascot, has caused Hong Gu's net worth to rise a lot, and her salary of 500,000 Hong Kong dollars has almost doubled from before.
"A Better Tomorrow" has made a number of actors famous, whether it is the former "box office poison" Fa Ge, Simon Yam who has been hanging around in the second or third tier, as well as the outdated veteran actor Ti Lung and the pink newcomer Leslie Cheung.
This drama not only skyrocketed their fame, but also, under the aura of "A Better Tomorrow" breaking box office records, their salary doubled and then jumped even higher.
Although the increase in Hong Gu's salary is not small, compared with other people in the same crew, it seems inconspicuous.
As for "A Better Tomorrow 2" which was hastily launched and started filming, although it cannot be said to be a follow-up, it does not have much new ideas. In fact, it is over-consuming the market potential of "A Better Tomorrow".
The previous film grossed 40 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, while the sequel film's box office revenue was less than 30 million Hong Kong dollars. Such results can only be said to be unsatisfactory, and many people were disappointed.
However, this is the result of comparing "A Better Tomorrow 2" with the classic "A Better Tomorrow". If we talk about this sequel movie alone, it can be regarded as a masterpiece above the standard.
The sequel film did not continue to be a dark horse, but this did not affect the actors' salaries. Although everyone's salaries will not continue to rise, the movie's box office of nearly 30 million is enough to keep their salaries at the current price.
Then came another masterpiece, "Autumn Fairy Tale".
This artistic film, which was shot at a low cost, has achieved great results that astonished the filmmakers in Hong Kong.
It not only broke the box office record of Hong Kong literary films, but also made a historic entry into the main competition section of the International A-level Film Festival, and won the two most valuable awards of Best Film and Best Director in one fell swoop.
Riding on its success at the Venice Film Festival, "An Autumn Fairy Tale" has been a hit in Europe, which has also driven up both its price and sales in Southeast Asia.
In the end, "Autumn Fairy Tale", a literary film with a total investment of HK$5 million, broke the box office record of Hong Kong's literary films with a local box office of 35 million Hong Kong dollars. According to Hong Kong's practice, the producer will
Received 16 million Hong Kong dollars in box office dividends.
Not only that, it also earned a total of 18 million Hong Kong dollars in sales revenue in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia (including box office dividends and distribution rights sales).
The most noteworthy thing is that "Autumn Fairy Tale" has achieved a record sales revenue of five million US dollars in Europe, which is equivalent to nearly 40 million Hong Kong dollars, which is almost equivalent to half of its global sales revenue.
After the film won the award, Youlian also took it to North America for sales. This type of film is not very popular with North American audiences, but it still made 5 million Hong Kong dollars in revenue.
All in all, "Autumn Fairy Tale" earned a total of 80 million Hong Kong dollars in after-tax profits. Compared with its 6 million investment (after the film won the award, Youlian increased marketing expenses by 1 million Hong Kong dollars), the investment income was more than ten times. In fact,
It's a huge profit.
A fresh, low-cost literary film (with post-production investment, it can be regarded as a medium-cost film), was actually produced by Youlian to achieve such a result, which really exceeded everyone's expectations.
The beneficiaries of this project are not just Youlian, but every filmmaker who participated has benefited a lot.
Fa Ge's previous salary was 2 million Hong Kong dollars. The effect of "A Better Tomorrow" has not yet been fully realized, and his salary is still rising.
When Fa Ge took over the filming of this film, he followed the usual practice when taking on artistic films and made a half discount. The final remuneration was one million Hong Kong dollars.
Originally, he planned to offer a super friendly price of 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, and it was enough.
Because director Zhang Wanting's initial budget was not high, the total filming cost was only 3 million Hong Kong dollars, and she also had to go to New York to shoot the location.
Even if Fa Ge halved the asking price, Director Zhang's life would be tight and there would be almost no fun.
But this project was later taken over by Youlian, which was very wealthy and would not let actors tighten their belts to make movies.
Sun Dahai took the initiative to increase the shooting budget to HK$5 million. Director Zhang now had ample funds, which not only made shooting easier, but Fa Ge no longer had to "sell" himself in tears.
Although Sun Dahai wanted to pay the actors the normal salary, he was dissuaded by many friends in the film industry, including Fa Ge and Hong Gu.
At that time, Sun Dahai didn't want to stand out too much and break the conventions of the Hong Kong film industry, so he paid all the actors half the actors' salary.
At that time, Sun Dahai asked Gabriel to tell everyone that as long as the film paid back its original cost, he would give out big red envelopes to everyone.
However, at that time, even Fa Ge and Hong Gu were included, and they were just listening. Director Zhang Wanting herself may not have the confidence to say that this movie will definitely be able to breakeven.
You know, based on her original budget of HK$3 million, the film would have to have a box office of at least over HK$7 million if it wanted to break even.
However, the shooting cost provided by Youlian was as high as HK$5 million, which created better shooting conditions and greater room for choice for her.
But at the same time, this also raised the film's breakeven line to a box office of 12 million Hong Kong dollars.
In 1987, Hong Kong produced a total of hundreds of films, 60 of which were released in local theaters in Hong Kong.
In order for the box office performance to reach or exceed 12 million Hong Kong dollars, it must at least reach around 20 places in the annual box office list.
However, for such a light-hearted romance film, there are no big scenes, no ups and downs of the plot, and there are not even scenes that are not suitable for children. Who can guarantee that the audience will be willing to spend money to watch it in the cinema?
Therefore, everyone regarded Gabriel's words as the producer's best wishes. Everyone nodded and said yes, and then did whatever they had to do. No one would take this seriously.
In the end, "Autumn Fairy Tale" achieved a series of shining achievements, blinding almost everyone's titanium alloy eyes.