Strictly speaking, the net profit earned by "An Autumn Fairy Tale" is higher than that of the movie "A Better Tomorrow," which broke Hong Kong's box office record.
Not to mention that this film was shot solely by Youlian and did not need to distribute profits to investment partners.
Therefore, at the suggestion of Sun Dahai, Youlian organized a celebration party for "Autumn Fairy Tale" and distributed super red envelopes worth several million Hong Kong dollars to all members of the crew at one time.
Youlian not only doubled the income of each cast member in the film, but also gave heavy rewards to the main members of the crew.
Among them, only director Zhang Wanting and screenwriter Luo Qirui, as well as the three main actors Fa Ge, Hong Gu, and Chen Baiqiang, received a total of 3 million Hong Kong dollars in bonuses.
This dividend distribution by Youlian shocked the entire Hong Kong film industry.
However, because "Autumn Fairy Tale" achieved astonishing results and set a series of records for Hong Kong films, even several relevant departments of the Hong Kong government jointly commended Youlian and Zhang Wanting personally.
Therefore, the big film and television companies with the right to speak in the Hong Kong film industry have nothing to say.
The success of this movie triggered a series of changes in the Hong Kong film industry. The most obvious one is that the salaries of Fa Ge and Hong Gu have increased significantly again.
After Fa Ge was cast in this film, his salary increased to 4 million Hong Kong dollars, and Hong Gu's salary suddenly soared to 1 million Hong Kong dollars, ranking with Mei Gu and standing out among the other female actors.
In addition, there are many directors and screenwriters in Hong Kong who have dug out the literary film scripts they created many years ago from the bottom of the box, revised them, and are preparing to find investment to put them on the big screen.
Investors wandering around the film and television industry also seem to have discovered a new world. For the first time, they know that such a niche literary film can actually sell well!
As a result, all kinds of hot money rushed in like sharks smelling the smell of blood.
The filmmakers, who were already ready to take action, came up with all kinds of weird scripts and began to lobby investors, preparing to enter the market as soon as possible to get votes.
The Hong Kong film industry has a long-standing bad habit of following trends, and this time is certainly no exception.
The result is, of course, one can imagine! Literary films are inherently niche and the market is narrow. A large number of artistic films of varying quality emerged almost at the same time, disrupting the originally deserted literary and artistic film market.
A large number of investors lost all their money. Not only were the films they invested unable to be released in local theaters, but even trying to sell them at low prices in the Southeast Asian market to recover part of the cost was difficult to achieve.
In the end, these finished films can only be made into video tapes with money, and put into the video tape market where piracy is rampant. If one can be sold, it counts as one.
However, in the clouds covering the sun and the sea flowing across the sea, the true character of a hero can be revealed.
Last June, a movie held a preview screening at Future Cinemas and was unanimously praised by the film critics who were invited to watch the movie.
This film is a literary film "Carmen in Mongkok" produced exclusively by "Bodhi Patriarch" Liu Zhenwei's old employer Yingzhijie. The director is his good friend Wong Kar-wai, who will be known as the "Sunglasses King" in later generations.
Of course, "King of Sunglasses" is just a neutral title. However, in the future film and television investment circles, Wong Kar-wai will also have an unpleasant nickname, that is, "The God of Trap".
This nickname is not exclusive to Wong Kar-wai. In the future, there will be several famous film and television investment killers in the Chinese film industry.
Yes, it's "killer", not "director". Because the word "director" is no longer sufficient to describe the nature of their work.
They have profound skills, and with just a few shots, investors can feel their hearts bleeding while holding the trophy. He is the King of the South in "The King of North Jiang and South".
The current King of Sunglasses is only a slightly famous screenwriter in the Hong Kong film industry. "Final Victory" earned him a nomination for Best Screenplay at the Academy Awards.
Liu Zhenwei's blockbuster films "The Ghostbusters" and "The Ghostbusters" were also written by Wong Kar-wai.
The boss of Yingzhijie is Deng Guangrong, a well-known big brother in the Hong Kong film industry. After he established Yingzhijie, he invested in and produced several films, and the box office returns were good.
After Liu Zhenwei completed his contract with Yingzhijie, he went to Youlian, and the Sunglasses King who stayed behind took his place. The Sunglasses King was highly valued by Deng Guangrong and became the core of Yingzhijie.
After the success of "Autumn Fairy Tale", Deng Guangrong also started to think about investing in literary films. As a result, Wong Kar-wai successfully took over and successfully transitioned from screenwriter to director.
"Carmen" was the debut of his directorial career, and Deng Guangrong fully trusted him and invested HK$5 million in this film.
This kind of shooting cost is already considered a medium-sized investment, especially since the film being invested is a literary film directed by a newcomer. Deng Guangrong is really courageous.
Fortunately, The King of Sunglasses lived up to Deng Guangrong's trust in this project. Although the filming was a bit delayed and the budget was exceeded, it was finally released in Xiangjiang Cinemas smoothly.
As a good friend of Virgo and with investment from his old club, Liu Chunwei ran around to help hold a preview screening of "Carmen in Mongkok" at the Future Cinema.
At this time, whether a new film holds a preview or premiere in future theaters has become a subconscious criterion for the audience to distinguish whether the film is good or bad.
Although it is expensive to hold events at Future Cinema, those film and television companies or crews who are confident that their films will achieve good results at the box office or word of mouth will register at Future Cinema.
When new movies come together, there will be a queue if you want to hold an event at Future Cinema. If you don’t book the event schedule well in advance, you will have to rely on your luck if you want to join in at the last minute.
"Carmen" hit a small peak when it was released, but with Liu Zhenwei's help, the film successfully held a trial screening at Future Cinemas.
As for the premiere, "Carmen" was not held.
Although Deng Guangrong has extensive connections in the industry and doesn't mind spending a little more money, this is a newcomer's film to test the waters and it is a literary film, so he is not prepared to publicize it.
If when the film is released, he invites friends and holds a premiere with great fanfare, but in the end the box office and reputation are not very good, then he is not shameful and conspicuous enough.
Unexpectedly, "Carmen" really gave him a boost. Not only did it have a good reputation in the film industry, it was nominated for the Best Director at the Bay Area Golden Horse Awards, and its box office results were also quite good.
"Carmen in Mong Kok" has a box office of 12 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong. Deng Guangrong has recovered more than half of his investment just by relying on the local box office dividends in Hong Kong.
Taking advantage of the upsurge of literary films set off by "Autumn Fairy Tale", "Carmen in Mongkok" has done quite well in exports, and its net profit is even higher than that in Hong Kong.
In the end, Deng Guangrong made millions of Hong Kong dollars, and Wong Kar-wai became a hot new director in Hong Kong.
