The Star Gas Station plan is to build a top entertainment community. Therefore, its attached Star Theater mainly receives people in the industry and high-end customers.
The reception level designed here is very high, but the maximum reception capacity is less than 600 people, which is less than half of the maximum reception capacity of future cinemas. It will not be open to the general public and will become the main force generating box office.
However, according to Sun Dahai's development ideas for Youlian, in the future it will be dominated by artist agents. There will not be many investment projects, the scope of investment will gradually expand, and the dependence on the local box office will become less and less.
Sun Dahai knows that the prosperity period of Xiangjiang movies will only be in the past few years. In the future, the movie market will shift to mainland China and North America.
Even if Youlian does not lead this trend, it will not fall behind, and its investment in and emphasis on Hong Kong films will decrease year by year.
Therefore, it is enough for Youlian to own two wholly-owned multiplex cinemas in Hong Kong.
Not to mention that of the two theaters now, one has become the de facto center of the Hong Kong film industry, and the other will become the most high-end place in the Hong Kong film and television industry.
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As 1997 approaches, all walks of life in Hong Kong pay more and more attention to the mainland.
As a large-scale film co-produced by two places, the premiere of "Ancient and Modern War between Qin Terracotta Warriors" welcomed the active participation of people from all walks of life in Hong Kong.
It has become a tradition for Hong Kong movies to hold a preview screening of a new movie before it is released. Youlian has no intention of breaking this tradition, so the preview screening of "Ancient and Modern War" was held in the future a few days ago
The theater has been held.
Many films co-produced by the two places have been released on the big screen in Hong Kong. However, the test screening of a film like "The Love of the Qin Terracotta Warriors" that combines many film elements still attracted many film critics.
Take the initiative to attend the movie.
The leading film and television special effects studio responsible for the post-production of a full set of special effects shots in the movie "Ancient and Modern War", although it was established not long ago, has only received some odd jobs before, and at most it has completed the integration of personnel.
But as a group of professional special effects workers in Hollywood, their level and experience are still much higher than those in Hong Kong.
Therefore, after the test screening, the relevant comments in major media were very positive, and various praises came one after another. Everyone was amazed by the special effects of "Ancient and Modern War between Qin Terracotta Warriors".
According to regulations, film critics and audiences who participated in the test screening are not allowed to give spoilers, but they can make their own comments on other aspects of the film without involving the plot.
Movies produced in Xiangjiang are not without special effects shots produced by Hollywood. Especially those so-called big-budget action movies will have several sets of special effects shots that were completed by the crew in Hollywood.
However, movie special effects lenses cost the most money. If they are produced by the same Hollywood studio, a set of lenses costing US$20,000 will have the same final effect as a set of lenses costing US$100,000.
Moreover, in the past, when a film with a shooting cost of 3 to 5 million Hong Kong dollars could be called a "big production", after deducting various costs, how much remaining funds can the crew spend to do special effects in Hollywood?
The final shooting cost of "Ancient and Modern War between the Qin Dynasty and the Terracotta Warriors" was 12 million Hong Kong dollars, which did not include publicity and distribution costs. Among them, 5 million Hong Kong dollars were the cost of post-production special effects.
The figure of five million Hong Kong dollars alone is more than the total investment in many so-called big-budget movies, not to mention the water that has been blown out of those investments.
However, with a production cost of this magnitude, it is still a bit impossible to complete all post-production special effects production in Hollywood.
Fortunately, the leading film and television special effects studios are also in their own industry and will definitely not resort to any knives. Moreover, they care more about technical improvement than making money. This is also the most important job assigned to them by Sun Dahai.
Therefore, after the two parties negotiated and submitted the proposal to the two common controlling parties to set up a future holding company, the leading film and television special effects studio accepted the project at an ultra-low price of HK$5 million, which is approximately less than US$700,000.
Work delegation.
For a leading studio, this price can only be considered better than nothing. After almost half price, there is also a big friendly discount.
The same job as a Hollywood film crew would cost at least two to three million US dollars. If you encounter someone who has been taken advantage of or if you are in a hurry to get a job, five million US dollars is not unthinkable.
For leading studios to take on such a job, the hardware cost is almost zero, mainly labor costs.
To say that they will lose money on this business, that is definitely not the case. This time we can only say that the employees are allowed to practice their skills, with wages and bonuses, but no high commissions.
This kind of thing can be done one at a time, but not three, otherwise people's hearts will be scattered.
Leading studios will naturally have their considerations. However, the crew of "Ancient and Modern War between Qin Terracotta Warriors" received a complete set of Hollywood post-production special effects.
Director Cheng Xiaodong, who has been following the post-production work, said with emotion in an interview with the media: "It's really no better than I don't know. The level of special effects production there is ten years ahead of that in Xiangjiang.
Hey, is this what the word ‘leading’ means when it comes to leading film and television special effects studios?”
Cheng Xiaodong was still making fun of himself, but the reporter's words made him confused.
The reporter asked: "Director Cheng, since you admire Hollywood's special effects technology so much, will you still send all the special effects shots to Hollywood for your future films?"
Cheng Xiaodong was really shocked when he heard this question.
He thought to himself, I really think so, but I don’t care what I said. Youlian is definitely a model of wealth and wealth in the Hong Kong film industry. The films they invest in can only enjoy Hollywood through their relationship with the parent company.
Full post-production package.
If you really want to answer reporters truthfully now, there will be no investors who dare to hand over projects to you in the future.
Fortunately, Cheng Xiaodong was quite resourceful when dealing with reporters.
He replied: "Special effects are only one of the many performance elements of a movie, but they are not the decisive factor in a movie's reputation and box office performance.
Many literary and artistic films or feature films have no or very few special effects shots, but they can still be excellent films.
As for the films I will shoot in the future, I will reasonably arrange and use special effects lenses according to the specific situation. Some special effects that can be completed locally in Hong Kong do not necessarily have to be sent to Hollywood to be completed."
The reporter was sent away, but the topic quickly spread in the Hong Kong film industry.
For a time, major news media set up columns one after another, inviting famous filmmakers to participate in the discussion.