In the private room, Chu Huan met the most flexible fat man in the world - Hong Jinbao!
Hong Jinbao was born in 1949 and is just 23 years old this year. He is not as bloated as later generations and can only be called mellow.
There is also a theory in later generations that Hong Jinbao was actually born in 1952, but in Chu Huan's view, this is pure nonsense. In 1966, Hong Jinbao was already working with Han Yingjie as a martial artist in "The Drunken Man".
Finger and substitute.
At the age of 14, he became a martial artist and stunt double in "The Drunken Man"?
Then he is really a genius.
But being able to do these things at the age of 17 is already a genius.
Although Hong Jinbao is a few years older than Chu Huan, he is still very respectful after meeting Chu Huan now.
No matter how famous he is, he is only a somewhat famous action director now, while Chu Huan is the boss of a film company, and more importantly to Hung Jin Bao, Chu Huan is about to become the son-in-law of the shipping king Cao Wenjin.
"Young Master Huan."
Chu Huan nodded with a smile and said: "Brother Sanmao, you're welcome. Brother Long and I are very good friends, and Kui Zai and I grew up together. I didn't thank you properly for Kui Zai's incident at the beginning!"
"Brother Sanmao, are we all friends?" Liu Pingkui said with a smile.
"Okay, now that everyone is here, let's serve the food!" Li Xiaolong said to the waiter standing at the door.
After the waiter left, Liu Pingkui poured tea for the people present. As for Lin Feng and others, Chu Huan opened a new private room for them, where they could eat as much as they wanted, but not drink!
"Brother Sanmao, I think Brother Long has already told you about opening a film company. I am a relatively straightforward person, so let's open the window and speak frankly."
Chu Huan asked bluntly.
"I want to hear Brother Sanmao's opinion."
Although Hong Jinbao has been practicing martial arts since he was a child and did not go to school, he has been practicing for so many years and he naturally understands the ways of the world, so he preaches politely.
"Young Master Huan can look up to me, and I'm very grateful, but there are some things I still want to ask clearly. I hope that Young Master Huan won't find me verbose!"
Chu Huan nodded and said, "This is what it should be."
Hong Jinbao asked: "I heard from Brother Long that Mr. Huan has the idea to do something in the theater chain?"
The film companies in Xiangjiang are a bit like sects in the world, they are all self-sufficient.
Take Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers as an example. These two film companies have their own studios, actors, theaters, and channels, and they each do their own thing.
It is impossible for Golden Harvest movies to be released in Shaw Brothers theaters, and it is impossible for Shaw Brothers movies to be released in Golden Harvest theaters.
As mentioned before, theater chains are an important criterion for measuring whether a film company has a say in the Hong Kong film industry.
Movie companies without theater chains can only make a living under the control of those companies with theater chains.
This is one of the reasons why Hong Jinbao respects Chu Huan, and it can even be said to be the most important reason.
He believed that it was impossible for Chu Huan not to know the importance of theater chains to film companies, and he also believed that Chu Huan could not talk nonsense to Li Xiaolong, so Hong Jinbao believed that Chu Huan really wanted to make a difference in this industry before talking about theater chains.
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"According to my survey, there are almost 97 cinemas in Hong Kong now, with a total of four cinema chains, Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, Lydia, Shuangnan..."
The peak period of the theater chain in Xiangjiang was in 1969. At that time, there were almost 180 theaters in Xiangjiang. However, with the rise of the real estate industry and the outdated equipment of some theaters, there were only 103 theaters left in just one year.
theaters, and the number will decrease every year thereafter.
As of this year, there are only 97 theaters left.
The largest one is of course the Shaw Brothers theater chain, followed not by Golden Harvest but by Shuangnan Cinema Chain, and then Golden Harvest and Lydia.
Shuangnan Cinemas is in a special situation. Because of their background, they only screen movies with mainland backgrounds and leftist movies from Hong Kong.
At the same time, movies released in Shuangnan Cinemas basically eliminated the market in Taiwan.
When Shaw Brothers' "Seventy-Two Tenants" was released, Shaw secretly screened it at the Zhujiang Cinema of Shuangnan Cinemas. After the Taiwan authorities found out about this situation, they directly blocked the Shaw Brothers movie.
At that time, none of Shaw Brothers' films had entered the Taiwanese market.
In the end, it was Shao Yifu who personally went to Taiwan to put the matter to rest!
In addition, at this time, Shuangnan Cinemas already had a special film review committee. Let alone SQ and violent scenes, even if the word sexy was hung on the poster, it would not be allowed to be released.
It is more stringent than the censorship of online articles in later generations.
As for Lydia Cinemas, it is actually the well-known Golden Princess Cinemas in later generations, and its owner is Lei Ruide, one of the founders of Hong Kong Kowloon Bus.
Let’s talk about a little gossip about the Lei family.
In the movie "The Legend of Lei Luo", the scene in which Lei Luo rescued his old superior from the hands of the kidnappers was actually adapted from a true story in Xiangjiang.
However, the characters and story have been modified.
The real situation is that the person who was kidnapped at that time was Lei Ruide, and the one who did it was Li Zhuo, who was known as the "two-gun general" in Hong Kong at that time.
As for the one who rescued Lei Ruide, it was not Lei Luo, but another one of the four detectives, Lan Jiang!
Therefore, the relationship between the Lei family and Lan Jiang has always been very good.
Talking about the theater chain, Lei’s Lisheng Cinemas chain actually only has four cinemas: Roxy, Lisheng, Kaisheng, and Jinhong.
In addition to these four theater companies in Hong Kong, there is also a small theater company called Anle Cinema Line. However, this theater chain only shows Western movies and not Hong Kong movies.
The boss is not famous, but his son is. Later famous blockbusters such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero" were all sold in Europe and the United States because of his operation.
This person is called Jiang Zhiqiang, the tycoon who was called "Asia's Best Producer" by the Wall Street Journal.
Apart from these theater companies, the only remaining theaters in Hong Kong are independent cinemas.
Most of these independent cinemas are rural and neighborhood cinemas that specialize in providing film services to villagers and neighborhoods.
Regarding the theater situation in Xiangjiang, Chu Huan also specifically found information after coming out of Miao Kexiu's home.
If Chu Huan could have been reborn a few years earlier, he might even have taken over the Lee Family's Lee Stage in the hands of Shaw Brothers and used it as the leading theater of his own film company.
It's a pity that it has become Shaw Brothers' leading theater now.
The Lee Stage is not only a cinema, but can also hold various parties. Next year, the Miss Hong Kong competition, which will shine again in the hands of TVB, will be held on the Lee Stage.
Before the Hung Hom Stadium was built, singers in Hong Kong were proud to hold their concerts at the Lee Stage.
"I heard that the Lei family is now preparing to rent out its Lydia Cinema chain, and is also negotiating with Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers. If I can win the Lydia Cinema chain, our film company will have a foothold.
!”
Chu Huan gave the final sermon.
After listening to Chu Huan's words, Hong Jinbao was a little excited.
Because Hong Jinbao understands very well the importance of owning a theater chain to a film company.
More importantly, he was the first person Chu Huan looked for after he wanted to set up a film company. This meant that Chu Huan was very optimistic about him. Then wouldn't his movies be released as soon as they were finished?
"Ah Huan, isn't this too aggressive?" Li Xiaolong said, somewhat worried about Chu Huan.
"After all, your film company is newly established, and the film source simply cannot support a theater chain!?"
Chu Huan said indifferently: "Everything is difficult at the beginning. There are so many film companies in Hong Kong and they want to release a lot of movies. When the time comes, they can completely release their movies, and I think Boss Zou from Jiahe will not be able to release them either."
Would you mind showing your movie in more theaters?"
If it weren't for Chu Huan's appearance, in the second half of this year, Lisheng Cinemas would have been leased by Lei Juekun to Zou Wenhuai and become a sub-cinema of Jiahe Cinemas.
In a few years, when Boss Lei sees that the movie market is profitable, he will unite some independent cinemas to establish a new cinema chain company - Golden Princess Cinema Chain.
At the same time, he supported Huang Baiming, Micah, and Ishida to establish New Art City Pictures.
Hong Jinbao was indeed moved at this time, but until now, the news he had heard was actually from Chu Huan, and it was not certain whether it would succeed or not.
Chu Huan was a smart man and immediately saw Hong Jinbao's worries and said with a smile.
"Brother Sanmao, you can consider this matter first. Anyway, it will take time for me to register a company, purchase equipment, and acquire theater chains. Once everything is done, it's not too late for you to come back!"
Chu Huan's proposal simply spoke to Hong Jinbao's heart. If this was really the case, then he had nothing to worry about.
"Young Master Huan is indeed a generous person. He has a whole plan right from the start. I also hope that I can do something great under the leadership of Young Master Huan in the future."
Seeing that Hong Jinbao was already showing signs of agreeing, everyone stopped talking and started drinking, eating and chatting.
During the chat, Chu Huan also got some news he wanted, such as Cheng Long's.
Cheng Long, like Hong Jinbao, has been under Yu Zhanyuan's disciple since he was a child. He started out as a child star. However, Cheng Long's current development is not as good as that of Hong Jinbao. At least Hong Jinbao has starred in several movies and has also become a famous martial arts instructor in Hong Kong.
Cheng Long was not well-known in the Hong Kong film industry at this time.
But according to Hong Jinbao, Cheng Long is not working with Hong Jinbao, but working as a martial arts master with Han Yingjie.
Han Yingjie is Yu Zhanyuan's son-in-law and a famous martial arts instructor in Hong Kong in the 1960s and 1970s. Li Xiaolong's "Tangshan Brother" and "Fist of Fury" were Han Yingjie's martial arts instructors.
This is also the reason why in the movie "Fist of Fury", Cheng Long was pulled by Li Xiaolong's hair...
"Brother Long, give me Yuanlou too!"
Since Cheng Long now belongs to Han Yingjie, Chu Huan will naturally go to Li Xiaolong to ask for him.
According to the relationship between Li Xiaolong and Han Yingjie, there is no problem in bringing Cheng Long over.
Sure enough, after hearing what Chu Huan said, Li Xiaolong had no objection and said with a smile: "No problem, I will tell Brother Jie about this tomorrow."
After finishing speaking, Li Xiaolong suddenly said to Chu Huan seriously: "But I also have something to ask you!"
Chu Huan asked: "What happened?"
Li Xiaolong said: "When my new movie is released, it will be released in your theater chain!"