1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Regardless of whether Zhou Yan's films win awards or not, their commerciality is truly unique among Chinese-language films.

Last year, Hong Kong’s total box office was 1.22 billion Hong Kong dollars, and the box office of Zhou Yan’s single movie could cover Hong Kong’s annual total box office, or even more.

Last year, Hong Kong's total box office revenue was 1.22 billion Hong Kong dollars, of which only 0.69 billion was earned by Hong Kong films.

Hong Kong's box office began to decline in 1992. In 91, Hong Kong's total annual box office was 92 billion, but in it dropped to billion.

Of course, no one took the decline from 91 to 92 seriously. After all, it was only million, and it was more like an oscillation after reaching a peak.

At that time, people in Hong Kong also believed that Hong Kong's annual box office would remain stable at around 1.5 billion for a long time, and then rise at some point in the future, and might even rise in the second year.

But what no one expected was that this figure has never risen since the decline in 1992, and the decline is no longer as small as in 92.

By 1993, it had dropped directly from billion to billion, a direct drop of million Hong Kong dollars.

In 1995, the population stabilized, only decreasing by billion to billion.

But last year, it dropped directly from 13.4 to 1.22 billion, another drop of 120 million.

Although only half of the year has passed, specialized institutions have already released forecast data, which show that this year's Hong Kong annual total box office should eventually fall below 1.2 billion, settling at around 1.18 billion.

In fact, the agency had already made a forecast in March this year, and compared with the forecast in March this year, the forecast data in July has increased a lot.

In March, agencies predicted that the box office in Hong Kong this year would be around 1.15 billion.

The reason why the forecast for July will increase by 300 million is naturally because the emergence of "Time Traveler" stimulated the market, making the Hong Kong movie box office in May and June more than predicted.

This agency has not only predicted the total annual ticket sales in Hong Kong, but also predicted the box office sales of "Time Traveler" in Hong Kong.

According to the forecast data for March, the box office of "Time Traveler" was actually only 380,000 Hong Kong dollars.

Thirty-eight million is actually a very good number. If "Time Traveler" really gets a box office of 38 million Hong Kong dollars, it will have a great chance of eventually entering the top three Chinese-language films released in Hong Kong this year.

Even if foreign language films are included, there is a high probability that it will make it into the top five.

Therefore, that organization was actually very optimistic about the box office performance of "A Time Traveler" in Hong Kong, but its prediction was not bold enough, and it never expected that "A Time Traveler" could break Hong Kong's box office record in film history.

If the rate of decline in Hong Kong's annual box office is not too exaggerated, then the rate of decline in Hong Kong's local film box office is enough to make most Hong Kong filmmakers feel anxious.

From 1992 to 1996, Hong Kong's annual total box office dropped from billion to billion, a drop of million.

However, the box office of Hong Kong's local films dropped from 1.24 billion to 690 million, almost halving.

According to data predicted by institutions, the box office revenue of Hong Kong local films this year will be approximately 510 million Hong Kong dollars, which is slightly lower than the data in March.

This situation naturally occurred because of "Time Traveler".

"Time Traveler" was a big hit at the Hong Kong box office. Although it stimulated the market and increased Hong Kong's annual box office, it squeezed out the box office space of Hong Kong's local films.

The movies that were affected during the same period were not just "Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World", but also a large number of local movies.

"Jurassic Park 2" at least earned million at the box office, but the box office performance of other movies was not so good. Many local movies released during the same period were taken off the screen after only one or two weeks.

As a result, the box office share of Hong Kong local films this year will be disastrous.

If the agency's prediction is correct, then Hong Kong's local films will only account for 43% of the box office this year.

In 1992, the figure was percent, and last year it was percent.

This year will also be the first time that Hong Kong’s local films will lose half of the market… Saying half is an understatement, it’s close to 60 percent of the market.

In just five years, it dropped from 80% to 43%. This rate of decline is too exaggerated, and the filmmakers in Hong Kong are of course afraid.

After chatting with Zhou Yan for a few more sentences, Zhang Manyu said goodbye. She knew that Zhou Yan must be very busy at the moment, so she didn't stay here to disturb him.

Not long after Maggie Cheung left, Carina Lau and Tony Leung walked in together.

Carina Lau was very enthusiastic and gave Zhou Yan a big hug as soon as she came up.

"Ayan, we meet again."

Although the hug was polite and there was not much physical contact between the two, Zhou Yan still felt a little uncomfortable, mainly because he and Carina Lau were not very familiar with each other.

And Carina Lau's boyfriend Tony Leung was right next to them, so it was a bit awkward.

Besides, even if they were acquaintances, Zhou Yan had no habit of hugging the opposite sex.

After the hug, Carina Lau introduced Zhou Yan, "Ah Yan, this is Wei Zai. This should be the first time you meet, right?"

Zhou Yan nodded and took the initiative to shake hands with Tony Leung, "I've heard of your name for a long time."

In fact, it was not the first time he met Tony Leung. When he attended the Academy Awards before, Tony Leung was also present. He had seen Tony Leung from a distance.

At that time, he was not very famous in Hong Kong, and it is estimated that Tony Leung Chiu Wai did not even notice him.

Tony Leung Chiu Wai smiled and said, "Same, same."

It is said that Tony Leung Chiu Wai has social phobia and doesn't like to talk to people, but Zhou Yan doesn't have this feeling. It may also be that Carina Lau is too outgoing, making Tony Leung Chiu Wai next to her look a little outgoing.

After the two greeted each other, Carina Lau turned her head and looked back and forth at their faces.

Zhou Yan smiled and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I've heard a lot of people say that you two have similar eyes. And since you both happen to be here today, I'd like to compare them to see if we really are alike," said Carina Lau.

"Now that we've compared, do you feel similar?" Zhou Yan asked.

Carina Lau held her chin and said, "At first glance, they look a bit alike, but if you look closely, they are very different. Tony Leung's eyes are thinner, while yours are thicker, and your pupils are bigger."

In the past few years, people often said that Zhou Yan's eyes were like Tony Leung's, but in recent years such voices have gradually disappeared.

This is normal. When people see a face that they are not familiar with, their brain will immediately try to find out what they have seen before on this face.

At that time, Zhou Yan had just debuted, and when people saw Zhou Yan's face, their brains would magnify the similarity between his eyes and Tony Leung Chiu Wai. However, as time went by, people became more familiar with Zhou Yan's face, and they found that Zhou Yan's eyes were not very similar to Tony Leung Chiu Wai's.

Moreover, as Zhou Yan's fame grows, people are no longer used to saying that he looks like so-and-so.

In fact, people have said before that Zhou Yan looks not only like Tony Leung, but also like Leon Lai and Andy Lau. It seems that Zhou Yan's face can always be found in similarities with other people's faces.

Zhou Yan has never cared much about these discussions. People all have two eyes and one mouth, so it is not difficult to find similarities between them.

"It may also be because my appearance has changed in the past two years, and I am a little different from before." Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"You haven't changed much. When I watched Green Snake, you looked pretty much the same as you do now."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "I gained weight for Green Snake. I had to be thinner before."

"Oh, I haven't paid attention to that." Carina Lau smiled and said, "But it would be quite suitable for you two to play brothers."

“That’s an idea.”

Zhou Yan originally thought that Carina Lau might also mention future collaboration, but she didn't say anything. The topic ended there and they turned to talk about today's concert.

"Can we hear the Bauhinia March again today?" asked Carina Lau.

Zhou Yan nodded, "Yes, this song must be there."

"That's great. I listened to it in Yanjing last time, but Wei Zai didn't go."

Tony Leung Chiu Wai also smiled and said, "Today I can make up for my regrets. Before she came back from Yanjing, she kept saying that the "Bauhinia Theme Song" was very nice and asked me to listen to it if I had the chance. So I bought the video of that concert as soon as it came out. She was right, this song is really inspiring, and today I finally have the chance to hear it live."

Zhou Yan smiled. Look, does this sound like something someone with social phobia would say? This is already better than most people. Most people don't have such eloquence.

This is true even for actors. Zhou Yan has seen so many actors, but there are not many who are as good at speaking as Tony Leung.

"Not only will the concert in Hong Kong this time include the Bauhinia March, but it will also become a regular repertoire of the piano youth concert tour in the future."

At least in the next two years, the "Bauhinia March" will be played in the Piano Youth Concert, and every time it is played, Zhou Yan will carefully introduce the background of this song to let music fans know.

"Then music fans are in for a treat..."

Before Carina Lau finished her words, brothers Sam Hui and Sam Hui arrived.

In terms of age, the Xu brothers are a generation older than Carina Lau and her friends. When the brothers made their debut, Carina Lau and her friends were probably still in kindergarten.

But Hong Kong is so small that people in the film and television industry know each other.

Sam Hui had a very good relationship with Leslie Cheung, and Carina Lau, Tony Leung, Anita Mui and their group often played together, so naturally Sam Hui and Carina Lau were no strangers to each other.

"We were outside just now and saw you two walking in front of us, but we were a bit far away, so we didn't say hello to you." Sam Hui said to Carina Lau and others with a smile.

Xu Guanwen looked at Zhou Yan and said with a smile, "You are finally here. You are the director of Time Traveler, but you didn't show up once during the promotion period of the movie."

Although Xu Guanwen's words seemed to be complaining about Zhou Yan, from his tone, it was just a joke between friends.

Zhou Yan did not show up once during the film's promotion, but in the end the film broke the box office record in Hong Kong's film history.

The purpose of publicity is to get high box office, so it’s no big deal if Zhou Yan doesn’t show up.

If "Time Traveler" had failed at the box office in Hong Kong, I guess even if Xu Guanwen didn't say it, he would be complaining in his heart.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Why am I here? With you as my pillar of support in Hong Kong, why would I worry about not being able to do a good job of promotion? To tell you the truth, I invited you to participate in the film because of the box office. Facts have proved that my strategy was correct and it directly broke the box office record in film history."

The relationships between people are very magical. Although Zhou Yan and Xu Guanwen did not have much contact, the two basically only spent some time together when filming "Time Traveler", but they could already joke around very casually.

Both of them are smart and know where to stop each other.

Moreover, Zhou Yan's joke was actually a praise for Sam Hui.

Xu Guanwen also knew that Zhou Yan was flattering him, so he said with a smile, "Next time if you do this again, you have to give me a raise in pay."

"No problem." Zhou Yan smiled and looked at Sam Hui again.

Without waiting for him to speak, Xu Guanjie took the initiative to extend his hand, "Hello, Ayan, I am Xu Guanjie."

"Hello, Brother Guanjie."

Holding Zhou Yan's hand, Xu Guanjie said with emotion, "In the past two years, I often regretted quitting the music industry, but when I think of your music, the regret disappears. My music is indeed going to leave the stage of history."

Zhou Yan didn't expect Xu Guanjie to suddenly express such emotion. He smiled and said, "Brother Xu Guanjie, you are too serious. Classics will always be classics. The marks you left in the pop music scene will not fade with time. Instead, they will become more and more important and more and more conspicuous. Retiring from the music scene is your personal choice, but the majority of fans feel sorry for it. Everyone hopes that you can return to the stage."

Hearing Zhou Yan's words, Xu Guanjie was stunned. Xu Guanwen beside him patted his shoulder and said, "I'm telling you, this guy is very good at coaxing people."

Sam Hui suddenly felt clear-headed and responded, "Oh, I was almost moved."

"Brother Guanwen, these are my sincere words from the bottom of my heart, but how come they sound like coaxing when you say them?"

"You know whether it's coaxing or not."

"If you insist on saying so, I can only say it's the same to you."

In Zhou Yan's opinion, what Xu Guanjie said just now was just to coax him.

"If you really want him to give, you might as well write him a song."

Xu Guanwen just said it casually, and he himself didn't take it seriously, but Zhou Yan looked at Xu Guanjie seriously and said, "No problem, I'll write it for you."

Sam Hui actually said very readily, "No problem, if you write it, I will make a comeback immediately."

In fact, Xu Guanjie's mentality has changed a bit in the past two years, and he has begun to consider whether to make a comeback.

A few days ago, the organizing committee of the Chinese Music Awards Concert contacted him, hoping that he could compose a song for the 20th Chinese Music Awards Concert. He was also considering whether to agree. (End of this chapter)