Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

Chapter 121 New Wave of Movies

"Hold your chest, sink your shoulders, drop your elbows..."

Yang Ye carefully corrected Zong Yougui's posture.

Speaking of which, it has been two years since the two became master and apprentice, but they have not spent much time together.

Because Yang Ye is always traveling around the world, now that Yang Ye has returned to Hong Kong and has temporarily stabilized, he has begun to teach this female disciple seriously.

After practicing for a while, Yang Ye said: "Take a rest!"

The two found a place to sit down, and Yang Ye said: "Guizi, you have strictly followed the tutorials I assigned you in the past two years. Your strength and speed have increased a lot, and your performance is good!"

Zong Yougui said happily: "I couldn't beat Yuan Qiu before, but now she doesn't dare to fight me."

Yang Yexin said that people who use modern scientific methods for training, coupled with specially customized recipes, but still can't beat traditional training methods are in trouble.

Yang Ye said: "In recent years, women's judo has gradually become popular around the world. Therefore, the International Judo Federation has officially decided to hold a women's judo competition and made specific regulations on the level of women's competition. You can return to your country to participate in the competition next year. If nothing unexpected happens If so, within a year or two, the International Jodo Federation should hold the World Women’s Judo Competition, and then you can go and get a gold medal.”

Zong Yougui hesitated and said, "Master, can I do it?"

Yang Ye rubbed her hair and said with a smile: "You are my only disciple, how can you not do it?"

Zong Yougui has not been idle in the past two years. She has practiced martial arts with her father since she was a child. She has a good foundation. Yang Ye will check her training results whenever she returns to Hong Kong in the past two years, so that she does not dare to steal at all.

The results are gratifying. Some women who practice martial arts in Hong Kong have competed with her. At first it was difficult for her to beat others, but now no one can beat her.

During the Spring Festival this year, she went back to Japan, and it turned out that none of the female disciples in her father's gym were her match.

After Zong Daocheng saw the results of his daughter's training, he was very happy and ordered his daughter to return to Hong Kong and stay with Yang Ye to continue training.

After the two chatted for a few words, Zong Yougui ran up behind Yang Ye and squeezed his shoulders.

Yang Ye felt happy for a while, then took Zong Yougui's hand, asked her to sit next to him, and said, "When you followed your father, in addition to practicing, didn't you also help manage the daily affairs of the martial arts gym?"

Zong Yougui said: "Yes!"

"Well, Master's martial arts gym is about to open. Can you be the manager?"

"what?"

"Ah what? You are Master's beloved disciple, so naturally you have to help Master share some of the burden. Besides, you also have experience in this area, so it's better than Master being blind."

In 1980, after Zong Daocheng's death, Zong Yugui took over the "Japan Shaolin Temple Boxing Alliance" and developed it into a large chain company with more than 150 million members and martial arts schools all over the world, which shows its ability.That's why Yang Ye chose Zong Yougui to be the manager of the martial arts gym and responsible for daily affairs.

Zong Yougui said: "Master, I think you are very powerful in everything you do, and you are the strongest."

Yang Ye was happy, touched her white and tender face, and said, "She is really good at talking."

……

When Yang Ye was preparing for the martial arts gym, Baiyang Cinema was in full swing.

In Hong Kong, September to November is a three-month regular schedule. During these three months, Poplar Pictures has no movies released at all.

However, there has been a huge backlog of movies in Hong Kong in the past few years. As soon as Baiyang Cinema announced the cancellation of the "basic fee", major film companies came to beg for release with copies.

Jiang Zhiqiang recruited a film review team and watched these bad movies every day until his eyes almost went blind.

The results are gratifying. Except for the films that are too outrageous and too bad to watch, most of the films have been given the opportunity to be released.

The six multiplex cinemas of Baiyang Cinemas have a total of 46 screens. Together with the other six auxiliary single-screen cinemas, the number of screens reaches 52.

Jiahe only has 20 screens and Shaw Brothers has 18. Both of them combined are not as many as Baiyang.

Therefore, Baiyang Cinema Line's film schedule is very flexible. As many as ten movies are released at the same time a day, and more than three movies can be screened at the same time during prime time.

For traditional single-hall cinemas, this is simply a dimensionality reduction blow.

Because audiences have more choices, while single-hall cinemas can only watch one movie at a time.

In the United States, emerging multiplex cinemas are organically integrated with shopping malls. Shopping malls and cinemas bring traffic to each other, and business is very booming.

Mainland China introduced multiplex cinemas in the late 90s. It was first piloted in Zhejiang, and the cost was recovered within one year, making huge profits.Since then, large auditorium-style cinemas have quickly disappeared.

In just a few months, young people in Hong Kong have formed a consumption trend. When they go on dates, they like to go to Donglai Plaza, go shopping, watch movies (play arcade games), eat three times in a row, and then find a hotel nearby. Open house.

Donglai Plaza is not in the most prosperous city center, so the hotel business here is average, but now it is very popular. The owner of the hotel has eight generations of Yang Ye's ancestors to thank.

……

Golden Harvest Company.

The three founders, Zou Wenhuai, He Guanchang and Liang Feng, gathered together to smoke, looking solemn.

After Baiyang Cinema announced the cancellation of the base fee, it quickly obtained a large number of film sources. Even some satellite companies of Golden Harvest were ready to move and wanted to bring the backlog of movies to Baiyang Cinema for release.

The sense of oppression given by Aries Cinema was so strong that Zou Wenhuai even had the idea of ​​killing Yang Ye. It was not impossible for Zou Wenhuai to do it.

In the 90s, Li Lianjie found a new agent, Cai Ziming, and wanted to leave Jiahe to work alone. Jiahe found someone to kill Cai Ziming. Then Li Lianjie continued to cooperate with Jiahe, directly finding a backer in Taiwan, and finally got rid of Jiahe's control.

However, after careful consideration, Zou Wenhuai still gave up his plan to kill Yang Ye. First of all, Yang Ye's force value was too high and he couldn't be killed by a gun. If he didn't kill the person, he would have to bear Yang Ye's revenge.

Yang Ye came from Kowloon Walled City, and Zou Wenhuai wondered if he could afford to offend those lunatics.

Then, Yang Ye’s influence in Chinese society is too great, and Jiahe now is not as awesome as it was in the 90s.Yang Ye is dead, and Zou Wenhuai can't escape.It's hard for others to say, but Run Run Shaw will definitely take the opportunity to add insult to injury and get rid of this competitor.

So, what if you don't kill Yang Ye, find connections with the society, and go to his place to cause trouble?

Not even possible, after Yang Ye's Donglai Plaza was built.

In order to maintain the safety and stability of the place, Yang Ye did two things.

First, I took the initiative to pay a fee to the nearby association in charge.

Second, a large group of young people from Kowloon Walled City were recruited to watch the show.

Hong Kong's associations are not willing to provoke the city wall, and Yang Ye is so righteous, so he never goes to Donglai Square to collect protection fees or cause trouble.

If there is a problem, they will help you deal with it.

Under such circumstances, Zou Wenhuai's attempt to find someone to cause trouble was simply wishful thinking.

The black man could no longer play, so Jiahe had no choice but to cancel the guaranteed fee.

As a result, Jiahe lost a lot of income, and those bad movies that were kept at the bottom of the box were also a pitfall for Jiahe to be released.

Golden Harvest is a single-room theater, with each theater having a minimum of three to four hundred seats and a maximum of seven hundred and eight seats.

Showing a bad movie in such a big screening hall, with so many ten people sitting sparsely... the cost will not be recovered, and every show will be a loss.

Liang Feng sighed: "Our single-room theater is not as flexible as Yang Ye's multi-room theater. Their hall can even be as small as thirty people, and any movie can be scheduled. In the long run, all small and medium-sized theaters in Hong Kong will Film companies will all be attracted by that bad guy Yang Ye."

He Guanchang said: "For such a small hall, the copy fee is not cheap, right? Is it worth it?"

Liang Feng said: "Their small hall is called the VIP hall. It has luxurious facilities and leather sofas. The seats are widely spaced and the privacy is very good. The ticket price is twice as high as that of the ordinary hall. It is used to show some literary and artistic films, romantic movies and so on. It is very It’s so popular that many salty guys come here to masturbate!”

"This..." He Guanchang was speechless for a while, and then said, "So the seats are made of leather so they can be wiped easily?"

"Ah?" Liang Feng was also confused, "Maybe, why didn't I think of it?"

The two of them wanted to laugh a little, but now was really not the time to laugh, so they both tried hard to hold it in.

Liang Feng said sternly: "I have already investigated. Multiplex cinemas in Europe and the United States began to rise ten years ago, and now they have completely replaced single-screen cinemas in cities. Yang Ye introduced multiplex cinemas to Hong Kong, and we If changes are not made in time, there is only a dead end.”

Zou Wenhuai said: "So you mean, we also build multiplex cinemas?"

Liang Feng said: "That's the only way. We are different from Shaw Brothers. Shaw Brothers can produce and sell their own films, but we can't. Without those small and medium-sized film companies, we can only go bankrupt."

Zou Wenhuai frowned and said, "Have you ever thought about it? Yang Ye's theaters are all built in his shopping mall, where food, drink and entertainment are integrated. Even if we transform the theater into a multi-hall, we still can't compare."

He Guanchang said: "But our location is better than Baiyang Cinema Line!"

Zou Wenhuai said: "So what? Young people like to follow the fashion and take the bus to the shopping mall for a date. They think it is very romantic.

Baiyang Cinema has released a lot of bad movies recently. Those movies were not eligible to go to theaters before, but now they can actually sell at the box office.Why?
Because many people shop, eat, and watch movies at Donglai Plaza. This is the advantage of their integrated operation. "

He Guanchang said: "Then we can't follow suit and build a shopping mall, right?"

Zou Wenhuai shook his head: "That's not necessary. I think... maybe we can rent the top floors of those department stores and transform them into multiplex theaters."

He Guanchang and Liang Feng's eyes lit up, this was a good idea.

Zou Wenhuai said: "Yang Ye's shopping mall has a more advanced concept than those department stores and has taken away many customers. Now we are building a cinema chain. It is like providing help in times of need. People are asking for it and the rent is easy to negotiate. What do you think?"

He Guanchang and Liang Feng both agreed deeply after hearing this.

Zou Wenhuai said: "In fact, multiplex theaters are not without their shortcomings. They mainly attract young people. In some less prosperous places, neighbors are still used to watching movies in single-room theaters and feel more comfortable. This is why Yang Ye acquired six The reason why a single theater is an auxiliary.

My plan is to retain the single-room theaters in remote areas, and divide the theaters in prosperous areas into two types. If there is a suitable department store nearby, then negotiate with them to rent the top floor to build a multi-room theater.If not, just use the old theater to renovate it. "

After Zou Wenhuai finished speaking his mind, seeing that the two partners had no objections, he said, "Achang, how is your contact with Aaron?"

He Guanchang shook his head: "Aaron is now very powerful in Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, and he even entered the North American market some time ago, all thanks to the "Drunken Master" written by Aye for him. It is said that Aye is planning to teach them personally. My brothers are directing a play to help them enter the European market. This is a matter related to their future. No matter how high the conditions we offer, they will not leave."

Zou Wenhuai frowned and said: "I heard that Aye is running a martial arts gym recently. He punched Japan and kicked North America. He is now the spiritual leader of the Chinese martial arts world. Kung Fu movies rely too much on actors and there are no good action actors. It’s no use. So we can’t compete with Kung Fu movies, so we might as well find another way.”

He Guanchang asked: "How can we find another way?"

Zou Wenhuai said: "A Ye's movies, in addition to his great acting skills, the shooting techniques are also very novel. In comparison, the directors currently active in Hong Kong are too old-fashioned.

However, last year, Siu Fang-fang founded Colorful Film Company, and her entrepreneurial film "Dancing from the Ashes" was very innovative and eliminated the cliched atmosphere of traditional Hong Kong films. The box office performance of "Dance from the Ashes" was also good. The local box office received 380 million, ranking fifth in the year.

I think that movies are ultimately the director's art. Since we can't find kung fu stars, why not support some promising directors?In the past two years, some good young people have submitted scripts to me, and those scripts are very innovative. Unfortunately, I don't have enough confidence in them to take risks.Now that things have developed to this point, we at Jiahe might as well boldly recruit new people, maybe we can open up a new world. "

"Jumping Ashes" is a code word that means retailing drugs. Xiao Fangfang shot this movie with the intention of criticizing the current ills. It was a reflection of the proliferation of drugs and chaotic public security in Hong Kong at that time.

This film created a documentary-style filming method and was a bold attempt for Hong Kong films. It also became the prelude to the "New Wave of Hong Kong Films".

The so-called "new wave of cinema" appeared in France in the 60s and influenced all human films. By the late 70s, this trend spread to Hong Kong.

In 1979, Zhang Guoming's "The Soldiers", Xu Ke's "Butterfly", Xu Anhua's "Crazy" and Weng Weiquan's "The Rules" officially kicked off the "New Wave of Hong Kong Films".

Later, a large wave of young directors quickly followed up, including Fong Yuping, Yan Hao, Tam Jiaming, Yu Yunkang, Yu Yantai, Li Dawei, McDonald and the McDonald brothers, and ushered in the golden age of Hong Kong movies.

Now, under the pressure of Yang Ye, Zou Wenhuai started this movie boom two years in advance!

(End of this chapter)