Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

Chapter 310 Lion City Signing Conference

Liu Zhenwei later became Zhou Xingchi's good partner, Wong Kar-wai's good friend, and the Bodhi Patriarch in "Westward Journey".

With the prosperity of the Hong Kong film market, many capitals have begun to enter the market.

The Century Film Company where Liu Zhenwei works is invested by Asian capital.

It was originally a financial management company. Seeing that the film market in Hong Kong was booming, I immediately started working on movies, and even recruited the company's Liu Zhenwei to be the general manager.

Liu Zhenwei knows nothing about movies? After three years of doing this, the company went bankrupt.

However, although the company went bankrupt, Liu Zhenwei really understood movies.

Yang Ye smiled and said: "Century Pictures got a lot of nominations tonight!"

"Youth on Fire" produced by Century Pictures invited Zhang Guorong to star, and discovered two famous actresses in the future, Ye Tong and Xia Wenxi.

It led the way with nine nominations at this year's Academy Awards, but failed to win one in the end, which was a tragedy.

Liu Zhenwei said with some embarrassment: "The important thing is participation."

"What do you want from me?" Yang Ye was too lazy to talk nonsense and asked directly.

"I want to bring our company's film to Yang Ji for screening."

"Welcome, you can just contact Manager Jiang directly for this kind of matter. However, our Yang Ji's schedule is very crowded, so you may not be able to get a good schedule."

Liu Zhenwei, Hong Jingbao and others said hello and said: "With big guys like you here, I don't expect to be able to grab the slot. What I value is that you, Yang Ji, are honest in your business and are honest."

Yang Ye understood after chatting with him for a few words.

Today, there are four major cinema chains in Hong Kong: Poplar, Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest and Shuangnan.

Baiyang Mengyang will gather here, there are so many big guys, but they don’t have much ability, and they can’t even drink soup when they go in.

Shaw Brothers and Shuangnan are closed, and it is difficult to get in for outside movies.

So now some emerging film companies are showing their films in Jiahe.

Moreover, Golden Harvest supports new wave movies, so it is complementary to them to release them there.

Today's Jiahe is almost forming a new wave base camp.

There's just one disadvantage: Jiahe has dirty tricks and always steals box office sales.

Moreover, although Golden Harvest can help Hong Kong movies be released overseas, overseas profits are often unclear.

It's as much as he says, and you can't figure it out yourself anyway.

Many times, when a film is released in Southeast Asia, it is a bustling event, but at the end of the day, it turns out that it has not made a penny.

In the Mahler Gobi, many small companies are suffering terribly, but there is nothing they can do.

Until some time ago, McDonald's film "Naughty Schoolgirl" only had a box office of just over 4 million in Hong Kong.

However, relying on Baiyang Pictures' strong overseas channels, it actually sold in more than 100 markets and made a profit of nearly 10 million Hong Kong dollars.

According to one calculation, McDonald himself made a net profit of more than one million Hong Kong dollars from this movie.

For comparison, Century Pictures' "Escape from Sai Ying Pun" had a box office of 550 million in Hong Kong, which is more than one million higher than "The Naughty Schoolgirl".

However, after taxes and theater sharing, Century Pictures can only get about 150 million Hong Kong dollars in box office. After deducting production and publicity expenses, there is basically nothing left.

As for overseas, although it was released, it was a mixed bag.

The biggest problem with Hong Kong films is that it is extremely difficult to make a profit just by relying on the local box office. If you want to make money, you can only rely on selling the film out of the city.

The Hong Kong government’s tax on the entertainment industry is as high as 23%. A quarter of a movie’s Hong Kong box office must be used to pay tax. If the theater chain takes another 50%, how much will the production company have left? Overseas, it is another confusing account.

By the way, the theater chain is also trying to steal the box office. It obviously sold five million, but they told you that it sold four million. Are you going to check?

Hong Jingbao's Lucky Star series and Mai Jia's The Best Partner series both sold out at the box office, but when asked how much money they made, neither of them knew.

Zeng Zhiwei came up with something, brought Hong Jingbao and Mai Jia together, and said: "Two eldest brothers, I will make a movie "The Best Lucky Star", and I will know how much money your best partner and the five lucky stars can earn."

You said that Hong Jingbao and Mai Jia, one is the most important treasure of Jiahe and the other is the most important treasure of Xinyi City, how can they come together?
But Zeng Zhiwei did it in a hurry. In the end, Hong Jingbao and Mai Jia each divided more than 10 million, and Zeng Zhiwei himself received three million.

So Jiahe and Xinyi City hated Zeng Zhiwei.

……

It is precisely because McDonald's made a lot of money from a blockbuster movie that he attracted the attention of independent film companies like Century Pictures.

Let them want to get rid of Jiahe and cooperate with Yang Ji. Even if they can't get a good time in Hong Kong, they will accept it.

If you can use Yang Ji's sales channels to sell movies overseas, it will be more cost-effective, because Yang Ji has always kept clear accounts and has an excellent reputation.

Yang Ye casually chatted with Liu Zhenwei for a few words and then sent him to find Jiang Zhiqiang.

Due to what McDonald's did, there will definitely be many small companies approaching recently, wanting to screen their films in Baiyang Cinemas.

This made it even worse for Jiahe, but it was overwhelming for Yang Ji. Because there are so many films to be released that it is impossible to schedule them.

For this reason, at the group's internal meeting, Jiang Zhiqiang reported on the development of the Singapore and Malaysia markets, and then solemnly proposed that cinemas should be expanded in Hong Kong.

Yang Ye shook his head and said: "Currently, our theaters in Hong Kong have increased to twenty, covering 18 districts in Hong Kong. The layout is already very good. Any more theaters will just be a duplication of operations."

In Yang Ye's view, every time a theater is built, a large amount of expenditure will be added, but there is a limit to the box office and number of moviegoers for a movie.

Hong Kong currently has a population of 520 million, and the maximum number of people mobilized by a single movie has exceeded 260 million, more than half.

Looking at the global market, this is already the limit, and it cannot be increased much.

In this case, what is the point of adding more theaters?

Forty years later, there are only 34 movie theaters in Hong Kong, but more than movies are released a year, which is still manageable.

How many movies are released in Hong Kong today?

Jiang Zhiqiang said helplessly: "I understand this, but now many independent production companies are rushing to cooperate with us, but we simply can't spare enough screens for them. What should we do?"

Yang Ye said: "This is very simple, just introduce the bidding mode."

Jiang Zhiqiang was stunned: "Bidding mode?"

"In short, let them spend money to schedule films. If the production company is willing to give up more shares, then he can get better schedules, time slots and film schedules. Otherwise, follow the rules."

Jiang Zhiqiang's eyes lit up and he suddenly became enlightened.

Yang Ye added: "Also, there are more movies being released now, and there are not enough advertising spaces in theaters. Starting from this year, theater signage, posters, light boxes and other positions will adopt a bidding model, and production companies must spend It takes money to get advertising space.”

Yang Ye's suggestion opened up new ideas for Jiang Zhiqiang, and he happily ran to formulate corresponding rules.

Huang Xizhao, Jiang Zhiqiang and others have been traveling back and forth between Singapore and Malaysia, and have achieved preliminary results. It is Yang Ye's turn to take action.

At the end of March, Yang Ye, Zhao Yazhi, Huang Xizhao, Jiang Zhiqiang, Cai Lam and others officially visited Singapore to meet with Singang President Li Zuolong and attend the signing ceremony.

On the day of the signing, it not only attracted a large number of reporters, but also attracted a large number of fans.

Most of these fans are from Singapore and neighboring Kuala Lumpur, and there are also many fans from Japan and Taiwan.

At the signing ceremony, Yang Ye personally announced that ATV will cooperate with SMG to shoot the first TV series "Little Nyonya" co-produced by Singapore and Hong Kong in history, which will fully reproduce the unique Nyonya culture in Nanyang.

"Little Nyonya" will be produced by Chua Lam and directed by Lai Shuiqing.

The heroine is played by Hong Kong's popular star Zhao Yazhi, and the male lead is selected locally in Singapore.

Chua Lam is originally a Singaporean, but he just lives in Hong Kong. This configuration is equivalent to half of the main creative staff from Singapore and half from Hong Kong.

Yang Ye also promised to open artist training classes in Singapore to cultivate local stars for Singapore.

In addition, we will invest in the construction of an early street in Singapore. This street will be donated to SMG after the filming of "Little Nyonya" for future filming purposes.

In the 1980s, many Singaporean TV dramas were introduced to mainland China. When people watch these TV dramas, they can always feel a certain sense of familiarity with the screenwriting, lighting, graphics, editing and even subtitles of Hong Kong dramas. Some even Evaluation of new dramas is a copy of Hong Kong dramas.

In fact, those TV series were filmed by Hong Kong people, but the background of the stories was set in Singapore.

Yang Ye vigorously funded Singapore's television industry, and Singapore reciprocated the favor by allowing Yang Ye to invest in the new Donglai Plaza and open a cinema in Singapore.

Since then, the competition between Yangye and Hollywood in Nanyang has officially begun. Both parties have continued to invest financial resources to promote emerging multi-functional cinemas in the local area.

……

At the local Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, Yang Ye and Ku Zhenfu, the chairman of Taiwan China Film Group, finally met.

"Chairman Gu, long time no see!"

"Aye, I went to see the signing ceremony between you and Xinguang yesterday. It was really amazing. We should all be proud of you for having someone like you among the Chinese."

Yang Ye said modestly: "They are all just false names."

Yesterday's signing ceremony, Yang Ye only appeared for half an hour, but tens of thousands of fans of all races gathered outside the Xinguang Building, which was a spectacular sight.

In the past ten years, with the continuous output of Yang Ye's music and movies, it has gradually spread. In addition, some of his young fans have grown up, which has further expanded Yang Ye's popularity. It can also become the same grand event in Nanyang as in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

After a while of pleasantries, Gu Zhenfu said seriously: "Aye, I want to ask you formally, what is your position? Which side do you prefer?"

Today, Yang Ye has long become a cultural symbol, and his influence is too great. It would be very troublesome for him to turn to the opposite side.

Yang Ye shook his head and said: "Chairman Gu, I don't have any position, and I don't have any side. I am just an entertainment figure, and I run the entertainment industry.

If you ask me what my dream is, then I can tell you that my dream is to promote our Chinese culture to the world. "

Gu Zhenfu praised: "What a great ambition!"

He took a sip of tea and said, "In that case, why has ATV recently made reports that favor the mainland?"

Yang Ye said inexplicably: "I am Chinese, and I don't lean toward China. Do I lean toward Britain?"

(End of this chapter)