Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

PS: Taiwan’s eight major film studios were only formed in the 90s. They did not exist in 1988. I still write it this way for the convenience of narrative. It doesn’t have to be true!
……

Cai Songlin, the founder of Taiwan Scholar Pictures, has a close relationship with Baiyang Pictures.

When Cai Songlin first entered the industry, he made several movies that all flopped.

After learning from his mistakes, he came to Hong Kong to look for someone to collaborate with and invited Yuan Heping's father Yuan Xiaotian to shoot a movie called "Weird Fists, Weird Moves, and Weird Master".

The result was a huge success, and Scholar Pictures established its foothold.

Later, Cai Songlin introduced and invested in many films of Baiyang Pictures, such as "Laughing Tai Chi" starring Zhen Zidan, in which he invested.

However, at that time, Baiyang Pictures was mainly cooperating with China Film, and Cai Songlin could only get some scraps.

Even so, it was enough for him to eat until his mouth was full of oil.

After Baiyang Pictures was banned, Taiwanese film producers no longer dared to cooperate with Yang Ye because Taiwan was still under martial law and the white terror was still there, which would result in deaths.

The scholars turned to collaborate with other Hong Kong filmmakers. The film "The Lucky Stars" co-starring Hong Jingbao and Mai Jia was invested by scholars.

However, after being banned in Taiwan, Yang Ye did not fall into despair, but immediately opened up the mainland market.

Moreover, it has become extremely powerful, creating stars crazily and making rapid progress in the Japanese and Korean markets.

Hong Kong's best film talents and film resources are still firmly in Yang Ye's hands.

After Baiyang Pictures was banned, movies by big names like Yang Ye, Chen Long, and Lin Qingxia could no longer be released.

Taiwan’s cinema revenue has dropped by 40%, and Taiwan’s film producers and cinemas dream of working with Yang Ye.

Especially in 1987, many films produced by Baiyang Pictures swept across Asia, and "Terminator 2" even won the global annual championship.

Taiwan's film producers are all excited. If these movies can be imported into Taiwan, how much money will they make?

In fact, even if Baiyang Pictures was not banned, it would have little to do with them, because Baiyang Pictures mainly cooperates with China Film.

But because of this, with Jianfeng's death, they felt that their opportunity had come.

……

In the private room of Fulinmen Restaurant, Yang Ye met Cai Songlin.

Yang Ye said straight to the point: "Mr. Cai, I wonder what your intention is in giving me such a big gift?"

Cai Songlin said calmly: "Terminator 2 is a world-class blockbuster. It is well-deserved to sweep the Hong Kong Film Awards. I heard that Terminator 2 has also been nominated for the Academy Awards. I wish it a great success!"

Yang Ye picked up a goose paw and chewed it slowly in his hand: "Tell me about your plan!"

Cai Songlin said: "We are helping you, Mr. Yang, to build momentum!"

"What do you mean?"

"Mr. Yang, you are the pride of the Chinese people. Your film is a world-renowned masterpiece, but it cannot be shown in Taiwan. The Taiwanese people are very dissatisfied."

Yang Ye nodded and listened to him continue.

"After Jianfeng died, Li Zhengnan came to power. We, the Taiwanese film producers, collectively advised that the ban on your company be lifted so that your company's films could be released in Taiwan. However, Zhengnan was still young and timid and did not dare to agree. So we can only find a way ourselves."

"Your solution is to make Terminator 2 sweep the Academy Awards? Is there any connection between the two?"

"Of course, we need to... create public opinion. Since the old route doesn't work, we will seek help from the new one.

Ever since "Terminator 2" swept the Academy Awards, all the new media have been hyping this matter up.

We want to let the Taiwanese people know why Taiwanese people cannot watch a movie made by Chinese people that has swept the world. "

Damn, that's pretty fierce. Yang Ye asked, "Are you guys going against each other?"

Cai Songlin said: "It's been 38 years, and the Taiwanese have had enough. This incident is a battle for Xindang to establish its prestige, and they are willing to cooperate with them fully!"

Yang Ye felt it was a bit funny. As a time traveler, he didn't like Xindang, but now he had to rely on Xindang's power to help him unblock Taiwan. What was going on?

Forget it, who cares! The old crotch is a piece of crap, it's no match for the new crotch. They fight each other, what does it have to do with me? I make my money.

Yang Ye didn't have any feelings for Old Dang just because he was born on the mainland. That thing was driven away. To empathize with it? It was pure insanity!

Yang Ye threw the goose paw he had just eaten onto the plate, wiped his hands, and said, "If you accomplish this, what benefits do you want to gain?"

Cai Songlin said: "Of course I hope to get the distribution rights of your company's films in Taiwan."

"But you have more than one company, right? How do you divide the pie?"

"This depends on our internal competition. We only hope to get a promise from Mr. Yang that he will no longer cooperate with China Film. This... is also the condition that Xindan is willing to offer."

"I see!"

The Central Motion Picture Corporation is the only dominant company in Taiwan and is the money jar of the old party. If the new party wants to compete with the old party, it must weaken the power of the old party.

The new one was very brave, no wonder he was successful. For decades afterwards, he kept beating the old one on the head, until the old one was covered with bruises.

"Sorry, I can't do it!" Yang Ye refused directly.

Cai Songlin was stunned. He could never have imagined that after they took the initiative to show their goodwill and offered such generous conditions, Yang Ye actually refused.

And it was straightforward, without any hesitation.

Cai Songlin had no idea that Yang Ye was happy to see the new and old sides fighting each other, but he did not want to be a pawn of either side.

Yang Ye said: "Mr. Cai, I am very grateful for your actions. But for us, unblocking is certainly a good thing, but not unblocking is not a big loss.

Now Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian film producers are investing in our films. We are not short of investment or market, and our artists have plenty of work to do.”

Mr. Cai said: "Mr. Yang, forgive me for being frank..."

Yang Ye interrupted him and said, "Of course, it's a good thing to be able to enter another market. No one can resist money. However, I cannot agree to exclude China Film Group. The old crotch is still the master of Taiwan, and I don't want to make enemies!
So what I mean is, no matter how you make a fuss, it has nothing to do with me. I will go to Taiwan whenever I can.

I welcome friends from Taiwan to invest in and represent our films. I can also give you half of the investment share in my new film next year!"

……

Although Taiwan was making a big fuss, Yang Ye's reaction was rather cold.

Adhering to the three principles of "no initiative, no refusal, no responsibility", he is a scumbag.

The only promise he made was to welcome Taiwanese film producers to invest in Baiyang Pictures' films.

Yang Ye didn't want to pamper the Taiwanese film producers, especially Cai Songlin.

Cai Songlin's Scholar Pictures started late, but in just over a decade it grew into Taiwan's largest film distributor. It was a remarkable achievement with great determination.

Since obtaining the screening rights for Taiwan's "Golden Horse" and "Great World" cinema chains, this person has begun to invest in Hong Kong films on a large scale.

Cai Songlin's investment is dominated by commercial themes, highlighting the appeal of Hong Kong movie stars. He abandons the form of Taiwan-led production and turns it into pure investment costs, with Hong Kong production companies taking full responsibility for filming.

This method was soon imitated by others, and Taiwanese counterparts regarded it as the "established model" for operating Taiwanese-funded Hong Kong films.

With the strong financial support from Taiwan's film producers, Hong Kong's big stars have left the big companies and set up their own film companies.

In order to break the monopoly of large companies such as Cinema City and Golden Harvest, Cai Songlin also instigated Chen Rongmei and others to establish the New Treasure Cinema Line to provide cinema support for these independent directors and stars.

At its peak, Hong Kong had six cinema chains operating simultaneously, more than 200 film companies, and was able to shoot more than 300 films a year.

The pay of stars has been rising rapidly, with Chow Yun-fat and Stephen Chow exceeding 20 million respectively, and the Hong Kong entertainment industry is booming.

But after the climax, there was fall, and Cai Songlin finally reaped the fruits of his own action.

Cai Songlin has great faith in the star effect. Wong Kar-wai once went to Cai Songlin with film contracts from a large number of stars including Lin Qingxia, Zhang Guorong, Liang Caowei, Wang Zuxian, Zhang Manyu, etc.

He told Cai Songlin, I want to make a Jin Yong martial arts blockbuster.

When Cai Songlin saw this, he was like, wow, there are so many stars, and it’s a film about Jin Yong, they must be making a lot of money, right?

I invested! I invested! I invested! I spent tens of millions.

That movie is the famous "Ashes of Time"!
Cai Songlin waited and waited for several years, but the film was not finished yet, and he almost vomited blood.

Cai Songlin was once obsessed with Stephen Chow, and he and another big film producer, Wang Yingxiang, spent 2400 million Hong Kong dollars to purchase both parts of "A Chinese Odyssey".

As a result, after the movie was released in Taiwan, it flopped at the box office. The two films combined only sold more than NT$40 million, and all the money invested was lost.

Under this model, Taiwanese businessmen spend a lot of money and Hong Kong stars naturally ask for sky-high prices.

As a result, the more money was invested, the worse the movies became. The audiences didn't buy it, and every movie they invested in lost money. In the end, everything went their separate ways and it was all over for everyone.

……

Yang Ye didn't want to encourage this trend!
A few years ago, he made a fundamental change.

When Cinema City was first established, Yang Ye took the initiative to accept Lei Juekun and let him invest in Baiyang Cinema Line.

A few years later, Shaw Brothers was about to stop production, and Cinema City planned to break away from Baiyang and set up its own cinema chain.

Yang Ye was one step ahead and proposed the "cinema alliance" model.

This move allowed Shaw Brothers' cinema chain to survive, and Cinema City did not set up its own cinema chain. Later, when D&B was established, it did not set up its own cinema chain either.

The cinema chains in Hong Kong have been integrated into one. If one wants to set up a new cinema chain outside of the "cinema chain alliance", it is almost impossible.

In 1985, Jewish businessman Ji Aihua established UA multiplex cinema in Hong Kong. Despite his strong financial resources, he took the initiative to join the "Cinema Alliance".

……

The existence of theater alliances has increased the difficulty for big directors and big stars to work alone.

This is just the first step.

The second step is to curb, to a certain extent, the Taiwanese film producers' reckless investment, price gouging, and market disruption.

Once upon a time, you could find a young girl in an alley for 200 yuan.

Later on, it cost two or three thousand, and it was inlaid with gold?

The pay of stars can be high, but it cannot be outrageous.

The pay of Chinese stars in later generations is higher than that of Hollywood stars. Is this reasonable?
Some people may not accept this and ask, why can't I be taller than others?
Nonsense, how big is their market? How big is your market?

These fucking Taiwanese film producers are the culprits.

……

Film is actually an industry. It cannot be developed or sustained by relying on a small workshop model with a few stars.

Zou Wenhuai once lamented in his later years: Hong Kong no longer has big companies, no longer has big film studios, and it seems that both continuity and a sense of belonging are gone.

No company has a long-term plan, let alone a hundred-year plan, or even a ten-year plan.

In fact, large studios are very important. Countries with developed film industries, such as the United States and Japan, all have large film companies.

Large companies can reserve a lot of technical talents and can guarantee the quality of a film to the greatest extent.

The filming model is also very flexible. You can shoot it yourself, pay someone to shoot it, or invest in a film if there is a good script.

In the booming era of the film industry, even if an actor has no acting skills and is just a "vase", he or she will have the opportunity to hone his or her skills by making many bad films.

Actors in later generations all work in their own studios and find work on their own. They may not be able to make a movie for several years. Even if they have honed their acting skills, they are already old. (End of this chapter)