Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

The next day, a big eye-catching news appeared in the entertainment section of Hong Kong newspapers.

Yang Ye greeted Hollywood United Artists General Manager Shay, great director Spielberg, and Bollywood actress Madhuri at the airport, and guessed that they were going to start a multinational blockbuster.

This piece of news has aroused the interest of many people. Now many viewers have been spoiled by Yang Ye and love to watch blockbuster movies.

It’s okay as for that Bollywood film queen, I’ve never heard of her.

Yang Ye and Spielberg, two great commercial directors from the East and the West, have joined forces. The movie they make must be so good that it will take off, right?
As it was too late yesterday, Yang Ye sent a few people to the Peninsula Hotel to rest and then went back home.

Several people still had to adjust to the time difference, so we didn't disturb them during the day the next day, but directly prepared a welcome dinner.

Filmmakers such as Xu Ke and Lin Qingxia were invited to the dinner.

After spending some time in Taiwan with her mother, Hu Yinmeng has now returned to Hong Kong.

She was proficient in many languages ​​and was familiar with Xie Yi, so Yang Ye asked her to serve as their translator while they were in Hong Kong.

We were all in the same industry, so we had a lot of fun discussing the art of film during the meal.

After entering the 1980s, all major Hollywood production companies, except Disney, have changed hands and been taken over by larger media and entertainment groups.

The globalization trend of the Hollywood film industry is becoming increasingly obvious, and "high-concept" movies characterized by "big investment, big production, big marketing, and big market" have become the mainstream of Hollywood.

When Yang Ye first traveled through time, the average production cost of a Hollywood movie was less than 500 million U.S. dollars. Now it has increased fivefold to 2500 million U.S. dollars.

The situation in Hong Kong is even more exaggerated. Due to the rapid economic development and the rapid expansion of overseas markets, the average production cost of Hong Kong films has more than increased tenfold in more than a decade.

The ever-increasing scale of investment makes it difficult for film studios to achieve large-scale production with their own funds.

Moreover, the film industry is actually a very risky industry. If the production companies are not very confident, they are not very willing to invest their own money.

Therefore, both Hollywood and Hong Kong film companies have embarked on the path of introducing external investors.

The benefits of this are obvious. The risk is completely transferred to the investors. Even if the box office fails, the film can still make a living just by relying on the investors.

However, with the rise of new film distribution channels such as videotapes, cable TV, and satellite TV, the film industry is thriving, so financing is still very easy.

Nowadays, once a movie is approved by a major Hollywood studio, it can obtain 80% of the budget through overseas pre-sales, and basically does not have to pay for it out of its own pocket.

The situation in Hong Kong is even more exaggerated. There is no need to establish a project. All Wong Jing has to do is say, "I want to make a movie and I want 10 million yuan," and he can receive 20 million yuan within three days.

Everyone is rushing to invest money. If you are slow to do so, you won’t even get a share of the profits, because the film industry today is so profitable.

The market is so booming that many Hong Kong producers and directors have started selling trailers.

As long as you get the contracts of people like Liu Hua and Jet Li, you can sell them directly for money.

Overseas capital is rushing to invest, regardless of what you shoot.

Under such circumstances, big stars and directors from both Hollywood and Hong Kong began to think about leaving their companies and going it alone.

Some powerful investors, who do not want to be controlled by big companies, have also begun to encourage big directors and big stars to leave and fund them to set up independent production companies.

It was based on this environment that Spielberg established DreamWorks, wanting to build his own film empire.

Although it was always a little short of success, DreamWorks was still glorious at the time and was a large company second only to the Big Six. Twenty years after its establishment, it successfully made it into the Fortune Global 500.

There are many people in Hong Kong who share this idea.

After Wong Jing left Cinema City, he founded Vientiane Films, with Ray Lui as the backer.

But before long, he thought, is it necessary? Do I need investors? Not at all!
So he quit Vientiane Film Company, re-established Oriental Film Company, and started working on his own!
People like John Woo, Liu Hua, Jet Li, Eric Tsang, and Alan Tam also started their own companies, and Chen Long became a shareholder of Golden Harvest.

It's simple. When these big-name stars can earn more by working on their own, the film companies can no longer keep them.

The same is true in the Chinese entertainment industry in later generations. Celebrities have set up their own personal studios and are no longer controlled by large companies.

The advantage of this is that you can earn more, but the disadvantage is... celebrities need to spend a lot of time and energy looking for projects, which will waste their professional abilities.

Since I’m busy with social engagements every day, how can I have time to think about acting?

Then they can only fool people and trick their brainless fans into helping them clean up the mess.

Anyway, even if the performance is a piece of shit, the crazy fans will still praise Ge Ge's acting skills.

At this time, Spielberg had not yet filmed the giant dinosaur that dominated the world, and ET was also taken away by Yang Ye. In fact, he was not as confident as in the original time and space.

The reason he agreed to direct Memoirs of a Geisha was not only because he really liked the story, but also because he wanted to get in touch with Yang Ye, the Asian film tycoon.

Currently, 80% of movie box office revenue comes from the three major markets of North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, while Central and West Asia, Northern Philippines and Latin America can only make some pocket money.

South Asia is dominated by Indian films, and no one can get in. Sub-Saharan Africa is almost non-existent.

Yang Ye is an entertainment tycoon in Asia. If Si wants to build his own film empire, it is necessary for him to team up with Yang Ye.

Yang Ye was also very interested in this deal, as DreamWorks would be one of the world's top 500 companies in the future.

Becoming a partner of Lao Si is like making money without doing anything.

However, now, Stoudemire has not yet made up his mind to leave Paramount and go it alone.

Yang Ye wouldn't say anything more until he spoke.

……

The welcome dinner was a great success for both the host and the guests. After the banquet, Yang Ye personally sent them back to the hotel.

Hu Yinmeng came here to act as a translator and also followed along.

Afterwards, the two went home together.

Yang Ye first went to buy a stuffed animal as a gift for his daughter.

"Qing'er should be asleep at this time."

"That doesn't matter. I'll put it next to her bed. She'll be able to see it when she wakes up tomorrow morning."

"You're thoughtful!"

When I got home, Yang Qing was already asleep.

Yang Ye walked out of his daughter's room, picked up Hu Yinmeng by the waist, and walked towards the bedroom.

Hu Yinmeng had been single for a long time, so she hugged Yang Ye's neck and started biting her. They bit and ripped her clothes as they walked. Their clothes fell all over the floor, and they were already clean before they even entered the bedroom.

After finishing, Hu Yinmeng lazily lay in Yang Ye's arms and suddenly said, "You indulge in lust every day, how come you are not exhausted to death?"

Yang Ye chuckled: "He is gifted, there is nothing I can do about it."

Yang Ye was also confused about this matter.

Normally, after a man reaches the age of 35, his hormone secretion decreases and his sexual interest and other things tend to decline, but he was not affected at all.

Yang Ye thought to himself that this might be a benefit brought by time travel.

But this is a good thing. There are so many beautiful women in this world waiting for him to pick up, so he won’t delve into it too deeply.

Yang Ye hugged Hu Yinmeng's shoulders, kissed her on the cheek, and said, "Yinyin, you should immigrate to Germany!"

Hu Yinmeng was puzzled and asked, "Why would I immigrate to Germany? Besides, immigrants usually go to the United States or Canada. I have never heard of anyone moving to Germany."

"Didn't you study German in college? There won't be any language barriers when you immigrate to Germany."

Hu Yinmeng was even more confused: "I can speak German so I want to immigrate to Germany? Then I can also speak English and Japanese!"

"is not what it means!"

"You dislike me and want to drive me away?"

"Don't be impatient, just listen to what I have to say!"

"You said."

“This is the golden age of the film industry, which can not only serve as a tool for cultural exchange but also promote the development of various industries such as tourism.

Governments around the world have seen the business opportunities and provided many tax and preferential policies to attract film companies to invest and shoot films.

I noticed that Germany recently issued a preferential film policy, stipulating that investments in the film industry can receive tax deductions.

And there is no requirement for film projects to be produced locally or employ local creative personnel, and the tax deduction amount can be retained. There is a huge loophole here. If I sell the copyright of the film to a German company and then rent the film back at a low price..."

Hu Yinmeng's eyes lit up: "Can we make profits on both ends?"

"Yeah!"

"You are such a profiteer!" Hu Yinmeng immediately understood why Yang Ye asked her to immigrate to Germany.

"hey-hey."

"Won't Germany fill such a big loophole?"

"We'll make up for it later. Now the big Hollywood studios are already gearing up for it. We can't fall behind with this free money."

Others may not know, but Yang Ye knows that it was not until after the millennium that Germany filled this loophole.

“Under what name should I immigrate to Germany?”

"Invest. Germany and Germany will soon be reunited. You can make money by investing in anything there."

"So what do we vote for?"

“Buy Bertelsmann.”

Hu Yinmeng was shocked. Bertelsmann is a German media giant.

"Do you have that much money?"

"I'm not buying all of it. I'm only buying its music division, which is BMG Records, one of the six largest record companies in the world."

“How much will that cost?”

"BMG is just one of the Big Six. It would cost about $500 million to buy it!"

"I have never understood, how much money do you have?"

Yang Ye thought for a moment and said, "Probably as many as Cai Wanlin, Wang Yongqing, and Zhang Rongfa combined!"

Tsai Wan-lin is the boss of Cathay Insurance, Wang Yung-ching is the boss of Formosa Plastics and the business god of Taiwan, and Chang Yung-fa is the shipping magnate of Taiwan.

The three are the top three richest people in Taiwan and the richest Chinese.

Those in Hong Kong now have to wait in line. They all rose rapidly after the 1990s thanks to real estate and surpassed the Taiwanese rich.

As for Terry Gou, who later became Taiwan’s richest man, he is now just a minor character not worth mentioning.

He took advantage of the development of the mainland, engaged in OEM and sucked the blood of the mainland people to grow up.

But then again, even though he sucks a lot, his eating habits are still much better than many dogs in China.

Among the sweatshops, Flextronics and Foxconn are the least sweatshop-intensive.

Hu Yinmeng was dumbfounded: "How do you have so much money?"

“I made money. The yen appreciated in recent years and I made over 3 billion U.S. dollars.

Over the years, I have made about 3 billion from movies, music, games, TV stations, artist management, etc.

The fifteen Donglai Plazas spread across Asia are making considerable profits.

I also have a dedicated investment team, and we have made a lot of money over the years, especially during the 87 stock market crash, when we bought at the bottom.

All in all, my personal wealth is probably about $9 billion!"

"Then why isn't your name on the list of the world's top ten richest people? You should at least be in the top three, right?"

"My company is not listed, and many investments are not transparent, so they can't estimate accurately. But... it won't be hidden for long, and it will be on the list next year at the latest."

"why?"

“United Artists is preparing to go public!”

……

Sony has already successfully acquired Columbia, attracting a lot of firepower.

Eventually, Americans accepted this fact.

Yang Ye decided not to pretend anymore, so I came clean.

……

In 1990, the th Academy Awards in the original time and space, and the th Academy Awards in this time and space.

The tenth birthday of the Academy Awards is naturally extra grand.

This is also the reason why Yang Ye invited Spielberg and Shay to attend the Academy Awards.

In addition to filmmakers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, many filmmakers from mainland China, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea were also invited to attend and witness this glorious event together.

The star power of this year's Academy Awards is even more dazzling than that of the Golden Melody Awards a few days ago.

There is nothing strange about this. Hong Kong films dominate Asia and are marketed worldwide. Hong Kong music depends on Hong Kong films for its survival.

If it weren't for the glory of Hong Kong films, who would people like Liu Hua sell their records to?
Not to mention that Hong Kong films in this time and space are more powerful than those in the original time and space.

Tens of thousands of movie fans gathered outside the Hong Kong Coliseum, not only Hong Kong people but also many overseas tourists.

Nowadays, Hong Kong’s annual awards season creates a small tourism peak.

The prosperity of Hong Kong films has also brought vitality to all walks of life in Hong Kong.

Reporters from all over Asia were so busy that their shutters were about to smoke.

"Chen Long, Chen Long!" There was a sudden scream from the crowd.

"Chen Long is here, and with him is Seiko Matsuda!"

Chen Long appeared on the red carpet arm in arm with Seiko Matsuda, immediately causing fans to scream.

Chen Long's performance in the Japanese market has declined in the past two years and he can no longer make it into the top ten.

In order to restore his popularity, Yang Ye invited super idol Seiko Matsuda to star in his new film "Project Eagle" instead of the unknown Ikeda Masako in the original version.

The original German adjutant's granddaughter Elsa was also replaced by Brooke Shields.

The original actress named Eva Cobb was just a temporary find by Chen Long and she only made one movie in her life.

"Project Condor" has three main female protagonists, and the character Ada, played by Cherie Chung, was also replaced by Cherie Chung.

Since Cheng Yuling is not an artist of Yang Kee, is it possible for her to have a part in such a big production?
After the three main female characters were replaced, the budget also increased, soaring to 1.2 million Hong Kong dollars.

Yang Ye didn’t know if it was enough, because this movie was a bit troubled.

"Brother Long, do you have the confidence to win the Best Actor Award?"

"Of course I have confidence, but it depends on whether the judges will give me face."

A Japanese reporter asked, "Jackie, why are you walking the red carpet with Miss Shengzi today?"

"Ms. Shengzi is the heroine of my new film, Project Eagle!"

Of course Chen Long would not miss such a good opportunity and promoted it vigorously.

Seiko Matsuda also showed her signature fake smile and said sweetly that she was honored to work with Chen Long.

After a brief interview, Chen Long walked into the Hong Kong Coliseum arm in arm with Seiko Matsuda.

Under the pretext of making a movie, Chen Long has already gotten Seiko Matsuda into bed, or rather, Seiko Matsuda has already gotten Chen Long into bed.

Yang Ye didn't care. He and Seiko Matsuda were just hooking up for one night and didn't consider her as his woman.

But in this way, he and Chen Long became fellow travelers.

You are indeed a good brother! (End of this chapter)