Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

The main reason why "The Lion King" sold so well was that Yang Ye used his own reputation to endorse it.

Over the years, film producers from all over the country have placed great trust in Yang Ye. All you have to do is grab his movies.

What's more, Yang Ye was so confident this time that he directly stated that he would spend 20 million US dollars to promote the movie.

When it comes to major film producers, it is a considerable sum of money.

What else is there to say? Just go for it.

There are still four months until The Lion King is released, and various places have begun to produce dubbing and launch publicity.

Yang Ye was not familiar with Whitney Houston, but it was not difficult to invite her to sing the theme song.

United Artists is very powerful in Hollywood, and the two theme songs of "The Lion King" are both classics. She had no reason to refuse.

In Hong Kong, the major film companies did not underestimate the enemy after they learned that Yang Kee’s summer blockbuster movie was actually an animated film.

Since Yang Ye made such a big fuss about it, this cartoon must have something outstanding.

Before leaving Hong Kong, Spielberg said to Yang Ye: "Yang, this trip to Hong Kong gave me a lot of surprises, especially the "Lion King". You created an animated film that is completely different from Disney!"

"The Lion King" is a transformational work for Disney. Prior to this, all of Disney's cartoons were adapted from fairy tales.

Movies like "Snow White" and "Cinderella" are made for children, and each movie has a comedic happy ending.

Even Andersen's "The Little Mermaid", which originally had a sad ending, was changed by Disney into a happy comedy.

The Lion King is completely different. Although it borrows from Hamlet, it can still be considered an original play.

Although it tells the story of "responsibility" and "growth", it is still based on the ancient theme of "revenge".

Even though Simba eventually defeated Scar and regained the throne, the country was already devastated and his father could not come back, which was a regrettable ending.

Yang Ye said: “Steven, as you said, The Lion King does have a very serious and adult core, but I don’t think this is a shortcoming.

Children live in the same world as adults. I think making animations with a mature heart is, in a way, a respect for children!"

"That's great, I also think it's a masterpiece, congratulations!"

……

During the "Hong Kong International Film Festival", everyone who watched "The Lion King" was amazed by its exquisite art, magnificent scenes and touching plot.

When the major film companies in Hong Kong learned that Yang Kee’s summer movie was an animated film, they did not dare to underestimate the enemy.

Because this movie has been confirmed to be released in more than 60 markets around the world.

Huang Baiming, who received the news, could not help but sigh: "Even a cartoon can cause such a big stir, Yang Ye must have become a golden figure!"

……

"Boss, Cha Xiaoxin is here!"

"Invite her in!"

Cha Siu-yan and Lu Mixue are the godmothers of paparazzi in Hong Kong and even in the Chinese world.

Lu Mixue mainly works for Fei Li’s "Weekly" and Flour Ma’s "East Weekly"!
She was the first person to bring the Western paparazzi culture of close tracking and digging for secrets into the Hong Kong media and Chinese society across the Taiwan Straits and Hong Kong.

For the entertainment industry, this is abhorrent.

But for the general public, it is welcome.

However, in the late 1990s, Lu Mixue suddenly regretted her decision and raised many questions and criticisms about the paparazzi reporting style of the media in Hong Kong and across the Taiwan Straits, believing that this chaotic situation was not her original intention.

Cha Siu-yan is a genuine Hong Kong localist. She came from Ming Pao and worked as an entertainment reporter for Hong Kong Weekly in the early 1980s.

In order to catch news, she went to discos every night and met a large number of stars including Anita Mui, Leung Cho-wai, Chen Long, and Liu Hua.

At that time, celebrities didn’t have agents or assistants, and they all received salaries, so they were not very rich.

They also hope to be reported in newspapers and have fewer grudges with entertainment reporters.

Cha Xiaoxin seized the opportunity, mingled with the stars and became their friends.

After getting to know more people, Cha Xiaoxin began to care about these stars.

She set herself a task, which was to talk to two stars on the phone every night.

She called them one by one in the order listed in the phone book, chatted for a few words when she got through, and then started over again after each round.

At the beginning, the stars might just talk about trivial things like being injured while filming a fight scene today, and Cha Xiaoxin would show her concern.

After chatting for a long time, the stars felt that they could trust her and took the initiative to tell her some of their secrets.

After the relationship became closer, she got a lot of exclusive news.

Later, many celebrities would take the initiative to find her to expose information, because...it is better to tell Cha Xiaoxin directly than to be photographed by paparazzi.

Many shocking revelations in the Hong Kong entertainment industry were revealed by Cha Xiaoxin.

In addition to taking the initiative to maintain good relationships with celebrities, Cha Xiaoxin has many other tricks.

For example, she once arranged for two reporters to disguise themselves as staff members and sneak into the backstage of the "Miss Hong Kong" pageant, taking a lot of first-hand photos, which greatly increased the magazine's sales.

The next year, TVB took a tactical approach and strengthened the review of its staff. Cha Xiaoxin took a more tactical approach and directly selected two beauties to participate in the competition, arranged recommenders and sponsors for them, and sent them undercover.

The two undercover agents quickly became familiar with the others and discovered that year's seed player Zhang Manyu.

So, Cha Xiaoxin took the lead in asking a photographer to take a set of photos of Zhang Manyu.

Soon, Zhang Manyu became very popular in the competition, and Cha Xiaoxin took the opportunity to launch a cover story, and the magazine sold out.

Relatively speaking, Cha Xiaoxin is more principled and has a bottom line, because her information comes from acquaintances. If her acquaintances say it cannot be disclosed, she will not tell anyone.

In her own words: "I know a lot of things, but I have principles about what I can and cannot talk about."

……

Cha Xiaoxin, who was thin and had short, neat hair, walked into Yang Ye's office.

Yang Ye said in a familiar voice: "Xiao Xin, I heard that you have a good relationship with Qingxia?"

Cha Xiaoxin exclaimed, "It's OK. Miss Lin doesn't like to interact with the media, but she likes to read my column. So, I am a Hong Kong media reporter who can talk to her!"

"sit down!"

"Thank you!"

Li Zhi served the coffee and left. Yang Ye asked, "What do you think of the new weekly magazine?"

Cha Xiaoxin thought for a moment and said, "I personally don't like their style. I think their reports are too straightforward, negative, and biased.

They like to stand on the moral high ground and deliberately belittle celebrities and artists. However, this magazine will definitely change the ecology of entertainment news."

"So what do you think of entertainment news?"

"Entertainment news may not be as important as political or financial news, but more than 80% of readers read the entertainment section first in a newspaper. This shows that people are very interested in entertainment stars, and that entertainment stars have a great influence on society, especially on their fans, and play a certain guiding role."

"Hong Kong likes to classify professions into different levels. For example, lawyers are the elite, while entertainment reporters are relegated to paparazzi, who hide under people's beds and expose their privacy. What do you think?"

"I don't think entertainment reporter is a bad profession. Our work satisfies people's curiosity. The so-called elite lawyers are nothing more than those who know the law but break it, specialize in exploiting gray areas, and help criminals get away with crimes for money!" "Pa pa pa!"

Yang Ye applauded and laughed: "Well said! If there really were so-called upper-class elites who said this to you, would you say the same thing?"

Cha Xiaoxin said: "If they provoke, of course. I can tolerate anything, but I will not give in to discrimination. I swear to defend the dignity of myself and the industry."

"Great, how about we work together?"

Cha Xiaoxin was stunned: "How to cooperate?"

"I'm planning to start an entertainment weekly, and I hope you can come and be the editor-in-chief."

"Ah? You don't think the money from running a magazine is enough!" After saying this, Cha Xiaoxin suddenly realized something and asked, "Is it because of Weekly?"

Yang Ye nodded: "Fei Li broke the established rules, he will definitely profit from it. And those who are interested will also follow suit when they discover business opportunities. As you said, the entertainment news sector in Hong Kong is about to change."

"So what are you going to do?"

"For many things, it's better to speak out yourself rather than waiting for others to reveal the truth. I know you have good relationships with many celebrities in the entertainment industry, and they are willing to tell you if they have anything to tell you.

In this case, why not go a step further and directly create a professional entertainment magazine. After the magazine is established, our company's popular stars can cooperate with you in interviews."

"Including you?"

Yang Ye hesitated for a moment and said, "Including."

"Then I'll do it!" Cha Xiaoxin agreed immediately.

"Very good, then you take care of your own affairs and start the preparations. You are the one who decides how to do it. I am an outsider and will not interfere. You can report the progress to my secretary Miss Li regularly, and ask her for money."

"What's the name of our magazine?"

"I don't know, figure it out yourself!"

"You're taking this as a hands-off manager too far, aren't you? Aren't you afraid that I'll run away with the money or something?"

"How much money can you roll?"

Cha Xiaoxin was speechless, and after thinking for a while, she said, "We report on celebrities in the entertainment industry, so how about calling it Red Weekly?"

"That's a pretty straightforward name."

"We serve the general public, so we have to be straightforward, right?"

"Row!"

……

Yang Ye didn't take the founding of Red Weekly seriously and let Cha Xiaoxin make the decision on her own.

When Cha Xiaoxin was about to leave, Yang Ye thought of something else. He said, "Xiaoxin, if you have time, help me investigate someone."

"Who?"

"Yu Pinhai!"

Cha Xiaoxin's eyes lit up: "The person who has been very close to Cha Sheng recently?"

"You know him?"

"Of course, he spent the whole day playing chess, drinking tea, eating crabs, watching plays and talking about life ideals with Mr. Cha... Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that he was plotting against Ming Pao, but Mr. Cha was kept in the dark. Mr. Cha was such a shrewd person, it was incredible."

Yang Ye thought of those people who sold fake medicine in the future, who organized teams to cheat empty-nest elderly people’s money under the guise of free medicine and free medical treatment, and shook his head and said:
"It's nothing incredible. When people get old, they get lonely and need company. Children have their own things to do and it's impossible for them to be with them every day.

Besides, because of his divorce and marriage to a younger wife, Cha Sheng has a rift with his children, so it is even more impossible for them to accompany him every day.

At this time, such a good son came to his bedside to show his filial piety. To Cha Sheng, this son was closer to him than his own son or daughter.

If I feel happy one day, I might even give him Ming Pao.”

Cha Xiaoxin worked as a reporter under Jin Yong. Hearing this, she said, "No way? Cha Sheng is famous for being stingy."

"Don't worry about whether it can be done or not. Just go and investigate. The rise of this Yu is very interesting. You will definitely find a lot of interesting things. You will be interested."

"All right!"

……

Ming Pao is a great asset.

It would be fine if Yang Ye did not get involved in the media industry, but since he did, taking over Ming Pao would naturally be a good deal.

Ming Pao was so popular that as soon as the news that Jin Yong was interested in selling it came out, more than a dozen consortiums came to take over.

For example, the acquisition partner formed by acquisition expert Liang Botao and publishing whiz Zheng Jinghan, Li Huanggua, Hong Kong's top foreign company Qiahe, and Australian media tycoon and South China Morning Post major shareholder Murdoch...

Yu Pinhai and the owner of Japan's Tokuma Shoten were also among them, with Yu Pinhai serving as a consultant.

Although no consortium reached an agreement in the end, Yu Pinhai left a deep impression on Jin Yong.

Yu Pinhai's method of getting close to Jin Yong was very despicable. He studied the information of Jin Yong's eldest son, Cha Chuanxia.

In the process of communicating with Jin Yong, he often inadvertently revealed similarities with Cha Chuanxia.

The death of Cha Chuanxia was a lifelong pain for Jin Yong, and Jin Yong "subconsciously felt close to" Pinhai.

The words in quotation marks are Jin Yong’s original words.

In the next few years, Yu Pinhai seemed to have become the incarnation of Cha Chuanxia, ​​caring about Jin Yong's well-being and showing filial piety by his bedside.

His efforts were not in vain. After serving as Jin Yong's good son for several years, Jin Yong decided to hand over Ming Pao to him.

At that time, if Yu Pinhai wanted to acquire 50% of the shares of Ming Pao, he would need to pay HK$4.53 million, but Yu Pinhai simply could not afford that much money.

Jin Yong paid 3.43 million yuan of his own money to invest in Yu Pinhai's Hainan Development Company.

In this way, Yu Pinhai only needed to invest 1.1 million Hong Kong dollars to buy Ming Pao and become the second-generation successor.

Yu Pinhai said that he had no money and needed to purchase the shares of Ming Pao in installments, and Jin Yong generously agreed.

In the end, after all the operations, Yu Pinhai not only did not spend a penny to acquire Ming Pao, but also had an extra 9000 million in cash in his hands.

Free, and even paying for it? This is a real scam.

After Yu Pinhai obtained the Ming Pao, Jin Yong also published a public article to express his support:
“Over the past 10 years or so, I have been keen on finding a young person who is smart, capable, enthusiastic about journalism, and sincere and hardworking, to whom I can entrust Ming Pao.

If I hadn't been lucky, I wouldn't have met a talent like Mr. Yu Pinhai who seemed tailor-made for me and was more brilliant than I had imagined and required."

What did Yu Pinhai do after he got Ming Pao?
This guy mortgaged Ming Pao and got a lot of money to open a casino and founded a satellite TV station.

After losing more than 100 million US dollars, he sold Ming Pao.

It was easy for Yang Ye to deal with Yu Pinhai. While studying in Canada, this guy was convicted of seven crimes including theft, forgery of checks, illegal use of other people's credit cards, and possession of firearms, and was sentenced to two years in prison.

As long as Jin Yong was told about this in advance, he could just go away.

Yang Ye knew everything, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he asked Cha Xiaoxin to investigate, just to make the evidence appear more legitimate. (End of this chapter)