Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 401 Waiting for Your Dividends

"The Go Master" has been released for more than a month, and hundreds of millions of viewers go to theaters every day to watch the movie, which has set off a huge wave of movie-watching across the country.

At the same time, the media also paid great attention to this movie. Many film magazines including "Popular Movies", "Film Art", "Film Review" and "Contemporary Movies" all gave high praise to "The Chess Master".

"Popular Movies": "The Chess Master" is an outstanding patriotic film that deserves to be loved by all Chinese people.

"Film Art": Knowing that it is impossible to do it, Jiang Nansheng still does it with a fearless spirit, interpreting the true meaning of "chess saint".

"Contemporary Film": Chen Huaikai, with his profound artistic skills, presented a patriotic film to the national audience, leading the audience back to that turbulent era.

In addition to articles praising "The Chess Master", these media also published stills from "The Chess Master".

Tony Leung is the absolute protagonist of "The Chess Master", so his face has appeared frequently in these film magazines in the past month, coupled with the popularity of "The Chess Master" and "The Last Emperor".

His face is now as well-known in China as those of local movie stars such as Zhu Shimao, Zhou Liqing, Liu Xiaoqing and Pan Hong.

"Hui Zai is now a big star on both sides of the Taiwan Strait!"

When they met again, Lin Chaoyang saw Tony Leung and couldn't help but patted him on the shoulder and teased him.

Listening to his words, Liang Jiahui blushed, "Mr. Lin, you are joking. I can't get this fame without the cultivation of you and Director Li!"

Lin Chaoyang laughed out loud, "It's not about whether to cultivate or not, it's up to you to strive for excellence."

He then said to Li Hanxiang, "Old Li, you've got a lucky scoop this time. Huizai is not only the new best actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards, but he's also a box office success. If Fire Dragon doesn't succeed, it's all because of you."

Li Hanxiang said “Puh, Puh, Puh” a few times, “You’re such a jinx! My movie is sure to be a big hit at the box office and well-received, so stop cursing at me!”

Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "Feudal superstition!"

After the great success of "The Empress Dowager Cixi" last year, Li Hanxiang had planned to build on his success and shoot a series of films about Empress Dowager Cixi. However, he ended up falling out with the co-production company over uneven distribution of the spoils.

This time he sought cooperation with CCTV, and the subject of the film was changed from Cixi to Puyi. These two people were also the historical figures that Li Hanxiang was most interested in in the later stage of his career.

The idea of ​​filming Puyi actually came up earlier than filming Cixi, but four years ago Li Hanxiang came to the mainland and proposed to make a movie about Puyi based on Puyi's book "My First Half of Life", but his request was rejected.

The reason given above is that some people around Puyi are still alive and the final verdict has not yet been made, so it is not easy for the film to handle it accurately.

This time, Li Hanxiang once again took up the subject of Puyi, and the reason why it was successfully passed was, on the one hand, because after a few years, many of those who were still alive had passed away, and on the other hand, this time Li Hanxiang took a different approach.

This time he put aside "My First Half of Life" and instead adopted "His Second Half of Life" written by Puyi's wife Li Shuxian after the liberation.

It tells the story of the former emperor Puyi's later life as an ordinary person after liberation, and his love life with his wife Li Shuxian.

In this way, there will be fewer taboos in the movie, and naturally there will be no obstacles to filming.

"Fire Dragon" is scheduled to start shooting in early December. One of the main filming locations is at Puyi's former residence, located at No. 40 Dongguanying Hutong, Xicheng District, which is only separated by an alley from the two-courtyard courtyard house that Lin Erchun bought some time ago.

Today, Lin Chaoyang came here at the invitation of Li Hanxiang. The preparatory work before the filming of "Fire Dragon" has been basically completed, and it will start in two days.

"The Chess Master" was a success when it was released in Hong Kong, and Li Hanxiang was beaming with joy when he talked about it.

He did not direct this movie, but he invested hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars in it. Now that the movie has achieved great success at the box office and received good reviews, it is natural that he, as an investor, will benefit from it.

Even though the box office of 10 million yuan achieved by "The Chess Master" in Hong Kong is far less than the nearly 30 million yuan of the two parts of "The Last Empress", the investment of "The Chess Master" is also low, only one-fifth of the investment of "The Last Empress". It is definitely a typical example of making a small investment for a big return.

The box office share in Hong Kong alone doubled Li Hanxiang's investment share, and according to Li Hanxiang, film producers in Southeast Asia have recently contacted him.

Southeast Asia has always been one of the box office bases for Hong Kong films, but Hong Kong films are introduced there mainly through buyouts.

In the past two years, Hong Kong films have been booming. For some big-budget films with a strong star lineup, as soon as the cast is announced, film producers from Taiwan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia will come with cash boxes to donate money.

"The Chess Master" is a co-production between the mainland and Hong Kong. There is no need to think about the Taiwan market, but the Southeast Asian market must not be missed.

According to Li Hanxiang's estimation, it would not be a problem for him to make HK$3 million from the buyout of "The Chess Master".

Li Hanxiang's tone was full of regret when he said this, "It's a pity that 'The Chess Master' doesn't have any big stars, otherwise it wouldn't be impossible to sell it for 5 million!"

Then he asked Lin Chaoyang, "How much can the box office of "The Chess Master" in mainland China be now?"

"I don't know. The money has all gone into the pocket of China Film. I think it should be 40 million."

After one and a half months of release, considering the popularity of "The Go Master", 40 million box office is just a conservative figure.

"That's more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars. People in Hong Kong think that the mainland is poor and the market is small. They don't understand the terrifying power of a market of one billion people!"

Li Hanxiang lamented the short-sightedness of his peers, but could not help but complain about the distribution system of the mainland film industry.

“If we use Hong Kong as an analogy, then China Film is the Shaw Brothers of 20 years ago! All the staff in front of and behind the scenes can only get a salary, and all the money earned belongs to the boss.

It's really strange, how can such a system be maintained for decades? And how can the mainland's film market still be so prosperous? "

“Your analogy has some truth to it, but it’s not entirely correct.

The existence of China Film Group Corporation has certainly constrained the development of the film industry to a certain extent, but its existence also has positive aspects.

You have to know that in addition to cities, China also has vast rural areas.

A considerable portion of the huge profits that China Film Corporation earns from distributing films every year is invested in rural areas. It is precisely because of the existence of those rural projection teams that the general public can watch movies for a few cents or even for free.

This is also an important factor in promoting the prosperity of the Chinese film market.

However, it is not accurate to say that the current film market is booming. In fact, the domestic film market has been shrinking in recent years. In the past, ordinary people had no other means of entertainment, and watching movies was the most cost-effective activity.

In recent years, the number of television sets has increased, and with the impact of new things like video halls, I am afraid that the movie market will continue to shrink in the next few years. "

Lin Chaoyang's analysis was profound and Li Hanxiang nodded unconsciously. He had only a superficial understanding of the mainland film market, but after Lin Chaoyang's analysis, he felt as if he had suddenly seen something.

"Chaoyang, according to what you said, it will be difficult to make money in the mainland film market in the future?"

"The film industry is a winner-takes-all industry. As long as the film is good, there is no such thing as not making money. It's just that with China Film Group, it's really unlikely that outside capital will make money."

Li Hanxiang nodded again, and after a moment's silence, he asked again: "Come to think of it, the box office of the movies you wrote for are tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, but you only get 18,000 yuan in royalties. Do you feel jealous?"

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "It's no use being jealous, this is the reality."

Li Hanxiang wanted to continue talking, but someone happened to come over, so he had to stop the topic.

"Brother Chaoyang! Long time no see!"

The man had a square face and was wearing a windbreaker. As soon as he approached, he enthusiastically shook Lin Chaoyang's hand.

"Shifang, long time no see, why are you here?"

The visitor was Zou Shifang, a student of the Philosophy Department of Yenching University in 77. He was a key figure in literature and art while in school. He participated in the establishment of the May Fourth Literary Society and was also in charge of the "Wenming Lake" magazine. He was an acquaintance of Lin Chaoyang.

"I came to the crew for an interview."

As Zou Shifang spoke, he greeted Li Hanxiang and Tony Leung Ka Fai.

After graduation, he was assigned to the supplement of the People's Political Consultative Conference Daily as an editor and reporter. Puyi worked in the CPPCC during his lifetime, and the crew will go to the CPPCC compound to shoot in a while.

"Fire Dragon" is a film about the second half of Puyi's life. As a CPPCC media, "People's Political Consultative Conference Daily" naturally has to pay more attention to it.

Zou Shifang came with a mission this time. Both Li Hanxiang and Tony Leung Ka Fai had to be interviewed and have a few photos taken.

When taking pictures, Zou Shifang called Lin Chaoyang together and they took a few more photos.

At noon, Li Hanxiang arranged to go to Donglaishun to eat mutton hotpot. Eating mutton hotpot in this season was naturally a good thing, and everyone agreed.

After arriving at Donglaishun and eating mutton hotpot, Li Hanxiang started talking again about the topic that was interrupted by Zou Shifang in the morning.

"If a Hong Kong production company asked you to write a script, would you do it?"

Lin Chaoyang looked at him, "Who? You?"

Li Hanxiang laughed and said, "My small workshop cannot satisfy your huge appetite. I just talked to some people from production companies recently, and they are all very interested in you."

"Interested? Are there any production companies in Hong Kong that value screenwriters?"

Li Hanxiang said: "Cinema City has been extremely popular in the past few years. Now not only the stars on stage are making money, but also the contributors behind the scenes are getting dividends."

As soon as he mentioned Cinema City, Lin Chaoyang looked a little serious.

Cinema City got its start by relying on a group of talented filmmakers. Compared to companies like Shaw Brothers that used talent as a foot wash and threw it away, Cinema City was a rare breath of fresh air in the Hong Kong film industry.

But at this stage, Cinema City seems to have begun to split, right?
Lin Chaoyang chatted with Li Hanxiang for a while and listened to his talk about the situation of Cinema City in the past one or two years.

Although Cinema City has achieved great success today, its distorted equity structure has led to constant internal struggles within the company.

Before, a short-legged tiger left. At the beginning of this year, Xu Ke, one of the seven monsters of Xinyicheng, left Xinyicheng after shooting the annual box office champion "Best Partner: Queen's Secret Order" for Xinyicheng and set up his own studio, which was called Film Studio.

His wife Shi Nansheng was also a capable person of Cinema City. If he left, Shi Nansheng naturally could not stay. The couple's departure was a major blow to Cinema City.

Fortunately, after the couple set up the studio, the financial backer behind them was still Boss Lei of Golden Princess, who was considered a half-friendly army of Cinema City.

Lin Chaoyang listened to Li Hanxiang for a long time and asked, "When I was in Hong Kong, I heard that Xinyicheng is full of talented people, so there should be no shortage of scripts, right?"

"Who told you that Cinema City wanted you to write a script? They are so numerous and powerful, do they need you?"

Lin Chaoyang looked at Li Hanxiang speechlessly. Why did you mention Cinema City for no reason?

Li Hanxiang explained: "I am telling you that things are much better now than before. Screenwriters also get dividends!"

Unexpectedly, Lin Chaoyang changed the subject and asked, "When will you give me the red envelope for "The Chess Master"?"

Li Hanxiang was immediately furious and quickly argued, "You have to ask China Film Group for the money. The money they earn is worth hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars."

"That's only if they can give it. Lao Li, you just said there were dividends, you're not going to default on your debt, are you?"

Li Hanxiang was cornered by him and was speechless. He stammered for a long time and finally said, "Dividends... Dividends will be discussed after we sell the distribution rights in Southeast Asia."

"Okay, I'll remember what you said and wait for your dividends when the time comes."

Li Hanxiang looked at his fearless expression and couldn't help complaining in his heart. If he had known this would happen, he would never have agreed to help him.

To be a good person, he still has to pay out of his own pocket. With Lin Chaoyang's appetite, he will definitely not give a big red envelope.

"Oh! By the way, who wants me to write a script?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

(End of this chapter)