Hong Kong Island: From a small stall to a global supplier

Chapter 182: Jiahe Talks Collapse (Third update, asking for monthly votes)

I wonder how much analysis I will see on the Hong Kong film market in the future.

"The popularity of cinemas is far less than that of video halls." Wang Yaotang said confidently: "As soon as I start production, He Shengyi will immediately open a large number of video halls in Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Tseung Kwan O, Tsuen Wan and Shatin, with a starting point of no less than 100."

"This model will soon be learned by communities in Hong Kong and then spread to Southeast Asia."

"With the promotion of the video hall model, more people will watch movies, but European and American movies still need to be accepted by Southeast Asians little by little. During this period of time, the box office will be pushed up one by one, and Hong Kong movies will usher in a peak period."

"A prosperous market will attract more people to invest in it, actors' salaries will soar, and investors, producers, and directors will gradually go crazy. When the real estate market is crazy, pre-sale properties will appear. I am sure that trailers will also appear in the film market in the future."

"It doesn't matter if the movie is made, as long as there are a few big stars in it, someone will invest money. Making a movie to make money will inevitably lead to shoddy products. As for what finally enters the market, no one cares."

"What do you think of the above, Uncle Six?" Wang Yaotang spoke freely.

Uncle Shao Liu had a grim expression on his face, but he still nodded. He was over 70 years old and had seen countless similar crazy cases, including the real estate market, stock market, clothing, plastic flowers... Such things were bound to happen!

"At the same time, with the advent of home video recorders, movies were brought into people's homes and available for viewing at any time. The number of moviegoers increased significantly, their taste for movies improved rapidly, and their requirements for movie quality became increasingly stringent."

"The contradiction between the shoddy production in the film market and the public's demand for film quality is irreconcilable and will inevitably lead to a market collapse."

"Are you willing to spend more than an hour in the theater to watch Shaw Brothers' movies in recent years?" Wang Yaotang asked with a smile showing his big white teeth.

Uncle Shao opened his mouth and finally sighed heavily.

Many filmmakers have commented that the decline of Hong Kong films is due to the increasing strength of Hollywood film technology, and that the shock brought by 3D films will eventually defeat Hong Kong films.

The dam didn't collapse in one day.

The crow is standing on the pig.

Not only did Hong Kong films fail to start being produced in a sophisticated direction, they also gave rise to the king of bad films, which gave other films a chance to be employed and were praised by peers in the industry... It would be strange if they were not beaten to a pulp by Hollywood!
Fang Yihua glanced at Uncle Shao Liu and suddenly said, "If we invest heavily in producing high-quality movies, can we stabilize the film market?"

Wang Yaotang looked at Uncle Shao and asked, "What does Uncle Shao mean?"

Shao Liushu thought for a moment and said word by word: "The Hollywood film market has experienced two major crashes, the Great Depression around 1930 and the 1950-1960 period when televisions became popular after World War II."

"Between 1950 and 60, the percentage of Americans going to the cinema dropped sharply from 60% to 10%. In order to compete with TV stations, the Big Eight began to take the route of high-budget boutique productions. However, the risks were also very high. Last year, the Big Eight's United Artists' Heaven's Gate failed miserably at the box office and the company almost went bankrupt. Currently, MGM is negotiating with United Artists to acquire it."

Uncle Shao said in a deep voice, "I have considered the situation you mentioned. In fact, it's not just me. Golden Harvest has also considered it, and they have made considerable moves. Last year, they invested in the production of "The Killer Trench" which also cost 3000 million Hong Kong dollars and invited a Hollywood director. However, this year, Golden Harvest and Hollywood have cooperated on another movie "Cannonball Run". I don't know what the prospects are."

As he spoke, Uncle Six Shao shook his head and said, "This year, Shaw Brothers launched a new film, Interstellar Blunt Tyre, with an investment of 3000 million."

Wang Yaotang had a sense of sudden enlightenment. He was worthy of being Uncle Run Run Shaw, who represented the history of Chinese-language films for half his life, and Golden Harvest, which represented half of the Hong Kong film industry.

How could my vision be so bad!

How is it possible not to see the crisis of Hong Kong movies!

How could I not be prepared?

It was just that "The Star-crossed Tyrant", a famous flop in later generations, completely destroyed Shaw Brothers Films...

It's simply a replica of the Big Eight United Artists I just mentioned. I wonder what Uncle Shao will think when the time comes.

"I don't know." Wang Yaotang certainly wouldn't say it would definitely fail. He smiled and shook his head and said, "Sixth Uncle, I'm not in the film industry. My opinions are all based on the development of other industries and the conclusions drawn from the film industry. How can I say anything good?"

"Don't worry about it. I still agree with what you said, Ayao." Uncle Shao shook his head and said solemnly, "It's like the poem that goes, 'I can't see the true face of Mount Lu because I'm in it.' People like us in this industry sometimes can't see clearly because we're deeply involved in it."

"Haha, thank you for the compliment, Uncle Six. I'll just say a few more words." Wang Yaotang smiled. "Hollywood has the opportunity to make mistakes. After all, the North American market is large enough, and large investments can also recover costs. However, the Chinese-language film market is too small. There are 4000 million Chinese people. Even if you add Japan and Southeast Asia, to recover the investment of a movie with a production cost of 3000 million, you need at least million box office in local and overseas markets."

Uncle Shao remained silent for a long time.

"A Yao, thank you for saying so much. The copyrights of Shaw Brothers and TVB can be sold to you. Let the people below negotiate the price." Uncle Shaw said with some boredom.

"Thank you very much, Uncle Six." Wang Yaotang stood up with a smile, "Please go ahead and do your work. I won't bother you anymore."

"Yes." Uncle Shao stood up and shook hands with Wang Yaotang. "The future belongs to you young people. Come to our house more often when you have time."

"Of course. Sometimes I speak and act too impulsively, so I still need your protection." Wang Yaotang said with a smile.

"Just kidding, okay, go ahead."

"Goodbye."

After going downstairs and chatting with Liang Naipeng for a few words, Wang Yaotang got into the car and left. Having taken over Shaw Brothers' film library, he no longer had to worry about not having films to make. The only thing left was Golden Harvest.

"Why don't we make our own videotapes? The investment is not big, and there is no shortage of distribution channels?" Fang Yihua asked in a low voice. He didn't care about the Shaw Brothers copyright, but he was very upset that TVB's TV drama copyright was also sold.

"They will pirate it." Uncle Shao shook his head. "The investment we need to produce and distribute it is not low, and we have to compete with pirated copies. In the end, we may not make much profit, and our relationship will become strained. It's not worth it."

"If we sell it to him, he will be the one who suffers the loss from piracy. He dares to kill and burn people, can we?"

"In this gray industry, we can't compete with the association."

Fang Yihua opened her mouth but in the end said nothing.

……

Jiahe.

"Mr. Zou, Mr. He." Wang Yaotang smiled and stretched out his hand.

Zou Wenhuai held Wang Yaotang's hand with one hand and patted Wang Yaotang's shoulder with his left hand, "Haha, I've heard of the name of God of Wealth Yao for a long time. How come you have time to come to our Jiahe today?"

Glancing at the hand on his shoulder, Wang Yaotang smiled even brighter. He treated me as his junior?

You deserve it too!
Raymond Chow and Run Run Shaw are both filmmakers, but they have completely different styles.

In comparison, Mr. Shao's achievements in other areas outside the film and television industry are far beyond what Zou Wenhuai can compare to.

Mr. Shao donated more than HK$100 billion to social welfare and charity over the years. As of his death in 2014, he had donated to 6013 projects in mainland China's science, education, culture and health undertakings, of which more than 80% were educational projects. A search on the online map yielded nearly 3 results for Shaw Buildings, which are spread all over China!
In terms of assets, Mr. Shao is far from comparable to those tycoons in Hong Kong Island, but his charitable donations are among the best!
In comparison, Zou is a purer businessman and has no achievements outside the film industry.

"This time I want to buy the video tape copyright of Golden Harvest's movies." After sitting down, Wang Yaotang got straight to the point, "Mr. Shaw has agreed to sell the copyright of Shaw Brothers and TVB to me."

Zou Wenhuai and He Guanchang looked at each other and said, "I didn't expect that Cai Shenyao also took a fancy to the video tape market, but..."

Wang Yaotang smiled and gestured with his hand.

"However, we at Golden Harvest also see the potential of the videotape market. We have the most comprehensive distribution channels in Asia and are not planning to sell the videotape copyright."

"Oh, is that so?" Wang Yaotang said with a smile, "My video tape duplication factory will be put into production soon. I wonder if Jiahe has a cooperating manufacturer. Can we cooperate?"

"As expected of the God of Wealth, you're very quick." Zou Wenhuai sat up straight, smiled and looked around, "But we will also set up a production line in Jiahe, so don't bother."

"Wow, Mr. Zou is indeed a tycoon in the film industry. He has laid out the entire industry chain, which is quite sharp." Wang Yaotang praised with a smile.

Zou Wenhuai laughed loudly, his face full of pride, "Of course the largest film company in Asia must be comprehensive. Ah Yao has obtained the copyright of Shaw Brothers. If you encounter problems in Southeast Asian distribution in the future, you can contact us, Golden Harvest."

"Of course, of course. Thank you Mr. Zou for your care." Wang Yaotang stood up with a smile, "Then I won't bother you two anymore."

"Why are you in such a hurry? Come to Jiahe and I'll take you around." He Guanchang said with a smile.

"Thank you for your help." Wang Yaotang said with a smile.

An hour later, He Guanchang came back with a serious expression on his face. He took out a cigarette, lit it, sat down and said, "What should I do?"

"I didn't expect that there would be such a visionary person in the Hong Kong community." Zou Wenhuai's face was not very good. He originally thought that he would still compete with Shao Laoliu in the video tape industry, but Wang Yaotang suddenly jumped out.

"He will definitely engage in large-scale piracy." He Guanchang said in a deep voice.

"I know." Zou Wenhuai snorted coldly, "Don't be afraid of him. He Shengyi has some power in Hong Kong Island, but it is nothing in Southeast Asia and Japan. We have an absolute advantage in distribution channels. At worst, we can just produce more in the first batch when the videotapes are released later."

"Oh, the distributors everywhere are not pushovers. They won't just sit there and watch his pirated copies easily enter the market!"

"But in Hong Kong Island, there's nothing we can do," Ho Kwun-chang sighed.

"Then contact the management office and the police." Zou Wenhuai slapped the table. "The movies we have made in recent years have greatly changed the image of the police. The Public Relations Department will not give us such a small favor!"

"Piracy? Ha, who doesn't know how to do that?"

"The Asian film market is dominated by Golden Harvest. How can a young and dangerous guy turn the world upside down?"

Zou Wenhuai is not Shao Laoliu, and he considers issues from a different perspective. All of Golden Harvest's industries revolve around the film industry, so it is naturally impossible for him to allow Wang Yaotang to take away such a large piece of the profits.

"Well, I'll have someone keep an eye on him." He Guanchang said in a deep voice.

"Be careful, try not to make contact with him. This guy is very popular right now, and he is ruthless. Either don't make a move, or don't give him a chance to turn things around."

"I see."

(End of this chapter)