My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 862 Personal Expression in a State of Glory

In the next month, all four movies were released in a flurry of activity!
That's the characteristic of director Wang Xin's films; each one only costs a few million yuan to produce, and every extra day of delay costs a lot of money.

Now, Chow Yun-fat, Stephen Chow, and Tony Leung Ka-fai don't take salaries or share of profits, so they can keep costs under control and prefer to make the sets better.

They also don't waste time on meticulous craftsmanship.

He didn't direct the movie "The Nets," but rather produced it. You can even clearly see traces of Citigroup's films; it feels like a rip-off of some Hollywood sports movie.

Replacing the director would definitely feel like an insult to their name and a disservice to the sacred artistic creation identity of a director.

The important thing is to finish filming and deliver the goods quickly so we can move on to the next project.

Moreover, all their goals are to cater to the audience and maximize box office success.

Three days after the boss watched the movie, "God of Gamblers" was released in Hong Kong.

The entire Hop Shing team displayed unprecedented enthusiasm, plastering five or six different color-printed "God of Gamblers" posters all over the streets and alleys of Hong Kong!

Even the people of Heshawen gathered a group of fellow villagers and plastered posters everywhere, especially in the South Asian communities they were familiar with, at a price of two yuan each.

This has led to an unusual phenomenon: South Asian migrant workers, who previously rarely watched Hong Kong films, are now flocking to cinemas in large groups.

With Chow Yun-fat's unparalleled box office appeal, the film grossed over four million on its opening day!
Then newspapers published a full-page poster: "When the God of Gamblers appears, who can compete with him!"

Nearly thirty cinemas across Hong Kong have added "midnight screenings" and "4 a.m. screenings".

Almost every cinema in Hong Kong showed this film from morning till night, and that wasn't enough, so they even opened new screenings in the middle of the night for people to watch.

Back when movie tickets typically cost ten or twenty Hong Kong dollars per showing.

Hundreds of thousands of viewers went to the cinema in one city.

It's a miracle.

That very evening, newspapers began to feature various advertisements promoting the film:
"Few commercial films dare to have the male lead play an idiot for most of the time. Chow Yun-fat's God of Gamblers plays a fool for more than half of the scenes, but as soon as the fool returns to the gambling table and eats a few pieces of chocolate, he is still as powerful as ever. Only Chow Yun-fat can be called a god for such superb acting skills!"

"The protagonist of the movie, without a doubt, obviously, absolutely, must be Chow Yun-fat. This man is a gift from the Creator, a born star, a born actor. He can be cool, he can be cute, and he's incredibly handsome."

"I thought it was another bad movie by Wang Xin. That fatso always looks like a scumbag on screen, but that doesn't stop people from flocking to his movies. Okay, he's a genius."

It makes you realize how much you've lost if you don't watch this show.

Even more people went to the cinema the next day, reaching 530 million!
Meanwhile, it also started showing in Makan.

Everyone is marveling that after Chow Yun-fat made a comeback with "A Better Tomorrow," he has once again achieved legendary status with "God of Gamblers."

It completely changed its status in the Hong Kong film and television industry.

He is no longer the actor who was forced to work hard to make movies. He now exudes a kingly aura and begins to talk in front of a flood of television interviews about how he never gambles, and how making such movies is a warning to everyone that gambling will ultimately lead to nothing. He loves basketball more and wants to help all young people in Hong Kong have a bright future through healthy and positive sports.

At this time, when people in the Hong Kong film and television industry were interviewed, they weren't so politically conscious yet; they mostly talked about everyday family matters and were very down-to-earth.

For example, when Leung Chun-wai and Siu-yan were surrounded by various interviews, they were definitely asked all sorts of questions about whether they were a couple. The two of them would ramble on about Chow Yun-fat's dog and how delicious the fish ball noodles at the basketball court were.

Chow Yun-fat has established the style that Hollywood's top actors will only have 20 or 30 years from now.

But the audience actually thinks that's how it should be!

Let's go see a movie, watch some basketball...

Little did he know that this was paving the way for his later basketball movie.

Newspapers everywhere were urging people to watch it a second and third time, and radio and television stations were discussing every detail of the movie with great enthusiasm...

For this drama, Jiang Jialing went to radio stations to make various contacts and arrangements, while Rong Gu went to TVB to try to get an interview opportunity.

To generate buzz from all angles.

As a result, the local box office in Hong Kong exceeded 30 million in ten days!
In the 1980s and 90s, when a film was guaranteed to make money if it grossed over ten million and was considered a hit if it grossed over twenty million, a film with thirty million would basically secure a spot in the top three at the annual box office.

The result was 40 million in 15 days, even surpassing the previous box office record of "A Better Tomorrow".

Many Hong Kong citizens were surprised to find that this was an even better movie than "A Better Tomorrow," so they went to check it out... Suddenly, "Bare Nets" was released, starring Chow Yun-fat!

Actually, this was the case for more than a year from 1986 to 1987, with Chow Yun-fat releasing a new film every month.

Film companies completely disregarded whether they were over-exploiting Chow Yun-fat's box office appeal and went on a frenzy of filming and releasing movies.

Seriously, if a different actor were to release ten or so films a year, their on-screen image would be completely ruined.

It's like how actors are keen to appear on variety shows to make money. Gaining recognition and high exposure can definitely attract a lot of curious viewers, but the mystery that actors should have outside of their dramas is lost.

Audiences are already very familiar with what kind of people they are in real life. If a familiar friend or acquaintance is acting, it is difficult for them to identify with the character.

Countless actors have been ruined by this kind of frantic, intensive film production. But Chow Yun-fat actually survived, with four or five films grossing over 20 million!

Now, with a super winner of 45 million in box office revenue, fans flocked to see the new basketball-themed movie after hearing that he had just made one.

Then they all could hardly believe their eyes... This is a Hong Kong film?
But it does indeed have the strong street vibe of Hong Kong films, and at first glance it even looks a bit like a gangster film.

He's "Little Ma" with a limp.

A former basketball player who broke his leg in his youth ended up so destitute that he could only wash cars and eat boxed lunches in an underground parking garage.

It made everyone think he was about to wreak havoc.

What followed wasn't his older brother seeking revenge, but rather seeing a few street kids playing basketball, which brought back memories of his purest childhood.

Out of sheer boredom, he started gathering these guys to practice.

Despite his physical limitations, the result of countless muscle memory exercises allowed him to remain incredibly accurate from beyond the three-point line, taming the originally unruly street kids.

The story then unfolds along the familiar American formula: internal discord, brawls, gambling, drugs, and prostitution, before transitioning to the young people's pursuit of their dreams, interspersed with music and basketball, culminating in their determination to overcome all obstacles and reach victory.

Using background music and scenes of morning runs on the beach, the film depicts the intense, visceral combat of a match, with sweat splattering and impacting the opponent's movements, quickly evoking a passionate slogan that directly confronts the harsh realities of contemporary Hong Kong...

The film even parodies "A Better Tomorrow," depicting Mark Gor picking up a gun and wreaking havoc, which in this movie is nothing more than a dream.

Everyone wants to live a life of vengeance and bloodshed, but the reality is that we must live according to social rules.

As the saying goes, the true hero is the one who sees the cruel reality of life but still loves and lives it positively.

Filmmakers are first and foremost cultured people. Even someone like Wang Xin, when he first entered the industry, considered himself an artistic youth.

He didn't direct this film himself because he was afraid he would just end up making another money-making movie.

But the director they found turned this film into an epic of the brave man's inner world, and only Chow Yun-fat could deliver that kind of monologue from the depths of his heart without any voice-over.

In short, no one expected that Chow Yun-fat would stop his crazy filming pace of the past year or two after starring in this movie.

The audience on the first day was even a little disappointed. It wasn't the kind of exhilarating action film that's all about killing off enemies. What kind of art film is this?

A box office of over two million would be a cause for celebration for most people, but for Chow Yun-fat, it was a barely passing grade, earned only because of his reputation.

He also made several bad movies that year, and he acted in all sorts of movies, including comedies, romances, action movies, and horror movies.

Audiences know that not every film he makes is both critically acclaimed and commercially successful.

But now they all come to show their support.

I feel like this is the kind of show I'm looking for.

Unexpectedly, it wasn't until the very next day that newspapers, magazines, and even various columnists began to discuss the play extensively and its impact on young people in Hong Kong.

It's definitely not a hired ghostwriter, nor is it paid to have someone promote it.

It resonated with a large number of people in Hong Kong, a city with a high proportion of cultural figures.

It even prompts us to reflect on what values ​​our previous films actually conveyed to young people...

Cultured people are best at adopting this lofty stance of being pure amidst a corrupt world.

Some even hailed this film as Chow Yun-fat's personal expression as a filmmaker in his most glorious state.

This means that before filming "A Better Tomorrow," he was still confused about how to become famous. After filming like crazy for the past year or two, even filming one movie at a time, he still managed to gross tens of millions at the box office. Finally, with this commercially successful masterpiece, "God of Gamblers," he reached the peak of his fame.

Finally, I began to express my inner thoughts.

That would make Wei Dong and Fa Ge laugh themselves to death; he has no inner thoughts whatsoever.

It's true that I wanted to convey to young people that basketball can be a tool for releasing youth and climbing the ladder of life, but I didn't mean it that way. It even led me to reflect on my own professional career.

But it really boosted the daily box office to four or five million.

In about ten days, the film still managed to gross 20 million at the box office, which is a significant amount for an art film like this. Moreover, everyone is saying that this film will be a strong contender for next year's Hong Kong Film Awards.

Wei Dong and Fa Ge then discussed it: "How about we really let you be the coach? You can show your face at the Olympics, but the actual specific affairs will still be handled by the coaching team from Citibank. You can take the opportunity to take a vacation for half a year and travel the world with the team."

Chow Yun-fat, who had always wanted to travel and experience life instead of just making films day after day, agreed in a second of surprise.

But before I left, I still wanted to see how Leung Ka-fai's "The Chess King" and Stephen Chow's comedy would be received.

By this point, the film company had already made money from Chow Yun-fat's two movies.

(End of this chapter)