The world begins with Hong Kong movies

Chapter 427 My heart can't take it! (Seeking monthly votes)

This is hardly a secret among the top echelons of the film industry!
Xu Ke is one of the most famous commercial directors in Hong Kong, so he naturally knows about this information. It's impossible for him not to be envious.

Fortunately, he also holds the copyright to the "A Chinese Ghost Story" series, and arcade and cartridge games for this series are currently under development.

Given the film's immense popularity, the arcade game is sure to generate substantial revenue, with potential profits exceeding 100 million Hong Kong dollars.

The "Once Upon a Time in China" series is another ambitious work by Tsui Hark, which has been positioned as a series film since the project was first launched.

Cinema City naturally had high expectations for this.

Currently, they hope the "Once Upon a Time in China" movie will generate as much buzz as possible. They're willing to accept no box office revenue if it can be widely promoted; the majority of the profits will go towards the development of arcade and cartridge games.

Li Lianjie was clearly unaware of these things.

At this moment, Xu Ke did not explain his thoughts to Li Lianjie.

After Li Lianjie left the studio, staff members informed him of the news, and he couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

"I don't know what Ajie was thinking!"

"He's been making a living in the Hong Kong film industry, yet he doesn't even try to curry favor with martial arts actors!"

"They're all from mainland China, so they have more in common to talk about!"

Shi Nansheng, who was standing next to him, said with a smile, "Maybe he's just unwilling to accept it!"

"After all, Ah Jie debuted early and is very famous. Even now, he is the number one kung fu star in mainland China. He doesn't want to lose face!"

Judging from the fact that he was able to open a martial arts school in the United States after his self-directed and self-acted failure, it is clear that he is not short of money and has certain connections.

At this point, his mindset probably hadn't changed much.

It wasn't until he started pursuing a very beautiful woman, and then, after he became short of money, and faced a full-scale attack from the Hong Kong film industry, that his mindset began to change.

Li Lianjie at the moment is certainly not lacking in arrogance.

It's impossible for him to bow down to Wu Feng for no reason.

Seeing that Xu Laoguai still didn't understand, Shi Nansheng said impatiently, "If someone said you were not as good as Wu Baige, how would you feel?"

"how is this possible?"

Xu Ke said unhappily, "How could I possibly be worse than him?"

"But it's undeniable that Wu Baige's gangster films, gunfight films, and war films are more profitable than the movies you produce!"

Shi Nansheng spoke slowly: "This is an indisputable fact!"

"No need to say it!"

Xu Ke's face was very unpleasant at this moment, and he said unhappily, "I know what you mean, let him be!"

By the time they were filming the second installment of "A Better Tomorrow," Tsui Hark and Wu Baige had completely fallen out.

No matter who mentions this person's achievements, Xu Ke is not in a good mood.

Of course, Shi Nansheng is his capable wife and also the head of the studio, so she naturally wouldn't deliberately make things difficult for him.

However, it was simply to tell him that Li Lianjie's mindset at this moment was similar to his mindset when facing Wu Baige.

Soon, the busy film promotion activities kept Xu Ke completely occupied, leaving him with no time or energy to pay attention to anything else.

The total box office of HK$25 million for the Hong Kong Island screenings was quite satisfactory for both Tsui Hark and Lee Lin-kit.

Li Lianjie, in particular, has become a sensation again.

For a time, it seemed as if he had regained his status as a top-tier kung fu star. After that came the promotional campaigns in Southeast Asian countries, as well as the "Universe Country" and "Little Day Country," which continued until the end of the year before finally coming to a close.

Especially among the younger generation, the first "Once Upon a Time in China" film received very high praise, and its box office performance was also outstanding.

The total box office revenue across Asia exceeded HK$100 million!
After the film was released in various Asian countries, they immediately went to Europe and America for promotion, and then traveled around for several months in a row.

As a result, the box office in the United States was a mere seven million dollars.

Moreover, mainstream newspapers were full of criticism.

This made Li Lianjie feel quite bad.

In contrast, Xu Laoguai, who was with him, was in high spirits and not affected much.

"A box office of seven million is quite good!"

He dismissed it, saying, "The box office will be even better when the second movie is released!"

They don't even consider that the movie is only shown in a little over 500 theaters in the US, and most of them are small town cinemas or places like motels.

The best cinema is actually in Chinatown!

In fact, despite the mediocre box office performance, the video rental market is booming.

People of color in the United States are the main force in renting videotapes.

Clearly, Li Lianjie was not very satisfied with Xu Laoguai's explanation.

He also wanted to use the movie "Once Upon a Time in China" to make a name for himself in the United States and pave the way for future development here.

"Having ambition is a good thing, but it must be realistic!"

Nansun Shi saw through Jet Li's thoughts and quietly told Tsui Hark, which drew Tsui Hark's disdain.

"I heard that 'Unrestricted Fighting Tournament' is incredibly popular in the videotape market here?"

He quickly changed the subject, asking curiously, "I knew people here liked this, but I didn't expect them to like it this much?"

"It's said that the 'Unrestricted Fighting Tournament' is much more exciting and entertaining than boxing matches!"

Shi Nansheng explained, "Where have the people here ever seen such an exciting and intense fighting match?"

"I heard that some spectators here are watching the videotapes of the fight matches as if they were action movies!"

"Ha, Ah Jie should be made to understand the situation properly!"

Tsui Hark then said unhappily, "The first and second installments of the Ong-Bak action movie series, which were adapted from some of the experiences of star fighters in the Unlimited Fighting Tournament, didn't even gross four million here!"

"But by the time of the third installment, the box office revenue here suddenly jumped to nine million, and the videotapes and merchandise sold very well!"

"Becoming an overnight sensation is certainly gratifying, but it also depends on opportunity and luck!"

Fortunately, the box office performance in Europe was quite good, exceeding ten million dollars in total, which was a pleasant surprise.

Later, after investigation, it was discovered that European audiences were quite interested in seeing American businessmen get their comeuppance in movies.

This is really...

If they weren't so indifferent to box office revenue, Tsui Hark and one of the higher-ups sent by Cinema City would probably have given the strange box office trends in Europe and America a heart attack.

"Forget it, let's just get back to Hong Kong Island and get back to preparing for the second installment. I really don't want to go through any more trouble!"

However, they had just returned from a promotional trip to Europe when they heard some rather explosive news from the industry: a famous actress was taken away by gang members for three hours on her way home.

When she returned, she learned that she had been forced to sign several film contracts!
(End of this chapter)