Hong Kong 1990: From stuntman to King of Kung Fu

Chapter 98: Box Office Success, Jet Li Returns to Hong Kong

After taking in HK$1.86 million on its opening day, "Swordsman II" surpassed HK$2 million on its second day.

It grossed over HK$14 million in its first seven days.

As the film continues its large-scale release, "Swordsman II" has sparked a huge discussion.

First, Film Biweekly, which has always favored new martial arts films, expressed high praise for the movie.

"Swordsman II is a movie full of offense."

It offended the gold shop, and the two are still at odds because of the movie adaptation;

It offended the gender order, allowing Brigitte Lin to appear on screen as a contradictory figure with a male Adam's apple and female makeup;

It even offends the martial arts genre itself, rewriting the famous cliff duel from a battle between good and evil into an existential dilemma.

But Xu Ke's deconstruction brings the audience an ultimate visual romance.

Ming Pao, a newspaper founded by a gold shop, also published a commentary.

However, by this time he had already sold Ming Pao Group to Yu Pin-hai.

Yu Pinhai was not the highest bidder.

Jin Jian rejected more than a dozen consortia, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Li Ka-shing.

Jin Yong chose Yu Pin Hai mainly because he was young and had a passion for journalism.

Moreover, Jin Yong admitted that Yu Pinhai was the same age as his late eldest son, Cha Chuanxia, ​​and they even looked somewhat alike, which gave him a subconscious sense of closeness.

However, shortly afterward, it was revealed that Yu Pinhai had a criminal record during his studies in Canada and that his academic credentials were fake.

Within two years, due to poor management, Yu Pin-hai transferred his shares in Ming Pao to Malaysian tycoon Zhang Xiaoqing in 1995.

Jin Yong regretted this in his later years, lamenting his poor judgment of character and even comparing Yu Pinhai to Yue Buqun.

However, Yu Pinhai is no fool. The fact that he was able to persuade Jin Yong to sell Ming Pao Group to him is a skill in itself.

After selling Ming Pao Group, Yu Pin-hai shifted his focus to the mainland, venturing into IT services, establishing Nanhai Holdings, and founding Dadi Cinemas to enter the mainland cinema market.

His insight was very accurate; he saw the rise of the box office market in second- and third-tier cities in mainland China.

Therefore, Dadi Cinemas avoided the fierce competition in first-tier cities and instead expanded into second- and third-tier cities.

At its peak, Dadi Cinemas covered 181 cities and once rivaled Wanda Cinemas.

Yu Pinhai went from leaving Hong Kong in disgrace to amassing a fortune of billions, completing a magnificent transformation.

However, following the mask incident, the film industry cooled down, and Dadi Cinema's business suffered a severe blow. Nanhai Holdings suffered huge losses for two consecutive years and eventually had no choice but to go bankrupt.

In fact, Yu Pin-hai had already begun to reveal his true nature shortly after acquiring Ming Pao Group.

He did not continue to uphold Ming Pao's principles of moving from popular to refined and prioritizing credibility.

In pursuit of sales, Ming Pao rushed to adopt the style of Oriental Daily News.

The end result was that they lost their long-time readers and discovered that imitating the Oriental Daily was simply not a viable path.

Of course, the credibility of Ming Pao Group has not yet collapsed, and many key personnel have not yet left.

Ming Pao's film and television review section has always been quite influential.

They gave a fairly high rating to this film, which Jin Yong disliked, and also praised Brigitte Lin's portrayal of Dongfang Bubai.

"The greatest achievement of 'Swordsman II' lies in its complete reshaping of the character of Dongfang Bubai."

In Mr. Jin Yong's original work, Dongfang Bubai only made a fleeting appearance at the end, but Xu Ke brought him to the center stage.

Brigitte Lin's performance transcends gender binary thinking.

In that classic scene from the film, Dongfang Bubai tilts his head back and drinks a large gulp, his Adam's apple bobbing as water droplets slide down his luscious red lips and exquisite makeup.

This scene became a classic because it captured the ultimate beauty of the flow of identity.

She possesses the aura of a tyrant who dominates the martial arts world, yet also the longing of a daughter to be loved.

This contradiction and complexity transforms Dongfang Bubai from a simple villain into a complex symbol of identity loss and repressed desires.

This sense of division mirrored the disorientation of Hong Kong people caught in the historical machinations of that time.

In contrast to the overwhelming praise for Dongfang Bubai, the evaluation of Linghu Chong was mostly negative.

The main accusation is that Linghu Chong is a "scumbag" who wavers between Ren Yingying, his junior sister, and Dongfang Bubai.

Ta Kung Pao is one of the few media outlets that gave Linghu Chong a positive evaluation.

"Tang Long's portrayal of Linghu Chong is spectacular, especially his Dugu Nine Swords technique during his duel with Xiang Wentian, which will be a classic in Hong Kong cinematic action."

Many people criticize Linghu Chong for being a womanizer, but this is precisely the tragic core of the film.

Whether it's Shi Shi or Dongfang Bubai, Linghu Chong is nostalgic for the concrete, soft flesh, while Dongfang Bubai demands the ultimate, absolute remembrance.

When Dongfang Bubai finally fell off the cliff, using all her inner strength to push Linghu Chong back to the top, and said, "I want you to remember me forever," Linghu Chong would live the rest of his life to the mystery and guilt of "who was it that night?" He never truly experienced triumph.

Although some media outlets believe that the film lacks rigor in its plot and some plot twists are rather abrupt in order to highlight Dongfang Bubai's personal charm and visual spectacle.

However, "Swordsman II" is still widely regarded as an absolute classic of martial arts fiction.

The film's box office continued its meteoric rise amidst heated discussions among the media and audiences.

After raking in over HK$14 million at the box office in its opening week, it grossed over HK$10 million in its second week.

"Swordsman II" grossed 25 million yuan in its first two weeks of release.

Although Stephen Chow's "Justice, My Foot!" is about to be released, the influence and reputation of "Swordsman II" have already spread far and wide, so "Justice, My Foot!" will have little impact on the film's box office.

The film studio was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

Tsui Hark's company is called Studio, but it is larger than most film companies in Hong Kong.

Especially in the 1990s, Tsui Hark released several box office hits in succession, and his influence ranked among the top five in Hong Kong.

Perhaps only Golden Harvest, Win's Entertainment, and Win's Entertainment can consistently outperform film studios.

Moreover, Yonggao is able to outperform it mainly because it owns a cinema chain.

"Director Xu, your office is a bit cramped. You should move to a bigger place."

Tang Long's voice arrived before he did.

He walked into the office and found that, in addition to Xu Ke and Wu Siyuan, Li Lianjie was also there.

Tang Long was somewhat taken aback, but then extended his right hand to Li Lianjie with an unchanged smile: "Mr. Li, I've long admired your name."

Upon seeing this, Li Lianjie quickly stood up: "Mr. Tang, I've long admired your name."

This was Tang Long's second time meeting Jet Li. The two became hugely popular in Hong Kong around the same time and were both kung fu stars. The media often compared the two and fueled the fire.

When "New Dragon Gate Inn" and "Once Upon a Time in China" were released one after another, the two became famous in Hong Kong.

At the time, some media outlets stirred up trouble, creating conflict between the two men's fans.

In order to prevent the situation from escalating to the point where the fans of Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung fought each other a couple of years ago, the two communicated and then stepped in together to stop the conflict between their respective fans.

That was their first meeting, but it was a brief encounter. After the press conference, they went their separate ways and had no further contact with each other.

Looking at Li Lianjie, who appeared somewhat timid and reserved, a stark contrast to his confident and spirited demeanor when they first met, it was clear that Cai Ziming's assassination had a profound impact on him, and even after more than two months, he was still somewhat shaken.

"Mr. Li, did you just return from the mainland?"

"That's right, I just arrived."

"If you don't come back soon, Director Tsui will be going crazy. He's been thinking about filming 'Once Upon a Time in China II' all this time."

"I really feel bad for Director Xu, he's been busy with all sorts of things because of me."

To be honest, Tsui Hark and Ng See-yuen both treated him well. When he had a contract dispute with Golden Harvest, they both stood by his side.

If it weren't for Ng See-yuen's strong persuasion, he wouldn't have returned to Hong Kong.

"What are Mr. Li's plans for the future? He won't go back to the mainland after filming 'Once Upon a Time in China III,' will he?"

"To be honest, I don't know either," Li Lianjie said with a wry smile. "I can only take it one step at a time."

Tang Long had a good impression of Li Lianjie. Although his Singaporean citizenship and his role in "Danny the Dog" were criticized, he was otherwise impeccable.

Moreover, the significance of their Singapore citizenship has been clearly exaggerated by some unscrupulous media outlets.

Even if some people are of Chinese descent, don't they still forget their roots?

Moreover, since he was from the mainland, Tang Long naturally had a better impression of him and couldn't help but say a few more words.

"Mr. Li, as celebrities, we are valuable to some people and generally do not pose a danger to our lives."

Actually, you can go back to Hong Kong with peace of mind and focus on making movies; no one will do anything to you.

At this point, Xu Ke chimed in, "Ah Jie is right. If you're really worried, you can temporarily stay with the film studio."

"Director Tsui, let's finish filming 'Once Upon a Time in China III' first."

Then Li Lianjie looked at Tang Long and said, "Thank you, Mr. Tang. I will seriously consider your words. You don't need to be so polite. Just call me Ah Jie."

"Then you shouldn't be so polite either, you can call me Ah Long."

"Ah Long, it seems you have something to discuss with Mr. Wu and Director Xu. I'll go back to the hotel to rest for a bit."

"No need, it's nothing important. 'Swordsman 2' has finished its run, so I'm here to ask Director Tsui for a share of the profits."

"You're so eager to split the profits, are you done with the post-production for 'SPL: Sha Po Lang' yet?"

"It's almost done, but it'll be soon. The final cut should be ready in two or three days, and then you can all come and judge it."

"Judging from your expression, you seem to have a lot of confidence in 'SPL: Sha Po Lang'."

"We must have confidence."

"7

Seeing Xu Ke and Tang Long enjoying each other's company, Li Lianjie felt envious.

He and Cai Ziming used to be such a perfect match, but unexpectedly, just a few hours ago they were still dreaming of breaking into Hollywood, and suddenly they were separated forever. He ran back to the mainland like a lost dog.

Seeing this scene now left him feeling quite uneasy.

Although he had just returned to Hong Kong, news of "Swordsman II" closing its run at the box office with over HK$34 million had spread throughout the city.

It would be hard for him not to know.