1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 647 New Year's Film Season

"Then I'll tell you straight."

Jiang Xian decided to stop hiding his intentions and said, "It's like this, I want to collaborate with Mr. Huang to make a Lunar New Year film."

"You're asking me to make a Lunar New Year movie?"

Raymond Wong was taken aback. "Mr. Jiang, do you know what a Lunar New Year film is?"

“Of course I know that,” Jiang Xian replied.

"Since you know that, don't you find it strange?"

"What's weird?"

Raymond Wong frowned and tapped the table: "You asked me to make a Lunar New Year film, isn't that going against the Lunar New Year films of our Cinema City? Making a film and going against my own company, don't you think that's strange?"

Xu Xiaoming, standing to the side, was also puzzled. He wondered if Jiang Xian had just come to Hong Kong on a whim.

It's so contradictory to have Raymond Wong direct a Lunar New Year film that competes with the Lunar New Year films produced by his own company!

It's worth noting that Raymond Wong is one of the three giants of Cinema City. Asking him to deal with Cinema City is a truly bizarre move.

"Mr. Huang, please don't worry."

Jiang Xian smiled calmly, "In my opinion, there's really nothing wrong with this. Since you're not getting a chance to film a Lunar New Year movie at Cinema City this year, what's wrong with you filming a Lunar New Year movie somewhere else?"

And I remember that Karl Maka, the big boss of your Cinema City, once left on his own to collaborate with your arch-rival Golden Harvest, combining your Cinema City's flagship IP "Aces Go Places" with Golden Harvest's flagship IP "Lucky Stars" to create a movie called "Lucky Stars"?

"Aces Go Places" is Cinema City's flagship IP.

The film's plot mainly revolves around a policeman and a private detective. The two initially clash but are forced to cooperate due to a murder case.

To talk about this movie, we have to mention Karl Maka first.

Karl Maka has acted in many movies, always comedies, and his image is always that of a shiny bald head and a dashing Shandong accent.

Although he is a comedian, Karl Maka is actually an influential figure in the Hong Kong film industry.

Back in the 70s, Karl Maka, nearing 30, returned to Hong Kong with $1000 and embarked on his entrepreneurial journey in the film industry.

He first co-founded "Pioneer Films" with Lau Kar-wing and Lai Ying, specializing in low-budget comedies. He later became famous with the film "The Foolish Man". Just as he made Richard Ng famous, he was poached by Golden Harvest, and Karl Maka's company collapsed.

Unwilling to accept defeat, Karl Maka then collaborated with Sammo Hung to establish "Kabo" Film Company. Their collaborative films, "Tiger and Frog" and "The Deadly Swordsman," achieved huge box office success.

As Garbo Pictures began to improve, Golden Harvest set its sights on Karl Maka. Through a combination of soft and hard tactics, Golden Harvest ultimately won Sammo Hung back from Karl Maka by supporting him in establishing his own "Golden Harvest Company."

Logically, Karl Maka should have hated Golden Harvest to the core, yet he made some inexplicable moves afterward.
In short, Karl Maka had to start all over again, which led to the creation of Cinema City.

Initially, there were only three people: Karl Maka, Dean Shek, and Raymond Wong. Later, John Woo, Tsui Hark, Nansun Shi, Teddy Robin, and Eric Tsang joined.

It is said that in the early days of their business, they could only squeeze into a room of a dozen square meters to come up with scripts. Once the door was closed, the seven of them would think about it for a whole day and night until the script was written.

Then Cinema City quickly became famous throughout Hong Kong.

These seven men set themselves a goal: to defeat the reigning champion of Hong Kong cinema, James Bond.

Karl Maka himself had previously served as an assistant director on the James Bond film series, so he decided to use his experience to create his own spy movie.

Thus, "Aces Go Places" came into being.

Raymond Wong later said, "Back then, after Aces Go Places broke records, Cinema City's subsequent films were all big-name stars, big scenes, and big money."

What does this mean? It's actually similar to Shaw Brothers' business philosophy of the 60s: "Big investment, big movies, big money," only it leans a bit more towards Hollywood.

Please invite popular celebrities, such as Sam Hui, Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-fai, and Jacky Cheung.
For large-scale scenes, foreign experts were hired to perform car stunts, kite stunts, and wire stunts.
"Aces Go Places" is a practical application of this concept, and Cinema City spent a lot of money on it.

Especially in the selection of the male lead.

When Raymond Wong was writing the script, he thought of Karl Maka playing the role of "bald detective". This role required him to be tall and handsome, and preferably even better than 007.

Initially, they considered hiring Chow Yun-fat.

At the time, Chow Yun-fat was a huge star because of "The Bund". His figure, appearance and temperament were impeccable. However, when the invitation was sent to Chow Yun-fat, he refused it directly and chose a less popular movie, "Blood and Sweat Money".

This film did not receive much attention and even lost all its money. Chow Yun-fat's slump lasted until "A Better Tomorrow" in 1986.

If Chow Yun-fat isn't suitable, then which Hong Kong actor could meet the requirements? Everyone was puzzled. Unexpectedly, director Tsui Hark, who had been sitting to the side with a cold expression, said:

"Since Chow Yun-fat isn't an option, let's just try Sam Hui!"

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly realized what was happening and fell into a long silence.

Everyone knows Sam Hui, right? He played Linghu Chong in "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" and sang "A Laugh in the Sea." Principal Alan Tam respectfully calls him the "God of Songs."

At that time, Sam Hui was already a household name in Hong Kong. He was good-looking, had a great temperament, could sing and act, and his influence far exceeded that of Chow Yun-fat. He was a top superstar in Hong Kong.

Moreover, Sam Hui will absolutely not join Cinema City!
Because he's a member of Golden Harvest!

At that time, Sam Hui had been working at Golden Harvest for many years. Although he was not signed with Golden Harvest, he mainly focused on his singing career. He could only collaborate with his brother Michael Hui on all the movies, so he could be considered half a Golden Harvest person.

Cinema City and Golden Harvest have been fierce competitors for many years. When Cinema City wanted to hire Golden Harvest's people to make movies, Golden Harvest naturally refused.

But there were no other actors who could meet the requirements.

The eccentrics at Cinema City decided to try collaborating with Sam Hui. However, when Raymond Wong and Karl Maka sat down with Sam Hui in a coffee shop to have an open and honest discussion about the collaboration, Sam Hui made a difficult request.

He stated that he was willing to participate, but would require a fee of two million!
This number is alarming.

In Hong Kong at that time, the average production cost of a standard film was only around HK$1.5 million, while HK$400,000 to HK$500,000 was enough to buy a top-tier luxury house.

Judging from the production scale of later generations, the salary demanded by Sam Hui was equivalent to 1.5 million.

Of course, there was also an actor at the time who received a very high salary, reaching 480 million, more than twice that of Sam Hui.

That's Jackie Chan.

Every movie he starred in broke the annual box office record, and even movies edited down to scraps could still make it into the top five.

Sam Hui's demand for 200 million HKD was intended to intimidate Cinema City, but Raymond Wong and Karl Maka were both seasoned veterans. They felt that although the demand exceeded their expectations, considering Sam Hui's fame and the promotional effect of collaborating with Golden Harvest stars on Cinema City, the money was still worthwhile.

After discussing it with Cinema City boss Lui Kok-kwan, he directly gave Sam Hui 200 million HKD. Sam Hui's brother, Michael Hui, said that he had already encountered a bottleneck in his career, so he might as well give it a try.

As a result, Sam Hui not only played the male lead in the film, but also participated in the creation and promotion of the songs, putting his whole heart and soul into the film. The investment in "Aces Go Places" reached HK$800 million.

Back then, it even defeated Jackie Chan's "Dragon Lord" during the Spring Festival holiday season.

It's important to understand that Jackie Chan's influence in Hong Kong is so immense that even the best films struggle to compete with his.

Ultimately, "Aces Go Places" grossed HK$2604 million and attracted 286 million viewers, accounting for 54% of Hong Kong's total population.

In other words, almost everyone in Hong Kong who has a habit of watching movies has seen this film.

As a result, in 86, Karl Maka suddenly took this trump card IP and went to collaborate with his arch-rival Golden Harvest's trump card IP "Lucky Stars" to make a movie called "The Best Lucky Stars".

They thought it was a winning combination, but due to a contract dispute, they didn't earn a single penny and even angered their former employer, Golden Princess.

“Even Karl Maka himself did it, targeting his arch-enemy, yet no one in Cinema City said anything about it.”

Jiang Xian said, "I have never had any grudges or grievances with your Cinema City or Golden Princess. Who can criticize you for making movies with us?"

"."

Raymond Wong remained silent, only saying, "Mr. Jiang, you may not know this since you've just arrived in Hong Kong. The three major cinema chains only ever show films produced by their own subsidiaries. There are only so many screenings during the Lunar New Year season. Who are you going to ask for a slot from?"

"Mr. Wong, who exactly doesn't understand Hong Kong?"

Jiang Xian smiled and said, "Who said there are only three major cinema chains in Hong Kong? There's also Xinbao Cinemas. I've already spoken to Mr. Chen of Xinbao Cinemas, and I'm determined to win their Lunar New Year slot."

"Xinbao?"

When Huang Baiming was pointed at by Jiang Xian, he immediately realized that Jiang Xian was not from one of the three major cinema chains, but from the fourth chain—Xinbao Cinema Chain.

This made Raymond Wong a little tempted.

At first he thought it was absurd, but now it seems there's a high chance it will come to fruition.

To be honest, Raymond Wong had already fallen out with Karl Maka because of Maka's previous "treason."

The three giants of Cinema City have now split up, each leading their own teams to make films. Although they still bear the name of Cinema City, their accounts have been divided into three, with each responsible for their own profits and losses.

Therefore, even if Raymond Wong were to make a Lunar New Year film with Jiang Xian to compete with Cinema City, he wouldn't lose money.

On the contrary, winning can bring in a large profit.

Speaking of which, Raymond Wong collaborated with Johnnie To on a Lunar New Year film last year called "All's Well, Ends Well 2018".

This film was an instant hit, breaking Hong Kong's box office record and becoming the highest-grossing film of the year.

Raymond Wong carefully calculated that this film should earn him three or four million in dividends, so he happily went on vacation to Europe.

When they returned to Hong Kong and checked the accounts, they discovered that they had almost lost money!
It turns out that Johnnie To made another movie during that period, but it was a box office flop, losing several million dollars. The profits from "All's Well, Ends Well 2011" filled this hole.

Raymond Wong was furious with him.

I can only comfort myself
I thought it didn't matter. I'll just make another blockbuster movie during the next Lunar New Year season, and making money will be a piece of cake.
However, the Lunar New Year film season is the most profitable period of the year, and Golden Princess Cinemas, which owns Cinema City, will only promote one film during this period.

This year's Lunar New Year film season has already placed its bets on its own flagship IP, "Aces Go Places".

Upon hearing that Raymond Wong wanted to compete for a spot in the Lunar New Year film season, they immediately rejected him.

That's why Raymond Wong is itching to try it right now.

It can be said that Jiang Xian really took advantage of his most empty and lonely moment to enter his life.

"What are your thoughts?" After hesitating for a long time, Huang Baiming adjusted his glasses and looked at Jiang Xian.

Xu Xiaoming, who was standing to the side, was dumbfounded.

No.

What happened to the rule that family members don't fight each other?

Is this principle really that flexible?

Did Jiang Xian succeed with just a few words?
On the other side, Jiang Xian and Huang Baiming talked for a long time and finally decided on the direction of family comedy, which is Huang Baiming's forte.

Although it's not long until the end of the year, filmmaking in Hong Kong is not as slow as it is in mainland China, and there is plenty of time for Raymond Wong to make his mark.

However, before leaving, Raymond Wong made it clear to Jiang Xian that he had a principle: once the script was finalized, no one was allowed to modify it without authorization. This was also the habit of the seven-person team at Cinema City when they made movies.

At that time, almost all decisions of Cinema City were discussed and decided collectively by the seven-person group. Most of the scripts were also collectively drafted and created by the seven-person group. Once their scripts were agreed upon, no one was allowed to modify them without authorization, including the director.

The original director of "Nightmare" did not follow the script, so Karl Maka immediately replaced him.

When directing "The Yin-Yang Mistake", Liang Puzhi did not follow the script of the seven-person team, and was once again defeated by Karl Maka.

When filming "The English Pipa", Liang Puzhi wanted to change the script again. Teddy Robin exercised his power as producer and forbade him to make changes. Liang Puzhi stormed off in anger, and Teddy Robin immediately took over as director and shouted "Start the camera!"

The following day, Liang Puzhi had no choice but to return and follow the instructions.

In the opening credits of "Happy Ghost 3," only the name of executive director Johnnie To appears, without the name of the director. This is because Johnnie To was simply carrying out the plan of the seven-person team and filming according to the pre-arranged script.

"sure."

Jiang Xian had no interest in affecting Huang Baiming's performance. "But we need to sign an agreement today and settle this matter."

After saying that, he took out a pre-prepared contract from his bag.

Huang Baiming and Xu Xiaoming were both stunned, not expecting Jiang Xian to be so well-prepared.

"Today's events are very important to me, so I have to be careful with everything," Jiang Xian explained.

He knew that the Hong Kong film industry was more chaotic than the plots in the movies, and that everyone's methods were dirtier than the most despicable ones in the films.

This year's Lunar New Year film from Xinbao is an important foundation for his foothold in Hong Kong. How can he not be careful in his work?
He is not simply Li Lianjie.

(End of this chapter)