1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 160 Going against the ancestor’s decision

Hong Kong's late-night show culture began to emerge in the 1960s and 1970s.

At that time, television was still a luxury, entertainment options were limited, and movies became the biggest pastime for citizens.

The rise of this phenomenon is modeled after Hollywood's method of pre-screening movies.

A new film is released. It will be screened at midnight shows for about a week to observe the audience’s reaction. If the reaction is good, we will increase publicity. If the reaction is not good, we will go back to work and redo it.

The production company is afraid of delaying the film schedule and is going ahead with it? There is no need to wait for market feedback, the theater chain will teach you a lesson first.

Among the three films that will be screened soon.

"Project A" is the most special.

Chen Shilong’s main voting base is currently in Japan, and even the income from Formosa cannot compare to it, so the focus will naturally shift.

At this time, Chen Shilong was gradually becoming a cultural symbol in Japan, and his name became a symbol like Mount Fuji, Bushido, cherry blossoms, and sake.

So although the release date of "Project A" in Japan is scheduled for February 2, it actually held a round of preview screenings there last month.

"Strictly speaking, Dabi is just here for fun in Hong Kong, so we are the only ones left to compete with "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"."

In the 91st meeting room, Wu Yusen slumped in his chair, cigarette in hand, sighing between puffs of smoke. "So, it all depends on tonight's preview to see if we can beat New One City."

"Is Brother Long so strong?"

Zhai Yuan sat on the swivel chair and spun around a few times out of boredom.

Wu Yusen showed a look of "you think so" and said: "He lacks appeal in the North American market. If he can make up for this shortcoming, he will be invincible."

"I wonder if he's willing to come to Jiuyi."

"Then you might as well pray for a big fire tonight to burn all the films and copies of New One City."

Between the lines, he was still full of worry about tonight's preview.

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "The arrow is on the string. No matter how much you say, it's useless. Director, you have to have confidence in your movie."

"Every time I watch the finished film, my confidence grows a little bit, but when I think of New One City's dominance, I can't help but worry."

The cigarette in Wu Yusen's hand burned out, and he didn't even use a lighter, but used the spark to light another one.

The conference room was filled with smoke and the ashtray was full of cigarette butts, which all showed the director's anxious mind.

"Then go back to the editing room and watch the movie a few more times to maintain your confidence. You'll know the result at tonight's midnight show."

Zhai Yuan coughed twice due to the smell of smoke and had to light a red cigarette to adapt to the environment.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he added, as if to reassure Wu Yusen: "You should not only believe in yourself, but also believe in your boss. This year's box office champion must be A Better Tomorrow."

Wu Yusen looked at him blankly, wondering where Zhai Yuan got his confidence from.

"Boss, do you have any other tricks that you haven't used yet?"

"Secret."

Zhai Yuan blinked mysteriously, and then ordered them to leave: "Go away, it's useless for a director like you to dress so nicely. Remember to let Di Long and the other three change into their filming clothes, and interact more with the audience tonight."

Wu Yusen was wearing a suit and tie today, with his hair combed back with hairspray, revealing his shiny forehead, as if he was going to walk on the red carpet.

Just because it was a midnight preview, there was an unwritten rule that the main creative team had to enter the theater with the audience to watch the show and accept applause or boos.

"Then I'll go first."

Wu Yusen suppressed his curiosity and walked out. When he reached the door, he turned back in surprise and asked, "Boss, aren't you coming in with us tonight?"

Zhai Yuan waved his hand: "I'm busy. I'm going to watch Project A and Queen's Secret Service. This is called knowing yourself and knowing your enemy."

Wu Yusen left with a resentful look on his face.

Zhai Yuan sat alone in the conference room, biting a cigarette and spinning around in his swivel chair.

"This is my first movie from my first cinema chain. If it doesn't win the box office championship, I'd be sorry for myself." He blew out a puff of smoke and said faintly, "It's a pity that other production companies will be implicated. So which is more important, their interests or mine?"

This question lingered in Zhai Yuan's mind for a second, and then he came up with the answer.

Even at this time, I am still considering others. I am so kind.

He called Carlos Chan directly, "Brother Carlos, are you ready? Okay, if a hundred tickets aren't enough, buy two hundred, three hundred. Go to the theater a few more times, and we can slowly connect the films as they're taken."

Then he made a second call: "Manager Guan, have you finished processing the machines at the cassette factory? You've worked so hard. Let the workers rest for two days. We can start production in a few days after the films of Project A and Her Majesty's Secret Service are delivered. We can sell them together with the previous batch of pirated videotapes at cost price."

At this stage, Jiahe and Xinyicheng are too strong, and the quality of their cinemas is also better.

Zhai Yuan didn't believe that "A Better Tomorrow" could prevail.

Therefore, in this Lunar New Year game, his tricks were already prepared.

Zhai Yuan made a decision that went against his ancestors. He would start pirating the two films during the midnight preview tonight.

We chose to acquire the cassette factory even if it meant taking out a loan, just to prepare for this situation.

"I told you not to get involved with me, otherwise I will accelerate the death of Hong Kong films. Why do you have to force me?"

Zhai Yuan hung up the phone and sighed helplessly.

Before filming "This Man From Earth", he had already come up with this idea when he was ridiculed by Feng Cuifan at the Freedom Club.

So after acquiring the cassette factory, Zhai Yuan began to plan his own piracy business.

Of course, they didn't dare to be too reckless at the beginning. They asked Chen Jiale to take people to the largest theater, dismantle the camera and then reassemble it inside. With the help of their companions around them, they recorded the images on the screen.

His companions were of course his own people, including the employees of the video hall, as well as his and Liang Zhichao’s relatives and neighbors in the housing estate.

In addition to being reliable, another reason is that these people have little influence. Even if they tell the truth, no one will take it seriously, not to mention that they have no channels to speak out.

Five Lucky Stars, Modern Bodyguard, Modern Yamen, Blood in Blood…

After acquiring Guan Weiming's cassette factory, Zhai Yuan took over all the films that the Freedom Association participated in producing.

During this period, it was inevitable that someone would be caught filming secretly and Chan Ka Lok would run away with the equipment.

Fortunately, there were enough cinemas in Hong Kong and surveillance cameras had not been installed at that time. After half a year of filming, Carlos Chan provided the cassette factory with a total of more than 20 pirated videotapes.

Experience is also accumulating, from the low-quality gun version with shaking lens at the beginning to the stable and clear high-quality gun version today.

Zhai Yuan instructed Guan Weiming to only produce all the pirated cassettes and not sell them.

Now that they have to compete with the two major cinema chains, those tens of thousands of pirated videotapes piled up in the warehouse are finally put to use.

Pirated videotapes of "Project A," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," and his own "A Better Tomorrow" would all flow into the market along with the inventory in the warehouse after the preview began.

Fake goods are mixed with real goods.

The difference is that the quality of the gun version of "A Better Tomorrow" will be very poor, and there may be unexpected situations where the film breaks halfway through the screening in the theater.

Zhai Yuan was not worried about finding out about the cassette factory under Jiuyi, because Guan Weiming had already moved all the machines to the countryside of Yuen Long for production. The cassette factory left in Kowloon was just an empty shell, and visitors were welcome to visit at any time.

"It's a pity that Jiahe and Silver Princess can't let their movies be shown in 1024 theaters. Otherwise, even if they can't pirate copies, at least they can shoot slowly facing the screen."

When establishing the 1024 Theater, Zhai Yuan naively thought that he could directly pirate the film copies sent by the producers for screening.

But the reality is that for every copy sent in, the production company will arrange someone to keep an eye on the projectionist and take the copies away immediately after the screening, leaving him no time to pirate the copies.

It is said that this is the advanced experience that Zhao learned from overseas and brought back to Hong Kong. It seems that he was also harmed by the overseas piracy market in the past.

In this day and age, pirates only target film copies or genuine cassettes released by producers to make money.

Zhai Yuan first introduced the concept of "gun version".

With the help of his dozen or so video halls and Guan Weiming's connections in the cassette rental market, the effectiveness of the gun-version videotapes will be revealed after tonight.

(End of this chapter)