1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 196 Two Bridge Kings
Many journalists and film critics were invited to the midnight preview of "God of Gamblers", but of course they were not invited to watch the movie for free.

The day after the preview, various film reviews appeared in newspapers and magazines.

The amount of money that audiences spend on movie tickets each year is limited, and most ordinary families will read film reviews before making a decision to buy tickets. This is the role of film critics, who help audiences screen out movies that are worth spending money on in advance.

Most of the film critics who were invited to attend the preview have a good relationship with 1024. If God of Gamblers is well made, they will certainly be generous with their praise, but if it is bad, they will be more or less reserved in their criticism.

"God of Gamblers" did not give them the opportunity to be polite.

James Wong commented in his column in Ming Pao: 'From Xiao Ma Ge's to Gao Jin, I think I am not done being surprised by Wan Ziliang.'

The entire film review starts with the two movies that Wan Ziliang starred in after joining 91 Entertainment, comparing Xiao Ma Ge and Gao Jin, and believes that Wan Ziliang will shine in the Hong Kong film industry. Finally, it expresses expectations for another movie starring him, "A Better Tomorrow", which is still being filmed.

Shi Qiuyi personally wrote a film review for "Film Biweekly": "Wang Jin was once considered a director who only made jokes and never made a serious movie. Although "Crazy Love" and "Borrowing Seed" were box office hits, their reputation in the industry has declined further. Now that "God of Gamblers" has appeared, all previous prejudices against him will surely be broken."

In this film review, Shi Qiuyi classified "God of Gamblers" as a masculine male film, intending to restore Wang Jin's reputation which was damaged by his previous pornographic films.

But Wang Jin himself has nothing to complain about. No matter how harshly he is criticized in the industry, he can't stop producing films quickly and achieving commercial success.

After filming two pornographic films, I don’t know how many bosses have come to him with money and women to invite him to come out of retirement.

The film review of Oriental Daily News is full of gangster spirit: "When God of Gamblers comes out, who can compete with him! The perfect fusion of action, comedy and suspense, a wonderful all-round movie, an indispensable viewing experience in the summer season."

In addition to these film reviews, Lingxing Tabloid also evaluated the two actresses Lan Juying and Nishixie Michiko.

Zhai Yuan spent some money, and Lan Juying was given the title of "the most beautiful woman in Wutai Mountain" ahead of time, while Nishixie Michiko was happily awarded the title of "Yamaguchi Momoe of the bodybuilding world".

"What's the most beautiful Mount Wutai? If you promote it like this, I will be embarrassed to meet my colleagues at the TV station in the future."

In the office of Jiuyi Entertainment, Lan Jieying gave Zhai Yuan a reproachful look, but her mouth was almost stretched to her ears.

"Isn't it?" Zhai Yuan's eyes were electric, and he said in a bubbling voice: "You are the most beautiful one in my heart."

"Ah!" Lan Jieying rubbed her arms, revealing a cheesy expression: "You are talking about this for no reason. I won't talk to you anymore!"

As he spoke, he walked out in brisk steps.

Chen Lan walked into the office and met Lan Juying face to face.

She closed the door, turned to Zhai Yuan and said, "So it's going so fast? You've made this girl blush."

Zhai Yuan said speechlessly: "Don't use the word 'do'..."

Chen Lan smiled and teased for a few seconds, then put away her smile and said seriously: "The box office of the first preview last night is out. Not counting the VIP theater, the total box office of the four theaters is 32,000 yuan."

The attendance rate was too low, especially in the base camp of 1024. It was mediocre to achieve this result with high-priced tickets.

Zhai Yuan felt that the problem was not that big of a problem. The audience at the first preview would definitely think that it was just another old-fashioned gambling movie. Once the reviews had fermented for a few days and the movie was passed on by word of mouth among fans, the effect would be much better.

"There's an extra show tonight. Don't worry. Midnight shows have few audiences anyway..."

He wanted to say a few more words to comfort Chen Lan, but before he could finish his words, the phone next to him suddenly rang.

Zhai Yuan picked up the phone and a familiar voice came from the other end.

He was the manager of Lianhua Cinemas who had previously invited him to screen "Shaolin Kid" at the 1024 Cinemas.

"Mr. Zhai, this year the Review Committee sent in a supervisor who was not very satisfied with the movie God of Gamblers, so Lianhua Cinemas may not schedule the movie this time. Of course, it has not been finalized yet, and we are also working hard to help you. We are just letting you know in advance so that you can be prepared in advance in case of the worst-case scenario."

After hanging up the phone, Zhai Yuan looked a little unhappy.

Lianhua Cinemas refuses to schedule screenings?

It shouldn’t be!

"Shaolin Kid" has just been released from 1024, and both parties are still in the honeymoon period. How can a director of the review committee suddenly come in and have such great power?
Chen Lan sensed something was wrong and asked, "What happened?"

Zhai Yuan looked up at her, hesitated for a moment and decided not to hide it.

He asked, "There is good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Chen Lan was puzzled and asked, "What's the good news?"

Zhai Yuan said, "You'd better listen to the bad news first. The manager of Lianhua just called and said that there is a high possibility that we will not schedule God of Gamblers for screening this year."

Chen Lan's eyes widened in horror when she heard this. She was already a little nervous about the test screening results, and now hearing this news that made the situation even worse, her heart was in her throat.

Chen Lan calmed herself down and asked, "What about the good news?"

Zhai Yuan sat on the chair and sighed: "I was lying to you. There is no good news."

Seeing Chen Lan's desperate expression, Zhai Yuan couldn't help but frown.

There has to be a reason for the ban. I guess I have to go to Lianhua Cinemas in person tomorrow to find out what's going on.

…………

"Although the last film, A Better Tomorrow, was somewhat violent, it was in line with the value of catching all the bad guys in one fell swoop. However, this time, God of Gamblers promotes gambling ideas, which is too disrespectful to the censorship committee. I think Jiuyi Entertainment should not schedule the film."

Silver Metro Corporation Limited, Clear Water Bay, Sai Kung.

The conference room was filled with smoke.

Powerful figures from Hong Kong and the mainland gathered together, and a bald man in his fifties on the review committee was speaking standard Mandarin, criticizing the movie "God of Gamblers".

"Movies are a means of propaganda. I think Director Mou's "Heroes of Ancient Times Emerge Young" last year was very good. In the future, the censorship committee should use this standard to conduct film censorship. Why do we have to make fashion films? When we watched the Peking Opera Sha Jia Bang, Red Lantern and Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, there were still huge crowds. These themes can be put on the big screen!"

After these words were spoken, the conference room fell silent. The Cantonese man in charge of Hong Kong Films saw that no one spoke, so he took the initiative to speak in Cantonese: "Our film Shaolin Kid was just released on October 1024, and the comrades in the Hong Kong-Malaysia Exchange Office gave it a good evaluation. If we don't schedule a screening for him at this time, it might have a bad impact if word gets out."

The bald man on the review committee was dissatisfied and said, "Your idea is not good. How can you make a movie into a business? Besides, didn't we schedule a screening for A Better Tomorrow for him? The key issue now is that his God of Gamblers is spreading bad values. It's okay to release it, but let him delete the poisonous scenes about gambling in the movie and change the ending to all the gamblers being arrested. In addition, the title of the movie must also be changed. It can't be a name with such a positive image."

The staff in Hong Kong felt their scalps tingling after hearing this. If you ask them to delete the gambling scenes in a gambling movie, how can it still be a full 90 minutes?
More of a helpless feeling.

In the 1960s and 1970s, left-wing film companies were famous for their strict censorship. If a character in the play used a swear word, the entire film would be sent back for re-editing. This also directly led to some film companies that should have been willing to move closer to the left being forced to release their films in other theaters.

Later, with the efforts of a group of filmmakers headed by Mr. Liao, they shouted out the policy of "the subject matter is infinitely broad, spanning thousands of miles, and five thousand years", which opened up a wide range of dramas. Movies such as "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace", "The Last Emperor", and "Shaolin Temple" were released one after another.

He even invited the retired actress Xia Meng to come out of retirement and establish Blue Bird Pictures, where he and Ann Hui produced "Boat Man". Although the film was banned in Taiwan and the mainland, it received rave reviews in Hong Kong and became the second best film in Hong Kong's film history.

"It seems that the new director of the Review Committee does not understand the situation in Hong Kong."

After listening to the bald man's eloquent speech, the local staff looked at each other in bewilderment.

The Freedom Federation has already magnified it, but the Review Committee does not want to win over local film companies to expand the film source, but instead wants to further tighten the review. It is really hard to understand.

There was a brief silence in the conference room.

Seeing this, the bald uncle on the review committee took a sip from his thermos cup and said with a smile: "Hey! Don't let me speak alone, everyone should also express their opinions."

The practitioners in Hong Kong remained silent and turned their eyes to an older female colleague next to them.

"Sister Meng, what should we do now?"

The 51-year-old Xia Meng is no longer as young and beautiful as she used to be, but she has become more graceful and elegant.

The former Great Wall Princess now serves as the representative of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles of the Left Federation.

After watching the copy of "God of Gamblers" that Jiuyi Entertainment sent for review, Xia Meng did not say a word during the entire meeting, just lowered his head and wrote something.

When she heard the question from her colleague, she raised her head, slowly put down the pen in her hand, picked up the letter she had just written and dusted it.

"Since everyone is arguing, I think there is no need to continue. I will summarize the opinions of both sides in this letter, and later make two copies. One will be sent to the comrades in the Hong Kong-Malaysia Exchange Office, and the other will be sent to Yanjing for the leaders to decide."

After Xia Meng finished speaking, she looked up at the bald man who looked stunned, and said with a smile: "Manager Li, you may not know this because you just came to Hong Kong. The Silver Capital Organization you are working in has been in a rough-finished office since it was built in 1982. We have been unable to raise funds for renovation, and everyone has been working in a rough-finished office. Last year, Shuangnan Line received several million Hong Kong dollars from the profit from A Better Tomorrow, and we finally solved this problem. The chair you are sitting on and the floor tiles you are standing on were purchased with this money."

"Also, next month I plan to release a patriotic film called Like Water Flowing Years. Pearl River Film Studio has limited funds, and they originally planned to go to the bank for a loan. Later, the profit from A Better Tomorrow solved the urgent problem."

Xia Meng paused here, looked at his colleagues, and asked, "I heard that Zhai Yuan from Jiuyi Entertainment is a famous idea thinker in the film industry, and is particularly good at screenwriting and composing music?"

Colleagues in Hong Kong were impressed by Zhai Yuan and had done a background check on him long ago. From "The Blind Girl's Lost Virginity Files" to the current "God of Gamblers", including several songs he wrote for Zhang Guorong, all were recorded.

Someone echoed: "That's right, Zhai Yuan can indeed be called the bridge king of the film industry."

Xia Meng nodded and said, "I originally wanted to ask a Japanese musician to compose the theme song for my film Like Water Flowing Years, but since we mentioned Zhai Yuan today, maybe we can let this Bridge King help us think of a solution first?"

In the conference room, practitioners from Hong Kong and the Mainland spoke out in support.

The bald manager Li who was parachuted in was left alone, looking a little embarrassed.

We were originally going to criticize the movie God of Gamblers, but why are people suddenly praising the film's boss?
"Sister Meng, I'll help you contact Zhai Yuan."

A lazy middle-aged man stood up from the meeting seat, yawning.

He raised his hand towards Xia Meng and smiled, "My friends around me have been telling me about this young man recently, saying that he does things in the style that I did when I was young. This is a good opportunity to see him in person."

"Okay, he happens to be the bridge king of the film industry, and you are the bridge king of Hong Kong's business community. Let's see if the new generation is really replacing the old generation."

Xia Meng glanced at the man who volunteered, smiled amiably, and then turned to introduce the parachuted supervisor of the Review Committee: "This is Mr. Ye Zhiming, the former boss of Lianhua Cinema Line and Colorful Pictures, and now a consultant for Shuangnan Line."

Before Ye Zhiming appeared, Lianhua Cinema Line was called Shuangnan Cinema Line.

At that time, the most popular cinema chains in Hong Kong were Zhao's, Jiahe and Silver Princess.

In 1979, Yip Chi-ming, the boss of Colorful Pictures, organized a cinema chain, using the Shuangnan Cinema Chain on the left as the backbone, and combining it with Far East Organization's Kuo Hwa, Waldo, Fanling, Yuen Long and other theaters to form the current Lianhua Cinema Chain.

But less than two years later, Ye Zhiming sold all his cinema chains and shares in Colorful Pictures to Far East's Qiu Degen and Jianing's Chen Songqing, and exited the market in disgrace.

The reason for the liquidation was very simple. Although the cinema chain formed by Lianhua's 18 theaters was huge, it had no film supply to replenish its resources and was unable to make ends meet.

Ye Zhiming's Colorful Pictures and Zhai Yuan's Jiuyi Entertainment follow the same path, acquiring theaters and integrating production and screening.

Unfortunately, he underestimated the complexity of film production and spread his business too wide at the beginning. In more than a year, Colorful Pictures only produced movies such as "Jumping Ashes", "Dream of Heaven" and "Informer", totaling less than ten films, with varying quality. The output of films could not support the screening volume of the 18-theater chain.

When Lianhua Cinemas was in the most difficult time, left-wing film companies such as Xia Meng had provided film sources to Ye Zhiming. Although the result did not change, to this day, even though Ye Zhiming has retired from the film industry, he still serves as a consultant for Shuangnan Line, using his connections to help left-wing film companies raise funds and recruit screenwriters and directors.

"Manager Li, the current situation in Hong Kong is somewhat different from above. The entertainment and cultural affairs here are relatively open..."

Ye Zhiming looked at the parachuted supervisor of the review committee, said a few words carefully, and finally waved his hand as if he was annoyed: "Forget it, I am a nobody now, and there is no point in saying these things. It is more important to help Sister Meng get the movie theme song."

After saying this, without even looking at the expressions of the review committee, he said "I'll go first" to a few familiar faces and walked out.

Xia Meng also stood up: "Manager Li, if there is nothing else, let's end today's meeting here. I also have work to deal with in the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. As for whether "God of Gamblers" can be released, I think we have to wait for the opinions from above before making a decision."

As soon as she said goodbye and left, there was a sound of tables and chairs creaking, and all the staff on the left side of Xiangjiang stood up and said goodbye.

Together with a group of practitioners who came from the mainland to work.

In the huge conference room, in a blink of an eye, only a few people from the review committee were left, looking at each other in bewilderment.

(End of this chapter)