1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 226

Throughout December, the movie scene that left a lasting impression on the audience was undoubtedly the scene in "Wushuang" where Wan Ziliang was dressed in white, holding two submachine guns and firing wildly.

But if we talk about classic lines, just add up the three films "The Greatest Show", "Merry Christmas" and "The Owl and Dumbo".

It is not as good as this sentence:
The horses continue to run and the dances continue to be performed.

The joint statement drafted in September was finally formally signed this month.

Just six words, and world-famous.

The outside public opinion did not affect the attendance rate of the 1024 theater.

As the last month of the Gregorian calendar of 1984 comes to an end.

Time came to 1985.

Without the support of big money sponsor Dickson Pan in terms of publicity and promotion, "The Owl and the Elephant" was withdrawn from theaters on January 1 after only 9 days of release, with a domestic box office of over 20 million.

The production cost of this plot-oriented movie is not high. Hong Xinbao directed and starred in the movie himself, and Hu Huizhong, Lin Zhixiang and Yip Dexian only received a friendly price. Overall, Hong Xinbao's movie is enough to recoup the cost in the local market alone, and the rest of the box office in other places is pure profit.

On January 1, New One City's "Merry Christmas" also couldn't hold on and announced it would be withdrawn from production.

Riding on the popularity of Christmas, the film easily broke through the 26 million mark at the domestic box office after days of release, and finally settled at more than million, overshadowing the summer blockbuster "Shaolin Kid".

at the same time.

It has been 38 days since the release of "Wushuang", and there is still no sign of it being withdrawn.

Looking at the statistics from film magazines this year, there are only a few films that can be shown in theaters for more than two weeks, and there are even fewer films that can be shown for more than 20 days.

The owners of Lianhua Cinema Line and several independent theaters outside have already regarded the movies produced by Jiuyi Entertainment as their golden signboards and earned enough commission from them.

"Wan Ziliang's salary has been raised to one million now, but if you are the boss and the producer and screenwriter, someone will be willing to pay five million."

In the office of Jiuyi Entertainment, Wu Yusen looked at today's box office report and smiled.

In 38 days, the box office of "Wushuang" has reached more than million, and it is now certain to break the million mark.

This means that this movie will become the first movie in Hong Kong film history to have a box office of over 30 million.

Breaking all the records in the film industry in the past few decades!
Zhai Yuan asked the theater manager who was reporting to the side: "Based on the current situation, how long will it take to get the whole movie off the shelves?"

The theater manager said uncertainly, "It should be able to show the movie for about ten days."

"It won't last more than ten days. Once we resume work on Monday, the number of moviegoers will drop significantly. The current curve is stable and will not increase. We need to prepare in advance to collect copies from independent theaters. We will first preview it in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand at the end of the month to grab a Lunar New Year slot. Japan and South Korea still need to avoid the limelight of "Fast Food Trucks". It would be best if it can be released during the summer vacation next year. As for North America, I have already contacted Walt Disney, the distributor of the first episode of "A Better Tomorrow". If the performance in Asia is good, they will continue to provide theater cooperation for "Warriors"."

As soon as the theater manager finished speaking, a resolute voice came from outside.

With a detailed market analysis, Shi Nansheng pushed the door open and smiled at Zhai Yuan and others who were stunned in the office:
"Long time no see, everyone. Happy New Year."

Zhai Yuan looked at Shi Nansheng with a confident smile on his face and was so moved that tears almost fell.

Why did you come back just now!

He picked up the pile of documents on the desk and stuffed them all into Shi Nansheng's arms: "Military Advisor! I miss you so much!"

…………

Wang Jin of later generations has been working in the Hong Kong film industry for many years and has a very keen sense of the film market.

He mentioned in an interview that after a movie is released, he can estimate the box office performance in advance, with an error of only about 25%.

In the mid-1980s, Shi Nansheng had already done better than him in this area.

As soon as the housekeeper returned to the company, the messy business that had piled up towards the end of the year instantly became orderly.

Everything was pretty much as Shi Nansheng expected.

After citizens resumed work on Monday, the box office trend of "Wushuang" began to decline continuously and finally ran out of stamina.

After taking back the screening slots from Lianhua and independent theaters, 1024 theaters held on for a few more days before finally announcing that all movies would be withdrawn from theaters.

As the screening ended, domestic box office data was quickly compiled.

"Wushuang" was released for 47 days and accumulated more than 3200 million Hong Kong dollars.

The total box office broke the record in Hong Kong film history.

The total number of moviegoers was 187 million, second only to "Best Partner" released in 1982.

Movie Biweekly commented: "From today on, Zhai Yuan and his 91 Entertainment's only competitor is themselves."

…………

Another Spring Festival is approaching.

Just after February, copies of "Wushuang" were sent to theaters in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. With the title of Hong Kong box office champion, it continued to dominate the New Year box office in other places.

In a private room of a Central restaurant.

Zhai Yuan, Shi Nansheng, Xu Qi, Wu Yusen and Wang Jin gathered together.

Upon hearing that Wu Yusen had become the highest-grossing director in Hong Kong film history, Xu Qi raised his glass and congratulated him.

Wu Yusen asked: "How do you feel about going to America this time, Ah Xu?"

Xu Qi said: "The post-production of "The Invisible Woman" has been completed. I was in charge of the whole process and I am not very satisfied with the studio system there. The power is concentrated in the hands of the producer. Big-name actors can also modify the script. Everyone from the director to the backstage has to give in to them."

Zhai Yuan lowered his head and smiled. Now Hollywood is indeed continuing the production model with the producer-centered system as the backstage and the star-centered system as the frontstage.

But if the director's brand is bright enough, it will become a trinity structure of producer + director + star.

The bottom line is that Xu Qi, a director from Hong Kong, is not taken seriously by Hollywood.

In the current Hong Kong film industry, the director is still the real boss on the set, followed by the screenwriter. Things like American stars modifying the script would never happen.

After Xu Qi finished explaining this to Wu Yusen, the latter also felt that his worldview had been overturned.

He couldn't imagine it no matter how hard he tried, and Wan Ziliang dared to say to himself: Director, this scene should be shot like this.

Wang Jin also laughed and said, "An actor changed the script? It's okay if I tell him. At most I'll scold him. But my father has a disciple named Johnnie To who can criticize this actor's ancestors for generations."

Wu Yusen nodded in agreement and said, "It's easy for screenwriters like Gu Long, Qiu Gangjian, and Zhang Ailing to ban an actor."

Shi Nansheng laughed and joked, "Unless this female star is Mr. Zhai's girlfriend, I heard that the boss has been very close to Lan Juying and Zhong Chuhong recently, so you better be careful not to offend them."

Zhai Yuan didn't expect that his eating of melons would be affected by the war. He smiled shyly and said, "You have been in America for too long. Don't believe the rumors."

Wang Jin and Wu Yusen let out a series of meaningless laughs.

After three rounds of drinking.

Zhai Yuan asked Xu Kui, "How is the film "The Invisible Woman" going?" Xu Kui replied, "When we left America, the post-production of "The Invisible Woman" had been completed. Walt Disney planned to release it around Valentine's Day to compete with MGM's new film."

Zhai Yuan asked: "What is MGM's new film?"

Xu Qi said: "The title of the film is "The Terminator."

Shi Nansheng knew that the boss's English was very poor, so he took the initiative to add: "The translation is called "Terminator", and the lead actor is a small actor named Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is not of the same level as Michelle Pfeiffer. This time, "Invisible Woman" has a great chance of winning."

After listening to this, Zhai Yuan silently lit a cigarette.

Future Soldier? Terminator!
Arnold Schwarzenegger? Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Not as big as Michelle Pfeiffer? Never mind, just be happy.

Zhai Yuan felt that Disney thought too highly of "The Invisible Woman". Not to mention that the script was written by Leigh Whannell, even if they took out "Saw", the movie that he and James Wan did their best, it would never be able to beat "The Terminator" in the same era.

Xu Qi smiled noncommittally and said calmly, "American producers are indeed rich. I heard that the new director named James Cameron was directing for the first time, but he was able to attract more than 6 million US dollars in investment."

Zhai Yuan took a deep puff of cigarette and slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke.

New director James Cameron? Soon you'll have to call him God of Cards...

…………

The Lunar New Year box office battle in Hong Kong has just come to an end.

A box office war also broke out in North America.

Paramount's "Beverly Hills Cop" cost $1300 million to produce and was released in mid-December. It was still in theaters in February, and its box office in North America alone had exceeded $12 million.

In contrast, Disney and MGM each hired new directors to shoot "The Invisible Woman" and "The Terminator", which were also released simultaneously in February.

The Invisible Woman

Production company: Walt Disney Pictures and 91 Entertainment (Hongkong)

Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer

Investment: US$550 million

Distribution: Bowei International

American film investment is very interesting. The production cost of "The Invisible Woman" was more than 5 million US dollars. Zhai Yuan's Jiuyi Entertainment contributed one-fifth of the funds, and Disney's production company contributed one-fifth of the funds. However, this money was not invested in the movie. Instead, the money was used to purchase completion guarantee insurance from an insurance company, and then the insurance company injected funds to complete the entire filming. If the filming is not completed on schedule, the corresponding amount of loss compensation will be required. The insurance company will collect the principal and corresponding handling fees from the box office surplus.

As Hollywood became increasingly prosperous, insurance companies launched various film insurance products to compete with bank loans for customers.

Another movie released by MGM to compete with Disney was called "The Terminator".

Production company: MGM and Handel Films
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Investment: US$650 million

Release theater: Orion Pictures
It’s a pity that neither of the two films was released in Hong Kong. As the year was coming to an end, Zhai Yuan was too lazy to go to America.

In the office of Jiuyi Entertainment.

Zhai Yuan asked Shi Nansheng: "Now that the screening in America has ended, can "The Invisible Woman" be screened in Hong Kong?"

Shi Nansheng nodded and said yes: "That movie is well made and should do well in Hong Kong. I suggest waiting until the summer to release it."

"The Invisible Woman" is similar to "Blade Runner" which was co-produced by Zhao and the United States. It is considered a Hong Kong movie in the local market and its box office can be included in the promotional data of 91 Entertainment.

Zhai Yuan called the manager of the publicity department into his office and instructed him, “After the North American box office statistics for The Invisible Woman are released, we can start promoting it in Hong Kong in advance and tell the audience outside that the Sino-US co-production The Invisible Woman will be officially released in the second half of this year…”

After sending the publicity manager away, Zhai Yuan turned to ask Shi Nansheng: "I haven't seen Xu Qi recently. Where has he gone?"

Shi Nansheng smiled and said, "Boss, although you are not nervous, Ah Xu is still a little worried. He flew to North America to watch the premiere of his movie and to see the Terminator."

Zhai Yuan grinned and thought to himself, it's not that I'm not nervous, I just lie down and admit defeat.

I hope your husband Xu Qi's mental state can be better, and he won't be so depressed that he suffers from Yu Yu syndrome like me.

…………

America.

Xu Qi walked out of the airport lobby in high spirits.

He did not contact any crew members, ate a few bites at a nearby fast food restaurant, and then took a car with a clear destination to the cinema of Disney's Buena Vista International Cinemas.

Thanks to the reputation brought by the old film company Disney and the new popular actress Michelle Pfeiffer, the premiere of "The Invisible Woman" was quite popular.

Even though Xu Qi walked into a movie theater owned by Bowei in the suburbs, the attendance rate was still very high, and he could only buy a seat in the corner of the back row.

Xu Qi was in high spirits and felt that this trip was unnecessary.

Just looking at the current grand scene in theaters, why should "Terminator" released by MGM compete?

When he was not in Hong Kong, his good brother Wu Yusen quietly broke the historical box office record. Xu Qi thought that after he got a great result in America, he would see how he could show off in front of him.

"The number of audiences in the United States alone far exceeds that of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Maybe this time, "The Invisible Woman" will be able to make over 100 million yuan at the box office, just like "Beverly Hills Cop."

Once upon a time, the confident thoughts he had when filming "New Shushan Swordsman" came into Xu Qi's mind again.

He took a quick glance at the audience in the theater and found that more than half of them were women, which was also the method used by Michelle Pfeiffer's agency in publicity and promotion.

"The Terminator" stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the hero, while "The Invisible Woman" stars Michelle Pfeiffer as the heroine.

A clash between male and female rights in the American film market.

The movie started quickly and ended quickly.

Xu Qi was very satisfied with the reaction of the audience in the cinema, especially the housewives who came in because of the feminist propaganda. When they saw the male protagonist was killed by Michelle Pfeiffer who was wearing an invisible cloak and had his throat slit, the theater burst into cheers.

The original author of the script, Leigh Whannell, was James Wan's personal screenwriter in the early days. He was very popular among investors because of his low cost and high return.

Zhai Yuan brought the script to this era, and because of its low budget, it was noticed by Michelle Pfeiffer's team.

The whole movie is almost a one-woman show of Michelle Pfeiffer. The roles of the male lead, the supporting actress, and the extras combined are not as great as hers. All the funds for the movie were spent on special effects, and even the special effects were mainly made with low-cost props and supplemented by computer production.

The concept of invisibility sounds very high-tech, but when applied to this movie, the male protagonist just puts on an invisible cloak, and Xu Qi only needs to shoot at the air. The special effects are all supported by the director's camera language and the actors' acting skills without props.

"We won! I have never seen such a jubilant scene in a theater in Hong Kong!"

Although the cheers from the female audiences in the cinema made Xu Qi, as a man, a little nervous, he felt more excited.

Based on this feedback alone, the play has already won a great victory in his heart.

It surpasses all the films he has directed before.

"We still have time. Why don't we go to the theater next door and watch Terminator? It seems that there is no need for that. Can a new director or actor still make a big splash?"

(End of this chapter)