1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 313 Cholera
The whole month of June was spent in a carefree manner.

July.

The 1024 financial report was released, and the continuously declining curve graph made a group of managers smug.

Losses across the board.

At that time, the monthly expenses of a cinema, including electricity bills, would reach millions of Hong Kong dollars.

In May and June, under the impact of the New Treasure Cinema Line, Jiuyi Entertainment and its affiliated film companies had little output. Relying on the audience cohesion of membership cards, the revenue barely broke even with the expenses. However, considering the hidden expenses such as machine wear and tear, manpower and time costs, the business in these two months can be described as bleak.

"Small things."

"Little things?"

"Small things."

At the monthly summary meeting, the management all had expressions of "this is truly a critical moment for survival", but Zhai Yuan seemed very calm.

"Have you seen our company's 'Number One Under Heaven'? Stephen Chow's performance as Cheng Shifei, who unleashes the indestructible power of Vajra, is a highlight for him. With New Treasure Cinemas putting up such a big show, it must have been a stage victory."

Zhai Yuan smiled and gave an example, then said: "It's a pity that the King Kong Indestructible Magic Skill can't last long. The publicity and enthusiasm of Xinbao Cinema Line in the early stage has almost subsided. It won't be too late for everyone to compete again in the summer season in July."

Since the boss is not afraid of losing money, there is naturally no need for employees to worry.

Zhai Yuan flipped through the records in his hand and asked without looking up, "Has the editing of 'The Sex and the Bride' been completed?"

Huang Boming responded, "There's still some work left to do for Wu Dairong and Akasaka Rei's dubbing. It will take at most three days to finish."

"There's also a sequel to your 'Happy Ghost' stored in the warehouse?"

"Yes, Mr. Zhai."

Zhai Yuan nodded and called the head of the publicity department, "First, release 'The Sex and Zen' and 'Happy Ghost' in July. Then, stagger the release of Wu Yusen's 'Across the World' in August. Do enough publicity and promotion, and also find out what films New Treasure Cinema Line has in store for this summer."

"Jiahe has a film called 'Zombie Family' coming out this month. It's produced by Hong Xinbao, directed by Liu Guanwei, stars Yuen Biao and Zhong Fat, and Formosa has a newcomer named Wang Zuxian as the female lead. Their main cast started promoting it on TV shows last month."

There is no need to go outside to collect information, as the housekeeper Shi Nansheng has already introduced the rival film with familiarity.

Zhai Yuan frowned unhappily upon hearing this.

Zombie Family

Hong Xinbao, this fat nephew, is so unrefined. Why is he following the trend of my original work "Mr. Zombie"?

However, if Lam Ching-ying and Moon Lee were replaced by Chung Fat and Joey Wong, the film would no longer have much flavor, at least in Zhai Yuan's mind.

Zhai Yuan thought for a moment and ordered, "Buy some press releases. Use some sarcasm to say that the great Jiahe is following our trend and making zombie films. Then show some photos of Lin Zhengying and Zhong Fat to compare them. Zhong Fat's photos are as shifty as they can be, while Brother Ying's photos are as righteous as they can be. Tell everyone that the orthodox zombie film industry lies with 91."

"Does this make us look too stingy?"

"Am I ever known to be generous?" Zhai Yuan rolled his eyes at the publicity director who spoke awkwardly, and continued, "It's only natural for a master's uncle to teach his nephew a lesson. If I find them using the concept of 'Maoshan Taoist priests' in their movie, Old Shen will directly sue Jiahe and Xinbao for infringing on our intellectual property rights!"

Shen Wei, who was sitting in the corner, raised his hand: "Got it~"

Although Shangqing Maoshan in the mainland was criticized by Marshal Peng during the Anti-Japanese War.

But the Maoshan Taoist priest in the movie "Mr. Vampire" is indeed an original image, so there is no need to worry about the negative influence of the other party.

The attire of the black tile-beam scarf and the yellow-green double-breasted robe is actually borrowed from the Buddhist monks and nuns in the Cantonese folk, commonly known as the incense and flower monks, or the Nanm Lao or Nanm Master.

Although the hand gestures used by Lin Zhengying to perform rituals and exorcise ghosts in the movie are fabricated, they can actually be traced back to their prototypes. Like the fortune-teller, they are all witch doctors in the underworld.

After the release of "Mr. Vampire" in Hong Kong, a group of people in Hong Kong's religious circles raised a new view, believing that Zhai Yuan borrowed from "The Eternal Sustainability of the Taoist Tradition," which was once circulated in the northern New Territories. It states: "Whether they practice the art of worshipping yellow-capped feathered shamans, or worshipping the stars, or performing rituals at Maoshan, or setting up rituals to exorcise evil spirits, all these shamans revere Laojun as the master of Taoism."

However, no matter how much folk customs this movie borrows from, the copyright of Lin Zhengying's "Maoshan Taoist Priest", a super-stitched image that is a combination of monk, Taoist and witch, is now actually in the hands of 91 Entertainment, and has also spawned authentic action figures.

He can be called the Mickey Mouse of Jiuyi Entertainment.

"In addition to "Zombie Family", Xinbao and Jiahe will also screen "Royal Sister" during the summer. Curly Cen Jianxun co-produced it with China Film Corporation, and the director is Jiahe's Yuan Kui."

After discussing the copyright issue, Shi Nansheng continued to introduce the situation of his opponent to Zhai Yuan.

Zhai Yuan asked curiously, "Who will be the female lead in this play?"

Shi Nansheng said: "Hu Huizhong."

Zhai Yuan nodded in understanding. The butterfly effect was quite serious. Without the financial sponsor Pan Disheng, Yang Ziqiong would not have been able to make her debut in the film industry.

Thinking of this, he looked to the man on his left: "Brother Min, hasn't Wang Jin finished filming his previous movie, "Police Story," for a long time?"

Fat Wang was out of Hong Kong at the time, so his photographer, Jiang Guomin, answered on his behalf, "Yes, Mr. Zhai. We originally wanted to release it during the Lunar New Year holiday last year, but God of Gamblers 2 and Mr. Vampire were so popular that we were afraid of undermining our own performance, so we held it back until now."

Zhai Yuan nodded and said with a smile: "Then bring out "Police Story" and compete with "Royal Sister" in August."

Theater manager Qian Maosheng frowned and asked, "Four movies showing in two months of summer vacation? Isn't it too full?"

"No, there are many theaters in 1024 now, and it may not be two months, so our own theater chain can show the movie on the screen for a longer period of time."

"'Purple Angels,' 'Happy Ghost 2,' 'Once Upon a Time in China,' and 'Police Story of Empresses in the Palace' are all good quality films. I'm just worried that if they're all released at once, there won't be any better films until the Lunar New Year holiday, which could leave audiences disappointed."

Zhai Yuan smiled indifferently: "Now we are going to go to war with Xinbao, so of course we will fire as many bullets as we can. We can talk about what happens next later."

Shi Nansheng explained to Qian Maosheng, "Mr. Zhai has already asked Liu Zhenwei to start filming the second episode of 'Mr. Vampire,' and several other film companies have also started work. There's really no need to worry about film sources."

After that, he turned around and continued to report to Zhai Yuan: "In addition, the last comedy film in the summer season of Xinbao Cinema Line is imported from Taiwan, "The Confused Thief Little Thief" produced by Asia Pacific Film Company."

Zhai Yuan had no impression of this play, but since it was a local film from Taiwan, it couldn't be much better.

After all, it was not until the 1970s that Li Hanxiang brought Hong Kong film technology to Taiwan. In just over a decade, there was a period of martial law and the island was removed from the United Nations. In order to stabilize the people's hearts, Taiwan's eight major film producers, led by China Film Group, only supported the production of films with political propaganda themes. Even if there were talented people on the island, they could not produce anything good.

It was not until the end of martial law that great directors such as Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien began to emerge.

What is the general situation of Formosa Films at this time?

To give an example from a few years ago, before the Yiqing Project, the Xu family of Xinji fled to Taiwan. As a martial artist with a triad background, Xu Jiaqiang remained unknown, and his acting skills were even more patchy. Later, because he played the principal of an army school in a military education film, he was not only praised by the navy, army, and air force, but he also almost won the Best Actor award.

It's rotten.

"Come on, let's wrap up. Anyway, this summer, Xinbao Cinemas has three movies coming out, and we at 1024 have four."

Zhai Yuan made a gesture of three with one hand and four with the other, with a confident smile on his face: "Three to four, the advantage is on my side, all units take action, the meeting is adjourned!"

The crowd got up and left the conference room.

Shi Nansheng stayed and said to Zhai Yuan, "Sister Wang asked me to apologize to you yesterday. She can't participate in Xu Anhua's film "A Woman at 40."

Zhai Yuan asked, "Sister, are you unwilling to sign a letter of repentance?"

"That's one reason. She also has to stay in mainland China for charity performances until National Day in October, so her schedule isn't tight."

Shi Nansheng continued, "Besides, with her current status, I'm afraid just signing a letter of repentance wouldn't be enough. The impact would be greater than others, so she had no choice but to give up on this play. Actually, she's read the script and is quite interested."

Zhai Yuan nodded: "It is indeed not well thought out... How about Xiao Fangfang?"

Shi Nansheng thought for a moment and said, "I'll ask Sister Ya to contact her." "OK!"

……

In the next few days, the four films that will be released on October 1024th will begin to promote and build momentum.

On the posters of "The Sex and Zen" posted on the streets, Akasaka Rei, dressed in ancient costume, is full of charm, wrapped in a light gauze and galloping on a horse.

Although the production cost was only five million, the accompanying text clearly reads:

Adapted from a traditional Chinese classical storybook, Sanhe Film Company invested tens of millions of yuan in this film. With the participation of Akasaka Rei, the leading actress of Japanese Nikkatsu films, we are creating Hong Kong's first top-notch Category III film. It will be released in the summer, so stay tuned.

The pornographic movie fans who had been looking forward to it since May were moved to tears. Finally, they got the pornographic movie of 1024. After being spoiled by the previous excellent movies, they couldn't even raise their heads to watch the shoddy third-level movies made by other companies.

The day the poster was hung.

The Education Department, the Film and Television Department, together with other units, jointly issued Chapter 382 of the Hong Kong Laws, the Film Censorship Ordinance.

A rating system was formally established, dividing all films into three levels: I, IIA and IIB, III.

The three films "Happy Ghost 2", "Police Story" and "Along the Way" were all rated IIA movies because the plots in which the Happy Girls and the Police Girls dabbled in sexual activities, and the gunfights between Wan Ziliang and Zhang Guorong, were classified as not suitable for children.

Movies that are about to be released in Hong Kong have also begun self-examination, trying to delete as much foul language and violent scenes as possible in the films to avoid losing young audiences.

Seeing this, the film producers who had always used violence and blood as gimmicks also took in similar films that they had prepared long ago for ratings and review.

In the long run, the promulgation of this law means that Hong Kong films have officially entered an era of mass production with a hundred flowers blooming.

……

The film promotion is in full swing.

Several news media outlets came out and secretly satirized Jiahe's "Zombie Family", accusing it of plagiarizing Jiuyi Entertainment's "Mr. Zombie".

Hong Xinbao was overwhelmed after seeing the news and wanted to talk to Zhai Yuan, but the other party refused to even answer the phone.

Shi Nansheng smiled and said, "It's all just the media making up stories. Mr. Zhai and I are completely unaware of this. Besides, it's normal to follow the trend. Brother Hong, go ahead and release that zombie movie."

Hong Xinbao is gone.

Zhai Yuan stood by the window upstairs, watching his fat nephew's back as he walked away, grinning.

He retracted his gaze and turned to look at Liu Zhenwei and Xu Qi: "What about the second episode of Mr. Zombie? Who of you will be the director?"

Xu Qi said: "Ah Wei and I have discussed that we will split the filming into two groups so that the progress can be faster. I will shoot the parts that require computer special effects and send them to New Vision Production as soon as they are finished. I will let Ah Wei polish the rest."

Liu Zhenwei nodded in agreement.

Zhai Yuan hummed, then teased with a smile, "Okay, when the director names both of you, do we need to prioritize them?"

"Ah Xu, 10,000 yuan to put your name on the front."

"Ten thousand? Will you give it to me?"

The two directors joked with each other and didn't seem to care about this.

In general, Jiuyi is still centered around producer Zhai Yuan, and everyone gets along more easily.

Just like Jiahe and the previous Xinyicheng, each of them operates independently, and even brothers Chen Shilon and Hong Xinbao sometimes have conflicts.

"There are four movies released during the summer season, so there must be at least two movies released during the Lunar New Year season."

Zhai Yuan thought about it and decided that now that his own theater was expanding, the production output also needed to be increased.

So he called Huang Boming and others in and said to the main creative team, "Everyone, please help discuss the script for the second episode of "Mr. Vampire". I have a few more stories to come up with, and we will choose one to be the backup for the Lunar New Year holiday."

Now that Zhai Yuan has some dirty money, he has become much lazier due to being corrupted, and no longer writes scripts by himself like before.

However, collective creation also has its advantages. Once the brainstorming session begins, various creative ideas will emerge from the collision of inspirations.

Zhai Yuan was in charge of overall planning, while the others were talking at the same time.

The script for the second episode of "Mr. Vampire" started with a rough outline and gradually became flesh and blood...

…………

7 month 9 number.

Jiahe and Xinbao Cinemas have officially started the midnight preview of "Vampire Family".

I don’t know if it’s Hong Xinbao himself, the producer behind him, or the Freedom Federation that’s making the effort.

The reputation of this follow-up work has taken a turn for the better in the past two days.

In the news media, a force has been writing articles mocking 1024 for its declining performance and lack of ambition, and instead using the method of making false accusations to discredit "Zombie Family".

Then there was another long speech analyzing the differences between the two movies and promoting "Zombie Family".

"Okay, okay. I was feeling sorry for my fat nephew, but now my psychological burden is much lighter."

Zhai Yuan saw the ridicule of 1024 in the newspaper and chuckled, "Hey, someone, go get a group to watch tonight's midnight showing of 'Mr. Vampire' and find all the similarities between it and 'Mr. Vampire'. Save them for future lawsuits."

After giving the order,

1024 Cinemas followed closely behind.

On the same day, the midnight show of "Sex and the Bride" was screened, directly competing with Jiahe and Xinbao.

This night.

The three major cinema chains are packed with people.

Judging from the statistics from the midnight game, the two sides were evenly matched.

But in terms of volume, "Sex and Zen" is obviously better. After all, the midnight show is mostly attended by adult audiences, and Akasaka Rei's image in the play has aroused a lot of discussion among the pornographic actors.

Several shows were played in a row.

The midnight show whetted the audience's appetite.

7 month 12 day.

"Vampire Diaries" and "Sex and Zen" were announced to be released on the same day.

Just as the audience was getting ready to buy tickets to enter.

On July 7, the abnormal changes escalated sharply.

The Medical and Health Department announced a major news release: Since the beginning of summer, cholera has broken out in Hong Kong, with over 30 cases reported. The Department of Health officially declared Hong Kong an epidemic area today. The Urban Services Department and police will also launch a crackdown on unlicensed cooked food hawkers. Citizens are urged to get the cholera vaccine as soon as possible at vaccination stations in all districts and to avoid travel as much as possible.

(End of this chapter)