1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 7: Boss Zhai leaves the Immortal Palace at night

In Zhai Yuan's impression, most public cinemas, except for high-end theaters like IMAX and Dolby, are just mediocre.

But when he stepped into the Fairy Palace Theater, he suddenly felt that the theater he had been to before was simply a paradise on earth.

When I opened the heavy curtained door, an unpleasant smell of smoke, sweat and fishy smells hit me in the face.

When I walked through the aisle and into the movie viewing area, the road suddenly became slippery and there were tissues everywhere.

Zhai Yuan had a bad feeling. He looked down at the soles of his shoes and then looked at Liang Zhichao who was accompanying him.

"What's coming from?"

"This is the jet fuel left by the last guest. Just get used to it."

Zhai Yuan suddenly felt unclean.

Liang Zhichao didn't care at all. He held the movie ticket for the super class seat and looked towards the box on the second floor with green eyes.

At the same time, his right hand moved in his trouser pocket, probably to adjust its position.

"Brother Yuan, you still have time to change your ticket, otherwise I'll go upstairs first."

Zhai Yuan waved his hands in disdain.

Liang Zhichao said no more, and used his flying skill to fly on water paper and went straight to the second floor.

Most of the movie tickets in this kind of old-style theaters do not have numbers, and the audience chooses their own seats after entering.

Zhai Yuan looked around and picked a seat closest to the theater entrance.

This way, even if you need to leave early, you don't have to wade through the slippery ground inside.

I am also worried that if I slip and fall, I will probably be so uncomfortable that I won’t be able to eat for a few days.

The reason he came to the cinema, besides being attracted by the title of the film, was more importantly that he wanted to do some market research.

The film industry is Zhai Yuan’s old profession. He thinks that if he wants to make money, it is best to start from something he is familiar with.

Understanding the tastes and reactions of the audiences of this era can help him target the group more precisely.

By the way, let’s see how Lu Zhishen defeated Lin Daiyu.

The curtains were constantly lifted, and the theater was gradually filled with people.

Zhai Yuan noticed that most of the people sitting in the back row were middle-aged men who were concerned about their reputation, and occasionally he could see men and women who looked like a couple.

The audience in the middle field was mostly young people of his age, and there were almost no female spectators.

Sitting in the front row like him were all elderly men, some of whom were wearing reading glasses and staring at the screen intently.

Regardless of age, men’s hobbies are simple and pure.

The movie starts quickly.

The screen lit up and two commercials were broadcast first.

Then the screen suddenly went black and a man's serious voice sounded in the background.

"Government order: Smoking is strictly prohibited in cinemas. Violators will be fined up to HK$5000!"

It seems like an imperial decree to the whole world.

But this warning was met with boos from the audience.

Seven or eight out of ten audience members in the theater took out their cigarette boxes and lit up one after another.

The rising smoke perfectly illustrates what rebellious psychology is.

Seeing this, Zhai Yuan silently picked up a red cigarette.

Sau Mau Ping with one.

There is no dragon logo, no production company, and no FBI WARNING.

The movie starts straight away with a fight scene between men and women, with the actors sweating profusely on the screen.

The crackling sound came from the cheap speakers and was a bit harsh.

The fierce battle ended and both sides adjusted their crowns and belts.

"Thank you for taking me in, Master. I will leave now."

"Could you please leave your name?" "I am Lu Zhishen!"

The actors all spoke Mandarin, so it goes without saying that the movie was produced in Taiwan.

With a full beard, Lu Tingjie, holding a Zen stick in his hand, walked out of the nunnery and left.

The nun leaned against the door to see him off with a loving look in her eyes.

Accompanied by a piece of passionate music, several flamboyant calligraphy characters appeared on the screen.

Lu Zhishen pulls Lin Daiyu down!
"it is good!"

There was thunderous applause in the theater, fully expressing the affirmation of the creator.

What the hell is good about this? There is a literary drama at the beginning of Madou!

Zhai Yuan looked at the applauding audience around him and almost suspected that Lu Zhishen on the screen had just said "Long live the Hydra".

"There's a fight scene right at the beginning, and the movie shown this time is much better than the previous one."

An old man sitting next to him nodded frequently, which answered his doubts.

In this era when the Internet is not yet well developed, the amount of fighting scenes is the only criterion for judging whether a pornographic film is good or not.

"If this quality can satisfy the audience, I can shoot dozens of sets in minutes."

As a young man of the new era who was influenced by Japanese female teachers, Zhai Yuan turned his nose up at the low-quality Category IV films produced in Taiwan.

But he is not considering doing this business for the time being.

Not to mention the cost of filming a movie, the biggest problem is that even if it is made, it will not be marketable.

A genius makes a blockbuster movie, and all major theaters rush to buy it. That's something out of a fairy tale.

As strong as "The Blair Witch Project", which was said to have a cost of 60,000 US dollars, it raked in 200 million at the global box office, but few people know that it spent more than 20 million on advertising in the early stages of its promotion.

Besides, Zhai Yuan couldn't even come up with 60,000 Hong Kong dollars at that time.

So the reality is most likely that Zhai Yuan would collect money on his own to make a low-budget movie, but in the end he couldn't even get into the theater.

Finally, they could only burn it into videotapes and sell it door to door.

and many more!

video tape?
A sudden flash of inspiration came to Zhai Yuan's mind, as if he had grasped something.

“Since there is no market, why don’t I distribute it myself?”

He looked around and saw that the audience in the theater was staring at the screen intently.

At this point, the plot has developed to the scene where Lin Daiyu's family has fallen into poverty and she is bullied by a few little hooligans, and Lu Zhishen descends from the sky to rescue her.

But Zhai Yuan no longer cared about the next role of this wild couple.

Looking at the poor guys in the theater, his thoughts became clearer and clearer.

In addition to wealthy areas such as Central, Sheung Wan and Yau Tsim Mong, Hong Kong also has many other places.

There are more poor areas such as Kwun Tong, Tuen Mun and Sham Shui Po.

An old man named Ma once said that the economic base determines the superstructure.

The nature, changes and development of the superstructure depend on the conditions of the economic base.

Even a dirty and shabby theater like Xiangong can be packed with people whenever it shows a Category IV movie. Doesn't that mean it meets the needs of a large number of poor people with insufficient financial resources?
"Uncle, if there is a theater now, with a smaller venue and a narrower screen, but showing the same Category III movies, and only charging you two or three dollars per show, would you buy a ticket?"

Zhai Yuan turned his head and asked an old man sitting next to him.

The old man glanced at him, then quickly returned his gaze to the screen: "Two or three dollars? The boss is doing charity? Handsome boy, if there is such a good thing, remember to inform me. I can use the money I save to eat fish ball girls at the fish ball stall."

Uncle Ma is not lying to me!
Zhai Yuan stood up suddenly and walked out.

One reason is that he wanted to verify his ideas.

As for the other reason, as the plot of the movie progressed, he heard the old man next to him breathing heavily, and he was afraid that the next action would be the arrival of the tree world.

It is not advisable to stay for long in the hail of bullets.

This is exactly, Lu Zhishen pulls Lin Daiyu down, and Boss Zhai leaves the Immortal Palace at starry night.

(End of this chapter)