Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 401 Unable to Resist Temptation
Hong Kong's film market has begun to decline after reaching its peak!

However, Hong Kong cinema has its own unique heritage, and it will take time for it to fade away.

"Police Story 4: First Strike is another Lunar New Year film starring Jack Cheng!"

In his villa in Repulse Bay, Aaron leaned back on the sofa, flipping through the newspaper in his hand. Jack Cheng's film was currently showing in Hong Kong and was a huge hit.

"Yes, after a month in theaters, the box office has already exceeded HK$3500 million, and the momentum shows no signs of slowing down!"

Wang Zhuxian, standing nearby, spoke up, "Golden Harvest's latest production, *Police Story 4: First Strike*, has an international flavor."

"The director is the same director as 'Rumble in the Bronx,' and the filming locations included Australia, Ukraine, and Russia. Many foreign actors were also cast."

Aaron nodded. "New Line Cinema in Hollywood is in charge of North American distribution, so they must have their reasons."

Previously, after Dawn Capital invested in and succeeded with "Rumble in the Bronx", it also released two of Jack Cheng's older films, "Project Eagle" and "Super Cop", which were also released in North America and earned more than ten million US dollars at the box office.

New Line Cinema had previously distributed Golden Harvest's live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, which was a success, and then purchased several more Jack Cheng films from Golden Harvest!

"Next, Golden Harvest will travel to Australia with Jack Cheng to film their new movie 'Mr. Nice Guy' in preparation for next year's Lunar New Year film season."

Wang Zhuxian has a long-standing working relationship with Golden Harvest in Hong Kong and is aware of these matters.

Aaron smiled. "Rush Hour, starring Jack Cheng, is also going to be released this year!"

Once "Rush Hour" achieves success, Jack Cheng's fame will be at its peak.

After all, this is a Hollywood commercial film with Jack as the lead actor.

"By the way, at the beginning of the year, Media Asia invested in a low-budget film adapted from a comic book, which grossed over HK$2000 million at the box office."

"The second sequel will be released at the end of this month!"

Wang Zhuxian was referring to the "Young and Dangerous" series. The first film, "Young and Dangerous: The Movie," was released in late January, and the sequel, "Young and Dangerous: The Dragon Returns," will be released at the end of this month.
The "Young and Dangerous" series was produced by Hong Kong's Best Partners Pictures, invested by Media Asia, and distributed by Golden Harvest.

Best Partners Pictures is a company founded by Hong Kong filmmakers Wong Jing, Andrew Lau, Manfred Wong, and others!

"The first one was released in January? The second one is coming out at the end of this month?"

Aaron's lips twitched. He knew that Hong Kong films were shot quickly, but this was too fast!
Wang Zhuxian smiled, sat on Aaron's lap, and put her arms around his neck. "Hurry up, actually the first film only took 10 days to shoot, and the investment was only a few million Hong Kong dollars."

"The release schedule wasn't good before the Lunar New Year holiday, but as soon as it was released, the movie became a hit!"

Because of the huge success of "Young and Dangerous," they immediately started filming the second installment, "Young and Dangerous 2: The Dragon Returns."

Aaron nodded, then reached out and groped Wang Zhuxian's thigh. "Then why don't you go and act?"

Wang Zhuxian shook her head. "It's adapted from Hong Kong gangster comics, and it's all about fighting and killing."

For various reasons, many investment companies were not optimistic about this movie; otherwise, Best Partners wouldn't have approached Media Asia.
After all, Wang Zhuxian and Wang Jing had worked together before, and the two knew each other.

Haihua Investment Company, a sub-fund of Tianhai Fund, holds 45% of the shares of Media Asia Films, which is managed by Wang Zhuxian.

“This is money!” Aaron said, kissing the girl on the cheek.

"We made money! The film's investment wasn't high, but the results were excellent!"

Wang Zhuxian did not want to star in this movie, not only because she thought it was a poorly made project, but also because she frequently returned to the mainland.
Her VCD company is rapidly expanding to seize market share, and she has also invested in two audio-visual stores in other cities.

"In Bordeaux, France, I've had someone acquire a vineyard for you, covering 80 hectares."

"The vineyards inside cover more than 30 hectares and include a castle. You can go and take a look when you have time!"

Aaron spoke while holding Wang Zhuxian in his arms.

"Oh, this isn't cheap, is it?"

"It's alright, around 5000 million francs. It'll definitely appreciate in value later!"

5000 million francs, which is less than 1000 million US dollars.

"Thank you. Perhaps I can bring a Hong Kong film crew there to shoot movies."

Wang Zhuxian kissed Aaron on the lips, and it's close to 8000 million Hong Kong dollars!

"Bring whatever you want; you might even be able to bring some wine to Hong Kong."

Aaron smiled. "By the way, what's Jett Lee, that action star from Hong Kong who's on par with Jack Cheng, been up to lately?"

After all, Dawn still has two "Once Upon a Time in China" films that she bought a few years ago, which have never been shown in American theaters and are just gathering dust in the warehouse!

"Jett Lee, he had three kung fu films released last year, which were modern action films, but their box office performance in Hong Kong wasn't very satisfactory."

"However, things are going well elsewhere. Right now, Jett Lee seems to be filming an action movie adapted from a comic book."

As she spoke, Wang Zhuxian's eyes lit up, "The movie Jett Lee is currently filming is called 'Black Mask,' it's an urban superhero movie;"

"Furthermore, the character's appearance is dark and sinister, consisting of wearing black clothes, a black hat, and a black eye patch."

"Exactly, like the style of Batman in America!"

Aaron thought about it and realized he did have some impression of the movie "Black Mask." The action scenes were very intense, which was somewhat to the liking of Americans.

However, there's no need to worry. As long as Jett Lee hasn't made an appearance in Hollywood, his movie probably won't be released normally in the United States.

Take Jack Cheng, for example. It was only after "Rumble in the Bronx" was released that he gained recognition, and that's when Dawn Studios decided to release his old films in theaters.

As for Jett Lee, if Aaron doesn't have any plans to take him to Hollywood right now, he'll have to wait until he plays the villain in Lethal Weapon 4 before considering it.
However, since Aaron was able to produce Jack Cheng's "Rumble in the Bronx" ahead of time, he could certainly take him to Hollywood ahead of time as well.

When "Rush Hour" is released this year, its performance will definitely be surprising. Jack Cheng's fame will soar, which will also attract more Hong Kong filmmakers to Hollywood!
Moreover, John Woo's second Hollywood film, "Broken Arrow," will be released next month, and another Hong Kong director, Tsui Hark, is also preparing to film his Hollywood debut, "The King of Fighters."

Hong Kong directors went to explore the market first, and now with Jack Cheng's success, other actors will surely be unable to resist this temptation.

(End of this chapter)