1990My Entertainment System

Chapter 128, "Fist of Legend," will be released simultaneously.

That's right, "Fist of Legend" is about to be released.

Summer has already negotiated with China Film Group to plan a simultaneous release in mainland China and Hong Kong, which can also be seen as a small gimmick to promote the reform of the film system.

On August 6th, "Fist of Legend" was released simultaneously in Hong Kong and twelve major cities in mainland China!
Although the promotional time was limited, Xia Tian had a wealth of print and radio resources, so she still managed to promote the event.

The response was quite good; on the first day of its release in mainland China, long queues formed within hours, and all the tickets for the day were sold out.

Summer is, after all, a "national" star. She's always had a great reputation.
In Hong Kong, however, "Fist of Legend" has found a worthy opponent!
There are even more competitors!
Early August is just the beginning of the summer movie season, which is one of the two most popular movie seasons in Hong Kong, the other being the Lunar New Year season.

Therefore, many formidable competitors were released, such as the two movies starring Big Nose Dragon.

The female lead in the movie "City Hunter" is Joey Wong.

The movie features a classic image of a dragon cosplaying Chun-Li, and even years later, this picture remains a classic meme!
This film is a successful example of the localization of Japanese manga into film and television adaptations.

Milan saw the CVD disc of the movie and was extremely envious of Lao Wang.

Milan: "Summer, I heard you and this beauty Wang have some kind of rumored romance. She's so pitiful!"

"If you really don't want to be with her, introduce her to me."

"Um?!"

Another film starring Big Nose Dragon is "Crime Story," a crime thriller based on a true story.

This film abandoned the classic comedic elements of Big Nose Dragon, and can be considered an early experiment for the later "Police Story" series.

However, the film's box office performance was not ideal, dropping by 20% compared to its predecessor, "Twin Dragons".

However, Big Nose Dragon won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor for this "main feature film," which can be considered an affirmation of his acting skills.

The real threat to the box office of "Fist of Legend" is "Flirting Scholar"!
Summer even had a cameo role in "Flirting Scholar"~
However, the movie was released on July 1st, and it's been more than a month now. He's already eaten most of what he was supposed to eat.

After all, this was a good day to avoid the schedule of Stephen Chow, who is at the peak of his popularity.

Another film that caught the attention of Hong Kong's summer movie season is "The Blade of Fury"!
This film, well, it was just unlucky to be released at the wrong time!
Directed by Hung Fat, with a script written by one of Hong Kong's most famous screenwriters, and featuring a decent cast, though without any top-tier stars.

However, the lead role of Tan Sitong was played by Ti Lung, who was a top star in Hong Kong twenty years ago.

The actor who played Wang Wu with a big sword is Yang Fan, one of the actors who played Zhao Yun in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". He also has thick eyebrows, big eyes and a square face, and has a great sense of chivalry. His performance is also very vivid.

The two leading ladies are Hong Kong beauties Yang Li-ching and Guan Qiu-qiu.

The villain Yuan Shikai is played by Zhao Changjun, the second-best martial arts champion in mainland China after Li Lianjie. Yu Zhoudan came to the mainland to learn martial arts and became his student.

There's also Liu Xun, the Thousand-Faced Buddha, and Huang Jinjiang, Ling Lingqi's boss...

Hong Pangzi also starred in a fantastic action scene!
It's fair to say that this film is top-notch in every aspect, from the script and actors to the director and action sequences.

However... the worst part is this "however"!
However, the film was released on July 15, but due to poor box office performance, it was pulled from theaters after only 9 days.

The summer film "Fist of Legend" was pulled from theaters before it was even released, ultimately only grossing HK$198 million and losing a fortune!
The production company behind "A Blade to Destroy the City" is Wanli Pictures, and the boss's name is Luo Wei.

That's right, it's Lo Wei, the one who discovered the Big Nose Dragon, who was then poached by Golden Harvest.

In the late 80s, he wanted to promote Li Lianjie again, but unexpectedly, he was poached by Golden Harvest.

Lo Wei had previously directed phenomenal films like "The Big Boss" and "Fist of Fury." Yes, he even mentored Bruce Lee, but he was still poached by Golden Harvest.
This can truly be described as a natural nemesis!

It can only be said that this person has a problem; he's unwilling to spend money and can't retain people.

This time, he took his savings plus borrowed money, totaling HK$1800 million, and led the entire crew north to Yanjing and other places for location shooting!

The final box office was less than 200 million?!

Three years after the film's release, Lo Wei passed away in a cold and desolate state...

After that, Fatty Hong never recovered and showed no signs of rising again. Xia Tian asked someone to buy all the copyrights to the film for 120 million, which helped Lo Wei break even.

I really loved this movie in the summer. The acting was great, the characters were well-developed, and the dialogue was really good!

He later learned that someone had advised Lo Wei to cast him in the role, but Lo Wei thought it was too expensive!

In the summer, the market price in Hong Kong is 800 million, and it's not free; it's included in the investment, meaning you get a share of the film's profits.

Luo Wei probably couldn't bear to part with it...

That's ridiculous!
Of course, even if you were to ask Xia Tian, ​​he might not be able to act in it, as he doesn't perform in period dramas.

Although Ti Lung didn't shave his head in the movie, he sported the distinctive braided hairstyle typical of Hong Kong.
That's why so many people in the entertainment industry are superstitious!

Because a good film doesn't necessarily fetch a good price; in fact, it might result in a complete loss.

On the contrary, many celebrities know they have no talent and are not good actors, yet they still become very popular?!

She didn't know why she became famous, and feeling lost, she started to believe in fate...

Too many people in this circle believe in this!
I've heard that some female celebrities in Hong Kong keep Kumanthong (a type of Thai spirit doll) as pets!

Moreover, this film was truly born at the wrong time, coinciding with the very end of Hong Kong cinema's golden age.

In the year before "Swordsman" was released, more than 130 Hong Kong films were released in the region, but not a single martial arts film appeared.

But this year, the number of martial arts films suddenly jumped to more than 30, which shows how crazy Hong Kong filmmakers are about following trends!

With so many martial arts films being released at the same time, audiences naturally experienced aesthetic fatigue, and many big-budget, high-production films suffered box office failures.

……

Fortunately, "Fist of Legend" performed well at the box office this summer.

Summer is now considered a box office guarantee for Hong Kong stars, and her box office performance is particularly stable!

Other films released by Chow Yun-fat and Stephen Chow have all experienced box office failures, and Andy Lau has also had many films that didn't make money, not to mention others.

But look at the movies from the summer, which one didn't make a profit?

Although he has never had a film that topped the Hong Kong box office for a year, he has set records for many different genres.

Whether he starred in, directed, or produced a film, it was a box office hit!
Make money steadily!
Otherwise, how come his market price is 800 million? Andy Lau's is a little lower.

The only ones more expensive than him are Stephen Chow and Big Nose Dragon. Although Chow Yun-fat asked for more than Summer, the final transaction price was not as high.

Moreover, they would receive a share of the box office revenue in the summer, which would essentially make them investors.

……

The fight scenes in "Fist of Legend" are spectacular and can be described as groundbreaking!
Back when "The Ultimate Bodyguard" was made, the action scenes were very distinctive, both visually appealing and sharp, with each move seemingly designed to kill the opponent.

At that time, many people thought the fight scenes were amazing and completely different from other Hong Kong martial arts films.

But the difference became even more pronounced with "Fist of Legend"!

The defining characteristic of this one is its authenticity!
It's not the traditional kung fu movie with its turn-based, rigid moves, nor is it the three-dimensional environmental fighting like Big Nose Dragon; it's a real fighting experience!

The days of tables breaking at the slightest touch and benches snapping in two are gone.

This actually highlights the hardness of the prop, just like the feedback of a real human body hitting a real table!
In addition, Xia Tian's skillful switching between a wide variety of fighting styles from around the world gives the audience a particularly realistic feeling!
Of course, this is different from a real fight; it's the most realistic feeling you can imagine!

—If there are martial arts masters in this world, this is how they fight!
But if you watch fights in a cage or a ring, they're much more "down-to-earth" and not nearly as exciting.

To give the audience a realistic feeling, it's not just a scene of actual fighting.

(End of this chapter)