This director loves making friends.

For Hong Kong filmmakers, the Taiwanese film market is just as important as the Hong Kong film market, followed by Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Taiwan.

In fact, in recent years, Taiwan has become even more important than Hong Kong itself.

The reason is simple: a lot of hot money comes from Taiwan.

Taiwan's eight major film distributors are the absolute force in buying trailers for Hong Kong films, supporting film companies of all sizes in Hong Kong—as long as a film has a director and actors with a little bit of fame, it can sell trailers.

Therefore, Hong Kong filmmakers were not aware of the danger of "Ji Gong" and "Fong Sai-yuk Sequel" losing to "Jurassic Park," but only felt surprised and bizarre.

Then, news came from Taiwan.

On its first day of release in Taiwan, "Jurassic Park" sparked a viewing frenzy, with the entire nation discussing the various "realistic" dinosaurs appearing on screen with even greater enthusiasm than in Hong Kong.

This actually has historical reasons.

Hong Kong does not restrict Hollywood movies, and most Hollywood movies can be shown in Hong Kong.

Therefore, although the lifelike dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park" did indeed amaze Hong Kong audiences, many of them regularly watch Hollywood movies in theaters and are not as impressed.

Taiwan is different.

Taiwan imposes severe restrictions on imported films, not on the quantity but on the number of copies. Only about ten films are allowed to be imported without restrictions on copies each year, and imported art films make up the majority of these.

Before 1990, the restrictions were even greater. Starting in 1990, they were relaxed a bit. The number of cinemas allowed to screen foreign films in each city increased from 1 to 6, the number of imported copies of a single film increased from 8 to 12, and the regulations on how many foreign films could be imported each year were abolished.

However, a city can only have a maximum of 6 cinemas showing foreign films, and the maximum number of film prints is 12. Under such strict regulations, don't even think about box office revenue.

For example, in Taipei, when movies are shown in Taiwan, whether they are local Taiwanese films or Hong Kong films, Taipei's box office often accounts for half of the total box office.

You let a Hollywood movie be shown in 6 theaters in Taipei, but only give it a maximum of 12 copies. Even if it is shown day and night, how much box office revenue can it generate?

Jurassic Park was originally supposed to be shown in this format as well.

However, because the eight major film distributors in Taiwan could not reach an agreement with Hong Kong on film matters, they simply threatened Hong Kong, saying that they would make Taiwan lift all restrictions on Western films.

People in Hong Kong don't care about these things. After all, what about Hollywood? In Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, they're still being beaten down by Hong Kong films.

As a result, the eight major Taiwanese film distributors allowed "Jurassic Park" to "jump the queue" and become an unrestricted film. Their purpose was not to be optimistic about the box office performance of "Jurassic Park", but to make a show for Hong Kong.

Look, if we in Taiwan have the ability to make a Hollywood movie unrestricted, then we have the ability to make Taiwan completely lift all restrictions!

However, the box office performance of "Jurassic Park" was something no one expected.

"What? Over 3800 million New Taiwan Dollars? Are you sure you didn't add an extra zero?"

When the box office figures for "Jurassic Park" were released on its first day, the first to be shocked were not filmmakers in Hong Kong, but Wang Yingxiang of Longxiang Film Company, one of the eight major film distributors in Taiwan.

"What about 'Ji Gong'? How much is it?"

Immediately, Wang Yingxiang asked somewhat nervously.

He spent HK$30 million to "snatch" "Ji Gong" and the release date was one day later than in Hong Kong, also scheduled for July 30, the same day as "Jurassic Park" in Taiwan.

340.

Although the department manager who came to report spoke in a low voice, Wang Yingxiang still heard him.

"Oh, HK$340 million, not bad, not bad, there should still be room for profit."

Wang Yingxiang breathed a sigh of relief. The size of the Taiwanese film market is similar to that of Hong Kong, though it may be slightly larger, and the box office trends are also quite similar.

He calculated that with HK$340 million on the first day, the final box office would likely be between HK$3500 million and HK$4000 million, based on market trends.

If we increase our publicity efforts, we might actually be able to reach 4000 million in the end.

Because Longxiang Pictures itself is a distributor and theater chain, it doesn't need to allocate too much of this money, plus subsequent...

"Mr. Wang, it's not 340 million Hong Kong dollars..."

"Uh-huh?"

Wang Yingxiang was taken aback at first, then his heart skipped a beat as he realized the seriousness of the problem.

"It's not Hong Kong dollars, it can't possibly be US dollars, can it?"

He dared not think about it from another angle, and could only deceive himself by saying that.

"Mr. Wang, it's New Taiwan Dollars, not US Dollars."

"Clang!"

Wang Yingxiang suddenly stood up, and due to the excessive force, the chair he had just been sitting on was pushed far away and crashed directly into the cabinet behind him.

NT$340 million, which, according to the exchange rate, is only about HK$90 at the box office.

With a first-day box office of HK$90, it means that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, "The Mad Monk" will only gross around HK$1000 million at most.

He spent HK$3000 million to "snatch" this!

Meanwhile, Hong Kong was in an uproar.

Jurassic Park grossed over NT$3800 million on its opening day, which is equivalent to over HK$1000 million.

More than HK$1000 million on the first day?

Is it really necessary to go to such extremes?

Jurassic Park earned HK$469 million on its opening day in Hong Kong, breaking the Hong Kong single-day box office record. In Taiwan, it earned a little over HK$1000 million, clearly breaking the opening day box office record as well, and more than doubling the previous record.

A box office of over 1000 million is considered a very good result in Hong Kong, not to mention a single day's box office, even in terms of total box office.

With over 1000 million on its opening day, how much will the total box office be?

It's at least over 100 million!

When have box office figures ever been this exaggerated, whether in Hong Kong or Taiwan?

Every single one of the Hong Kong filmmakers was stunned by this box office performance.

Du Qifeng locked himself in his office, which was already filled with smoke. He had smoked more than half a pack of cigarettes. At this moment, he was holding two newspapers that he had previously folded up and put in the drawer, and he was looking at them over and over again.

"Is it really true, as he says, that CGI is the future?"

"Sigh...who would waste time, effort, and money on CGI that requires a huge investment..."

He collaborated with Stephen Chow on "The Mad Monk," and originally thought he might be able to set a record this time. Who would have thought that it would be a complete flop in both Hong Kong and Taiwan?

When Xu Ke saw the news in his office, he fell silent, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

The box office performance of "Jurassic Park" is particularly disheartening for Hong Kong's renowned directors, leaving them speechless and filled with a sense of powerlessness.

Can CGI truly influence the global film industry?

Xu Ke began to doubt his previous belief that CGI had no future after the failure of "The New Legend of Shushan". It seems that cultural barriers are no longer important in the face of true visual "blockbusters".

"Qin Keqing...did you foresee this outcome all along?"

"Even if Hollywood blockbusters achieve phenomenal box office results, as long as the Taiwanese and Southeast Asian markets remain, how can Hong Kong films gradually become a regional supplement in the face of competition?"

Xu Ke felt that CGI was really promising, but at the same time, he felt that Qin Keqing's analysis, while reasonable, was still a bit alarmist.

However, his perception of Qin Keqing changed drastically, and he felt that this young man seemed to be a director with great insight and ideas.

Qin Keqing is still filming action scenes in the studio of Qingying Film Studio, but it is nearing the end and will be finished in three to five days at most.

Although there aren't many action scenes in "The Man from Nowhere," the filming process was quite complicated, requiring many shots to complete a single fight move.

Each shot may need to be filmed several times to achieve the desired effect.

The film crew was shooting at the Qingdao Film Studio, so information was not kept secret.

Thus, Qin Keqing learned about the phenomenal success of Jurassic Park in Hong Kong and Taiwan's film markets.

"In just three days, Jurassic Park has grossed over 1 million New Taiwan Dollars in Taiwan and 1500 million Hong Kong Dollars in Hong Kong."

These events were not beyond Qin Keqing's expectations. After all, the decline of Hong Kong cinema was triggered by the release of "Jurassic Park".

If Jurassic Park hadn't done well at the box office, it wouldn't have been a catalyst.

"Hollywood, that 'monster,' is about to unleash its power."