Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

Meanwhile, a meeting was also being held at Cinema City on the other side.

In the struggle room, Huang Baiming, Mai Jia, and Shi Tian sat together, with several scripts and several empty coffee cups on the table.

This company used to be called Struggle Film Company, but now it has changed its name to Cinema City.

Actually, the name is quite interesting. It's a homophone of "cinema city." The Hong Kong pronunciation of "cinema" is "新艺马" (Xin Yi Ma), and adding "city" makes it "新艺城" (Xin Yi Cheng).

When Lei Juekun first invested in their filming of "The Salted Fish Turns Over", he didn't have much hope at all.

At that time, all he could think about was how to win over Li Jiangbo's Time Pictures. He offered several generous terms, but the other party simply wouldn't take the bait.

Lei Juekun never expected that the film he invested in would actually sell for 3.28 million yuan, even while competing with Time Films' "Dao Ma Dan".

Although the two films had a huge box office difference of 6 million, it's important to remember that Lei Juekun only invested 300,000, so the return was already quite considerable.

It was the success of this trial that made him feel that these three people were quite reliable, so he decided to partner with them, which led to the creation of Cinema City.

Then, the company changed its brand, and that's when the problem arose. What style of film should they use for the new company's debut?

The three of them sat there from morning until afternoon without deciding which style to use.

Just as the three were at their wits' end, the meeting room door was pushed open, and Lei Juekun walked in.

"Lei Sheng!" the three of them stood up and called out in unison.

Lei Juekun waved his hand, gesturing for them to sit down, and then sat down himself.

He took out a box of cigars, distributed them to the three men, and then, while cutting his own cigar, asked, "How's the chat going?"

The three of them shook their heads in unison, indicating that they had not yet reached a conclusion.

Lei Juekun put the cut cigar in his mouth, lit it, and asked, "What difficulties have you encountered?"

Mai Jia is a straightforward person. When Lei Juekun asked, he said frankly, "We can't determine the style of the film right now. I want to make a gunfight film similar to 'A Better Tomorrow,' but Bai Ming wants to make a comedy."

Huang Baiming was somewhat embarrassed. After hesitating for a moment, he explained:

"Mr. Lei, this is what I think. Although action movies like 'A Better Tomorrow' are very popular in the Hong Kong market, we might not be able to make a good one if we just follow the trend. Secondly, we don't have any good action actors to make kung fu movies, so that's not an option. So far, that leaves comedies."

Upon hearing Huang Baiming's words, Mai Jia immediately retorted, "How do you know we can't make a gunfight movie like 'A Better Tomorrow'?"

Huang Baiming didn't mince words with Mai Jia and retorted directly, "Even action movies need stuntmen! Who are you planning to hire?"

"Why can't we collaborate with Sammo Hung's stunt team? 'A Better Tomorrow' also collaborated with Sammo Hung's stunt team!"

Huang Baiming scoffed, "Have you forgotten why Jiabao Company went out of business?"

These words left Mai Jia speechless; he knew Huang Baiming was right.

Previously, he, Hung Kin-po, and Lau Ka-yung each contributed 50,000 yuan to establish Jia Bao Film Company, which developed quite well and made some money.

However, because Hung Kam-po was with Golden Harvest and Lau Kar-wing also had his own film company, neither of them could devote all their energy to Kam-po. In the end, he was left alone, and his company could not continue operating.

Lei Juekun also had a headache when he heard these words. He was not actually interested in making movies, but when he heard that Mai Jia wanted to find Hong Jinbao of Golden Harvest to film a gunfight, he was furious, but he could not lose his temper.

This dates back to a few months ago, when Golden Princess had already reached an agreement with Ann Hui to release her film "Bumped into Evil" in Golden Princess theaters.

Who knew that Golden Harvest would snatch the deal away later?

Upon learning the news, Golden Princess immediately called Golden Harvest to ask if they could collaborate on a film release.

To everyone's surprise, they simply replied, "Why should I cooperate with you?"

Now the feud between the two families is officially established!

He said in a deep voice, "Alright! What's all the noise about? Bai Ming, explain your thoughts in detail."

Huang Baiming nodded. "I was thinking, could we make a purely comedic movie? Like our previous film, 'Crazy Conman.' No gunfights, no kung fu."

Mai Jia scratched his bald head, which still had only a few hairs left. "Like 'The Crazy Conman'? Wouldn't that be a bit too cliché?"

Shi Tian, ​​who was standing to the side, nodded. "I also think it's a bit old-fashioned."

Huang Baiming also felt that Shi Tian and Mai Jia made sense, but he couldn't solve the problem for the time being.

The meeting room suddenly fell silent. The three of them scratched their heads, but no one stepped forward.

Finally, Shi Tian stepped forward. After a moment's hesitation, he said:

"I thought of someone."

Mai Jia and Huang Baiming asked in unison, "Who?"

"Chaplin!"

Huang Baiming was taken aback. "Hasn't this person been dead for several years?"

Mai Jia, standing nearby, chimed in, "Why did you think of him?"

Shi Tian smiled. "That's right! He's been dead for several years. But I've come up with an idea: to combine Chaplin's style with the story framework of our 'Crazy Conman'."

Huang Baiming and Mai Jia's eyes lit up, and they involuntarily looked at Shi Tian, ​​waiting for him to continue.

Shi Tian didn't mince words and immediately said, "We're using this film to pay homage to Chaplin. It's a cliché, but with that homage element, I think the audience will accept it. What do you think?"

Mai Jia slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "This is great! With this homage element, even if the story is cliché, it won't feel so bad."

Huang Baiming nodded. "I think it has potential, so I'll give the script to you. But there's a problem: we're not very familiar with Chaplin! Old Mai, have you done any research on him?"

Mai Jia shook his head. "I'm not very familiar with it either."

Shi Tian waved his hand, "Although I'm not familiar with him, I know people who are. We can ask John Woo to direct, and maybe we can even get him to join us!"

Lei Juekun exhaled a puff of smoke. "John Woo of Golden Harvest?"

"That's right, he's a friend of mine, and I know he likes Chaplin, so using him is very appropriate."

After a moment of silence, Lei Juekun stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray.

"Are you confident you can recruit him? He and Hui Koon-man are the only two people at Golden Harvest who make comedies."

Shi Tian fell silent after being asked by Lei Juekun; he wasn't sure he could recruit John Woo.

After a moment, he said, "Lei Sheng, I'll do my best."

Lei Juekun nodded. "There's no need to dig too hard. Just get him to act in our movies. I'll leave this to you, Shi Tian."

Shi Tian nodded. "I understand, Lei Sheng."

Lei Juekun glanced at the three of them. "Then it's settled! Bai Ming, finish writing the script as soon as possible. Shi Tian, ​​go and communicate with John Woo. Mai Jia, prepare the film crew."

He paused for a moment, then added, "Money is no problem. As long as he's willing to come, he can name his terms!"

The three of them exchanged a glance, and all saw the excitement in each other's eyes.

Mai Jia slammed his fist on the table, "Great! This first shot for Cinema City must be a resounding success!"

Shi Tian smiled and said, "It's definitely going to be a hit. With Lei Sheng backing it up, John Woo directing, and Bai Ming writing the script, it's hard for this movie not to be a success!"

Huang Baiming nodded. "Then shall we act in this movie together? Shi Tian, ​​you'll be the lead?"

Shi Tian and Mai Jia replied in unison, "No problem!"