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

The showdown between Golden Harvest and Cinema City attracted the attention of major newspapers.

After watching midnight screenings of the two plays, major newspapers began reporting on it the following day.

The report by Time Daily was more objective, saying that Hung Kam-po usually makes kung fu comedies, but this time he cleverly combined kung fu, comedy, and ghost movies together.

This proves that Hung Kam-po is a talented actor and director, and not just someone who focuses solely on action films.

He then turned to Cinema City's "The Comic Era," saying that beneath the comedic atmosphere of the film, there was a deep concern and warmth for the underprivileged, giving it an inspiring power.

These are all manuscripts reviewed by Chen Guohua, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. That's how Li Jiangbo does things; he sets the guidelines for you, and then he doesn't care about the rest.

In January, both "Encounters of the Spooky Kind" and "The Comedy of the Ages" were taken off the screens. "Encounters of the Spooky Kind" grossed 567 million, while "The Comedy of the Ages" was taken off the screens three days later and grossed 518 million.

Although the two films were quite different from those produced by Time Pictures, they still made it into the top ten of the annual box office chart, ranking eighth and ninth.

Li Jiangbo knew that if it weren't for his sudden emergence, these two films would have ranked even higher on this year's box office charts.

As a newly established company, Cinema City was already quite satisfied. They, a new company, had actually managed to fight to a standstill against a long-established giant like Golden Harvest.

The key is still making money, considering that the film's investment was less than 500,000.

Li Jiangbo ignored these rumors and began to make arrangements for Lijiang.

In the general manager's office of Time Pictures.

Li Jiangbo was on the phone with Zhao Dong, communicating news from Australia.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

After Li Jiangbo let the man in, he continued to communicate with Zhao Dong.

The person who came was Pan Yingzi. Seeing that Li Jiangbo was busy, she did not make a sound to disturb him and sat quietly opposite him to wait.

After Li Jiangbo hung up the phone, Pan Yingzi said, "Boss, there's news about the matter you asked me to investigate."

Li Jiangbo nodded. "Go ahead and tell me."

"That's right. Currently, the shareholders of RTV include: RTV's parent company, Jardine Matheson, Standard Chartered, and several other foreign conglomerates. Among them, RTV's parent company holds 61.2% of the shares, and the remaining 39.8% is held by Jardine Matheson, Standard Chartered, and other foreign companies."

She paused for a moment, then added, "Besides the foreign shareholders, there are two other Chinese shareholders."

"Who?"

"The Xu family and the Guo family."

Li Jiangbo frowned. "The Xu family? The Guo family?"

Pan Yingzi nodded. "Yes, Xu Shixun is the youngest son of shipping magnate Xu Aizhou, and he inherited the family's real estate business. He holds about 6.8% of the shares in RTV. On the Guo family's side, Guo Desheng holds about 5.3% of the shares personally."

Li Jiangbo fell silent; he had heard of both of them.

The Hui family is a long-established wealthy family in Hong Kong. They started their fortune in shipping, but later abandoned shipping and set their sights on the real estate and hotel industries. They still hold considerable influence among Hong Kong's wealthy elites.

The most famous story is actually about the relationship between former Miss Hong Kong Lee Ka-yan and Hui King-hang, the son of Hui Si-hsun.

This playboy was quite the ladies' man. He first dated Liu Jialing, then married the daughter of the gambling king, and later dated Chen Farong. In the end, Li Jiaxin was the one who outmaneuvered him and successfully married into a wealthy family.

Needless to say, Kwok Tak-sang, as one of the founders of Sun Hung Kai Properties, a giant in Hong Kong's real estate industry, and a member of one of the four major families.

Although their shareholdings are small, the capital behind them is not to be underestimated.

"How did they come to own shares in Rediffusion?"

Pan Yingzi explained, "When RTV was first established, its parent company recruited a group of local tycoons in order to gain a foothold in Hong Kong. Xu Shixun's father, Xu Aizhou, was among them."

"And Guo Desheng was also lured in."

Li Jiangbo nodded, his mind racing with calculations.

Li's company is doing well now, and it would be difficult for Li Jiangbo to buy their shares.

Secondly, although Li Jiangbo knew that in March of this year, Li's parent company would be preparing to sell its shares due to investment failures, there was still no news about it.

Li Jiangbo even suspected that the news he heard in his later years was false.

The real reason was that the rabbit (referring to a Chinese idiom meaning "rabbit") had to talk to John Bull about the Hong Kong issue, so they had no choice but to give up.

With that thought in mind, Li Jiangbo stopped thinking about it.

He plans to start with Australia and see if he can acquire a portion of the stocks.

Of course, we can't give up on Hong Kong either; we still need to make contact. However, buying their shares will probably have to wait until after China and the US formally begin negotiations.

Li Jiangbo immediately asked, "Is it possible to make contact between these two sides?"

Pan Yingzi thought for a moment and said, "We can try finding a middleman."

"Okay, let's give it a try."

After going through many intermediaries, Li Jiangbo finally made contact with Xu Shixun at the end of January.

The two parties arranged to meet at the racecourse in Happy Valley, Hong Kong.

Led by staff, Li Jiangbo arrived at a stable.

Then I saw a middle-aged man in his early fifties, wearing a striped short-sleeved shirt and an apron, feeding the horses.

Looking at the man's face, Li Jiangbo couldn't see any trace of a Hong Kong tycoon; he looked more like a farm owner.

After whispering a few words in the middle-aged man's ear, the staff member left.

After putting down the last handful of fodder, Xu Shixun turned around and looked at Li Jiangbo.

Li Jiangbo didn't shy away at all and greeted him calmly.

"Hello Mr. Xu, I apologize for disturbing you."

Xu Shixun waved his hand, "It's not an intrusion at all. Director Li, is there anything I can do for you this time?"

Li Jiangbo nodded. "There's a small matter I need to trouble you with, Mr. Xu..."

Before he could continue, Xu Shixun spoke up, "Shall we talk as we walk?"

"I'd be happy to oblige."

And so, the two walked and talked.

Xu Shixun introduced the prized horses in his stable to Li Jiangbo.

Throughout the conversation, Li Jiangbo showed no signs of impatience, listening attentively like a good listener.

When Xu Shixun got tired, the two sat down on the stands.

At this point, Li Jiangbo finally asked about the important matter.

"Mr. Xu, I've come to inquire about your plans to sell your shares in Lidi."

Xu Shixun paused for a moment, then asked, "Director Lee is interested in television?"

Li Jiangbo nodded. "I have some ideas."

"Although my father bought those shares in Rediffusion, he said when he was alive that it was an inheritance for his descendants, and it shouldn't be touched unless absolutely necessary. I'm sorry."

Li Jiangbo shrugged and chuckled, "Since Mr. Xu doesn't want to sell, I won't force him. Consider it a chance to relax."

Although Li Jiangbo said this, he understood that it was just an excuse from Xu Shixun.

In the past two years, Hui Shi Xun's Hongkong Land Group has needed funds to acquire other companies, so how could it not be short of money? It's just that Hui Shi Xun is holding onto the assets and waiting for them to be valued.

Li Jiangbo did not give up and immediately prepared to contact the Guo family.

Just then, Zhao Dong received a call.

He had to abandon his attempt to contact the Guo family and hurriedly head to Australia.