1979 Golden Age

Chen Qi took some time to meet with the Yuan brothers. Yuan Heping congratulated them on the success of "Tai Chi" and hoped to write another script for the Yuan family.

He promised, but he was not sure when he would write it because he was very busy.

Historically, the Yuan family company had ups and downs for more than ten years and closed down in the mid-1990s. The action scenes in the movies they made were impeccable, but the genre was too monotonous, only kung fu movies.

Kung fu movies were not always popular in Hong Kong. They were popular for a few years, then unpopular for a few years, and then popular for a few years again. Yuan Heping would not shoot anything else, lacked innovation, and could not compete with other companies. Moreover, they did not have big stars to support the facade, and the brothers were weird and could not be presented.

In the final analysis, it was because of the small size and the low ceiling of the small company.

After meeting the Yuan brothers, Chen Qi had a meal with Li Hanxiang again, all in private.

Li Hanxiang was preparing for "The Bold Woman of the Tang Dynasty". He naturally revised the script, but he was still abiding by the rules and would give Chen Qi his signature, the "Rainy Night with a Knife but No Umbrella".

In the current filming of "The Unruly Woman of Tang Dynasty", Xia Wenxi may not be the lead actress. She is a model now and has not entered the film and television industry yet. Chen Qi doesn't care. He just wants to earn royalties and build a relationship with Li Hanxiang.

The remuneration is 15,000 Hong Kong dollars, which is privately transferred.

This money cannot be brought back to the mainland, so it can only be spent. Chen Qi used the Great Wall account and bought clothes for Li Wenhua, Li Lianjie, and Gong Xue in the name of the Great Wall. It is not expensive, but at least it is decent - they will go to Berlin in a few days, and there are only four places to go to Berlin.

The remaining part was used to buy some small gifts for each member of the team, so that they can brag about it when they go back, and it is not in vain to come to Hong Kong.

For some reason, Chen Qi used the last bit of money to secretly buy a few boxes of condoms, um, the largest size...

Everyone knows that he paid for it himself, oh, this is so touching, and the money power comes into play again. He has always been very generous. He wants his younger brothers to serve loyally, but he doesn't give any benefits. Who is stupid to follow you?

…………

Tsim Sha Tsui, Nathan Road.

In the later generations, there were many luxury stores on Nathan Road, as well as shops selling cosmetics and skin care products. Now the environment is quite messy, and everything is sold.

Chen Qi and Fu Qi took time out of their busy schedule to come here and found an electrical appliance store that sold all kinds of home appliances. The main thing was that there was a sign on the door that read: Golden Lion Video Rental!

The two went in and set up a small counter in the corner of the electrical appliance store. It was very simple. The most eye-catching thing was the rows of wooden shelves on the wall, with boxes of videotapes stacked on the shelves.

A short, thin middle-aged man greeted him warmly, saying, "Boss, do you want to rent tapes?"

"Are they all complete?"

"There are so many movies, so they are definitely not complete. But in Hong Kong, I dare say that there is no one more complete than mine. I am the first in Hong Kong to do this!"

Chen Qi casually pulled out a few boxes, including Hong Kong and Western movies, and asked, "How much is it for a day?"

"15 yuan!"

"So expensive?"

"It costs 200 yuan to buy a box, and renting is very cheap. Boss, come and watch the tapes, you must have a VCR at home, so you can afford this little money. "

Chen Qi picked a few boxes at random, and Fu Qi paid. The man smiled even more and said, "Boss, are you interested in joining our club? We are all movie lovers. Whoever has a new tape, we often exchange them with each other."

"Huh? You seem to be very skilled. Have you been doing this for a long time?"

"Not long. I used to be in Taiwan..."

This man is very talkative. He introduced himself. His name is Roman Kai. He was born in the United States and worked in Taiwan. At that time, he formed a club with his friends to exchange videotapes for their own entertainment.

Later, he moved to Hong Kong and felt that this business had great potential, so he opened this small shop.

"How many people rent it?" Chen Qi asked again.

"A lot, but not a lot. Home video recorders are just becoming popular now, and there are few of them, but anyone who buys one will definitely come to rent tapes from me. If they come once, they will come again. They are all loyal customers."

"You are the first in Hong Kong!"

"Ha, yes!"

After chatting for a while, the two came out, and Chen Qi immediately said: "Uncle Fu, do you want to open one?" "Do you think this business will be popular?"

"It's obvious! It won't cost you much to open one, and you can also open up a new distribution channel, just like "Wrong Turn" and "Tai Chi". Even if the cinema is offline, there will definitely be people who want to watch it, so come and rent it.

And you can create gimmicks, such as the complete version of "Wrong Turn" and the director's cut version. Some people are very interested in this.

If this market grows, it will be even better. If it doesn't grow, we won't lose money. Why not?"

"You always have wonderful ideas, but we need to investigate on the spot. I will seriously consider it." Fu Qi smiled.

The videotape business started in the late 1970s. With the popularity of home video recorders, it had become a market that everyone was eager to see in the mid-1980s, and even more so in the 1990s, until D and DVD came out.

They are of the same nature and belong to the same distribution channel.

This would be 1981. The videotape market can only be said to be getting more and more attention, but it has not yet reached the level of popularity.

But Chen Qi knows how awesome it will be in the future. It has become an indispensable part of the film industry. Many Hollywood movies are not even released in theaters. They can still make a small profit by directly releasing DVDs.

…

The two returned to the hotel, and a film producer was already waiting.

The Berlin Film Festival will open on the 13th, and they will leave Hong Kong on the 11th. Today is already the 10th.

"Tai Chi" was released on the 3rd, and it has maintained an average daily revenue of 1 million, with a total box office of 8 million!

"The Bodyguard" was released 4 days earlier and has been showing for 12 consecutive days. The audience's enthusiasm has waned, and the average daily revenue has dropped to about 600,000. The total box office has exceeded 10 million, becoming the second movie to exceed 10 million after "The Young Master".

But one thing goes up, the other goes down!

All Hong Kong filmmakers are waiting to see when "Tai Chi" will surpass "The Bodyguard". Once it does, the final result will basically be determined.

In this case, film distributors from Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia will definitely come to visit.

"Mr. Chen, 30,000 US dollars is already very sincere! You can't add much more, this is a convention."

"The only purpose of conventions is to be broken. 30,000 is too little. Tai Chi is a work that can revive a bankrupt theater. We don't want to sell it at a low price."

Seeing that the Southeast Asian film distributor on the opposite side still needed to be persuaded, Chen Qi held back and said, "The Berlin Film Festival is about to start. Will you go?"

"Yes!"

"Then we might as well talk about it in Berlin. If you are really sincere, you can wait a few more days."

"Okay!"

The Southeast Asian film distributor had no choice but to shake his hand and leave first.

Chen Qi sighed and asked, "Uncle Fu, are all overseas copyrights so cheap?"

"It's like this. For example, Japan has a good economy and a large market, so they pay more. But in general, small countries are poor and backward, and the US dollar is so valuable, so 30,000 is really good. There are also 10,000 or even a few thousand dollars to buy a movie."

"Well, well, well..."

"Go for volume, sell to more countries, tens of thousands of dollars here, tens of thousands of dollars there, and you'll have more if you save up. In fact, Japan's offer of 350,000 US dollars is considered sincere, so don't be too greedy."

"You can't calculate it that way. The value of a movie can actually be... Forget it, let's talk about it in Berlin."

Nowadays, when selling copyrights overseas, it is generally a buyout, without a share. Who will share with you?

Chen Qi didn't want to share, one is that the payment cycle is too long, and the other is that there are too many uncertain factors, such as those Hollywood operations, "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" can all make money losses.

He did business behind the back of China Film, and he wanted to cut the Gordian knot and make money first. The overseas copyright of "Shaolin Temple" was sold for a total of 3-4 million US dollars, which is his estimated line. "Tai Chi" should at least be on par.

Don't compare this era with the future. Do you know how much the country's foreign exchange reserves were last year? -

1.296 billion US dollars! Yes, negative.

A few million US dollars may seem small, but it is actually more than the foreign exchange revenue of some provinces in the whole year, and this is just a movie.