Dreams of the Fragrant River

On January 20, 1981, it was released in Taiwan for nearly two months, and it was still firmly released in major theaters in Taiwan. [;First release] There are really not many good films in Taiwan this year. An American film that was shown twice in Taiwan 20 or 30 years ago can be shown in Taiwan for five consecutive months for the third time. This kind of film is close to Taiwan. A good film of human life should be screened for five or six months to make sense.

As for the attendance rates in Japan and Hong Kong, which have fallen to a certain level, Princess Kim and Shochiku are gradually reducing the number of screenings. So far, it has received more than 19.3 million box office in Hong Kong, and the box office in Japan is an astonishing 1.4 billion yen (equivalent to about 45 million Hong Kong dollars).

The box office situation in Japan was reported back to Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong film circle was boiling. When Cheng Long's films were the most in Japan, they were less than 1.2 billion yen.

The horror box office in Japan once again attracted many Hong Kong filmmakers to join Oriental DreamWorks, or independent directors took their scripts to DreamWorks to attract investment.

It also sold well in the United States, reaching 200,000 copies in just half a month. Compared with other popular albums, this number can only be considered trivial. The top sellers in the US album sales chart are sold in millions of copies. But it is a pure music record, and the sales of 200,000 copies is already a very good result.

Kang Jianfei, who was a big seller of records, was sitting at Tang Shuxuan's house, playing with a Tao Xun, dumbfounded.

This Tao Xun was bought from an American musical instrument store, and it also came with a record and a simple Tao Xun playing teaching material.

Tang Shuxuan brought a cup of coffee to Kang Jianfei and said, "The review has been passed, and the movie is rated as R (recommended to watch over 17 years old)."

Kang Jianfei smiled and said, "Haha, fortunately, it's not a 17-level mental retardation (n-17, it is forbidden to watch under the age of 17)."

Tang Shuxuan flipped through Tao Xun's simple textbook boredly and asked, "You wrote this booklet?"

Kang Jianfei shook his head with a wry smile and said, "The Yankees made it up. I said how could Columbia Records spare no effort to help me promote the record. It turned out that they also sold musical instruments and teaching materials. This Taoxun in my hand is an American factory that used to produce ocarinas. It is estimated that before the release of the record, they have thoroughly researched the structure of Tao Xun, mass-produced it by the method of making ocarina, and then wrote the basic teaching materials and sold it together with the record.”

Tang Shuxuan said: "Tao Xun is our Chinese musical instrument, and it is not bad that the Americans can promote it."

Kang Jianfei sighed: "I heard that Columbia has just negotiated with several music academies in the United States to supply Tao Xun and records for music research and teaching. I paid a penny for the Tao Xun and teaching materials they sold. You can’t get it, and you only get a share when the record is sold.”

Kang Jianfei is really depressed, if Columbia Records can promote Tao Xun in the United States. Selling musical instruments makes more money than selling records. But Kang Jianfei had nothing to do. Even if he gets a Taoxun factory now. There is no way to grab business with Colombia, and their sales channels in the United States are the trump card.

"Ding dong, ding dong..." The doorbell rang.

Tang Shuxuan got up and opened the door, but Jiang Zhiqiang came.

After Jiang Zhiqiang sat down. Kang Jianfei hurriedly asked, "Brother Jiang, how is the establishment of a temporary theater chain?"

"It's a little difficult," Jiang Zhiqiang analyzed. "The total cost of showing a movie in a large movie theater in the United States is about $500. Those movie theaters in Chinese communities have low operating and management costs, so the cost of showing a movie is very low. About $50 to $200. Based on a movie ticket price of $2, an average movie needs 70 spectators to recover the cost. But these theaters are too small, the most with about 500 seats. The smallest theaters only 200 seats. After deducting various taxes and fees, if we count a 500-seat theater, even if the audience is full, we can get a maximum of $500 at the box office.”

"How about the rent of the theater?" Kang Jianfei asked.

The theater rent is related to whether the temporary theater chain makes or loses because of the $500 box office. Even if Kang Jianfei only takes 30% of the production share, he will only have $350 left. In order to form a temporary theater chain, they have to pay rent to these theaters. After paying the rent, what remains is the money earned by the theater chain and the theater.

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "The monthly rent for two theaters ranges from $60,000 to $100,000 per theater. For a theater with 500 seats, the daily rent is more than $1,600, with an income of $350 per show and five shows a day. Exactly $1,750, just made $150."

"That means losing money?" Kang Jianfei said with a wry smile.

It is said that each theater can earn 150 yuan per day. In fact, it is calculated based on the fact that the theater is full, and that it is full for two months.

is it possible?

Obviously not possible.

"Only consider reducing the cost and reduce the rent a little bit." Jiang Zhiqiang took out a small notebook and said, "I have repeatedly calculated, because we are operating temporarily, the cost of movie screening can be reduced by about 30%. Those in the Chinese community. The operating conditions of the theaters are also relatively poor. If we continue to negotiate, the rent should be reduced by 10,000 to 20,000 yuan. In this way, each theater can earn 700 US dollars per day in the best case, and 300 US dollars in the normal situation. Dollar."

Kang Jianfei took a look at the notebook in Jiang Zhiqiang's hand, and saw that all kinds of expenses were written on it, and it was marked with red pen to indicate how to save expenses and so on. Looking around, the semi-illiterate **** Fei can't help but sigh in his heart: Some things still have to be done by professionals. If he and Tang Shuxuan are the two directors to run the theater chain, the result is only to lose all the underwear. Lose.

Kang Jianfei asked, "How many movie theaters have you contacted now?"

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "A total of 47 theaters have been contacted, but after removing some that are not conducive to the establishment of theater chains or will definitely lose money, there are only 31 theaters left."

For 31 theaters, if each theater earns $200 per day, the revenue of the theater alone and the theater chain will be 6,200 yuan, which is a net profit of $370,000 in two months.

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "Based on the audience base of Chinese community theaters, I think our temporary theater chain is best maintained within a month. After a month, basically no one will watch the same movie, and the rent is two months. It's a waste of time. In this way, the single-day income will be greatly increased."

"I only need 25% of the box office revenue." Kang Jianfei said that he took the initiative to reduce his production share.

If the US distribution company is used to help distribute it, the distribution company alone will share 30% of the box office. Taking into account the division and taxation of cinema chains and cinemas, he can get 17%, which is considered a conscience price.

Kang Jianfei has contacted some big Hollywood companies in the past few days, and both 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. are willing to act as agents. But Kang Jianfei has no foundation at all in the American film industry. These grandsons have decided on Kang Jianfei, and even the publicity expenses have to be paid by him. All kinds of expenses are deducted, and it can be divided into 10% of the box office at most.

Kang Jianfei didn't expect how much box office the temporary theater chain he formed with Jiang Zhiqiang would make. Then negotiate with the other party on this basis.

Kang Jianfei voluntarily gave up 5% of the box office share. Jiang Zhiqiang did not refuse. Instead, he said, "A Fei. I contacted Martin Cinemas, and they are a little interested in your film."

"Is there a company called Martin Cinema?" Kang Jianfei had never heard of it.

Jiang Zhiqiang said with a smile: "There are many cinema chains in the United States, and it's normal that you haven't heard of them. This Martin Cinema Company is unusual. There are a total of 119 cinemas and 233 canvases under the cinema chain. It is only in terms of the number of cinemas. . Martin Cinemas can be ranked seventh in the United States. However, most of its theaters are in small communities with less than 200,000 people, and their profits are very low. Generally, they are not valued.”

Kang Jianfei did not know that the Martin Cinema Company at this time was the predecessor of Carmichael Cinemas, the fourth largest cinema chain company in the United States in the future.

Kang Jianfei asked, "What conditions are they willing to give?"

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "Fuka Group, where Martin Cinemas is located, has its own film distribution company. If your film is favored by them, then they are willing to give you 10% of the distribution fee. Roughly speaking, you can at least Can get more than 25% of the box office revenue.”

Kang Jianfei said strangely: "This Martin Cinema Company also has Fuqua Group, why do you give me these discounts?"

Jiang Zhiqiang said with a smile: "Because their theaters are all in small communities. These communities don't have many options to watch movies, but they can only walk into the theaters under the Martin Cinema Line, so they can save a lot of publicity costs. Moreover, Martin In order to survive and develop, theater chains have always adopted small profits but quick turnover. This is their corporate strategy.”

When Kang Jianfei heard that there was such a good thing, he hurriedly asked, "Where is the headquarters of Martin Cinema? I'll bring the film to find them right away."

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "In Georgia ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Kang Jianfei calculated in his heart that if there is a temporary theater chain they set up to screen in the Chinese community, and there is a Martin theater chain for screening in small communities, plus the quality, it will definitely be possible. Become famous. At that time, if you go to mainstream theaters to talk about the second screening, you should be able to take the opportunity to ask for more than 20% of the box office share.

Alas, it's really hard for a small company to release a movie overseas, and they have to worry about a little bit of profit sharing. Some time ago, Kang Jianfei was dissatisfied with Lei Juekun. He felt that it took more than half a year to sell it in Japan, and the talks collapsed several times. Only now did he realize the difficulty of Lei Juekun. Overseas distribution is really not that easy.

——————

Lao Wang is not familiar with the American film industry, and he is even more ignorant of the situation of the American film industry in the 1980s. The data in this chapter can’t be found online either. It’s all calculated by Lao Wang based on various data from the mainland, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and the United States at the current stage, as well as the economic development of various countries for decades. There are definitely discrepancies in the data, but it's not too outrageous, and that's about it.

In this chapter, Lao Wang's research is at least five hours...