Dreams of the Fragrant River

February 20, 1984, if someone compiles the history of Hong Kong film in the future, this day will definitely be recorded in the annals of film history. [;Starting]

The establishment of the Oriental Cinema Company means that following the four major cinema chains of Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, Golden Princess and Yindu, there will be five parallel lines in Hong Kong. The previous new era theater chain was destined to be short-lived, and its loose organization meant that it would not last long.

At this moment, the total number of cinemas in Hong Kong has reached 121, although it is one-third less than the total of 180 cinemas in 1969, but the account cannot be calculated in this way.

In 1969, Hong Kong's economy was underdeveloped, not to mention the New Territories, even Kowloon and Hong Kong Island had many undeveloped rural areas. The so-called 180 theaters at that time were largely open-air theaters, neighborhood theaters and country theaters.

Today, of the 121 cinemas in Hong Kong, there are about 80 or so with more than 500 seats. In recent years, the total number of newly built multiplex cinemas has exceeded 1,000.

The current situation of the Hong Kong film market is that there are too many film companies, a limited audience base, and the distribution of cinemas is too dense. Sometimes in a better location, there are four or five theaters on one street, and the audience will fly up.

Under this circumstance, there will inevitably be a situation where the weak will prey on the weak, and the market will eliminate redundant theaters.

The Shaw Brothers theater chain was the first to be eliminated, but to see who can take over this theater chain, it will be another battle between dragons and tigers.

…

The opening press conference of the Oriental Cinema Line was held at the Taiping Theater, which is the leading theater of the Oriental Cinema Line. There will be an opening screening later here, and the invited reporters can continue to watch the movie after dinner.

The press conference started at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, but around 2 o'clock, reporters began to arrive one after another. In the press conferences of hundreds of media, it is easier for photographers to get a good shooting position if they come earlier.

Kang Jianfei walked in the front, with Jiang Zhiqiang and Zhang Moren behind him. There are also eight other franchised theater owners.

Several people walked up to the temporary rostrum. Jiang Zhiqiang waited for the time to arrive, and then he spoke first: "Friends from the press, thank you for coming to the press conference of the Oriental Cinema in your busy schedule. Now let me introduce you. Here are the people around me: Mr. Kang Jianfei must be known to everyone. He is a world-renowned director and a major shareholder of the Oriental Cinema chain. In addition, this old gentleman is Mr. Zhang Moren, the manager of Taiping Theater, and he is also a veteran in the film industry. This is Mr. Chen Luoming, the owner of Maoxin Cinema, and this is Mr. Zhu Jin, the owner of Lianhe Cinema... Next. Mr. Kang, please speak."

Kang Jianfei was in a good mood today. He wore a suit and leather shoes, and even wore a tie for a rare occasion. He smiled and said, "It has been four years and five months since I set foot on the beach in Yuen Long. Now, I am very happy that the Oriental Cinema Line can be established, and I would like to thank all the journalists and Hong Kong citizens for their support. Just now, General Manager Jiang gave the general situation. What I want to add is that whether it is the Oriental Entertainment Company or the Oriental Cinema It will open its doors to all film companies in Hong Kong. If you can’t find good actors or behind-the-scenes when making movies, you just need to contact Oriental Entertainment, and we will guarantee you the most reasonable and affordable crew. You can’t find a place for your movies. It doesn't matter at all, as long as the quality of the film is excellent, the Oriental Cinema will not refuse. Now the Oriental Cinema has two long-term cooperation companies, Yongsheng Film Company and Century Films. I hope to have more friends to join in. Among the screening alliances of the Oriental Cinema..."

Kang Jianfei's words were all recorded by the reporter's tape recorder or small notebook, and there was a strong taste in it. Because whether it is Jiahe or Princess Jin. Even the Yindu Cinema Line has supported a large number of satellite film companies, while the Oriental Cinema Line has only DreamWorks and its two studios, attracting more collaborators can stabilize the cinema chain's high-quality films source.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Zhiqiang once again introduced some basic information of the Oriental Cinema. Several people on the podium also made brief speeches, and the press conference finally entered the free question-and-answer session.

"I would like to ask Mr. Jiang Zhiqiang. Why don't you run your own family theater chain, but choose to be the general manager of the Oriental Theater chain?" A female reporter took the lead in throwing the question to Jiang Zhiqiang. expected.

Jiang Zhiqiang did not expect that he would be the first to be questioned. He sorted out his words and said, "First of all, Mr. Kang and I are good friends in private. We used to do a temporary theater chain in the United States. It took me more than a month to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is equivalent to my total income of the previous six years. The plan for the temporary theater chain was proposed by Mr. Kang, so I believe that following him can lead to a successful career. Make it bigger. As for the family's Anle Cinema, it is enough for my brother to run it, and he has the ability to manage the Anle Cinema well."

"Next, the gentleman in red in the second row asked a question."

"Hello, Mr. Kang, I'm a reporter," the reporter got up and said, "In just four years and five months, you started a film company, an entertainment agency, a cinema chain from scratch, and acquired A TV station and a record company, and these companies are still very profitable. How did you do this, and can you share your successful experience with the public?”

Kang Jianfei laughed and said: "Although this question has nothing to do with the theme of today's press conference, I can still answer it. I think all successful people have the following commonalities: First, you must have goals and directions, and you must If you don’t know what to do, how can you be successful? The second is to persevere. Many times, you will fall short for Shan Jiuren, but in fact, you can succeed as long as you persist one more step.”

"Mr. Kang, do you think your name is included in this year's top ten outstanding young people in Hong Kong?" another reporter asked.

"Whether I have my name or not depends on what they say," Kang Jianfei said with a smile, "I'll remind everyone again, please don't ask irrelevant questions."

Another reporter asked: "Mr. Kang, some people say that there are too many cinemas in the urban area of ​​Hong Kong. There can be several cinemas on one street, which will cause fierce competition and dilute the box office. Do you agree with this point of view? ?"

Kang Jianfei didn't care how many movie theaters there were. He asked back, "Are there many movie theaters in Hong Kong? I don't think there are many. When Taiwan's movies were booming a few years ago, there were hundreds of movie theaters in Taipei alone. Hong Kong has only 100 movie theaters now. In the early years. And the more cinemas, the more prosperous Hong Kong films, which is a fortunate thing.”

The reporter asked: "But the number of audiences is limited, and there are too many cinemas in the same area, which will cause everyone's attendance to be low. Moreover, in order to grab the box office, the major cinemas will also release their own blockbuster films at the same time. You Don't you think this is a vicious competition? A movie that should have won 30 million at the box office might only have 20 million after this competition?"

Kang Jianfei said confidently: "I don't know if it is vicious competition. I only know that DreamWorks movies are not afraid to compete with others, because DreamWorks will not make shoddy movies."

Zhang Mo and Jiang Zhiqiang were the first to applaud, and then there was a sparse applause in the Taiping Theater.

As long as the words are beautiful, no one will investigate whether they are changing the subject, and some reporters also link the "shoddy manufacturing" in Kang Jianfei's mouth with Shaw Brothers, so that there will be more news to write tomorrow.

…

…

Ye Zimei stood on the side of the road and kept looking at her watch, she was so anxious that she was about to go crazy. She was originally ineligible to attend the opening screening of the Oriental Cinema. Because she was going to star in Kang Jianfei's new film, the Oriental Entertainment Company gave her an admission ticket.

But to go to the Taiping Theater to cross the sea, Ye Zimei waited for more than half an hour and still hadn't called a taxi.

Not long ago, the Hong Kong government wanted to increase the license fee for taxis. As a result, taxi drivers all over Hong Kong went on strike. It is very difficult to get a taxi these days.

Cheng Long drove a luxury car to Hong Kong Island. Chen Ziqiang, who was in the co-pilot, suddenly pointed at Ye Zimei who was waiting for the car on the side of the road, and said in surprise, "Hey, isn't that the big girl in front?"

Cheng Long turned his head to look over and asked, "Which big girl?"

Chen Ziqiang said: "It's the heroine of Kang Jianfei's new film. She seems to be called Ye Zimei. Many newspapers published her photo last month."

"You read that right?" Cheng Long asked.

Chen Ziqiang said with a smile, "I definitely won't get it wrong. Even if I don't know her face, I know her big wave."

Cheng Long also said slyly: "Then do you want to soak her? Just let me give her a ride and create opportunities for you."

Chen Ziqiang hurriedly shook his head and said, "I don't have that idea. Maybe this woman has already climbed into Kang Jianfei's bed. Otherwise, why would she choose her as the heroine."

In the entertainment industry, it is not only not a scandal for men to spend time and money, but it is a kind of capital to show off.

For example, Hong Jinbao later personally admitted that his first marriage broke down because his wife was unbearable because he often went out to pick up girls.

Not only this kind of big star, but also the people behind the scenes. After the decline of Hong Kong films, some old people in the Hong Kong film industry said to the younger generation: You have missed a good time. Ten years ago, screenwriters often had their bosses take them to nightclubs, and now they have no food to be directors.

In fact, Chen Ziqiang's words are not malicious, but have a taste of envy in them.

When Cheng Long saw the beauty, he rubbed up on it, stopped directly in front of Ye Zimei and said, "Where is Miss Ye going?"

"Are you Cheng Long?" Ye Zimei said incredulously. She always felt that a big star like Cheng Long was unattainable. When she met at the last celebration banquet, Ye Zimei didn't dare to go up and talk to her. Long actually took the initiative to stop and say hello.

Chen Ziqiang whistled and asked, "Beautiful girl, where are you going?"

Ye Zimei replied, "I'm going to the Taiping Theater."

"We happen to be going too, get in the car." Cheng Long patted the steering wheel and said.