Dreams of the Fragrant River

For movie enthusiasts, 1994 is definitely a year to remember, in which a large number of classic movies were born.

In the West, this year has "Forrest Gump", "Pulp Fiction", "This Killer Isn't Too Cold", "Life and Death", "The Lion King", "The Shawshank Redemption", "Edwood" , "Burning Years", "Geezes in Disguise", "True Lies", "Joan of Arc", "Red" and other films. Chinese-language films are also well-received, such as "Alive", "Sunny Days", "Diet Men and Women", "Westward Journey", "Chongqing Forest", "The Liang Zhu", "Golden Branches and Jade Leaves", "New Love", "Domestic" Movies such as Ling Ling Qi are memories of a generation.

Due to the butterfly effect brought by Kang Jianfei, some movies in this time and space will no longer appear. For example, "True Lies", Cameron originally wanted to make "Titanic", but because the special effects technology and funds were not fully prepared, he decided to make this film first. Since Kang Jianfei captured Cameron to film "Jurassic Park", Cameron has been doing the preparatory work for "Titanic" since then, and "True Lies" will naturally not be filmed. Even if it is to be filmed, it is definitely not Cameron as the director.

But more movies, but not much affected, only some small changes. For example, "Geezes in Disguise", Kang Jianfei arranged Aishwarya to be the heroine in this film, and the second female lead in "Sunny Days" was also replaced by Li Bingbing.

In Hong Kong, Zhang Aijia's "New Cohabitation Era" kicked off in 1994, and the box office of more than 20 million heralded the recovery of the Hong Kong film market.

What follows is the Spring Festival New Year stall. Although, like the Christmas stall two months ago, only five Hong Kong films were released, these five films have a very high gold content.

The film shown on the Yonggao Cinema Line is "Shenlong Gambling Sage's Flag and Victory" jointly invested by three companies, Yonggao, Zedong and Taiwanese scholars. Although the title of this film is vulgar, the cast is not bad, with Leung Ka Fai, Tony Leung, Ekin Cheng, Ng Junru, Zeng Zhiwei, Zheng Yuling and Mak Jiaqi starring, and it is definitely a big cast.

This play should be the closure of Yonggao Film Company. Luo Jiecheng first stepped into the film industry after watching the popularity of Hong Kong films. Now that the film market has shrunk, he is not good at film production. It is inevitable that the company will stop production.

In addition, Huang Baiming's Xincheng Pictures also came back. "House of the Rich" continues the New Year's comedy style of "Happy Events in the Flower Field" and "Happy Events in the Family". It is not only directed by Gao Zhisen, but also brings together many stars such as Zhang Guorong, Liang Jiahui, Mao Shunyun, Liu Qingyun, Huang Baiming and so on.

It is worth mentioning that the production company of this play in another time and space is Meiya Laser. However, because Kang Jianfei established Oriental Entertainment Distribution Company early and grabbed a large market share of film and video tapes, the development of Meiya Entertainment Company was not smooth. Up to now, it is only a normal-scale video tape production and distribution company, and has not set foot in movies. production area.

In addition to these two movies, it is "Drunken Fist 2" and "Kung Fu". As for the remaining "Master Bodhidharma", we can ignore it, it's just the street kung fu film shot by Yuan Jiaban.

At this time, the number of movie theaters in Hong Kong has dropped from the peak of 190 last year to only 142, and the survivors are all tenacious predators.

Five Lunar New Year films represent the five major cinema chains, namely: "Drunken Fist 2" - Jiahe Cinema, "Kung Fu" - Oriental Cinema, "Dragon Gambler" - Yonggao Cinema, "The House of the Rich" "—Xincheng Cinema, "Dharma Master"—Xinbao Cinema.

...

Seeing that the New Year is coming, Chen Rongmei did not feel any festive atmosphere.

Yuan Jiaban's "Dharma Master" filmed because the attendance rate was too low, and it was cut down to only three theaters on the second day of its release, and the cumulative box office within five days has not exceeded 1 million.

This kind of broken film, the three theaters show too much, and the number of screenings is directly eliminated to two per day in the three theaters.

"It's not easy to do a movie!" Chen Rongmei looked at the empty theater, which can no longer be described by the attendance rate. During the Spring Festival, each theater actually has an average of seven or eight audiences. Just a year ago, his cinema was still making money every day, how could he have predicted that he would be so embarrassed that there was no film to put on it.

Xinbao Cinemas is one of the major cinema chains in Hong Kong, the most reliant on Taiwan-funded Hong Kong films to supply film sources. Now Taiwanese filmmakers have reduced their investment, so that Xinbao can't come up with a good movie during the Spring Festival, which is quite a sign of sunset.

Chen Rongmei smoked a cigar dully, called the general manager of the theater chain, and instructed: "Go and contact Jiahe, Xincheng, Yonggao and DreamWorks to see if they have any intention of renting the theater."

The theater line manager can also be helpless, the theater attendance rate is so low, it can only be regarded as a war for him. In the past, most of the films released by Xinbao Cinemas were the works of film companies such as Hong Jinbao and McDonald's, and all of them were invested by those Taiwanese funders. Now the Taiwanese sponsors don't invest any more money, and Hong Jinbao and others have no more films to shoot.

During the Spring Festival in 1994, Xinbao could only watch other people make money in a good time for making money. Cinemas in good locations were rented to other companies to show blockbusters, while theaters in poor locations were used to show old movies.

...

Golden Harvest Film Company.

Zou Wenhuai and He Guanchang were drinking tea and quietly waiting for the box office data of the first week of "Drunken Fist".

Not long after, a middle-aged man in a suit knocked on the door, put a form on his desk, and reported: "Mr. Zou, Manager He, "Drunken Fist 2" 13.64 million in the first week!"

"Huh!" Zou Wenhuai breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Not low."

He Guanchang asked, "Is there any data on Kung Fu?"

Zou Wenhuai shook his head and sighed: "There is no need to know. Our current enemy is not DreamWorks, but the shrinking Hong Kong and overseas box office markets."

...

Tseung Kwan O Film and Television City, Chairman's Office.

"Boss, the box office statistics for the first week of "Kung Fu" are out." Li Meifeng handed over the form and said, "16.28 million."

Kang Jianfei said lightly: "I see, go and make a cup of tea for Manager Jiang."

Jiang Zhiqiang smiled and said, "This time it's our big victory again."

"Woliheng is nothing interesting," Kang Jianfei said, throwing the other two forms to Jiang Zhiqiang, "Look at the Christmas layouts in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, the top one is from 1992 and the bottom one is from 1993. ."

Jiang Zhiqiang took the form and read it carefully, frowning after a while.

Kang Jianfei continued: "In 1992, the Christmas films in these three places were dominated by Hong Kong films, both in terms of box office and number of films. But in just one year, Hollywood films have caught up. If this continues, Hong Kong films will catch up this year. The box office of the film in these three places will be surpassed by Hollywood films.”

Jiang Zhiqiang asked, "What does Mr. Kang mean?"

Kang Jianfei said: "It is because of this matter that Brother Jiang is disturbed during the Chinese New Year. Now the overall quality of Hong Kong films has declined rapidly, and there are many bad films that are similar to the trend, causing overseas audiences to experience aesthetic fatigue. Nanyang Generation, Cathay Pacific and Shaw Brothers two Home is the largest theater chain, and they are only responsible for film screening and not production. Now Hong Kong films are not good, and they release a large number of Hollywood films in order to make money. If things go on like this, the film markets of Southeast Asian countries will be captured by Hollywood. , even if there are good films in Hong Kong, they can’t compete with Hollywood blockbusters in the film arrangement. I think, invest in the construction of Nanyang Cinemas!”

"It's long overdue!" Jiang Zhiqiang said with a slap on the thigh. He advocated the rapid expansion of the Oriental Cinema.

Kang Jianfei asked without question: "I want to see a total of 15 modern multiplex cinemas in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand before this summer. Is there any problem?"

"As long as the funds are sufficient, there is absolutely no problem." Jiang Zhiqiang said confidently.

"Then I will trouble Brother Jiang." Kang Jianfei laughed.

Investing in Nanyang Cinemas will not fundamentally save the decline of Hong Kong films. It needs to be **** its own. Only when the quality of Hong Kong films improves, those markets will not be occupied by Hong Kong films.

In 1993 and 1994, Hong Kong films were only in decline, and Hong Kong films were really on the verge of death after 1995. In 1995, the Taiwan authorities lifted the restrictions on the copying of European and American films, which directly led to the loss of the most important Taiwan market for Hong Kong films. Under the vicious circle, the Nanyang market was quickly captured.

Can Kang Jianfei prevent this from happening?

Maybe, at least the Taiwanese filmmakers did not tear up with the Hong Kong filmmakers like the original time and space did. This is all due to Kang Jianfei's mediation last year. Without Taiwanese filmmakers clamoring to lift restrictions on the copying of Hollywood films, Hong Kong films would at least not die so fast.

Hollywood has conquered the world, relying on high-tech computer special effects, and DreamWorks has released a lot of special effects blockbusters earlier, which has already made a good reputation, not losing to its Hollywood counterparts.

After Jiang Zhiqiang left~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Kang Jianfei called Li Meifeng: "Call President Zhang of Dark Horse Animation and ask him to come to my office."

There are really many things about Kang Jianfei. He does not need to worry about the daily operation and management of each company, but he must steer the company's development direction.

At least, if Kang Jianfei didn't take the initiative, Dark Horse Animation Company wouldn't think about developing digital 3D animation. Disney's digital 3D animations have been released for a few months, but the animation talents in Hong Kong have little idea of ​​this technology.

Kang Jianfei's request is very simple, that is, to spend money on the dark horse animation company, let them steal teachers, dig people, copycats, and spend a few years to make "Kung Fu Panda". At least after 2000, Dark Horse Animation must have the ability to make 3D animated films.

There is still a long way to go. At least in the next few years, Hong Kong film companies will die a lot, and the rest will either struggle to support or flourish. As long as DreamWorks can live beyond 2003, the huge mainland market will gradually open up in an all-round way, and at that time there will be another opportunity to take off.

So far, let's talk about the release of "Kung Fu". r1152

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