Rebirth of Xiangjiang - 1978

August 15, 1978, Zou Wenhuai's office, Jiahe Film Company, Xiangjiang.

Today, as usual, Zou Wenhuai came to his office early in the morning and started working. He has maintained this habit for many years.

After he finishes handling the company's affairs, he will go to the Ax Mountain Road Studio to see the progress of the new movies being produced.

At this moment, there were three knocks on the door. As soon as Zou Wenhuai heard the sound, he knew that the person knocking on the door was He Guanchang.

After he responded, He Guanchang pushed the door open and entered.

"Yesterday's box office of "The Affair" has accumulated to 5 million, but it will be released in two days. I think it can be extended by one week to increase the box office."

At this time, Xiangjiang movies are usually released within two weeks. If they do not perform well, they will be canceled in advance. After all, there are many movies lined up later.

And in two weeks, if the audience wants to watch this drama, basically they have already seen it, so there is no value in continuing to show it.

Unless the movie sells really well, like the Hui brothers' movie, even though it has been airing for almost two weeks, the box office is still between 30,000 and 400,000 yuan every day.

This is almost the same as the box office that ordinary movies earn when they are first released.

"Okay, since there haven't been any good movies recently, let's let "The Pact" compete with Fang Yihua's "Five Venoms"."

Just on August 12th, Shaw Brothers released "Five Venoms", starring Jiang Sheng, with Chang Cheh and Ni Kuang as screenwriters and directors, and the producer is Fang Yihua.

The Five Venoms got off to a terrible start, with its cumulative box office barely exceeding 800,000 in three days.

If this momentum continues, I'm afraid it will reach Jiahe Cinema Line's delisting standards in a few days.

But fortunately, their Shaw Brothers movies have to continue to be released even if they suck at the box office.

"If Shaw Brothers continues like this, I'm afraid that within a few years, Uncle Six will really consider switching to television."

It seems that Chow Wenhuai is very unfavorable about the prospects of Shaw Brothers. After all, Run Run Shaw's big studio system has created the prosperity of Shaw Brothers' movies, but it has also laid a big root for it.

But at this time, He Guanchang's expression suddenly became a little unnatural. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand, which seemed to record something.

"What happened?"

As soon as Zou Wenhuai saw He Guanchang's expression, he knew something must have happened.

He Guanchang shook his head first, and then put the paper on the table: "This is the box office record from Baodao this morning."

Zou Wenhuai picked up the paper and looked at it. His originally calm face suddenly frowned slightly.

The box office of "Master Qian" exceeded NT$80 million, equivalent to HK$11 million.

And this is not the final box office of "Master Qian", because movies on Baodao can be released for a long time.

"Looking at it this way, this movie will eventually get at least 20 million Hong Kong dollars in box office."

Having been involved with movies all his life, Zou Wenhuai would not be ignorant of the situation on the island.

Obviously they should be happy, but strangely, there was a solemn expression on their faces, as if this movie was represented by Shaw Brothers.

"You think...will "Master Qian" really break the 100 million mark in the end?" The 100 million mark that Zou Wenhuai mentioned naturally refers to the Hong Kong dollar.

He Guanchang immediately shook his head. He did not think that "Master Qian" could break 100 million, because if it broke 100 million, Lin Daoqiu would share 30% of the profit, which was already stated in the agency contract.

But this is not what they are most worried about, because at the wrapping party of "The Karate Kid", Zou Wenhuai had already heard from Lin Daoqiu that he was going to help Shaw Brothers make a movie.

Although Zou Wenhuai dares to bet that the box office of the film produced by Lin Daoqiu for Shaw Brothers this time will definitely not be higher than "Master Qian" in Hong Kong, because this time there will be no double screening.

But the overseas box office is probably going to be a very scary figure. After all, Shaw Brothers has the strongest distribution capability overseas.

If the agency rights of "Master Qian" are handed over to Shaw Brothers, breaking 100 million will definitely not be a problem.

"I plan to take "Master Qian" to Hollywood for release."

Zou Wenhuai suddenly said something that made He Guanchang feel baffled. If Zou Wenhuai really does this, if it also gets a good box office in Hollywood, then "Master Qian" will definitely have no problem breaking 100 million.

"Do you think it's inappropriate for me to do this?"

After Zou Wenhuai asked, He Guanchang hesitated for a moment and finally nodded.

"If I don't do this, something big will happen. Have you ever thought about what would you do if Lin Daoqiu's new film for Shaw Brothers had a box office overseas that far exceeded "Master Qian" when it was released overseas?

think?"

As soon as Zou Wenhuai finished speaking, He Guanchang suddenly understood.

If that happens, I'm afraid that all of Lin Daoqiu's plays will be handed over to Shaw Brothers for distribution, and Golden Harvest's losses will be immeasurable.

"Where is he now?"

"I heard that he went to Baodao to help Li's TV series."

Zou Wenhuai didn't know that Lin Daoqiu was filming in Baodao.

"Have someone give him this check."

While Zou Wenhuai was talking, he had already taken out his checkbook and wrote a long list of numbers.

He Guanchang felt very strange. He didn't understand why Zou Wenhuai wrote a check to Lin Daoqiu.

After the other party finished writing, he handed the check to He Guanchang. He picked it up and looked at it, and his eyes immediately widened.

"Ten million? Mr. Zou, what are you talking about?"

He Guanchang really couldn't understand why Zou Wenhuai gave Lin Daoqiu 10 million. After all, "Master Qian" hadn't broken 100 million yet, so there was no need to rush to give the money to him.

"Even if the box office of "Master Qian" does not exceed 100 million in the end, I will give him the 10 million as a way to buy a future."

Since there is no way to beat Shaw Brothers in terms of overseas distribution, but at least it must beat the opponent in terms of magnanimity. I believe that as long as Lin Daoqiu is not stupid, he will understand what choice he should make.

"I see."

If it were He Guanchang, he would never give this money.

But he vaguely felt that what Zou Wenhuai did was right, but there were probably not many people as magnanimous as him in the Hong Kong film industry.

…………

Two days later, the manager of Jiahe Film Company in Baodao went to the hotel in person to meet with Lin Daoqiu.

"This is what Mr. Zou Wenhuai Zou asked me to hand over to you."

The other party handed the check worth tens of millions to Lin Daoqiu.

Lin Daoqiu took it and saw that it was a check worth tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars. He raised his head and looked at the other person with doubts in his eyes.

"This is the share of the overseas box office of "Master Qian"."

"Hey... I heard that "Master Qian" has just been released in Baodao. Although it has done well at the box office, it is still a long way from breaking 100 million Hong Kong dollars, right?"

Lin Daoqiu thought at first that the other party had made a mistake.

"Mr. Zou said that it doesn't matter even if the box office of "Master Qian" does not exceed 100 million in the end, because he wants Mr. Lin to know the difference between Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers."