National Tide 1980.

It is true that food is the first necessity of the people, and the stomach is at the center.

But Ning Weimin is not only concerned with satisfying his appetite, he also makes plans for the catering business in various ways.

He also did not give up on the construction of spiritual civilization.

This time he came back from France, and although he did not bring back any national treasures, he bought the film libraries of two film studios and obtained the copyrights of thousands of European films, TV series, documentaries and cartoons.

It can just meet the needs of the domestic audience who are lacking in spiritual food.

So, taking advantage of the fact that Matsumoto Keiko's "Li Xianglan" would be released in mainland China on June 6, Ning Weimin, relying on his wife's face, also took a ride and met with the leaders of the Film Bureau and the leaders of China Film Exhibition and Distribution Company again.

He also proposed in person the direction of his cooperation with some relevant units in the domestic film industry.

According to Ning Weimin's idea, in addition to hoping that the Film Bureau and China Film Corporation could issue a "special pass" for the foreign films in his hands, he also hoped that the leaders of the two units could facilitate cooperation between him and their subordinate units and introduce and matchmake them.

Specifically, he wanted to pick out some European films that had good box office performance and proven commercial value, or those directed by famous directors and starring big stars, from the European films he had bought, and bring them to China first, and have them translated into Chinese by the dubbing studio.

Then, movies whose content is in line with national conditions and can pass censorship will be released in mainland theaters.

As for the distribution and release of these films, he is willing to follow the current domestic policies on domestic films.

They only make money from selling copies and distributing audio-visual products, and give up the right to share in the box office revenue.

As for those films that are restricted by policies and cannot pass censorship, they will not be wasted.

He wanted to donate copies free of charge to major film and drama schools in the country as internal reference films and internal materials.

This will help students in the domestic film industry improve their professional level, and also provide a way for the domestic film industry to understand the development trends of European films.

To be honest, although the suggestions made by Ning Weimin were made with full consideration of the need for mutual benefit and were completely based on the perspective of benefiting the domestic film sector, and he respected the interests of China Film Exhibiting and Distribution Company and took the initiative to give up the biggest box office pie, he really didn't hold out much hope that things could be done this way.

After all, he is aware of the many limitations and operating characteristics of the domestic system.

For such a big thing, it would be difficult to accomplish without someone as influential as Director Huo to guarantee and endorse him.

Therefore, his suggestion was just a trial balloon, and his original intention was just to test the leaders' attitude.

If the other party does not object and shows a willingness to cooperate, he will then make real efforts and find ways to implement it.

If the other party does not have this intention, he will not force it for the time being. He will do as much as he can and to the extent that he can.

He has plenty of patience and doesn't mind waiting until the domestic film industry is reformed and the time is ripe.

After all, the Japanese market can still provide support for him at present.

But unexpectedly, he was lucky and these suggestions received positive responses and affirmation from several leaders on the spot as soon as they were put forward.

The feedback from several leaders was surprisingly enthusiastic, even a little impatient, and they immediately asked him about the specific implementation plan, time schedule and intended investment. They were completely pragmatic and hoped to implement these things as soon as possible and were eager to start relevant cooperation.

This was completely beyond Ning Weimin's expectation. When did the domestic efficiency become so high?

This unreasonable situation completely confused him.

But he was a smart man after all, and soon he figured out what was going on from the conversation between the two sides.

The reason is nothing else but the severe decline of the domestic film market in recent years, which has almost made many domestic film-related institutions unable to make ends meet.

Although both are in decline, the domestic situation is much worse than that in Japan.

In fact, starting from 1984, with the popularization of television, the number of moviegoers in the country began to decline.

Subsequently, the introduction of VCRs and the lack of quality films further led to a large loss of moviegoers.

Between 1986 and 1987 alone, the number of moviegoers nationwide decreased by billion.

Almost suddenly, the domestic film market went from profitable to unprofitable.

Cinemas across the country fell into an unsustainable situation, which caught China Film Corporation, which was responsible for domestic film distribution, off guard and completely stunned.

How to raise money so that these cinemas can pay salaries on time has become the most troublesome issue for the Film Bureau and China Film Exhibition and Distribution Company.

And as the saying goes, no egg can remain intact when the nest is overturned.

The downturn in the cinema industry has also indirectly affected the film production sector.

The worst hit are the dubbing studios responsible for translating foreign films.

Although the mid-1980s was the heyday of dubbing studios.

Both the cast and the factory system are almost perfect.

Take Shanghai Film Translation Studio for example, the first generation of voice actors were in their prime and had first-rate skills.

After ten years of training, the second generation of voice actors have become the backbone.

At this time, no matter which country's films they translate, they can do more than just translate, but also appropriately re-create them based on the original cultural background, making the aesthetics closer to domestic audiences.

But the golden age came to an abrupt end due to the deterioration of the market environment.

As a large number of Hong Kong and Taiwan films were transmitted to China via videotapes, the tastes of domestic audiences suddenly changed.

Foreign movies don't have martial arts action scenes, nor do they have the gun battle scenes that are as exciting as roasted beans.

The appeal to young audiences is rapidly decreasing.

The rise of the television industry, especially the broadcast of excellent domestic TV series this year, such as "Dream of Red Mansions", "Journey to the West" and "Four Generations Under One Roof", has also given a kick to the dubbing studios and snatched away the attention of middle-aged and elderly audiences.

The film regulatory authorities have reduced the introduction of imported films due to economic difficulties.

In addition, as learning English becomes more and more popular in China and digital technology develops at an increasingly rapid pace, it has become a piece of cake to add subtitles to movies using computer software, triggering more and more people to advocate watching the original soundtrack with subtitles.

This further led to a sharp drop in the workload and financial support of the dubbing studios.

That's like having all kinds of skills in hand but not being able to use them. How embarrassing!

Moreover, the times are accelerating, and the meticulous work model of the past is becoming outdated.

Nowadays, when translating a movie, it is difficult to give the dubbing team a month to fully understand the cultural background of the movie and figure out the psychology of the movie characters.

In short, many young people who originally entered the industry with admiration but have not received any training have given up because of these reasons.

There are already many promising talents trying to transfer to other jobs.

Some people even say that "dubbed films are dead" and if they want to survive, they have to think of another way out.

It may be hard for outsiders to believe that "Shanghai Translation Studio", which was so glorious a few years ago, is now almost out of business and its employees are in a panic, which is not much better than those state-owned enterprises that have been losing money year after year.

To be honest, this is also thanks to the fact that in the past two years, there have been many large-scale films shot by foreigners in China, whether it is "Dunhuang" currently being shot in Gansu, or "The Last Emperor" which has just been completed in the Forbidden City, or Ning Weimin's matchmaking between Japan and the three major domestic film studios to jointly shoot "Li Xianglan".

The money they spent in the country has greatly alleviated the economic difficulties of several major domestic film studios. Otherwise, the country would be in total disarray now, with money shortages everywhere.

  So now Ning Weimin actually took the initiative to propose cooperation, and the way of cooperation can create profits immediately and immediately solve the practical problems of the domestic film industry. You can imagine how happy the leaders of the Film Bureau and China Film Corporation are?

How can they not regard Ning Weimin as a timely rain! Ning Weimin is the firefighter of the domestic film industry!

Therefore, for this matter, the leaders of China Film Corporation patted their chests on the spot and promised Ning Weimin a target of importing ten films in the second half of the year alone. Their only hope was that he could get the funds in place as soon as possible and start the work.

The leaders of the Film Bureau were also unambiguous and promised to be as lenient as possible in the approval process.

After returning, he contacted Shanghai Translation Studio and asked the then factory director Chen Xuyi to send someone to Beijing as soon as possible to discuss cooperation with Ning Weimin, and asked him to cooperate as much as possible to finalize the matter as soon as possible.

  Look at how beautiful this is!

Ning Weimin really didn't expect that he could get it without any effort.

He holds the copyrights of thousands of films, but he was able to open the door to the domestic film market so easily.

Now, with official welcome and support, he became the only person in the country who had the right to import movies, and the industry status of this movie tycoon was confirmed.

This not only made it easier for him to recover the cost of purchasing these film libraries, but also prompted him to have more expectations and ideas about the mainland film industry and market.

And that's not all.

A little different from movies, TV series bring Ning Weimin more diversified benefits that are easier to produce in the short term.

In 1987, after the TV series Dream of Red Mansions was broadcast in mainland China and received rave reviews, it also caused quite a stir when it was broadcast overseas.

The TV drama production center is very satisfied with the broadcast results in both Japan and Hong Kong.

Feng Qiyong, honorary president of the Dream of the Red Chamber Society, said this is the greatest popularization in history.

The Redologist Zhou Ruchang said that the first achievement is to have a complete dragon from beginning to end.

The person in charge of the TV drama production center therefore informed Ning Weimin through Director Huo and expressed his desire to continue cooperating with him.

We plan to trade the copyrights of "Journey to the West", "Nurhaci", or more TV series to him and let him broadcast them overseas.

The "Grand View Garden" located in Nancaiyuan in the capital, which was converted from a former park and used as the filming location for "Dream of the Red Chamber", was opened to the public at the same time as the TV series was broadcast last year, and reaped the biggest benefit.

It has now become the most popular tourist destination in Beijing and a money-making destination for Xuanwu District.

This has given this district, which has relatively backward economic development among the eight districts in Beijing, a treasure trove that continuously generates wealth.

The main actors of the TV series Dream of Red Mansions also became an instant hit and became the most watched local stars in the country today. All major variety shows would invite them to perform on stage. As TV actors, they overshadowed singers, movie stars and comedians for the first time.

Ning Weimin, who has advanced awareness, fully understands the value of IP, and knows the correct way to play, naturally wants to strike while the iron is hot and take advantage of this popular trend.

In fact, his purpose in returning to China this time was to discuss with the art colleges and industrial arts manufacturers with whom he worked closely on how to develop related products.

In his eyes, with the current backward business vision and application methods in the country, this craze brought about by the TV series is a complete waste. They could obviously earn a hundred yuan, but they only saw one yuan.

Ning Weimin was not talking nonsense. He took some time to take Matsumoto Keiko to visit the Grand View Garden.

I found that there were so many people there that there was no place to put my feet. Even tourists from other places came here to visit and regarded it as a tourist destination comparable to the Forbidden City.

But the tourist souvenirs in the entire scenic area are mediocre and there is nothing to praise.

The most popular items sold in the scenic area's stores, besides bread, soda, popsicles, film, and Kang Le Guo, are some stills, postcards of characters from the Dream of the Red Chamber, bookmarks, desk calendars, wall calendars, playing cards, and comic books.

Moreover, in such a hot day, the souvenir shop didn't even have a paper umbrella for sunshade or a round fan suitable for ancient costumes or taking photos. Instead, they sold the recently popular sandalwood folding fans and traditional paper folding fans. You can imagine how stubborn they are.

The pendant with commemorative words on it that can be hung around the neck is an imitation of a jade pendant and sells quite well.

But they are just common resins and plastics, and there is no original creativity to speak of.

The rest are mostly unpopular products, which are basically just for filling up the counters and making the products appear more abundant.

For example, some glass snuff bottles, small cloisonné items, porcelain vases, and the four treasures of the study.

It really has no special features. It is basically the same as most scenic spots in Beijing, and has almost no connection with the IP of "Dream of Red Mansions".

But Ning Weimin is different. He has a keen eye and is willing to invest.

After two days of meetings and discussions.

He asked the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Arts and Crafts to produce a design draft, and then the silk doll workshop of the Jinxia Factory and the silk doll group of the Meishi Street Sewing Society would work together to produce 5,000 sets of silk dolls with twelve gold hairpins, twelve pairs of hairpins, and twelve pairs of hairpins according to the design.

In much the same way, he also asked the Ceramics Department of the Academy of Arts and Crafts to be responsible for drawing the draft, and the Beijing Arts and Crafts Factory to produce 2,000 sets of blue and white porcelain tableware and enamel porcelain tableware with the Twelve Golden Hairpins.

He also placed orders with the badge factory and the palace lantern factory.

The badge factory was required to design and produce Baoyu's spiritual jade, Baochai's golden necklace and locket, Shi Xiangyun's golden unicorn, and Daiyu's white hairpin according to the appearance of the TV series, 20,000 pieces each.

And 40,000 small mirrors with the words "Feng Yue Bao Jian" engraved on the back.

The palace lantern factory was required to produce 6,000 glass lanterns from the Dream of the Red Chamber, which could be lit with small bulbs and No. 5 batteries.

In addition, Ning Weimin also asked the Beijing Embroidery Factory to produce 2,000 sets of round fans, scented fans, and paper umbrellas with the Twelve Golden Hairpins and Dream of the Red Chamber characters on them.

Twenty thousand in the purse.

The Meishi Street Sewing Club was required to produce another 2,000 small items such as plush flowers, plush balls, and plush birds.

The street factory in Donghua City had already started producing small flower-decorated jewelry.

But we also hired the original masters to a certain extent and started to restore the traditional silk flower project.

It can be said that Ning Weimin’s plan has basically covered all kinds of distinctive products of "Dream of Red Mansions".

He even contacted the polar bears who were able to make concentrated juice and ordered 10,000 bottles of rose water, which were the size of a two-liang liquor package.

But in the end, it was the order he placed with the gold wire inlay factory that was the largest, most exaggerated, and most surprising.

Even the leadership of the gold wire inlay factory was shocked by this.

Because he actually asked the factory to create a set of golden sculptures with the theme of "Illusionary Land" according to the design draft given by the professor of the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Arts and Crafts, with a cost of RMB 3 million and a total weight of about 36 kilograms.

This is a shocking act. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, no one has used such expensive materials to do such a thing.

What's more, the price of gold jewelry in China was only 80 yuan per gram that year.

This means that if the job is done well, the manufacturer should have a profit margin of hundreds of thousands.

As manufacturers, how could they not be shocked and excited?

To be honest, although this job is sweet, the factory dare not agree to it on their own. They have to write a report and report to their superiors.

But after all, the Pierre Cardin and Goldlion co-branded gold lighter was commissioned to be produced by this factory, and the two parties have had large-scale transactions for a long time.

Moreover, Ning Weimin had the support of the Light Industry Bureau and the Cultural Relics Bureau, so the matter was finally approved.

This also means that Ning Weimin will soon own a set of golden and shiny treasures that are bright enough to blind ordinary people.

This is enough to make him comparable to the gambling king family in Macau who likes to use this trick to intimidate gamblers. (End of this chapter)