Rebirth of Hong Kong - 1978

Chapter 1434
"Is Lin Daoqiu crazy to shoot a literary film for 4000 million?"

When the audience in front of the TV heard that the cost of "Untouchable Lover" reached 4000 million Hong Kong dollars, almost everyone was shocked by the news.

At this time, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and others in front of the TV couldn't help frowning after hearing the news.

Originally, in their view, the investment of 5000 million was already a considerable sum. Although it was not comparable to the films Lin Daoqiu made before, it was definitely not that bad.

But now an "Untouchable Lover" actually cost 4000 million Hong Kong dollars, and it is still a literary film, so they don't know what to say.

"Although New Oriental has a strong enough ability to sell in ports, if a film of this type wants to return its capital, regardless of Xiangjiang's box office, it will have to sell at least [-] million in ports by then. Is this possible?"

Cen Jianxun shook his head while thinking, he felt that this was almost certainly an impossible thing.

Yuen Biao on the side also nodded repeatedly. Although he did not doubt Lin Daoqiu's ability, the genre of literary films is indeed not the mainstream genre.

No matter how good Lin Daoqiu is, this drama is unlikely to reap the same box office as before.

"Mr. Lin actually made a literary film before, and it was very popular."

Sammo Hung knew the news, and he also knew how popular that drama was in Baodao.

Cen Jianxun turned his head to look at Sammo Hung, but he didn't know the news.

"The play was called "Wine Dried If Selling Nothing". If I remember correctly, Mr. Lin also won the box office champion of Taiwan Movies with that play."

As soon as Sammo Hung said this, Cen Jianxun opened his eyes wide.

But soon he felt that this was nothing. After all, most of the movies in Taiwan were literary films. Under such an atmosphere, it is normal for Lin Daoqiu's literary films to get a good box office.

"4000 million for a literary film is either bragging or true, but this film was made by Mr. Lin, so 4000 million is definitely not fake, so where does a literary film cost so much money? Woolen cloth……"

Sammo Hung's question is a bit thought-provoking, but in fact he has already thought of the answer.

"If I'm not wrong, most of Mr. Lin's money was spent on special effects, so this movie cost 4000 million yuan to shoot."

After Sammo Hung finished speaking, Cen Jianxun and Yuen Biao suddenly realized, because his opinion was very likely to be true.

Thinking that Lin Daoqiu is now using special effects in his literary films, it really makes people feel speechless. This special technology has not been widely used on a large scale, but Lin Daoqiu has already begun to use it in literary films. Don't let people live.

"Fortunately, we have built a special effects company in advance, otherwise Xiangjiang's films will be monopolized by Lin Daoqiu in the future."

"Unfortunately, compared with Magic Studio, our technology is still immature."

Although it is much behind in technology, it is better than nothing. This time Sammo Hung's "Mad Man" is to make good use of the technology of their special effects company.

But just as Dibao planned to work together to shoot "Mad Man" this year, a bad news disrupted their steps.

As the person in charge of the special effects company, James was previously a member of Dykstra's team, and later Dibao and Golden Harvest poached them with high salaries.

Since the establishment of the special effects company, he has been in charge of the company's entire special effects team.

However, compared with Dykstra, his ability is obviously far inferior to the opponent, and the members of the special effects team are too few experienced, which is even more distressing for James.

"3000 million for special effects, with our current capabilities, it is difficult to make much use of it."

For the movie "Mad Man", Pan Disheng invited James to Dibao to discuss.

But the first sentence of the other party directly stunned the people in the conference room.

"You don't need to be so surprised. The special effects team is still in the groping stage. If there is a slightly eye-catching effect, this movie will have to invest at least 1000 million US dollars in special effects."

At this time, the exchange rate of Hong Kong dollars to U.S. dollars is about 1 to 7.8, and 1000 million U.S. dollars is almost 8000 million Hong Kong dollars.

Moreover, Sammo Hung originally planned to spend 3000 million for special effects, and the remaining 2000 million was used for filming.

But now James said that it would cost 8000 million yuan for special effects. If the filming expenses are added, the investment of this movie will exceed [-] million yuan, which is double their previous budget.

"Is there no solution?"

Pan Disheng is obviously unwilling to spend [-] million yuan to make a movie, because the risk is too great, after all, their movie goal is to be released in Asia.

If it takes [-] million shots, it is almost certain that there will be no way to pay back the cost within Asia.

Even if it is sold to Hollywood, I am afraid it will not have much box office.

"It's not impossible to spend 3000 million yuan to produce, but the effect presented may not be satisfactory."

James said this very euphemistically, but if he doesn't speak clearly now, and what he does does not meet their expectations, then he will have to bear the blame himself.

Although he already knew that making special effects movies was expensive, Pan Disheng didn't realize that special effects movies were burning money until he made them himself.

"See if this works. I'm adding 1000 million yuan to the budget, and 4000 million yuan will be used for special effects. It doesn't matter if the effect is a little bit worse."

Hearing what Pan Disheng said, James felt powerless.

The skill and courage of the other party in investing in special effects movies are simply incomparable to Lin Daoqiu.

"Mr. Pan, if the special effects company wants to develop, it is inevitable to burn money in the early stage. Although 1000 million US dollars is a lot, it is not enough for the research and development of special effects to even listen to the sound of water."

Although this truth of James sounds harsh, it is also true.

Lin Daoqiu also invested hundreds of millions of dollars to slowly support the technology of Magic Studio.

But Lin Daoqiu has the ability to use Magic Studio's technology to make movies to make money in the process of investing money, so no matter how much he invests, he can bear it.

The situation is quite different on Di Bao's side.

After all, Pan Disheng is not as focused on the film industry as Lin Daoqiu is, he still has his own business.

Let him spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop special effects movies, not to mention that he doesn't have so much money, even if he has, it is impossible to spend this money on movie investment.

In Pan Disheng's opinion, the annual investment of [-] million Hong Kong dollars is more generous than many film companies in Hong Kong.

"Mr. James, don't worry about some things and take your time. This matter is settled like this. 4000 million is spent on special effects."

Pan Disheng didn't want to discuss this matter too much. After all, James' request was too scary, and talking about it would only embarrass himself.

Although Sammo Hung also hopes to present a good special effect in "Mad Man", if he has to spend 8000 million for special effects, then his box office pressure will be too great.

After all, they are not Lin Daoqiu, they don't have that much courage, and they don't have that strong ability, so many times they can only make do with it.

(End of this chapter)