The literary era since 1979

At the end of July, the box office of "Once Upon a Time in China" unexpectedly reached 7 million Hong Kong dollars, breaking the highest box office record of mainland films in Hong Kong, which was 2812 million held by "Shaolin Temple", and at the same time broke the previous box office record created by Hong Kong kung fu films.

If we have another 200 million or so, it will be close to "Summer Lucky Stars", the first Hong Kong film to break the 3000 million box office.

For a while, not only the Hong Kong media, but also the entertainment industry, martial arts community, etc. were shouting "the wolf is coming".

Although "Huang Feihong" is a big superhero IP in Hong Kong, we absolutely cannot tolerate mainland co-productions showing off in Hong Kong.

As a result, many people placed their hopes on Cheng Long's "Police Story", but the result was shocking.

I thought that this masterpiece, which was said to be Jackie Chan's second impact on Hollywood, would severely suppress the arrogance of Jet Li, "Once Upon a Time in China" and the new martial arts wave, but I didn't expect that the quality of the film could not be said to be shoddy and unsightly, but it was at least tasteless and a pity to throw away.

Seeing that the good show of "Jackie Chan vs. Jet Li" started well but ended badly, the Hong Kong media, which could no longer continue to hype it up, immediately turned their guns around and used "Once Upon a Time in China" to criticize "Police Story", highlighting the "praising one and criticizing the other", saying that Jackie Chan had "run out of ideas".

It was under this kind of public opinion situation that the opening ceremony of "Police Story" was held in front of a slum.

On the table where the statue of Guan Gong is enshrined, there are offerings placed one by one, and in the center is an incense burner for inserting incense.

On the right side is a camera covered with a red cloth, while on the left side, there are loud gongs and drums, firecrackers, and a huge crowd of people, making it a very lively scene.

Fang Yan, Ho Koon-chang, Cheng Long, Lam Ching-ha, Joey Wong and others stood in the first row. After worshipping the gods, they lit incense one by one.

"Golden Harvest is worthy of being Golden Harvest. This is much more grand than Shaw Brothers."

Fangyan said in a joking tone.

"Mr. Fang, please don't misunderstand. We are not doing this to deliberately suppress the Shao Group. We mainly want to get rid of the bad luck."

He Guanchang waved his hand.

"To get rid of bad luck?"

Dialects are not without surprises.

Cheng Long smiled bitterly, "Yes, Mr. Fang, "Police Story" is just as you said, a complete failure in both word of mouth and box office."

"You don't have to take it too seriously. The failure of this film is not your fault."

Fangyan consoled him with a few words, "As the saying goes, you should stand up from where you fell. I think we should start with Police Story."

Cheng Long nodded solemnly, his eyes seemed filled with unwillingness and anger, vowing to avenge his previous shame and wash away the defeat brought by "Police Story".

As soon as the opening ceremony ended, the entire crew, especially the Cheng family, began to get busy preparing for the car chase scene.

He Guanchang looked at it quietly, with a kind look on his face, and said:

"Mr. Fang, Boss Zou asked me to congratulate you on his behalf. Congratulations on the huge success of the movie Once Upon a Time in China."

"Where is it, it's just a fluke."

Seeing Fang Yan shaking his head and laughing, Lin Qingxia pursed her lips, then looked at Wang Zuxian and whispered.

"Mr. Fang is really too modest."

Ho Kuan-chang said that, in a broader sense, "Once Upon a Time in China" opened up a new situation for Hong Kong's kung fu films and found a new production direction; in a narrower sense, it reshaped the IP of Wong Fei-hung and allowed Jet Li to completely tear off the label of "Shaolin Boy".

"Mr. He doesn't need to be envious."

Fang Yan said: "Police Story will break the fans' stereotypes about Jackie Chan and make him a real hero in the police force."

He Guanchang laughed out loud, "I hope it's as Mr. Fang said."

The two were chatting when they suddenly heard the sound of ambulance sirens and medical staff came out of the car carrying a stretcher.

"This is?"

It was the first time for both Brigitte Lin and Joey Wong to act in Jackie Chan's movie. When they saw this scene, their faces were filled with confusion.

Ho Kwun-chang explained that Cheng Long's films require realism, whether it is action scenes or chase scenes, they are all quite dangerous, so if life is in danger, an ambulance can be sent to the hospital for rescue as soon as possible.

"Sigh~"

Wang Zuxian took a breath of cold air. Fangyan asked and found out that the first scene of the filming was not a transitional scene like "Baby Smart Star", but a direct main course.

That is the scene at the beginning of "Police Story" where Chan Ka Kui drives his car to chase the drug lord and flies over the slums.

In sight, workers are laying tracks so that cars can run along designated routes. However, these tracks are actually made of wood. If one is not careful, a car traveling at high speed may lose control or even overturn and cause an accident.

"No way, the budget is so much."

Cheng Long, who was called over, spread his hands and said helplessly: "Otherwise, I wouldn't have arranged to shoot in the slums, I would have shot it on the street."

Ho Kwun-chang asked curiously, "Mr. Fang, if this was in Hollywood, how would they shoot this car chase scene?"

"If you want a realistic scene, you can book a street and clear the area for filming."

Fang Yan said: "But if it is a very dangerous explosion scene, computer special effects may be used, and the most expensive one second can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars."

"Wow, hundreds of thousands of dollars?!"

Cheng Long was shocked. This was almost one-third or even half of the cost of "Police Story".

Hong Kong movies cannot afford to spend that much money, but low-budget movies have their own way of playing. Just like when Hollywood shoots a jumping scene, they use life-saving air cushions, while Hong Kong's movies use quilts and fruit cartons. The main theme is two words, "desperate".

After all, this is how Hong Kong's stuntmen earn their money, jumping off buildings in the morning, catching on fire at noon, and crashing cars at night.

"Police Story" officially started filming thrilling car scenes under the concept of "risking one's life".

"boom!"

"Boom!"

"Bang bang bang!"

One conspicuous car after another was rampaging through the slums, the sheds that were hit collapsed instantly, and explosions occurred one after another.

With sparks and lightning all along the way, houses were destroyed. Compared with Hollywood, such car chase and explosion scenes really don't cost much.

The only price was that four or five special-grade divisions were injured, one of whom was even seriously injured and was immediately carried into an ambulance for emergency treatment.

Wang Zuxian and Lin Qingxia were so frightened after seeing this scene that they were speechless. Their eyes were wide open with panic expressions.

"It's all really over the top, all crazy."

Fangyan couldn't help but sigh, and it was for this reason that Hong Kong films deserved the title of "Oriental Hollywood" in the 1980s and 1990s.

This tiny country with only seven or eight million people was able to spread its film culture across Asia and into Europe and the United States, rivaling Hollywood at the time.

"Mr. Fang's evaluation is very sharp, concise and to the point, and it immediately points out the essence of Hong Kong movies."

He Guanchang's eyes lit up instantly.

“I just felt that.”

Fang Yan said: "With this momentum, I think it will not be a problem for me to break into Hollywood with 'Die Hard'."

"If what Mr. Fang said is true, A-Long and our Jiahe will never forget this love!" He Guanchang vowed.

Fang Yan smiled and turned around to look at Lin Qingxia and Wang Zuxian, "How are you, are you scared?"

Lin Qingxia held Wang Zuxian's hand tightly, looked at each other, encouraged each other, and then said in unison: "We are not afraid!"

"Well, it seems we didn't make a mistake!"

Ho Kwun-chang showed a satisfied smile, especially when he heard that they refused to use stunt doubles and were willing to challenge danger like Jackie Chan.

The dialect also gives enough affirmation. In fact, in Jackie Chan's movies, Jackie Chan is the only hero and the only focus. If the heroine does not want to be a vase, she must either be as good at fighting as Yang Ziqiong or work as hard as Jackie Chan. Otherwise, the audience will only remember Jackie Chan.

Just like in Journey to the West, there are queens, princesses, fairies, demons, and ghosts, but people only focus on the monkeys... (End of this chapter)