The king of ghost horse comedy

Chapter 139 Filming a sequel
"The Fat Dragon Crossing the River" was not as troublesome as "Chengji Tea House", and it quickly passed the inspection of the prosecutor's office, and it was released smoothly.

After some setbacks, "Cheng Ji Tea House" was finally released.

The two films were released together, competing with Shaw Brothers' "Affair" directed by Li Hanxiang and "Hong Kong's Little Godfather" directed by Jiahe Wu Siyuan.

"The Little Godfather of Hong Kong" is a new work directed by Wu Siyuan, starring Liang Xiaolong.

Liang Xiaolong is a TV actor familiar to Chinese people. He has starred in ATV's "Huo Yuanjia" and "Chen Zhen" and other TV series.

But because he went to the mainland to make films, he was banned by Taiwan and forced to retire.It wasn't until Zhou Xingchi asked him to play the role of Huoyun Cthulhu in "Kung Fu" that he came out of the arena again.

It is rumored that this person is an actor with real kung fu. He has practiced boxing since he was a child. His best record is to repel the siege of more than a dozen people, but he only suffered a little injury.

Wu Siyuan praised him as the starring role, also to take over Bruce Lee's class. "The Little Godfather of Hong Kong" is also an ambitious work. The film was shot in Italy, with an investment of more than 60 Hong Kong dollars.

Golden Harvest also expects that Liang Xiaolong can create a miracle and become Bruce Lee's successor, so that the Xu brothers will not be presided over by others.

Four films were released at the same time, and "Affair" directed by Li Hanxiang was the best, with a box office of 30 on the first day, topping the list.

In the 70s, although the films directed by Li Hanxiang did not break any box office records, every film he made was very popular, and he was a prolific director who could shoot several films a year.Taken together, they earn more than any director in Hong Kong, and they can be regarded as one of Shaw's lucky stars.

Temporarily ranking second at the box office is Hong Jingbao's "The Fat Dragon". The humorous and interesting fighting is his magic weapon for winning, but the story is similar to "The Way of the Dragon" starring Bruce Lee, so it is unavoidable to be criticized.

The third place at the box office is "The Little Godfather of Hong Kong" starring Liang Xiaolong. The box office on the first day was only more than 5 Hong Kong dollars, which is far from "Affair".

It is said that at the premiere of the midnight show, the audience cursed loudly together, and made director Wu Siyuan cry.

Wu Siyuan has also initially established his reputation in the Hong Kong film industry after making blockbuster films such as "Dang Kou Beach" and "Hungry Tiger and Dragon".Since being incorporated by Golden Harvest and having more funds in hand, he also wants to do a big job.This "Hong Kong Little Godfather" is his ambitious work.

But this unpopularity was more than he expected, and he was extremely frustrated.

Gui Zhihong's "Cheng Ji Tea House" ranked last, with a box office of only over 3 Hong Kong dollars, which was not as popular as films produced by other independent film companies.

"Why is the box office of "Cheng Ji Tea House" so low? I went to see the midnight show, and the audience responded well." Xu Guanwu frowned and asked Liang Shuyi.

""Cheng Kee Tea House" obviously falls into the category of popular but not popular. Although the story is very fresh and the theme is also very novel, it is also possible that Hong Kong audiences will not accept this theme for the time being." Liang Shuyi explained.

Xu Guanwu nodded. In the history of Hong Kong movies, there are too many movies that were well-received or not popular. It is a pity that they were born at the wrong time.

"Since this is the case, then move "Chengji Tea House" to the Academy of Fine Arts and extend its release time as much as possible. The theme of this film is very good. If it can grow, Hong Kong will have another theme in the future."

Liang Shuyi nodded.

……

After "Cheng Ji Tea House" was moved to the Academy of Fine Arts, the box office did not improve significantly. The box office in the first week was only 30 Hong Kong dollars, which made director Gui Zhihong very frustrated.

Wu Siyuan was as frustrated as him. The box office of "The Little Godfather of Hong Kong" was also sluggish. The box office in the first week was only 50, and there was no possibility of exceeding one million.

At that time, a movie was considered a blockbuster only if it exceeded one million dollars. Just like in the 80s, a movie that sold less than 2000 million Hong Kong dollars was not considered a blockbuster.

An ambitious work, the halberd fell to the sand, Wu Siyuan was very depressed, but he still raised his spirits to shoot "Integrity Storm".It was the movie about the Gerber corruption case.

Compared with Gui Zhihong and Wu Siyuan, Hong Jingbao's life is very prosperous. The box office of "The Fat Dragon Crossing the River" in the first week was 70 yuan, and it will definitely pass the million mark next week.

Although those familiar plots in the play have been criticized, but considering that this is Zeng Zhiwei's first experimental work, it is lucky to get such a box office.

And the second movie "Tiger Frog" starring him is about to wrap up.

"Tiger Frog" is a work written, directed and acted by the new director Mai Jia. The plot is absurd and grotesque. The biggest feature is that it is funny to the end. Flawed.

……

In the second week of the release of "The Little Godfather of Hong Kong", there was a sudden turning point at the box office.

The film's leading actor, Liang Xiaolong, was on the front page of "Oriental Daily" because of a criminal case.

It turned out that at the Yau Ma Tei Ping An Building that day, Liang Xiaolong was surrounded and beaten by more than a dozen gangsters with sharp knives for some reason.Although Liang Xiaolong was unarmed, but with his good kung fu, he even knocked down more than a dozen people, but he only suffered a little skin injury.

Such a brilliant record immediately caused a sensation in Hong Kong, making people talk about it.

In order to see Liang Xiaolong's kung fu style, people flocked to the theater to buy tickets, and the box office of "The Little Godfather of Hong Kong" actually rose instead of falling, which made Wu Siyuan exclaimed inconceivable.

Xu Guanwu was already worried about the "Sheng Ji Tea House", and he couldn't help but have a flash of inspiration when he saw this, and immediately linked the incident of gangsters slashing people with knives with the rampant gangsters in "Sheng Ji Tea House", and strongly urged the Hong Kong police to protect the citizens Safety.

Taking advantage of the wind so cleverly, "Chengji Teahouse" also got attention because of this incident, and the box office also soared.

"Cheng Ji Tea House" was originally a good film, but the audience was not used to this kind of film for a while.But after a period of screenings, word of mouth, and a little hype, "Cheng Kee Tea House", which was originally a hit, gradually became popular.

In the third week, the box office has reached 70, and the attendance rate is still slowly rising, which is a typical example of a low box office in the early stage but a boom in the later stage.

Seeing that the box office of "Cheng Ji Tea House" has improved, director Gui Zhihong has finally regained his confidence.

"Mr. Xu, I want to make a sequel to "Chengji Tea House"." Gui Zhihong volunteered, "At the end of the first film, I specially left a mystery so that I can make a sequel."

Xu Guanwu looked at him in surprise.

There are very few directors in Hong Kong who are willing to make a sequel. After Wu Yusen finished filming "The True Colors of a Hero", he firmly refused to make a second film.Later, under Xu Ke's coercion and lure, he reluctantly filmed "The True Colors of Heroes II", but he still refused to admit that it was his own work.

Xu Ke filmed the sequels of "Swordsman" and "A Chinese Ghost Story" because he didn't make any money when filming the first two works, so he had to make money for the second film.

In comparison, all blockbuster films in Hollywood have sequels without exception, and some films have more than a dozen or even dozens of sequels.

From an analysis point of view, the reason is that Hollywood movies are all commercial operations. After a movie is successful at the box office, the producer is bound to squeeze out the commercial value of the movie. Making a sequel is a good deal that can make money without losing money.

Although Hong Kong films are also commercial operations, the rights of directors are very large.If the director doesn't want to make a sequel, it's hard for anyone to force it.

In Hollywood, however, the rights of directors are firmly suppressed by the producers. It doesn't matter if you don't want to shoot, I can immediately replace someone else to shoot.

The theme of the movie "Chengji Tea House" is very good, and Xu Guanwu also wants to take this opportunity to make it a new blockbuster movie genre.So when he heard that Gui Zhihong offered to shoot a sequel, Xu Guanwu was very happy.

(End of this chapter)