The king of ghost horse comedy

Chapter 427 Review Seven Eight

Xu Group's business is booming, and last year, Shaw and Golden Harvest's performance was not bad.

In terms of movies, although the Shaw Brothers still has a conservative style, they finally promoted a few young directors, such as animal director Mou Dunfu, and made several refreshing movies.

Of course, Shaw Brothers' main films are Kung Fu films and Romance films.The great director Li Hanxiang is growing old and strong. Last year, he made four romance films and two palace costume films. He can really be said to be a prolific director.

The cost of his Fengyue films is very low, and he is only filmed in Shaw Brothers Studios. The cost of each film is only 30 million, but the box office can reach more than one million Hong Kong dollars. He is the director that Shaw Brothers most relies on today.

Another great director, Zhang Cheh, made ten films last year, all of which are kung fu films that he has always been good at.The reason why Director Zhang Che worked so hard was because when he went to Taiwan to develop, he used the funds provided by Shaw Brothers.But then Longbow Films closed down, and director Chang Cheh owed Shaw a large sum of money.

Ordinarily, since it was a cooperative business, there would be profits and losses, and Shaw did not force him to pay back the money.But Zhang Che was stubborn, and he insisted on making films to pay off his debts, so he opened ten films a year.Such exhaustion also made his body, which was not in good shape, more and more aging.

Once after get off work, the driver saw him approaching and jumped into the car to start the engine.But after waiting for a long time, he didn't see him getting into the car. Looking around, it turned out that Director Zhang Da was already lying on the ground with exhaustion.

Although director Zhang Cheh is old and strong, he has made ten films within a year, but not many of them sold, most of them did not even make a million. Only ten thousand.Compared with the current Xu's movies, which can easily exceed 400 million, 500 million, or even 900 million, it is far worse.

Another director, Liu Jialiang, led his Liu family team, and made a big splash last year. He made four blockbuster movies in succession, each with a box office of over 100 million. He is now a veteran of the Shaw Brothers.And his younger brother Liu Jiahui is now Shaw Brothers' leading red star, starring in "God Lang Bagua Stick" and "Shaolin 36 Room", etc., not only won a high box office in Hong Kong, but also gained great popularity internationally, becoming an internationally renowned actor. Kung Fu Red Star.

……

Compared with Shaw Brothers' conservativeness, Golden Harvest appears to be much more aggressive. He has continuously annexed more capable independent film companies in Hong Kong, either directly or indirectly. Talents have also increased.

The reason why Golden Harvest was able to spend a large sum of money to acquire and poach people despite the unfavorable circumstances of the film industry for many years is actually the help of the funds of the Nanyang Consortium.Back then, Lu Yuntao's Dian Mao and Shao Yifu's Shaw Brothers fought to the death. After Lu Yuntao crashed and died, Dian Mao had no leader for a while. Although they made two films later, they all suffered miserably.Therefore, the film production industry was launched, but the strength was reduced to stick to the theaters.

After that, Zou Wenhuai and He Guanchang came out from Shaw Brothers to establish Golden Harvest, with the help of the cinema chain under MP & GI.The reason why Nanyang Filmmakers were willing to provide financial support to Zou Wenhuai was mainly because Zou Wenhuai had a great reputation in Shaw Brothers before.If Shao Yifu didn't worry that his employees would become too big to lose their tails, so he specially brought his concubine into the company to be in control, Zou Wenhuai would not have wanted to jump out and start his own business.

Although Golden Harvest's performance is not very good, the Hong Kong film market is booming. Hong Kong's local box office hits new highs one after another. In Taiwan, South Korea, Nanyang, Japan and other places, Hong Kong films are also very popular.That's why these Nanyang consortia don't spare money. Although Golden Harvest's profits have not been obvious in recent years, they still have high hopes for him.

After Golden Harvest annexed five independent production companies in one go, and recruited a group of talents with high salaries, it also began to increase the cost of film investment, and began to vigorously support newcomers.For example, the younger generation of directors who have been outstanding in recent years have all been excavated by him.

Most of these young directors are from the TV industry or have returned from studying abroad. They have the blood and creativity of young people, and at the same time, they are familiar with the audience's heart, or they have the most advanced film concepts in the world. They are a group of existing minds. An aggressive filmmaker.

The joining of young directors has injected new vitality into Golden Harvest, and the themes of film creation have also increased.There are no longer only kung fu movies and strange crime movies, but now there are romantic comedies, social ethics movies, romance movies, urban action movies, violent horror movies, etc.

Xu Guanwu was surprised to find that among the new directors launched by Golden Harvest, there was actually Xu Ke, the old monster that he couldn't find anywhere!When he saw the news, he was shocked enough.

Who doesn't know that Mr. Xu is a geek in the Hong Kong film industry, and the films he shoots are of very high quality, whether it is the early Dark Trilogy, or the later New Art City period, or even the film studio period, It seems that it has become a well-known fact that Mr. Xu's product must be a high-quality product.

Xu Ke is also one of the four Hong Kong directors that Xu Guanwu admires the most. In addition to liking his early dark trilogy "Butterfly Change", "Hell Without Doors" and "The First Kind of Danger", he also works in New Arts "Ghost Horse Wisdom Stars", "The Best Partner: The Queen's Secret Order" filmed during the filming period, "Swordsman", "Huang Feihong" series, "New Dragon Inn", "Swordsman" series and so on during the film studio period, etc. They are all good movies that Xu Guanwu has watched countless times.

So Xu Guanwu has always wanted to recruit Xu Ke to his subordinates, but Xu Ke was not in Hong Kong before, he studied directing in the United States, and immediately joined Jiayi TV Station after returning.Because he had stayed abroad and drank foreign ink, the brand was quite famous at the time, so he was entrusted with a heavy responsibility as soon as he entered Jiayi TV Station, and he was immediately promoted to be a director and producer.

At that time, Xu Guanwu and his wife were recuperating in the Mainland, so they didn't know about it at all.After Xu Ke filmed a few TV dramas, he could gradually show up. Wu Siyuan, who had a keen eye for talent, immediately discovered him, and immediately recruited him under his command.

Speaking of Xu May entered the film industry in the previous life, it was also because of Wu Siyuan's appreciation. At that time, he only watched two episodes of TV dramas he made and thought he was more talented in composition, so Wu Siyuan intentionally recruited him. It was Bole who met Maxima.

By coincidence in this life, Xu Ke was scooped up by Wu Siyuan, and later invested in him to shoot the new martial arts movie "Butterfly Change".

Seeing the name of this movie, Xu Guanwu was also taken aback. He never thought that the inertia of history would be so great, and he would be able to correct himself when he was messed up by a time traveler.

The movie "Butterfly Change" is not so much a kung fu movie, but a suspense thriller, or a magical martial arts movie is more suitable.Although there are many martial arts masters in the movie, at most they are proficient in boxing and kicking. They are no different from people who practice boxing and kicking in real life. You need to rely on the power of "technology".

In this movie, Xu can use his genius imagination to give a new interpretation of the ancient kung fu.The light kung fu that goes up and down is actually the power of steel wire; the internal kung fu that breaks boulders is actually the explosive power of gunpowder; It is no longer the legendary martial arts cheats, but the thunderbolt gun...

The reason why Xu Ke subverts the common sense of martial arts films is mainly because he feels that at the end of the 70s, martial arts films have entered a strange road, so changes must be made in order to have new developments.And "Butterfly Change" is his fresh attempt for this purpose.

Wu Siyuan started out making kung fu martial arts films, so he is naturally full of affection for this film, so he supports Xu Ke's pursuit of change and innovation, so he spent a lot of money to support him in the filming of "Butterfly Change".

This movie is still in hot shooting, and the newspapers keep advocating for them, saying that it is the pioneering work of the new school of martial arts, with wonderful stories, rich imagination, magnificent fantasy, and so on.

Xu Guanwu knows that "Butterfly Change" is considered a classic of New Wave movies, but it is a pity that it was many years later when it was recognized.At that time, "Butterfly Change" not only did not win a high box office, but also did not win a high reputation.The unanimous opinion of the audience was "what kind of bullshit was this filmed?" Although the industry felt that this film was innovative, it was nothing more than that, and it was unlikely to have much impact on the box office.

Until later, Wu Siyuan took this film to be exhibited at international film festivals one after another, because its extremely CULT style won the appreciation of international filmmakers, which in turn made this film re-appreciated in Hong Kong. The flowers inside are fragrant outside the walls.

In addition to the introduction of young directors, veterans such as the Yuan Jiaban brothers and director Luo Wei also started to make efforts last year and made a lot of good films. 320 million, a big hit.

Director Luo Wei followed Feng Gui Zhihong's "Magic Tire" and "The Devil in the Devil" and other works, which also engaged in disgusting and violent pornography, and the box office results were also good. will" reputation.However, he always follows the trend when making films, but every time he achieves good box office results, it really makes his colleagues envy and hate.

……

In terms of expanding new channels, the two companies have also noticed that the video tape market is gradually expanding, so they also set foot in the field of video tape production last year.

However, unlike the wealthy Xu Group, Shaw Group adopted the method of cooperating with other companies, and they provided funds and machines, while Shaw Group was responsible for producing content, and the profit was distributed in proportion.Doing this can save Shaw a lot of money, but it also sends his lifeline to other people.

On the other hand, Golden Harvest sold the copyright of the video tapes directly, so that the money will be returned the fastest, so that he can get the supplement of funds as soon as possible.But in the long run, it is naturally not as cost-effective as holding the copyright in your own hands.

But they don't have the money, nor the strength to introduce large-scale production lines like Xu's, and arrange a chain of leased convenience stores all over Hong Kong and Kowloon, so it's understandable to adopt this method.

The sales of Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest's videos are still good in Nanyang, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and other places, basically on the same level as Xu's movies, but in Hong Kong and European and American markets, the sales of Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest's videos are far behind It's too late.

Xu Guanwu owns his own chain of leased convenience stores in Hong Kong, and 20th Century Fox helps distribute them in Europe and America, so the sales volume is far better than that of Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest, and the profits from the distribution of video tapes have been losing money from the beginning. Now there are hundreds of thousands of profits, which basically account for [-]% to [-]% of the investment cost.

This has greatly eased the pressure on theatrical releases. Even if the cost cannot be recovered during the release, it can basically be evened out by leasing and selling video tapes. This will allow film companies to be able to develop new film resources.

(End of this chapter)