The king of ghost horse comedy

Chapter 526

Li TV has launched a top-down purge immediately since the Macau gang took over. First, the former manager Huang Xizhao was fired, followed by the resignation of the producer McDonald and others. Afterwards, the purge went downhill. , actors, etc. were all cleaned up.

If the large-scale cleaning activities make the already precarious situation of Li even worse, since the Macau gang took over, in less than a month, more than 200 people have already left.And Li's has a total of more than 800 employees, a quarter of the staff has been lost all of a sudden.

For such a large-scale cleansing activity, the intention of the Macau Gang was to lay off staff and lighten the burden, throw away the burden and travel lightly.But it's a pity that the Macau Gang's actions were too big. When they poured out the dirty water, they even threw away the children inside.

Among the people who ran away from Li's TV station, some may have lack of talent, or have some kind of problem, but more people are because they are worried that they will be cleaned up, and they are not optimistic about the future development prospects of Li's TV station. I am still famous now, so find another company as soon as possible.

Some of the staff have flowed into Jiayi TV, because Jiayi TV has recently applied to cancel the restrictions on TV stations, so Sir Shao is also very ambitious and plans to make a comeback, so it is very necessary to expand the workforce.

Another part has flowed into the film industry. Now everyone knows that the Hong Kong film market is booming. In addition to the three film companies that have been crowned kings, Xu, Shaw, and Golden Harvest, dozens of independent film companies have recently emerged.

The newly emerging independent film companies are different from the previous independent film companies. The previous independent film companies mainly shoot C-level films, low-cost kung fu films and pornographic films. These films are generally released in Hong Kong. No, most of them are sold to the Nanyang area for the appreciation of the audience there.

However, these newly established independent film companies are participated by new wave directors. They are TV professionals who have graduated from TV stations. They are familiar with the production process of TV dramas and grasp the current popular psychology of audiences, so the films they shoot are more targeted. sex.Some have returned from studying abroad in film majors. Their concepts are more advanced and their techniques are more mature, adding new vitality to Hong Kong films.

The quality of the films produced by these independent film companies is very good. Although they are considered low-budget works, they are very innovative. They are a rising force in the Hong Kong film industry.

Xu Guanwu's "Oriental Phantom" magazine has paid attention to this phenomenon, and has selected representative directors, including Xu's Zhang Jian, Zhang Guoming, Colorful Pictures' Liang Puzhi, Century Pictures' Yu Yunkang, Xu Anhua, Yan Hao from Shaw Films, and Fang Yuping from Leftist Film Company.

"Oriental Phantom" introduced these directors representing the new forces of Hong Kong film one by one, which greatly increased their popularity and attracted the attention of major Hong Kong film and television companies.

This action of "Oriental Phantom" was not instructed by Xu Guanwu, but when history advanced to this point, a very amazing coincidence happened.When "Phantom of the Orient" gathered these people together, it also used the French New Wave movie to describe this group of people, meaning that they will bring new changes to Hong Kong movies.

However, it is a pity that Hong Kong New Wave films did not persist for too long, because of the lack of commercial support and orderly coordination and scheduling, the New Wave directors fought on their own, and this change only lasted for two to three years. It disappears into the invisible.However, the significance of New Wave movies is very far-reaching, almost determining the direction of Hong Kong movies in the next 30 years.For example, police and gangster movies, gangster movies, gunfight movies, horror movies, magical kung fu movies, romance movies, martial arts movies, etc., are all influenced by New Wave movies.

It's just a pity that although these young directors are full of enthusiasm, those independent film companies are even more ambitious and plan to build themselves into a new Xu Group, but it is a pity that a three-legged situation has been formed in the Hong Kong film industry, especially Xu, Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers respectively occupy the three largest theater chains in Hong Kong. This move alone has firmly locked the throats of these independent film companies, making it almost impossible for them to grow bigger.

Golden Harvest took advantage of the advantages of the theater chain, successively acquired Siyuan Film Company, Luo Wei Film Company, etc. under its banner, and also recruited strong players like McDonald.

Although Xu did not acquire these film companies, he also formed alliances with some film companies, but the relationship was relatively loose without signing a contract.

Shaw Brothers has always maintained a self-sufficient state, but he has also followed the trend of the New Wave and introduced many young and promising directors.However, the Shaw Brothers is now at dusk, and even if they introduce more talents, it will be difficult to turn the tide, so it is still unclear whether the young directors will be effective.

The three major oligarchs monopolize the Hong Kong film industry and restrict the development of independent film companies. This is actually not good for the development of Hong Kong films.However, Xu Guanwu did not give up the idea of ​​brilliant theaters.

In fact, independent film companies are like piranhas in the Amazon River, small in size, but greedy, cruel, and unscrupulous in pursuit of commercial interests.However, because of its natural enemies in the Amazon River, even though this small fish is very cruel, it has not flooded into disasters.

However, once they enter waters without natural enemies, these piranhas will grow rapidly and eventually become a hazard in the local waters, devouring all the food that can be swallowed, leaving other fish with nowhere to go.

The prosperity of Hong Kong films depended on the independent production companies in the 80s, and the decline and fall of Hong Kong films was also due to the greed of independent film companies.

Xu Guanwu knew exactly how frenzied these independent film companies would become if they lost their restrictions, so he would not hand over the brilliant theater chains in his hands.He wants to win over a group of the most promising independent film companies in Hong Kong with the help of Brilliant Cinemas, and encourage them to shoot stylized, distinctive and innovative independent films.And for those companies that only know how to follow the trend and make bad movies, the door is closed.

Although Jiahe and Shaw Brothers may not be as far-reaching as Xu Guanwu thought, they also know the power of monopoly, so naturally they will not hand over their cinemas.

If independent film companies want to develop, they must own their own theaters, or form an equal competitive relationship with other big film companies in terms of theaters. This is why the United States promulgated the Paramount law back then.It is to separate the production company from the theater chain, so that small and medium-sized film companies also have opportunities for development.

Otherwise, it will be like Hong Kong now, where theaters are monopolized by a few big companies, and small companies may be acquired by big companies, or at least depend on big film companies, losing some autonomy.Even so, these small companies cannot get better schedules and better publicity, so the prospects for development are quite slim.

However, the Hong Kong British government is not as strong as the US government. Furthermore, the announcement of the Paramount law back then was also possible because of the promotion of the American consortium.In fact, in the 70s, because American movies have been in a low period, consortiums have withdrawn from the film industry, making this regulation lose support, and now it has become a dead letter.

And several major Hollywood film companies have now set foot in the field of theaters one after another, and the Paramount law has actually existed in name only.In other words, even the Paramount law in the United States is about to be abolished, and it is even more impossible for the British Hong Kong government to issue relevant regulations to force the three major film companies to separate their theaters.

Since the three major movie theater companies will not take the initiative to separate the movie theater business, independent film companies must look for other opportunities to acquire movie theaters if they want to grow.

There are currently three major cinema lines in Hong Kong, Xu’s Brilliant Cinemas, Golden Harvest’s Golden Harvest Cinemas, and Shaw’s Shaw Cinemas.In addition, there are Shuangnan Cinemas of the Leftist Film Company, and Yimei Cinemas under Xu's, which specializes in screening western films.In addition, there are other independent cinemas in Hong Kong, including luxury theaters like Lee Theater, and small theaters like neighborhood theaters, rural open-air theaters, and underground theaters.

If an independent film company wants to control the theater chain, then the best choice is Xu's Fine Art Cinemas.Because the number of theaters in this theater chain is very large, there are a total of [-] theaters, which is considered to be a relatively large number of theaters in Hong Kong.The second is that the theater’s hardware facilities are good. Since it was leased by the Xu Corporation, it has also been redecorated. The hardware facilities are much better than the old theaters of Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest. Of course, it is still not as brilliant as the Xu Corporation. theaters.

The second is that the location of the Art and Beauty Theaters is very good. The theaters are located in relatively prosperous urban areas. Such a large flow of people will naturally attract more audiences.In the end, the Arts and Beauty Theaters is only leased now, and Xu did not buy it, which gave opportunities to some independent film companies.

Since last year, there have been rumors that theater operators want to take back the cinemas, like fishy meat hanging from the tip of their noses, teasing the nerves of all independent film companies in Hong Kong.They don't expect to snatch all the theater chains of Art and Beauty, as long as they win over seven or eight, and then snatch four or five from Golden Harvest, and combine with some independent movie theaters, they can form a new theater chain in Hong Kong.

But the ideal is full, but the reality is dry.Neither Xu Guanwu nor Zou Wenhuai will sit back and watch the rise of a fourth theater chain in Hong Kong.As for Shao Yifu, he even sat on the mountain and watched the tigers fight, putting on the posture of sitting on a fishing boat despite the wind and waves.In fact, in his heart, he wished that Xu Shi, Golden Harvest and the newly emerging independent film company would fight to the death, and then he would come out and clean up the mess after all three losers.

Although independent film companies are only small companies, Xu Guanwu is not careless, because he knows that behind the scenes of these companies, there are actually consortiums in Hong Kong, Nanyang, Wanwan and other places supporting them.Their economic strength may not be comparable to that of Xu Guanwu, but if they really fight, it will give him a headache.

The reason why consortiums from Hong Kong, Nanyang, Wanwan and other places want to invest in Hong Kong movies is actually related to the prosperity of Hong Kong movies in the past few years, especially the box office of Hong Kong movies has doubled in a row in the past two years.Among the top ten films at the Hong Kong box office in 800, the highest one was only 800 million Hong Kong dollars, but this year's top-grossing movie "Project A" has already reached [-] million, more than doubled.

Moreover, other movies also make more money than lose money, so making money naturally attracts the attention of those consortiums.Therefore, Hong Kong movies have become an inexhaustible gold mine in their eyes.

It's just that the three major film companies can't get their hands in it anymore. Even if Shaw Brothers has declined now, Sir Shao is still a hero, and he will not be controlled by these consortiums at all.It is okay to cooperate and invest together, but if you want to take the lead, it is still out of the question.Although Golden Harvest was established with the support of Nanyang Filmmakers, the company has established a firm foothold, especially now that it has established a cooperative relationship with Hollywood New Line Films. Not fake color anymore.

As for the Xu family, they have never been short of money, and their wealth is much greater than theirs, and Xu's film company has excellent performance. It is already their extravagant wish to take them to play and make a fortune together, let alone return it. He wants to become a shareholder of Xu's, or even buy Xu's.

The three major film companies are all impregnable and impenetrable. These consortiums cannot penetrate and have to choose some small and medium-sized film companies with potential to cooperate.

(End of this chapter)