The king of ghost horse comedy

Chapter 527

With the development of Hong Kong films in recent years, many potential independent film companies have emerged.For example, the colorful film company founded by Ye Zhiming, the elder brother of the busty Ye Yuqing, once produced the new wave movie "Jumping Ashes", which has led the police and gangster movie boom in Hong Kong for decades.For example, the century film company founded by Yu Yunkang produced the horror film "The Bad List" last year, which is said to be the scariest film in Hong Kong history.Another example is the Zhucheng Film Company founded by Teddy Robin. Last year, it produced the police film "Dragon and Phoenix Catch the Thief", which also had a box office of more than 400 million Hong Kong dollars.

The number of such independent film companies is small, and most of them are just empty shelves. The employees needed for filming need to be borrowed. For example, after Shaw Brothers is now lonely, many people sneak out to find films.Because Hong Kong movies are generally shot relatively quickly, with overtime work at most one month can be completed, but usually it only takes one or two weeks to complete the filming.So even if he sneaks out to pick up other jobs, no one will know, and even if he knows, he can't do anything to him.

In addition to Shaw Brothers, the three TV stations are also the hardest hit areas for foreign employees. Making TV is like making movies, but making movies makes more money.Besides, if a movie is a hit, the actors' salaries will be raised immediately.In the future, no matter whether he stays in the TV station or devotes himself to the film field, the issue of salary is naturally easy to discuss.

For the behind-the-scenes staff, in fact, making movies is more profitable than making TV.At the beginning, Hong Kong couldn't make many films a year. If I had the courage to take this film and wanted to make another film after the filming, I don't know if I would have the opportunity.Therefore, even if the behind-the-scenes staff came out to pick up outside work, they would do so in a sneaky way for fear of being discovered and directly fired with celery.

But now Hong Kong movies are developing rapidly, and there are endless filmings every year, so the employees of TV stations have become the hardest hit areas for staff loss, among which the two TV stations of You Yili and Jiayi are the most serious.Costumes, props, cinematography, screenwriting, electricians, stunts, etc., the staff went off to make the movie.

Because the salaries and benefits of these two TV stations are not high, employees can't make a fortune if they don't find outside work.Unlike Xu's, which has always raised wages for employees, so that they can live comfortably.In addition, TVB has always had TV series to shoot, and outstanding talents can also enter the Xu family to make movies, where the salary and benefits are more favorable.So Hsu and TVB are the companies with the least turnover.

The funds of independent film companies are relatively small, and most of them are filmmakers who like movies. They try to raise the first sum of money to shoot, and then if they succeed at the box office, they can continue to shoot.At that time, Mai Jia, the boss of New Art City, returned to Hong Kong with tens of thousands of dollars to make a movie, but he lost 10,000+ for the first movie.Teddy Robin's Zhucheng Film Company also asked his old friend Liang Li Shaoxia for help. Fortunately, he started his business and made "Dragon and Phoenix Catch the Thief" at the box office, otherwise he really didn't know how to explain to his old friend.Similar is Yu Yunkang's Century Film Company and so on.

The lack of funds means that only one movie can be produced at a time, and then the second work can only be opened after the box office returns.It usually takes more than three months for movies to return at the box office at the fastest time, so independent film companies can make two to three movies a year, which is already profitable.If a film with bad luck cannot be released for a long time, I am afraid that a work may not be filmed in a year.

Independent film companies like this naturally want to grow and develop, let alone have any lofty ideals before, just to make good movies in their hearts, and never imagined that they will make money.In fact, even if you are a filmmaker who has no desires, if you know that your movie box office is very good, you will be very happy in your heart, because this will not only bring benefits, but also affirmation of his works and himself.

So when consortia such as Taiwan, Nanyang, and Hong Kong found these independent film companies, they hit it off immediately, and the sky thundered, as if a fancier met a slut, it was love at first sight, and he wished he hadn't met sooner.

However, simply investing in the production of a film and then collecting dividends is a natural profit for the film company. If someone is willing to invest in their own film, the profit sharing and risk sharing is much better than investing alone and taking all the risks, so I naturally agreed. It's more fun.

But for the consortium, investing in movies is not to make good movies, but to make a lot of money.Therefore, whether they can recover the cost and make money is the only thing they consider.

But the movie industry is really turbulent, even if it is a director with more qualifications, he is not sure that his movie will be a hit.Even the eight major Hollywood film companies cannot guarantee that they will make money in every movie.There are too many places that need to test luck.If you're lucky, even a bad movie can sell for sky-high prices.If you're unlucky, a good film won't recoup its cost.

In addition to filming a movie, no matter the script, director, actors, behind-the-scenes staff, and even post-production, publicity, distribution, etc., all links are indispensable, and each link is related to the quality of the film. As well as the box office in the future, there are too many uncontrollable elements.

And the most deadly one is the problem of the theaters where it is released.After the film is finished, there is no theater release, so it can only be put in the film library to get moldy.Even if you are lucky enough to get a release date, it may not be a good date.For example, summer, Christmas, and Spring Festival are all relatively good schedules. Even movies of average quality can get high box office when they are released in this schedule.

However, if it is March and April after the Spring Festival, it is the off-season for movies. During this period, people have just watched a lot of blockbuster movies, so their tastes are relatively good. In addition, there are not many holidays in March and April, so these two The month is more miserable.

However, even in the off-season of March and April, the schedule cannot be very long.For example, Xu's own movies are usually scheduled around the holidays, especially the three prime time slots are booked early, and the release time is generally not less than three weeks, and some of the big-selling movies It will even be released for two months.Last year's "Project A" was released for two consecutive months, so the box office was able to be so good.

However, for the works of other independent film companies, there is basically no schedule arrangement, and it is completely a matter of luck.It will be screened on whatever schedule it catches, and once the attendance rate does not meet the requirements, it will be replaced immediately, without even saying hello to you, and not even giving you the opportunity to advertise to increase the attendance rate.

To put it simply, the three major movie theaters have strangled the throats of the independent film companies, and if they are unhappy, they will be crushed to death.Just like Xu Ke's "Butterfly Change", the box office was 110 million in one week of release, which is not bad in the Hong Kong film industry.But it was because Golden Harvest wanted to kill Siyuan Film Company, so the film was dropped a week after its release, and Wu Siyuan didn't even recover the cost.

These financial groups have always been used to being strong, how could they allow their own business, but the power of life and death is in the hands of others.Therefore, it became their goal to compete for the theater chain, and the first goal was the Yimei theater chain in Xu Guanwu's hands.

There are not many independent cinemas in Hong Kong, but any better ones will choose to cooperate with film companies, so as to have sufficient and stable film sources.Of course, if it is a large theater like Lee Theater, in addition to showing movies, it can also hold various performances, and there is no need to worry about no one buying tickets to watch the performances. line dealer.

Most of the theaters in Hong Kong have a good location, good decoration, and good hardware. They cooperate with film companies and become part of their theater chains.The remaining independent theaters are either sitting in the countryside, or are in disrepair, or are located in remote places. These theaters have no value of reinvestment at all. There may not be an audience.

To form a good reputation and attract audiences, it will take at least one or two years, and during this period, you must continue to show popular and popular movies.It’s as if Huang Baiming once organized the Oriental Cinemas in the 90s, but the theaters lost more than 1000 million Hong Kong dollars in the first year.At that time, it was still the golden season of Hong Kong movies, so it can be seen that even if you open a theater, there is actually a possibility of losing money.

Naturally, these consortiums are mainly short-term, flat and fast in their pursuit of interests. The time is short, the risk is small, and the payment is fast. Naturally, they don’t have the intention to manage the theater carefully. Then there is the big money.They wish they could have a golden theater chain in their hands now, and then release any rubbish movies that are popular, and they will be happy if they earn a lot of money.

As a result, among the few theater chains in Hong Kong, the only one with both word-of-mouth and reputation, immediately entered their sight.

At the beginning of its establishment, the Yimei Cinemas screened Xu’s ghostly comedy movies. Later, because Xu Guanwu rebuilt the Brilliant Cinemas, the Yimei Cinemas became show art films. In addition to art films from European and American countries, There are also films produced by local film companies in Hong Kong.

Because the art and beauty theater chain pursues quality first, it is impossible to release films without a certain standard. Therefore, after so many years of operation, it has accumulated very good box office and has become a paradise for Hong Kong art film lovers.Although the annual profit is not as good as that of Brilliant Cinemas, it is still as much as 5000 to [-] million Hong Kong dollars.It is a veritable silver cinema.

However, Xu Guanwu has never bought out the entire Yimei theater chain, and still pays the rent to the theater company every year, which gives the consortium an opportunity to take advantage of it.

The main reason why Xu Guanwu did not buy these theaters was that Mr. Lei Juekun refused to sell them.Some of the leading theaters in the art and beauty theater chain belong to Mr. Lei Juekun. His brother liked watching movies very much before, and he once fell in love with an actress from Shaw Brothers. At that time, the two of them were already talking about marriage. Unfortunately, his elder brother passed away.

Because of his older brother, Lei Juekun also has some interest in Hong Kong movies. Later, seeing that Xu Guanwu really loves movies, he agreed to rent Lisheng Cinemas to him.Xu Guanwu then contacted several independent theaters, and finally established Xu's first theater chain, Yimei Cinemas.

The main body of the Arts and Beauty Cinemas is the Lisheng Cinemas. If Mr. Lei Juekun does not sell the Lisheng Cinemas, then even if Xu Guanwu buys other cinemas, it will not help. So he tried a few times over the years. See Mr. Lei Sure enough, he didn't have the idea of ​​selling, so he had no choice but to give up this idea.

Unexpectedly, these consortiums also took advantage of this loophole. Knowing that there are many theaters in the Yimei theater circuit, with a good reputation and a good location, they rush to rent this theater circuit from Lei Juekun.

Lei Juekun was originally doing business in Hong Kong. He owns Kowloon Bus Company, Kowloon Construction Group, etc., and is also a rich man with a net worth of more than 20 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Since they both made their fortunes in Hong Kong, they are naturally inextricably linked. After all, Hong Kong is a small place, and you can't see it when you look up.So when the consortium approached, Mr. Lei Juekun was in a dilemma.

One side is the Xu family, and the other side is the consortium. Both of them are big forces, and neither side is easy to offend.It is Mr. Lei Juekun's embarrassment that Shun's brother is in love with his sister-in-law.

(End of this chapter)