new kung fu king

Chapter 207 Premiere ([-])

A premiere is a ceremony held for the premiere of a film.In Wang Xiaohu's impression, it seems that even in Hollywood, this kind of promotional method for premieres has not been used.After all, things like premieres only started to emerge in the 90s (in countries such as Europe and the United States, domestic premieres only started with "House of Flying Daggers".)
From the investment in the filming of "Ip Man" to the promotion and production in the later stage, Xiehe Company spent nearly 100 million yuan. Among them, the most expensive part is the layout of the four major scenes, and the purchase of a batch of shooting equipment. It can be said that from After "Yi Xia" was released, Wang Xiaohu began to improve the company's equipment and framework little by little.He has been preparing, so now he won't be so passive in breaking with Golden Harvest. Even if the distribution is completely blocked, hasn't he persisted?
On July 7, Concord Cinemas and Shaw Cinemas began to release the official trailer of "Ip Man", and Hong Kong TVB also broadcast this trailer in prime time accordingly.

Although both "Ma Yongzhen" and "Cold Faced Tiger" have made trailers, their editing techniques cannot be compared with Wang Xiaohu, the creator of the trailer. The publicity effect produced is also very different.

The official trailer continues the style of the previous trailer. Amidst the thick, grand and Chinese-style "Xiao Nian Tao" music, Ye Wen, played by Wang Xiaohu, is playing a wooden dummy seriously on the screen. Telling about Ip Man's family affairs, let everyone know that Ye Man had a little symptom of "strict wife management", and then interspersed with Huang Chunliang's arrogance and domineering kicking around, and took a group of people to Ip Man's house for a competition, but everyone saw it closely At the beginning, Wang Xiaohu very handsomely showed the posture of Wing Chun's asking hand, and said coolly: "Wing Chun, Ip Man" and then lost his voice.

Immediately afterwards, there were several sets of scenes of the Japanese army occupying Foshan. The little devils appeared on the stage and the audience immediately understood, "Ah, this is a movie about fighting against Japan. It is a patriotic movie. You must watch it!" Then "Jing Fu Men" left Yu Yun, the patriotic theme of "Ip Man" once again caters to the tastes of Hong Kong citizens. They are so hungry and thirsty by "Ip Man", they are eager to know whether Ip Man, who is fighting with ten little devils on an empty stomach, will win, and finally The decisive battle in the arena in the movie perfectly outlines this kind of suspense, and the hearts of the citizens are also aroused as Ye Wen slowly walks into the arena in the trailer. "A man is bloody. As a man, the more you face difficulties, the more calm you are, and encourage yourself to move forward and reach your destination!" This is the signal conveyed by the short trailer.

"Hey, have you bought a movie ticket for "Ip Man?" Citizen A asked, and Citizen B said depressedly, "I went to buy it, but I didn't get it!" "Why don't you line up to buy it?" "What do you know?" Ah, the tickets for the premiere of "Ip Man" are limited!" "Limited?"

"Yes, it's limited!" Wang Xiaohu replied in an interview with reporters: "It's not that the premiere is limited, but that the tickets for New Century Cinema, the leading theater chain of Concorde, are sold in limited quantities! Because we will be in 7 On the evening of the 12th, the film will hold a premiere ceremony just before its release. Tickets are available for purchase in other theaters under Concorde and Shaw Brothers. Those theaters will screen "Ip Man" at the same time after the premiere! "

"May I ask what is the main procedure of the premiere ceremony?"

"Hehe, this procedure is currently a secret. After you buy the tickets, you will know when you go in and have a look." Wang Xiaohu smiled and refused to disclose any more information.

As for why it is limited, the reason is actually very simple. The largest theater under the Concorde Film Company currently only accommodates more than 400 people, which is still far behind the 600 seats of Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest. After all, it is a theater that has just been renovated. It is still relatively small, but this situation will not last. Wang Xiaohu has already begun to invest in the construction of a wider theater in Kowloon City.

Run Run Shaw hoped that Wang Xiaohu could arrange the premiere in his own theater, but Wang Xiaohu firmly disagreed, after all, his company's works would be laughed at if they were not shown in their leading theaters.

The 400-seat theater actually sold less than 200 tickets, and the remaining 200 tickets were mainly given to the company's employees and some senior executives of Shaw Brothers. For example, Run Run Shaw's family planned to attend the premiere. Fei and Xu Guanwen were also seconded from the "Happy Tonight" program group.In addition, there are those senior brothers of the Wing Chun sect, there are quite a few of them.

Although Wang Xiaohu has repeatedly emphasized that the premiere is just a simple procedure, and the quality of the film of "Ip Man" will not be discounted because of the premiere, but Hong Kong citizens are like this. The more you emphasize the ordinary, the more curious they will be. The heavier it is, the harder it is to buy a ticket for the New Century Cinema to go in and see something fresh.

In contrast, Golden Harvest's "Cold Faced Tiger" is somewhat deserted. Although Zou Wenhuai imitated Wang Xiaohu toss out the trailer, mainly emphasizing the large production and luxurious lineup of "Cold Faced Tiger", and in order to make up for the two Job hopping caused an impact, they took the initiative to lower the ticket by one yuan, but it still couldn't cause as much sensation as "Ip Man".

"Hey, Wang Xiaohu came up with the premiere ceremony again, what is Awei's premiere ceremony?" Zou Wenhuai asked, rubbing his temples with a headache.Luo Wei shook his head in confusion and said, "I don't know what the premiere ceremony is. I'm wondering, where did Wang Xiaohu learn so many new tricks?"

"I don't know. I asked Sanmao secretly before, and they didn't know. They just said that he had a serious illness after returning from the United States. After waking up, he changed his past and started a new life." Yuan Xihua said with a frown : "This is basically consistent with the news I inquired from Azhi."

In the temporary office building rented by Xiehe, Li Shaonan came over with a newspaper in his hand and said, "Master, Golden Harvest has decided to reduce the ticket price of "Cold Tiger" by one Hong Kong dollar!"

"Lower? Bring it here and let me have a look!" Wang Xiaohu looked at the newspaper and threw it on the table with a smile and said, "Do you want to use price wars to boost popularity? Shaonan, please contact "Ming Pao" and "Hong Kong Female News" immediately. China Daily” and other influential newspapers told them that all the box office proceeds from the New Century Cinema’s premiere night will be donated to the victims of the June [-] rain disaster!”

"What! Xiaohu, are you crazy? We have already donated no less than 80 yuan!" Bruce Lee immediately objected when he heard this: "Besides, our company has just become independent now, and we need capital turnover in all aspects!" (to drive donations) not counted.)
Wang Xiaohu raised his eyebrows and said, "Brother Xiaolong, it is precisely because the company has just become independent that we need to boost popularity. Besides, we only actually sold 200 tickets for the premiere of the new century. Hehe, how much did you calculate? "

"Uh, wait!" Bruce Lee lowered his head and calculated, and immediately said with an expression of "you're so bad" on his face: "Haha, it's less than 2000 Hong Kong dollars!"

Wang Xiaohu stood up and spread his hands and said, "Yes! HK$2000 is not much, besides, the outside world doesn't know the actual sales volume of our tickets, so they will think that we have donated a lot. Wouldn't it be worthwhile to exchange for a good reputation?"

"Xiao Hu, you are too cunning!" Bruce Lee said with a wry smile, "Zou Wenhuai did not hesitate to lower the ticket price in exchange for popularity, but he didn't expect you to use 2000 Hong Kong dollars to directly move back to the situation. If he knew the truth, he would definitely vomit blood!"

"Whether he vomits blood has nothing to do with me. I do this to plan for the future of our Xiehe!" Wang Xiaohu sighed while standing in front of the window looking at the street scene in Hong Kong.

"Xiao Hu, tell the truth, how much will the box office of "Ip Man" reach?" Bruce Lee walked to his side and said.It didn't take much time from filming to completion, but it took a lot of preparatory work. As for how much the box office can be, whether it will surpass "Righteous Hero" and "Raptor", this has always made Bruce Lee very puzzled.

Wang Xiaohu shook his head and said, "It should be more than 500 million. I don't know the exact upper limit."

In fact, there is no reason for Wang Xiaohu to be unclear. In his previous life, "Ip Man" swept most of the box office in China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The cast has also been adjusted, the script is different, and the content of the shooting has to be greatly changed. It can be said that "Ip Man" has undergone fundamental changes except for the main theme. Works belonging to Wang Xiaohu.Box office, huh, I'm afraid the statistics will shock you to death.Wang Xiaohu has this confidence!
After the evening of July 7th, Wang Xiaohu and Bruce Lee drove to Ip Man's old house on Lida Street, and grandly took Ip Man and the main disciples of Wing Chun School to the New Century Cinema. It was the two who had made outstanding contributions to the promotion of Wing Chun School, which made Ye Wen feel very comfortable. He smiled and got into the car with the support of the two of them.Followed by Ip Man's personal doctor, this point was brought up by Wang Xiaohu, after all, the old man's health is not as good as before, if there is an unexpected situation at the premiere, there will be someone to take care of him.

The front of the New Century Cinema was already crowded with people, and a group of people entered through the back door of the theater. When they entered the theater, Sammo Hung, Yuan Heping and others were doing the final adjustment work.When Ye Wen arrived, all the people stopped their work to pay their respects to Ye Wen. They knew that this old man had cultivated such an international star as Bruce Lee, and Wang Xiaohu was his disciple.The film shown in theaters tonight is based on the real story of his old man. Such a legendary figure is deeply respected by everyone.

Ye Wen looked around at the theater layout, nodded and smiled and said to Wang Xiaohu: "Xiaohu prepared well, will we all play Wing Chun on the stage later?"

"Master, the general process is arranged as follows. If you feel unwell, you don't need to participate. Master Huang and Brother Xiaolong will take you with you." Wang Xiaohu replied respectfully.

"Hehe, how can I miss such a prosperous world? I will participate in anything that is beneficial to the promotion of Wing Chun!" Ye Wen said with a smile, sitting in the front row seat and said with emotion: "This year is the best time in my life. It’s been a year since I’ve watched the most movies, and I’m afraid I won’t have much chance in the future.”

"Master, don't say that." Bruce Lee hurriedly persuaded after hearing the words, Huang Chunliang and other disciples also came forward to persuade them a little uneasy, after that, Wang Xiaohu sighed softly behind the crowd, feeling a little sour in his heart, he knew Ye Wen's words It means that the old man knows that his time has come, and it is a blessing in life to see his biopic in his later years.

"Little Tiger, come here." Ye Wen waved Wang Xiaohu to his side and said, "I have seriously considered the sequel you mentioned to me a few days ago. Although your script is good, it's not mine. Most of the stories are fabricated, not to mention, there are some things that are mixed with Chunliang, you, you, but whatever, filmmakers must pay attention to commercialization, if you continue to make movies, I will not stop it."

"Master, you." Wang Xiaohu's heart was shocked when he heard the words, and Ye Wen stopped him with his eyes when he was about to say something: "It's fine if Chunliang and Xiaolong are with me, you can go to your own affairs first."

Wang Xiaohu nodded. The corners of his eyes were a little wet. He knew that Ye Wen had made a big concession to him, so he wiped the corners of his eyes lightly and left when no one was paying attention.Even Bruce Lee and Huang Chunliang didn't understand what charade they were playing just now.

At around 8:30 in the evening, Run Run Shaw and other Shaw executives rushed to the scene. The 65-year-old Run Run Shaw was still walking briskly at the forefront of the team. When he saw Wang Xiaohu and Bruce Lee, he shook hands cordially and said, "Sure enough, you are young and capable. Why, you are indeed young and promising! One article and one military are very harmonious!"

It was also the first time Wang Xiaohu saw Run Run Shaw off-screen. From his kind smile, you could not see his dictatorship. He smiled and said, "Thanks to Uncle Shao Liu's help this time, otherwise I might be helpless." Three points of these words are true and seven points of falsehood are official polite words. Run Run Shaw said: "Young people don't say such things. I, Shao, are just doing some icing on the cake. Even without my help, I believe you With Bruce Lee's popularity, we will get through it!"

The people present were all sensible people, and immediately burst out laughing after hearing the conversation between the two. One is a tycoon in the film and television industry, and the other is a film upstart who has risen in the past six months. Instead, they flattered each other, how interesting such a scene is.The reporters who came in earlier immediately filmed the scene of the two shaking hands. I believe this will become a headline in tomorrow's newspaper.

Wang Xiaohu looked at the time and it was already 8:45, so he said: "Everyone has basically arrived, Sanmao and Abiao go to open the door of the theater."

(End of this chapter)