Literary Master 1978

Although Hong Kong's economy has been in a stage of rapid economic development for more than a decade and has become one of the "Four Asian Tigers", Hong Kong people still unconsciously feel inferior when facing foreigners.

This lack of self-confidence is essentially due to the shadow left by the oppression of foreigners for more than half a century.

Therefore, when people suddenly discovered that Hong Kong people had achieved achievements that attracted the attention of foreigners, their inner pride and pride naturally became surging.

Before "The Truman Show", only Li Hanxiang and Hu Jinquan had won awards for Hong Kong films at the level of the Cannes Film Festival.

And both of them won technical awards. Now "The Truman Show" has won three major awards at the Cannes Film Festival: the Jury Award, the Best Screenplay Award, and the Best Actor Award.

Not only did it set a record for Hong Kong films, but more importantly, it swept the Cannes Film Festival, an internationally influential film festival dominated by foreigners, giving Hong Kong people an unprecedented sense of pride.

On May 20, the day when Ming Pao and Ta Kung Pao were published, the sales of Ming Pao jumped from the usual 100,000 copies to 350,000 copies, and the sales of Ta Kung Pao also doubled or tripled compared with the past.

In this port city with a population of only a few million, the sales of newspapers doubled in just one day. The power behind this phenomenon is extremely terrifying.

For a while, "The Truman Show" and "Cannes Film Festival" became the focus of countless citizens in Hong Kong. From business celebrities to street vendors, everyone knew about it, and it caused a sensation in the whole of Hong Kong.

At this time, other Hong Kong media followed their reports after realizing it.

The day after the film festival ended, Shen Xicheng and Wu Song returned to Hong Kong, and brought back first-hand information about "The Truman Show" obtained during Cannes.

Among them were a large number of video clips of the main creators participating in the film festival, red carpet photos and interview texts, enough for their two newspapers to conduct a series of reports for half a month.

During this period, other newspapers could only keep following behind them and rehashing old stories.

In the two or three days after the film festival, Hong Kong's radio and television stations and dozens of newspapers and magazines reported extensively.

Not only did "The Truman Show" become the most popular movie in Hong Kong in the past two years, it also became the hottest news event this year.

Not only the movie was popular, but also the creators of the movie.

On the day when Xu Guanwen returned to Hong Kong, he was blocked at the airport by hundreds of reporters and hundreds of fans, which once caused considerable chaos at Kai Tak Airport.

Needless to say, there were countless interview invitations from major Hong Kong media, and the boss of a film company even shouted out a sky-high salary of "3 million Hong Kong dollars" to invite Xu Guanwen to star in a new film.

This number is even enough for many film companies to produce a medium-sized movie.

It turns out that Xu Guanwen is a first-line movie star in the Hong Kong film industry. With the blessing of the "Cannes Film Emperor" crown, his status has soared directly.

More importantly, after winning the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award, Xu Guanwen's transformation can be said to be a great success. From now on, no one dares to say that he is just a comedian.

Even Cheng Long and Sammo Hung, who are now very popular, are three points shorter than him, the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor.

In addition to Xu Guanwen, the male protagonist, almost every participant in "The Truman Show" has become the focus of media attention recently.

Because the media found that as long as they reported news about "The Truman Show" and the crew members, the newspaper sales and reader feedback would be much better than usual, which can be called the traffic code.

On May 24, "The Truman Show" was released in Hong Kong with the momentum of sweeping Cannes.

There are more than 30 theaters in Hong Kong, and the momentum is unparalleled.

In the 1980s, Hong Kong cinemas were still dominated by large theaters. Whenever a blockbuster was released, it had to win both the battle and the momentum.

The premiere of "The Truman Show" was held at the leading theater Golden Harvest in the Kowloon District of the Jiale Cinema Line.

The Golden Harvest Cinema in Kowloon has more than 1,500 seats and a spacious layout. The outer wall of the theater is waving a giant hand-painted poster of "The Truman Show", which is magnificent.

On the day of the premiere, Xu Guanwen, Cherie Chung and other main creators were all present. Golden Harvest also specially invited stars such as Cheng Long and Sammo Hung to help.

After returning from a high-profile visit, Xu Guanwen was warmly welcomed by thousands of audiences. The applause and shouts flew together, and the theater was full of people, deafening.

At this moment, Xu Guanwen truly felt the terrifying influence brought by the Cannes Film Emperor. This is a glory he has never enjoyed in his 20 years of working.

Amid the noisy voices, Lin Chaoyang was chatting with Zou Wenhuai backstage.

"The Truman Show" won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival, and its gold content is no less than that of "Life in War" which won the Palme d'Or.

After the awards ceremony, Zou Wenhuai has been busy negotiating with film studios in various countries about overseas copyright transactions. Nowadays, unlike later times, most of the film studios that purchase copyrights at the Cannes Film Festival are from developed countries in Europe and America, and there are not many film producers in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Zou Wenhuai spent two days finalizing the copyright transactions with nine economically developed countries including the United States, France, Britain, Italy, Australia and Japan, and then returned to Hong Kong to host the release of "The Truman Show", leaving the rest of the task to Cai Lan.

Although the box office of Hong Kong movies can no longer be compared with the overseas copyright revenue after "The Truman Show" won the award, Zou Wenhuai still attaches great importance to it.

Because he knows very well that the overseas revenue of "The Truman Show" can only be regarded as a quick buck, a windfall, and the solidity of Hong Kong, the base camp, is more important.

"The Truman Show" performed well at the Cannes Film Festival and ignited the enthusiasm of Hong Kong people. If Golden Harvest can operate this wave properly, it will definitely be able to suppress its rival Cinema City without a chance to breathe this year.

"Overseas studios are very positive about The Truman Show. The United States and France are particularly optimistic about it, and there was even a bidding situation. Paramount finally offered $2.4 million. The Americans are really rich!"

"Given the size of the American market, $2.4 million is not expensive to get The Truman Show. The revenue from the videotapes alone may pay for itself."

"Yes. But it is definitely a huge income for us. I negotiated 9 deals before I came back, and the final transaction amount reached $6.4 million. If art films want to make money, winning awards is indeed the best way."

The current exchange rate of the US dollar to the Hong Kong dollar is 1:8, and $6.4 million is 51.2 million Hong Kong dollars. You must know that this is pre-tax profit.

If the movie is screened in Hong Kong to achieve such a profit, the box office may have to exceed 100 million to achieve it.

And this is only part of the amount of the overseas copyright transaction of The Truman Show. Cai Lan is still negotiating with more than a dozen overseas film companies.

In addition to these, there are also Hong Kong, Taiwan Island, and Southeast Asian markets.

Zou Wenhuai could not suppress his excitement when he thought about the future revenue of "The Truman Show".

You should know that even the most popular Jackie Chan under Golden Harvest only earned 40 to 50 million Hong Kong dollars per film, which is already the peak of the Hong Kong film industry.

But before "The Truman Show", even Jackie Chan's film revenue seemed so insignificant.

"Of course the revenue from winning awards is huge, but not everyone can do it!" Lin Chaoyang said lightly.

Zou Wenhuai felt that Lin Chaoyang had a hidden meaning when he said this, emphasizing his own contribution in this film.

However, Zou Wenhuai had to admit that Lin Chaoyang did contribute to the huge success of "The Truman Show".

For "The Truman Show", Zou Wenhuai stayed in Cannes for more than ten days and never left. He witnessed the popularity of this film at the film festival.

He also clearly realized that the source of the foreigners' love for this film came from a large part of their high recognition of the plot setting, which of course was all thanks to Lin Chaoyang, the original author and screenwriter.

"Haha, Mr. Lin's script deserves credit." Zou Wenhuai complimented.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and waved his hand, "It's all the joint efforts of everyone."

Lin Chaoyang's words just now were indeed deliberately said to Zou Wenhuai. It was no longer a new thing in the Hong Kong film industry that Boss Zou owed overseas revenue to his satellite company.

Lin Chaoyang certainly had to remind him not to think of himself as the stars under his company who were at his disposal.

While chatting, the atmosphere in the theater had gradually quieted down, and the movie was about to start.

The logos of the four production companies, Golden Harvest, Xu's, Lin's, and New Kunlun, appeared on the big screen one after another. The familiar plot was staged again, but for the thousands of audiences present, it was refreshing.

The audience's eyes followed the characters, and their emotions also fluctuated with the ups and downs of the plot.

After the premiere, the Golden Harvest Theater applauded and the audience was excited.

"The Truman Show" has the halo of three awards at the Cannes Film Festival, and the audience has a strong filter for this movie.

Moreover, although this movie is an art film, the story is very smooth. Even audiences who are used to watching commercial films do not feel awkward and boring when they watch it. Instead, they are deeply impressed by the artistry and depth shown in the movie.

The warm applause lasted for more than five minutes, representing the audience's appreciation of this film.

In the Hong Kong film market where commercial films are rampant, the appearance of "The Truman Show" is like a clear stream, allowing these audiences to experience a completely different viewing experience from the past.

After the premiere, the reputation of "The Truman Show" among the audience group was directly exploded!

In less than half a day, the theaters under the Golden Harvest Cinema Line were crowded with audiences who came to see the style of "The Truman Show".

Such momentum has never appeared even in the top three hot films of the year.

It is not difficult to understand why "The Truman Show" has created such a big momentum in such a short time. The previous bombardment of news reports by dozens of media in Hong Kong has already made this film well-known to all levels of Hong Kong society.

These ordinary people can be said to be potential audiences of "The Truman Show". At this time, as long as the word of mouth of the movie is good, it will inevitably convert a considerable number of them into its own audience.

Even citizens who were not interested in movies originally wanted to see this movie that brought glory to Hong Kong among foreigners.

In this case, the major theaters under the Jiale Theater System became crowded at the opening and closing of the show, announcing the hot atmosphere of "The Truman Show" all the time.

According to statistics, the attendance rate of "The Truman Show" on the first day of its premiere was as high as 86%, and the box office reached 2.448 million Hong Kong dollars, successfully breaking the box office record of Hong Kong's local movies.

It's in the limelight!

The next morning, the news of the movie's release became the front-page headlines of major media in Hong Kong.

Before, all major news media focused on the fact that "The Truman Show" won the award, but except for "Ming Pao" and "Ta Kung Pao", everyone had limited information about the film festival and the awards, and could only follow these two to rehash some old news.

Now that the movie is released, everyone can focus on the movie itself. Citizens are willing to watch it, and they don't have to eat other people's leftovers anymore.

"The box office of "The Truman Show" broke 2.4 million on the first day of its release, setting a record for the opening box office of Hong Kong movies in the local area" "Movie fans packed the theater, "The Truman Show" is a hit" "'Truman' Xu Guanwen appeared at the Nanhua Theater, causing the audience to riot"

Most of Hong Kong's newspapers and magazines are mainly entertainment reports, and many of them use thrilling and unconventional headlines to attract readers, but they are very honest in the reports on "The Truman Show".

It's not that these media have a change of heart, but the situation after the release of "The Truman Show" is a bit exaggerated.

For example, the article "'Truman' Xu Guanwen appeared at Nanhua Theater, causing audience riots" reported by the "Industrial and Commercial Daily" is basically a true record.

Yesterday, the movie was released. Xu Guanwen went to Nanhua Theater in the evening to promote it, attracting nearly 2,000 fans.

The Nanhua Theater has only 1,278 seats in the main hall and balcony. 2,000 people poured in at once, and the theater was suddenly crowded and chaotic.

In the end, if the police had not arrived in time to maintain order, an accident would have almost occurred.

In addition to these entertaining reports, after the release of "The Truman Show", many media also evaluated the movie itself.

Among them, "Wenhui Daily" published a film review article entitled "\u003cThe Truman Show\u003e: Live Life".

The article believes that: "The Truman Show" explores important propositions such as freedom, truth, privacy and the relationship between individuals and society through Truman's live broadcast life while maintaining entertainment. It is a work with profound social significance.

After the article was published, it received praise from many Hong Kong intellectuals and added fuel to the popularity of "The Truman Show".

After "The Truman Show" returned from Cannes with honors, Lin Chaoyang's reputation as a "master screenwriter" has become more famous than before.

After all, in today's Hong Kong, no screenwriter has ever won the Best Screenwriter Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

A few days before returning to Hong Kong, actors like Xu Guanwen were busy, and Lin Chaoyang was not relaxed either. In addition to media harassment, the most common thing was invitations from film companies.

After Shaw Brothers closed down, it seemed that only Golden Harvest and Cinema City were left to compete in the Hong Kong film industry, but in fact there were many small and medium-sized film companies.

Many well-known film actors, directors, and producers are backed by a film company. These film companies seem small in scale, but the relationships are complicated and have close relationships and origins with several major film companies.

For example, Siyuan Pictures, founded by former Shaw Brothers director Wu Siyuan with the support of Lo Wei after his departure, produced masterpieces such as "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master" in the 1970s, and was once a glorious period.

As a result, Lo Wei took advantage of the situation and asked Cheng Long, who had just become famous, to leave. Siyuan Pictures fell into a trough.

Wu Siyuan found Lin Chaoyang through Li Hanxiang and proposed to ask Lin Chaoyang to write a script for Siyuan Pictures with a remuneration of 800,000 Hong Kong dollars. The money could also be used as investment, and the profit sharing ratio would be determined according to the film investment.

The conditions were generous, but it was difficult to impress Lin Chaoyang.

Whether he cooperated with Golden Harvest or Cinema City, it was not just for the script remuneration, but to take advantage of the situation and help the film company run by Tao Yushu gain a foothold in Hong Kong.

Facts have proved that his goal was achieved after the great success of "The Truman Show".

Zou Wenhuai is now trying hard to win over Lin's Pictures. Cinema City directly added an investment of 2 million Hong Kong dollars for "A Better Tomorrow", while maintaining the investment ratio of Lin's Pictures in the film unchanged, showing full sincerity.

Therefore, Lin Chaoyang mercilessly rejected the invitations from a number of film companies including Siyuan Films, but sometimes not all invitations can be rejected, such as now.

"Chaoyang, the news of winning the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival has really caused a great shock in the film industry. Not to mention the people, the common people are all proud of it and praise Chaoyang for bringing glory to the country!"

"Old Hu, don't say these polite words, the award is just a coincidence."

At this time, the person who was talking to Lin Chaoyang was Hu Qiming, the director of Yanying Studio.

These days, the channels for reporting overseas news in China are very narrow. After "The Truman Show" won the Cannes Film Festival, the news did not spread back to the mainland.

It was only after the public opinion in Hong Kong was completely detonated that the news was sent back to the mainland by the Hong Kong branch of New H Agency, and it was published in many authoritative media. It took only a few days to spread across the country.

Since the release of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong's return to the embrace of the motherland has been a foregone conclusion. Hong Kong films' success in Cannes is basically equivalent to Chinese films' success in Cannes.

The domestic film industry and the people are excited, especially because there is a name that everyone is familiar with.

Lin Chaoyang is a local, and he won the "Best Screenwriter Award at the Cannes Film Festival", so he will naturally be promoted.

As the news continues to spread, a voice in the film industry has emerged, hoping that China Film Corporation can introduce "The Truman Show" to China.

The reason for this voice is also very good. Every year, China imports many foreign films for reference and learning. There is no reason why we should not import films made by our "own people" and which have won awards.

This is also a rare learning opportunity for domestic film studios.

You must know that in recent years, domestic film studios have been trying to release excellent films that can win awards at some international film festivals in order to achieve the role of cultural promotion.

However, after years of attempts, the results have not been ideal. Most of the films have not even made a splash abroad.

The year before last, Chen Kaige filmed "Yellow Earth" with the support of Guangxi Film Studio. It traveled around Europe and won many awards.

Although the international influence of these awards is relatively limited, they can't help but think that they are "foreign monks".

And it has indeed won a lot of awards. It has won nine awards, big and small. Let’s not talk about the quality. This quantity is not something that ordinary movies can achieve.

After all, Chen Kaige traveled to most of Europe in order to participate in the exhibition.

With the blessing of these awards, "Yellow Earth" has become a landmark work in the history of Chinese film in the words of many domestic academic filmmakers.

Chen Kaige was even more crowned and became the first director of the new generation in China, and his popularity was unparalleled for a while.

In the eyes of knowledgeable people in the domestic film industry, the awards that "Yellow Earth" won together are not as good as a Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize.

"The Truman Show" can win three awards at the film festival, so there must be something worth learning from it.

Especially since this movie is adapted from a domestic literary work, these domestic film studios feel even more aggrieved when they think about it.

This kind of flowering inside the wall and fragrance outside the wall is really depressing.

Hu Qiming came to Hong Kong this time because he volunteered to scout for China Film and Television, and talked with Lin Chaoyang about introducing "The Truman Show".

Of course, this is only one of the purposes of his trip.

"The Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, hehe, this is the only one in our Chinese film industry!"

Hu Qiming did not stop complimenting Lin Chaoyang because of his humility. He pulled Lin Chaoyang to talk for a while, and then mentioned the introduction of the movie.

This matter is not something Lin Chaoyang can decide. He said, "I will take you to Jiahe tomorrow. I believe they will be very happy."

"Okay, okay, I'll be relieved if Chaoyang can help you make the connection."

After talking about the introduction of the movie, Hu Qiming resumed his daily routine.

"The last time we met was around the time of "The Master of Chess". Speaking of which, "The Master of Chess" was so successful! Oh, tell me, it's been a long time since we last met."

"Yeah, it's been more than a year in the blink of an eye." Lin Chaoyang echoed Hu Qiming casually. Looking at his appearance, you knew that he must still want something.

Sure enough, after chatting for a while, Hu Qiming asked seemingly casually: "Chaoyang, I heard Comrade Zhang from New H Agency say that Yushu has now opened a film company in Xiangjiang?"

"Yes. She couldn't go to class before giving birth, so she found something to do for herself."

Hu Qiming smiled again and said: "Yushu has found a good job. It happens to match our Yan Film Studio. If you have a chance, you can make a co-production with us. Hong Kong will return to the embrace of the motherland in a few years. Promote cultural exchange between the two places.”

At this point, Hu Qiming's purpose has been made clear.

Lin Chaoyang pondered for a moment. There are indeed benefits to co-production with Yan Film Studio. For example, it can be shot in the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, and the shooting cost is also low.

Lin Chaoyang chuckled and said: "The film company has just been established and has not invested in movies independently. Of course, Yushu and I can only dream of having the support of the big brother of Yan Film Studio."

Hearing his words, Hu Qiming couldn't help but feel overjoyed, "Well, I don't take the support for granted. Our Yan Film Factory has also been seeking reform in the past two years. With the support of you and your wife, we will definitely inject new vitality into our Yan Film Factory."

The two sang and sang together, and the more they chatted, the more enthusiastic they became. They made an appointment to go to Lin's Pictures to discuss it in detail after going to Jiahe tomorrow.

When Tao Yushu returned home in the evening, Lin Chaoyang told her Hu Qiming's idea of ​​seeking cooperation on behalf of Yan Film Studio.

Tao Yushu thought for a moment and said:

"Of course this is a good thing for win-win cooperation, but there is a problem. If we make a co-production with Yan Film Studio, Bay Island might block us, right?

It’s not that I’m afraid of anything else, I’m just worried that people in Xiangjiang will be wary and unwilling to cooperate with us. "

Lin Chaoyang said easily: "This is not a big problem. However, the Wandao side's blockade is nothing more than blackmail for profit. As long as you can make money by following us, are you worried that no one will come?"

Tao Yushu nodded slightly and agreed with his statement.

"Then do you have any specific ideas? How can we cooperate with Yan Film Studio?"

"I think we can go down the path of artistic films."

Tao Yushu was a little surprised when he heard this, "Literary film?"

She frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "It would be a good idea to make a literary film with a small investment and the success of The Truman Show."

Lin Chaoyang nodded.

"I'm afraid that I won't win the award and the box office will be poor." Tao Yushu said worriedly.

"The investment should be kept as low as possible. As long as it can be shortlisted for one or two influential film festivals, return on investment is not a problem. If it can win awards, it will definitely make money.

If it can be like "The Truman Show", it will be a huge profit. "

Lin Chaoyang's words moved Tao Yushu. The money-making ability of "The Truman Show" in recent days has completely broken Tao Yushu's cognition.

Less than two weeks after the end of the film festival, Golden Harvest has negotiated copyright transactions with 21 countries and regions. The copyright transaction alone has generated revenue of 9.15 million US dollars, which is equivalent to 73.2 million Hong Kong dollars.

There are still a few countries whose copyright contracts have not been signed. It is conservatively estimated that the final overseas copyright income of "The Truman Show" may exceed 10 million US dollars.

This does not include Southeast Asia, the back garden of Hong Kong movies.

In addition, "The Truman Show" has been released in Hong Kong for more than a week, and the box office is high and crazy. It is estimated that 30 million Hong Kong dollars will not be able to stop.

Roughly estimated, the net profit created by a movie may exceed 120 million Hong Kong dollars.

Such an exaggeration is a bit shocking even for the knowledgeable Zou Wenhuai, not to mention Tao Yushu, a fledgling film company boss.

Tao Yushu thought and said, "We can stick to the path of art films, but we can't ignore commercial films. We have to walk on both legs."

Lin Chaoyang looked approving. Encouraged by him, Tao Yushu continued, "Commercial films require large investments. We can continue to try to cooperate with Golden Harvest and Cinema City. Art films win awards, which can not only cultivate talents, but also strengthen ourselves."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad, Boss Tao's business skills are getting more and more sophisticated."

Tao Yushu asked, "Do you have any ideas about what kind of films to co-produce?"