Chapter 639 The End
This kind of thing cannot be hidden, and everyone soon found out: Feng Bingzhong defected to the left, and Chen Rongmei defected to Golden Harvest. After the reorganization, the number of theaters could reach more than 20, and the two heroes competed for hegemony.
Huang Baiming also made it clear that he defected to Jiahe, and Shi Tian wanted to set up his own studio. Xinyi City only waited for Maijia to come back and liquidated the business, six years earlier than in history!
Employees are looking for ways out, and many want to jump to the left. Chen Qi is not a rag collector, and the left has enough power.
Among this group of people, John Woo is the tougher one.
He jumped from Jiahe to Xinyi City full of hope, and made two films. Even the company was rejected, and he couldn't help but have doubts about life. However, he had a dear friend and relative who did not forget him at the critical moment.
"well!"
"Stop sighing. You have already sighed 800 times. There is no hope for Xinyi City. Just come to my side!"
At home, Tsui Hark comforted John Woo, who was looking sad.
John Woo said: "Can I still act in movies like this? I've made four movies in a row, which company is willing to hire me? I'll just change my career. I don't need to trouble you, and it won't be good for you either."
"You came to our studio, not to Yindu or Dongfang Company!"
Shi Nansheng opened a bottle of wine and came over with a few glasses and said: "We have a lot of autonomy. As long as you still want to film, feel free to come over. Do you have any plans for your next film?"
"..."
John Woo paused and said: "Actually, I don't like comedies. I want to make a gun fight film, but Mr. Chen said that he is very optimistic about me making comedies. If I go over, will he still let me make comedies?
"
"Well……"
Tsui Hark and Shi Nansheng looked at each other with a bit of pain, because no one knew whether the articles written by Chen Qi were truthful or tactical deception.
"In this case, you come here first, and I'll communicate with him to find out what's going on!"
"Don't hesitate. When I had nowhere to go, you recommended me to go to Xinyi City. If you have difficulties, of course I will help you." Tsui Hark said.
"Okay then! I'll try again!"
…
The next day, Shi Nansheng found Chen Qi.
"You want to sign John Woo?" Chen Qi laughed.
"Yes, Tsui Hark and he are good friends. We can't bear to see him in trouble! He wants to make a gunfight movie, so we can help him if we can. In fact, he is very capable. It's okay if he doesn't want to make a comedy!"
"Is there a specific story?"
"Yes, yes!"
Chen Qi listened to Shi Nansheng's story. It was probably that the male protagonist was hired by the United States to capture a drug lord in exchange for his family immigrating to the United States. As a result, he suffered heavy losses during the operation and was helped by a brother. In the end, he captured the drug lord and escaped.
This is obviously not "A Better Tomorrow", but John Woo's first gunfight movie, called "Heroes Without Tears".
Chen Qi thought for a while and said: "I have no control over your studio taking him in. You will bear any profit or loss on your own."
"Of course, I'm here to let you know. We're all scared if you praise him for making a comedy. Who knows if you're serious or not?"
After Shi Nansheng finished speaking, he disappeared.
Chen Qi took a sip of the high-definition drink and tasted it sizzlingly. If there were two directors he hated the most, it would be Chen Kaige in the north and Wu Baige in the south.
Director Wu, like Johnnie To, typically eats food from Mainland China, scolds mothers from Mainland China, and colludes with Taiwanese bastards. Everyone knows the bad things about him, so I won’t repeat them again.
Now that Tsui Hark has been recruited, just recruit him. If he loses or gains, Tsui Hark will bear the responsibility.
Chen Qi could have just filmed "A Better Tomorrow", "Across the World" and "The Heroes" himself. He would not give Director Wu a chance, nor would he find Zhou Runfa to act in it. The box office does not matter, the leftists do not rely on this
Several films are alive.
Just look at the people he accepted.
Either they are very upright themselves, such as Liang Jiahui and Xu Xiaoming; or they are very capable of doing things after joining them, such as Liu Dehua. Liu Dehua was a well-known outsider at the time, and the same was true for Cheng Long.
Later, I completely surrendered and sang "Chinese" in Taipei.
…………
The expansion of leftist theater chains has made people in Hong Kong panic.
The momentum is already strong. If we expand the theater, won't we have to live under the shadow of the left? Especially the introduction of Western films, other filmmakers opposed it in unison and criticized them verbally and writing:
"Lead the wolf into the house and bring about your own destruction!"
"Hong Kong is too liberal. It doesn't even have a local film protection policy. It all depends on the industry's voluntary actions. I suggest the government introduce protective measures!"
"Western films have always been restricted to a small area, which is why local films have prospered. The leftists blatantly screen Western films, which is detrimental to Hong Kong films. All Hong Kong filmmakers should unite as one and boycott the leftists!"
This is not nonsense!
The left has been boycotted for decades.
Chen Qi just thought they were barking. After finalizing 18 theaters, he was busy with various follow-up matters. First, he elected a five-member committee, including Feng Bingzhong and Jiang Zhiwen.
This committee is only responsible for the introduction of foreign language films.
Those Western film theaters integrate channels and set up overseas personnel to collect foreign language film resources and recommend them to the committee. Chen Qi is not on the committee, but he has a veto power. If he does not agree to the introduction, he can directly veto it.
From January 1 next year, the new Shuangnan Cinema Line will be officially operational.
The expansion of theaters means that the release cycle is accelerated. In the past, with 8 theaters, a film might be released for one month before being saturated. In the future, with 18 theaters, it might be saturated in 20 days.
The big guys don't dare to expand easily. This is also the reason why the demand for film sources is too great.
A rough calculation shows that if two movies are released a month, that is 24 movies a year. If any movie is too bad at the box office and is canceled early, a few spare movies will have to be prepared, which will be even more.
So everyone is scolding Chen Qi for this volume.
In any case, the matter is a foregone conclusion. All that is left is for the leftists and Jiahe to join forces to sweep the market, leaving Princess Jin with no films to show and automatically closing the door.
………………
By the time it comes to an end, it's already May.
"Mr. Zombie" was released for more than 20 days, and the box office reached 20 million as expected.
"Xin Zha Junior Sister" is a little less, taking 16 million, but this is the 16 million that Li Saifeng, a 19-year-old girl, did not show off her lusty appearance, did not engage in saltiness, did not pretend to be stupid and made a vase, and got it openly!
Li Lizhen was in high spirits for a few days and then became very angry again.
She found that as long as the media praised "Xin Zha Junior Sister", they would definitely praise Li Saifeng, but when they praised "Mr. Zombie", they would hardly mention her. After all, the role is just a vase, and any beautiful girl can play it.
No. 26 Harbor Road, Wan Chai.
The China Resources Building is located here. The 50-story main building has been completed, and the 5-story auxiliary building has not yet been completed. There is a store opposite the building, which is the "China Resources Supermarket" that opened at the beginning of this year.
Supermarkets in Hong Kong are not as large as those in the Mainland, and stores in some communities may be larger than this.
Chen Qi took a look while sitting in the car. There were not many customers. He heard that it was suppressed by the two major local supermarket chains and the business was not good. It suffered losses for three consecutive years and only made money in the fourth year. Later it became China Resources Vanguard.
China Resources has a legendary history and has been the country's general trading agent for decades.
It sells domestic things, buys foreign things, and supplies agricultural and sideline products from Hong Kong, which has made a lot of contributions. After the reform and opening up, its status as a general agent was weakened and it began to transform into an industry.
At first, he engaged in real estate and bought a piece of land in Tin Shui Wai. However, he was tricked by the British Hong Kong government and almost died in his hands. After ten years of delay, Li Huanggua guaranteed a profit of HK$752 million to China Resources and took over the project.
Then it entered the retail industry, but the business was still bad, so now China Resources is not having an easy time.
But no matter how bad it is, it is still a giant compared to the film industry. There are many Chinese-funded companies in Hong Kong, and Chen Qi's size is just a small dish.
Chapter completed!