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

This lack of self-confidence is essentially the result of being oppressed by foreigners for more than half a century.

Therefore, when people suddenly discovered that there were people from Xiangjiang who had achieved achievements that attracted the attention of foreigners, the pride and pride in their hearts naturally became surging.

Before "The Truman Show", only Li Hanxiang and King Hu had won awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

Moreover, both of them won technical awards. Now "The Truman Show" suddenly won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, Best Screenplay Award, and 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 the people of Hong Kong an unprecedented sense of pride and elation.

On May 20, the day "Ming Pao" and "Ta Kung Pao" were published, the sales volume of "Ming Pao" dropped from the usual 10

The number of copies suddenly jumped from 10,000 to 350,000, and the sales of "Ta Kung Pao" also doubled or tripled compared to before.

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

Suddenly, "The Truman Show" and the "Cannes Film Festival" have become hot topics of discussion among countless citizens in Hong Kong. From celebrities in the business community to street vendors, everyone knows about it.

It caused a sensation throughout Hong Kong.

At this time, other Xiangjiang media outlets followed their two reports belatedly.

The day after the film festival ended, Shen Xicheng and Wu Song returned to Xiangjiang, bringing back first-hand information about "The Truman Show" they had obtained during their stay in Cannes.

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

During this period, other newspapers could only continue to follow behind them and speculate.

In the two or three days after the film festival ended, Hong Kong radio and television stations and dozens of newspapers and magazines covered it with overwhelming coverage.

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

It’s not just the movie that’s popular, but also the creators of the movie.

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

Needless to say, there were countless interview invitations from major media outlets in Hong Kong. The boss of a film company even offered 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 Best Actor" title, his status has skyrocketed.

More importantly, after winning the Best Actor Award in Cannes, Xu Guanwen's transformation can be said to be a great success.

From now on, no one will dare to say that he is just a comedian.

Even Cheng Long and Sammo Hung, who are now extremely popular, are three points shorter than him, the best actor in Cannes.

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

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

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

It is shown in more than 30 theaters in Hong Kong, and its momentum is unparalleled.

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

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

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

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

Xu Guanwen, who returned with a great reputation, was warmly welcomed by thousands of spectators after he came on stage. The applause and shouts were flying, and the theater was deafening.

At this moment, Xu Guanwen truly felt the terrifying influence brought by the Cannes Best Actor. This was an honor he had never enjoyed in his 20 years in the industry.

Amidst the din of people, 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 "A Life in Arms," ​​which won the Palme d'Or.

After the awards, Zou Wenhuai has been busy negotiating overseas copyright transactions with studios from various countries. Nowadays, it is different from later generations. Most of the people who go to the Cannes Film Festival to purchase copyrights are studios from developed countries in Europe and the United States, and film studios from Asia, Africa, Latin America and other countries.

not much.

Zou Wenhuai spent two days finalizing the copyright transactions in nine economically developed countries including the United States, France, Britain, Italy, Australia, and Japan, and then returned to Hong Kong to preside over the screening of "The Truman Show" and handed over the remaining tasks.

Gave it to Cai Lan.

Although after "The Truman Show" won the award, Hong Kong's movie box office has been completely unable to compare with overseas copyright income, Zou Wenhuai still attaches great importance to it.

Because he knows very well that the overseas profits from "The Truman Show" can only be regarded as a quick buck and a windfall, and the impregnability of the base camp in Xiangjiang is more important.

"The Truman Show" made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival, igniting the enthusiasm of people in Hong Kong. If Jiahe can operate this wave properly, it will definitely be able to suppress the opponent of New Art City without any breathing space this year.

"Overseas studios are very positive about "The Truman Show". The United States and France are particularly optimistic about it, and there are even biddings. Paramount finally paid 2.4 million US dollars. The Americans are really rich!"

"Given the size of the U.S. market, $2.4 million to win "The Truman Show" is not expensive, and the video revenue alone will probably make it back."

"Yes. But it is definitely a huge amount of income for us. Before I came back, I negotiated 9 deals, and the final total amount of the deal reached 6.4 million US dollars. If literary and artistic films want to make money, winning awards is indeed the best way."

The current exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and Hong Kong dollar is 1:8. U.S. dollar is equal to HK$51.2 million. You must know that this is pre-tax profit.

If a movie were to achieve such a profit by being screened in Hong Kong, the box office would probably have to exceed 100 million.

And this is only part of the overseas copyright transaction for "The Truman Show". Currently, Chua Lam is still negotiating with more than a dozen overseas film producers.

In addition to these, there are also markets in Xiangjiang, Bay Island, and Southeast Asia.

As long as Zou Wenhuai thinks about the future profits of "The Truman Show", he can't suppress the excitement in his heart.

You must know that even Cheng Long, the most popular member of Golden Harvest, only earns 40 to 50 million Hong Kong dollars per film, and this is already the pinnacle of the Hong Kong film industry.

But in front of "The Truman Show", even the income from Cheng Long's movies seems so inconspicuous.

"Of course the benefits of winning the prize are huge, but not everyone can achieve it!" Lin Chaoyang said with an understatement.

Zou Wenhuai felt that Lin Chaoyang meant what he said, emphasizing his own contribution to the film.

However, Zou Wenhuai also has to admit that "The Truman Show" can achieve such a huge success.

Lin Chaoyang really contributed a lot.

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

I also clearly realize that a large part of the source of foreigners' love for this movie comes from the high recognition of the plot setting. This is of course all thanks to Lin Chaoyang, the original author and screenwriter.

"Haha, Lin Sheng's script deserves a lot of credit." Zou Wenhuai complimented.

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

What Lin Chaoyang just said was indeed meant for Zou Wenhuai to hear. Boss Zou's default in arrears of overseas earnings to his satellite company is nothing new in the Hong Kong film industry.

Of course, Lin Chaoyang had to remind him not to think of himself as one of his stars who were at his mercy. While chatting, the atmosphere in the theater gradually became quiet, and the movie was about to start.

The logos of the four production companies Jiahe, Xu, Lin, and New Kunlun appeared on the big screen one after another.

The familiar plot was staged again, but for the thousands of spectators present, it was refreshing.

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

At the end of the premiere, there was thunderous applause in the Jiahe Theater, and the audience was very excited.

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

What's more, although this movie is a literary film, the story is very smooth. Even viewers who are used to watching commercial movies will not feel jerky and boring when watching it. Instead, they will be 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 the film.

In the Hong Kong film market where commercial films are rampant, the appearance of "The Truman Show" is like a breath of fresh air, giving these audiences a completely different movie-watching experience.

After its premiere, "The Truman Show"'s reputation among the audience exploded!

In less than half a day, the theaters under Golden Harvest Cinemas were packed with people who came to see "The Truman Show".

Such momentum has never been seen even in the top three box office hits of the year.

It is not difficult to understand why "The Truman Show" has created such a huge momentum in such a short period of time.

The previous bombardment of news reports by dozens of media outlets across Hong Kong has already made this film familiar to all walks of life in Hong Kong society.

It can be said that these ordinary people are all potential viewers of "The Truman Show". At this time, as long as the movie is released with good word-of-mouth, a considerable number of them will inevitably be converted 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 gringos.

Under such circumstances, the major theaters under the Jiale Department became crowded with people after opening and closing, announcing the hot atmosphere of "The Truman Show" all the time.

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

It's going strong!

Early the next morning, the news of the film's release became the headlines of major media outlets in Hong Kong.

Previously, 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 has very limited information about film festivals and awards, so they can only follow these two companies to speculate.

Now that the movie is released, everyone can focus on the movie itself, and citizens are willing to watch it, so they no longer have to eat leftovers.

《

The box office on the first day of release exceeded 2.4 million, setting a box office record for local openings of Hong Kong movies. "Movie fans packed the theater,

Releases are in full swing" ""The Truman" Xu Guanwen appeared at Nanhua Theater, causing the audience to riot"

Most of the newspapers and magazines in Xiangjiang focus on entertainment reports, and many use thrilling and unconventional titles to attract readers. However, the reports on "The Truman Show" were very honest.

It's not that these media have any conscience, but the situation after the release of "The Truman Show" was actually a bit exaggerated.

For example, the article "The Truman's Xu Guanwen appeared at Nanhua Theater and caused a riot among the audience" reported by the Industrial and Commercial Daily was basically a factual record.

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

There are only 1,278 seats in the auditorium and balcony of Nan Wah Theatre. Two thousand people suddenly poured in. The theater was suddenly overcrowded, filled with water, and the scene was 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 Truman Show" was released, many media also commented on the movie itself.

Among them, "Wenhui Po" published a film review article entitled "
To be continued...