Chapter 335: Poaching for Shaw Brothers Movies
For HK$67,000, in the early 1960s, you could buy a thousand-foot (90 square meters) mansion in Central.
This figure is just a drop in the bucket for Changxing Group, but for the film industry with a very small market, it is already considered a blockbuster.
In 1962, the box office of Shaw Brothers' White Snake on the first day was only HK$80,000, and its total box office was 790,000. Based on this ratio, the box office of "Calabash Brothers" could be Easily broke HK$500,000.
In the history of Hong Kong, this is also the first Chinese film made from animation.
Hong Kong, Clear Water Bay, the headquarters of Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd.:
Shao Yifu sat at his desk and carefully read the Ming Pao report. After a while, he put down the newspaper. He looked at a middle-aged man next to him and said, "Ley Meng, what do you think of the movie "Calabash Brothers"?"
Ley Meng is the English name of his capable man, and the Chinese name is It was Zou Wenhuai.
Zou Wenhuai said: "Shao Sheng, I have never thought that this comic can be made into a movie. This time it was indeed a surprise attack by Changxing Culture."
Shao Kazuo said: "There are many animation programs in the United States, you should know about them, right?"
"Of course I know this." Wrinkle Huai nodded and said, "But I never thought that someone in Hong Kong would actually make this movie."
Shao Yifu said: "I don't blame you for this. Making animation movies, There is no need for real people to participate, and there is no need for a shooting scene. In addition, we have not considered this direction in advance, so we will not know in advance. This is okay, Besides, it’s useless to know in advance.”
“Yes.” Wrinkle Huai said again: “We can’t imitate this kind of movie.”
Shaw Brothers movies also have innovations. Programs, but if I see the subject of a hit movie, I will try to shoot it. This trick has been tried and tested, but now it doesn’t work when it comes to anime movies.
"Yes, we can't do it." Shao Yifu asked: "Do you think their movie will have a great impact on us?"
Wrinkle Huai nodded and said: "There is definitely an impact. Although the content is different, the money Hong Kong families are willing to spend on movies is also limited. After watching their movies, they may not watch ours. Cathay Movies should It’s the same thing.”
The consumption of movies is still very high. People without money will naturally not watch it. Those with slightly better economic conditions usually watch it once every few months and choose the same thing. I don’t know how to watch it;
Although the richer people don’t care about the price of movie tickets, they also need to consider their time. Not everyone has time to watch movies frequently.
Therefore, the competition among many film companies in Hong Kong is very fierce. It is no exaggeration to say that it is life and death.
Shao Yifu also said: "Well, I think so too, but they still have their own theater chain, and the quality is higher than ours. This is a troublesome thing. If Changxing Culture continues to make animation movies in the future, , that will definitely affect us seriously.”
Zou Wenhuai said: "But there is nothing we can do. We can't make the movies they made. What I'm more worried about now is that Changxing Culture will make other movies and compete directly with us."
"Are you sure? ?" Shao Yifu's expression changed drastically.
There are many people in Hong Kong who are involved in movies, and even many rich people will make movies to please a certain girl. Shao Yifu doesn't care at all about this.
Ke Changxing Group is a Chinese giant in Hong Kong. Once such a large capital enters the film industry, it will have a huge impact on the entire industry.
Zou Wenhuai said: "I can't say 100% sure, Shao Sheng, do you still remember our intention to purchase the film adaptation rights for several of Jin Yong's novels?"
The essence of movies is stories, and the same goes for novels. In the past two years, martial arts movies have become very famous, so Shaw Brothers Film Company thought of filming Jin Yong's novels.
Although the plot of the novel is too long and difficult to compress, it doesn't matter. Just shoot it and make a lot of money based on the name of Jin Yong's novel.
"Yes, didn't you buy it? Or was it bought by Changxing Culture?" Shao Yifu asked.
"Yes, it was bought." Wrinkle Huai said: "So it is only a matter of time before Changxing Culture makes a martial arts movie. I just don't know when."
"." Shao Kazuo was silent for a while and said: "There is really nothing I can do, nothing can be done."
Faced with strong capital and its own theater chain, Shaw Brothers, which dominates the Hong Kong film market, is powerless.
Wrinkle Huai said: "We can only wait."
"Yes." Shao Yifu nodded.
The time has quickly arrived on April 9th, and the movie "Calabash Brothers" has been released for a week.
On this day, Yang Wendong came to Changxing Building. As soon as he sat down, Zhang Zhiyuan from Changxing Culture rushed over and said with a smile: "Yang Sheng, our weekly box office is out, a total of 296,000 Hong Kong dollars."
After hearing this, Yang Wendong said: "I remember it was 67,000 on the first day, right?"
Zhang Zhiyuan said: "Yes, due to publicity reasons, the box office of the movie was the highest on the first day, and it will be later Gradually falling, unless it is a hit dark horse movie that does not have enough early stage publicity and then relies on its quality, it will gradually rise."
"Well, our publicity is definitely enough," Yang Wendong nodded. Then he asked: "Based on the first week's data, the final box office should be roughly estimated, right?" Zhang Zhiyuan replied: "Yes, Hong Kong movies are generally only released for 2 weeks, unless the quality is very good or the market If there are no new movies, it will be released in the third week.
If we follow the general rules, our total box office is estimated to be around 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, but Zheng Sheng promised to give it to us. With more resources, I estimate the final box office will be around HK$600,000.”
"600,000? Not bad." Yang Wendong nodded.
Although the box office of a movie can be faked, there is a limit, because in the later stage, everyone who likes to watch has watched it, and those who don’t like to watch it may not necessarily watch it even if you give it for free. .
Of course, this refers to normal situations. If it is for money laundering, then the data can be made very large, but you must also respect the government's brains. It is said that gangsters in previous lives forced popular stars to make bad movies just for the sake of money laundering. In "name", it can get a lot of box office.
Zhang Zhiyuan said: "Yes, the box office in Hong Kong alone can recover our investment costs. Now, many theater chains in Southeast Asia have taken the initiative to contact me."
"Yes, very good." Yang Wendong smiled and said: "It is very difficult for our comic newspapers or stand-alone books to enter Southeast Asia. It is difficult to find channels and many languages need to be translated;
But movies are much simpler. We can make money by selling Waifu. They are still responsible for the translation themselves, and they will also handle the movie channels. ”
The problems that paper content is hard to solve are easy to solve when it comes to movies, and the latter even has greater communication ability and influence.
“Yes. "Zhang Zhiyuan added: "Yang Sheng, I have started negotiating with them in Southeast Asia, but neither our internal team nor the legal team we invited know very much about film negotiations. We can only refer to other film companies' foreign negotiations. Fu’s transaction price. "
"I understand what you mean. Yang Wendong nodded, and then asked: "Before the movie was released, you didn't consider selling Waifu?" ”
Zhang Zhiyuan used to promote cultural derivatives at Disney in the United States, so he is suitable for exploring the peripheral market. However, the movie Waifu and even the movie are only the first to test the water, so there is really no Professional person in charge.
Zhang Zhiyuan quickly replied: "I have considered it. It's just that although there are many film companies in Hong Kong who go to Waifu, small companies basically have no say. It is the foreign parties that have the final say, that is, the outside theaters enjoy the food. .
There are only two companies in Hong Kong that are qualified to negotiate with foreign cinemas, one is Cathay and the other is Shaw Brothers.”
“I know these two. Asked: "Wouldn't it be better to poach people from these two companies?"
Shaw Brothers Film Company, many people in the previous life may not necessarily know it, but another asset of its boss Shao Yifu is basically Everyone born in the 1980s and 1990s knows that TVB is the first wireless TV station in Hong Kong that Yang Wendong is planning to compete for next.
Cathay Films was a film company no smaller than Shaw Brothers in the 1960s. However, its founder died in an aviation disaster in 1964 and subsequently declined. However, Hong Kong today has its own With the emergence of the company, business history has deviated too much. It is hard to say whether its boss Lu Yuntao will encounter a plane crash.
Zhang Zhiyuan said: "On the Cathay Pacific side, the person in charge of Waifu is their boss Lu Yuntao, and a few assistants only do small things, so poaching them won't work.
On the Shaw Brothers side, the person in charge is Lu Yuntao. The man from Waifu is named Zou Wenhuai. He is a very capable top student and the third-in-command in Shaw Brothers Film Company. I originally wanted to recruit him, but I sent someone over to communicate with him. Zou Wenhuai directly refused to meet with me. Later I I went to his house to stop him, but he ignored me and refused to talk to me."
"So loyal?" Yang Wendong asked in surprise: "You didn't say anything about the treatment?"
In the original history, it was Golden Harvest Films founded by Zou Wenhuai, and then almost destroyed Shaw Brothers Film Company.
But it is still early in the timeline, and Yang Wendong did not expect that Zou Wenhuai would be so loyal now.
"I told him that we could talk about anything, but he just refused." Zhang Zhiyuan said, "I couldn't tie him up, and I was pressed for time, so I didn't succeed."
Yang Wendong smiled: "That's interesting. If you go to him again, just say I want to see him and invite him to come."
"You want to see him?" Zhang Zhiyuan was very surprised. asked.
"Yes." Yang Wendong said: "I also told him that I am planning to focus on developing the film and television industry and would like to invite him to be the head of the film company."
Based on the Hong Kong film market Even a real estate tycoon, not to mention Yang Wendong, may not be impressed by its scale. To exaggerate, the box office in Hong Kong in a year is not worth the value of a residential complex;
Even if we include Waifu and other areas, it is not much better, and Hong Kong film companies are not able to operate the surrounding area.
But for Yang Wendong, this is a part of the cultural industry. With enough capital, he can fully support Hong Kong film and television and even music, novels, comics and other industries in the future. Once these industries become large-scale, Coupled with its own overseas investment channels in the future, a huge cultural industry chain can be formed.
Even if we face the impact of Hollywood in the 1990s, as long as we seize the mainland market, it will not shrink too much. We can even make use of the talents and potential of the mainland market to do even greater things.
To put it exaggeratedly, the cultural industry may not be as profitable as electronics and real estate, but it is part of its core industry in the future, and one of its foundations is Hong Kong movies.
In addition, Zou Wenhuai is one of the most powerful figures in Hong Kong history, and it is worthy of his own personal interview and conversation.
"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away." Zhang Zhiyuan agreed immediately.
One day later, Zou Wenhuai was stopped again in a community in Qingshui Bay. Just as he was about to avoid it, he heard the person saying: "Zou Sheng, our big boss Yang Sheng wants to see you."< br>
PS: Please give me monthly tickets
(End of this chapter)