On the big screen, Leslie Cheung shouted crazily: "I'm talking about a lifetime! A year, a month, a day, an hour, it doesn't count as a lifetime!"
In the screening room, the audience was fascinated by the movie. The emotions were contagious and they all fell into it. When the movie ended and the lights came on, there was still silence.
After a long time, sparse applause finally broke out.
Then there was a round of applause.
Brother Kaizi’s hanging heart finally dropped.
"This is a lucky movie!" Yang Ye said.
“Such a good script, such a good director, such a good starring role, as well as such a good producer, supervisor, and photographer...all came together to create such a masterpiece. , this film will definitely leave a mark in film history!”
When Yang Ye praised others, he also praised the sisters Xu Feng and Xu Jie.
That’s it, Xu Jie. Although she is the producer of this film, she is just helping her sister.
But without Xu Feng’s persistence, there would be no movie “Farewell My Concubine”.
She was convinced that the director and starring roles must be Brother Kaizi and Leslie Cheung. She worked hard for this and it was only through them that she finally succeeded.
As for there is a saying on the Internet that the first order is Zunlong.
This Xu Feng said personally that the first choice is Zhang Guorong.
At that time, Zun Lung also wanted to act in this movie, so he asked some friends in the film industry in Hong Kong and Taiwan to find Xu Feng and tell him that he wanted to act in this movie.
Xu Feng’s talks with Leslie Cheung didn’t go well at that time because Leslie Cheung’s agent made a lot of demands, which were very difficult and made Xu Feng very tired.
So Xu Feng made a call to Zun Long. At that time, Zun Long was very famous because of "The Last Emperor".
Xu Feng felt that since Zhang Guorong could not negotiate, then he should respect the dragon.
Not long after, at the Golden Horse Film Festival that year, Leslie Cheung and John Lung were both guests.
After Xu Feng met the two of them, he felt that Zun Long’s facial lines were more angular and not suitable for the role of Cheng Dieyi, while Zhang Guorong was the best candidate because he was more feminine.
Xu Feng was very irritable because she had already promised Zun Long and she had to be trustworthy.
Later, Zun Long's American agent sent the contract. Xu Feng took a look and found a lot of clauses, which were more demanding and more difficult than Zhang Guorong's agent.
This can be considered as an excuse for Xu Feng. It’s not that I don’t keep my word, it’s that you are too busy to step on the horse. Goodbye!
Xu Feng went to eat the straw again, and went to Zhang Guorong again, and finally got it this time.
Of course, this is all about the original time and space. This time and space Zunlong did not play "The Last Emperor", and he was not qualified to play.
And Zhang Guorong was Yang Ye’s first success and one of Yang Ji’s pillars.
We are all our own people, there are no difficult problems.
Xu Feng thought Zhang Guorong was suitable, and Zhang Guorong himself liked the story very much, so he decided directly.
It’s just that Xu Feng really made several trips to the capital in order to get Brother Kaizi to take on this movie.
In fact, there is a version of "Farewell My Concubine" in the 1980s, directed by Law Qirui, who wanted to cast Leslie Cheung at that time.
It’s just that the atmosphere at that time was not as open as in the 1990s. Considering the social impact, Zhang Guorong refused.
...
After watching the film, we started negotiating the schedule.
The Original Time and Space's "Farewell My Concubine" premiered on New Year's Day in 1993 as the opening film of Oriental Cinemas.
"Farewell My Concubine" was released for 19 days, with a box office of 9.14 million. It may not seem very high, but it is actually quite impressive.
People in the industry are knowledgeable. As soon as "Farewell My Concubine" came out, everyone knew it was a masterpiece.
At that time, there were four cinema chains in Hong Kong: Golden Harvest, Debao, Sunbao and Wing Ko, all of which wanted to grab "Farewell My Concubine".
As a result, Huang Baiming suddenly came out. He spent a week signing 20 scattered theaters in Hong Kong and established Hong Kong's fifth theater chain... Oriental Cinema Line!
Huang Baiming has a bargaining chip in his hand, that is, Leslie Cheung is his contracted artist.
Huang Baiming went to Xu Feng and told her that only if you give me the movie can Leslie Cheung come out to promote it.
So Oriental Cinemas got "Farewell My Concubine" and relied on it to gain a firm foothold.
A newly formed theater chain that was temporarily formed can achieve this box office performance, which is already awesome.
In this time and space, all theaters in Hong Kong are controlled by the theater chain alliance, and new theater chains cannot be established at all, so there is no such thing as the five major theater chains.
……
The movie to be released during the Spring Festival in 1993 has been decided.
They are "Happy Events in the Flower Fields" starring Leslie Cheung and Xu Guanjie, "City Hunter" starring Chen Long and Wang Zuxian, "Play Back to School 3: Year of the Dragon" starring Chow Sing-chi and Anita Mui, Liang Caowei, "New Meteor Butterfly Sword" starring Yang Ziqiong, "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard" starring Yang Ye, and "The Invincible East 2: The Rise of the Storm" starring Lin Qingxia.
The representative figures of Hong Kong films are all gathered here. It can be said that this is the strongest Spring Festival show in Hong Kong’s history.
No matter how good the filming of "Farewell My Concubine" is, diving into it at this time will lead to a dead end.
Yang Ye said: "Don't release it for now, let's send it to Cannes for awards. I think this movie has a high hope of winning an award."
Yang Ye said that this movie will win an award, so Xu Feng was very happy. She asked: "Cannes seems to be very difficult. Would it be better to send it to Venice or Berlin?" But we have won three Golden Lions in the past few years, so we can’t point to just one. I see that Veuve Clicquot has been going to Cannes in the past few years and is very familiar with it, so it’s better to go to Cannes.” br>
Yang Ye asked "Farewell My Concubine" to go to Cannes first and then release it after returning, naturally to maximize profits.
Original Time and Space, among the top ten Chinese-language films released in the 1990s at the global box office, nine were Chen Long's films.
The movie that disrupted the formation was "Farewell My Concubine", which ranked ninth, with a global box office of US$33 million. It is a model of both artistic and commercial explosions.
But Yang Ye believes that the box office of "Farewell My Concubine" can be higher, and if it is operated properly, it can be doubled.
Because although Xu Feng of the original time and space produced "Farewell My Concubine", she did not have the ability to distribute it. After winning the award at Cannes and selling out the copyright, she could no longer control what happened next.
In this time and space, Baiyang Pictures has a complete distribution network and can formulate better release plans to maximize profits.
Take Hong Kong as an example. "Farewell My Concubine" was originally released at Oriental Cinemas on New Year's Day, with a box office of only 9 million.
However, if after winning the Cannes award, a well-customized publicity plan is released again, it will not be difficult to achieve a box office of over 20 million.
For another example, in the United States, "Farewell My Concubine" was originally released in October, with a box office of more than 6 million US dollars.
If it is moved to December, it will win the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film a month later.
The movie is currently in theaters and the final box office will definitely be over 10 million US dollars.
If we do more public relations and win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, we can increase the box office by about US$20 million.
In this way, not only the North American box office can exceed 30 million, but the income from audio and video copyrights will also increase significantly.
The profit generated by this movie is conservatively estimated to be three times that of the original time and space.
When doing business, focus on money, why not?
As for whether Brother Kaizi will swell to the point of self-explosion because of this, who cares?
……
Soon, the Spring Festival will begin.
Because there are so many blockbuster movies, the theater chain alliance arranges for these movies to be screened separately. Starting from January 14th, two days before the Lunar New Year, one film will be released every two days.
Zhou Xingchi's "Play Back to School 3: Dragon Celebrates the Year of the Rooster" was the first to appear.
This sequel directed by Wang Jing copies too many parts of the Hollywood movie "Basic Instinct" and is not as good as the first two films directed by Chen Jiashang.
"Basic Instinct" is a popular movie around the world. When it was released in Hong Kong in 1992, it grossed 29 million at the box office. Many people have watched it.
So after "Play Back to School 3: The Year of the Dragon" was released, it received a lot of criticism and its reputation collapsed.
Thanks to Zhou Xingchi’s strong appeal, the local box office exceeded 20 million, which can be regarded as maintaining his reputation as the King of Comedy.
Playing Truant 3 was filmed by Zhou Xingchi with Yongsheng's help, and it had nothing to do with Yang Ye. Two days later, "City Hunter" was released in Xiaonian, but Yang Ye showed up in person to support it.
The cast of this movie is similar to that of the original time and space, with Chen Long, Wang Zuxian, Qiu Shuzhen, and Liming still starring.
It’s just that the Japanese girl Kiyoko was played by Kumiko Goto in the original version, and was replaced by Nanase Aikawa.
This is to use Chen Long’s popularity to help the future rock queen make her official debut.
The box office of "City Hunter" in Japan in the original time and space was more than 700 million yen. In this time and space, Yang Ji has stronger distribution capabilities. It is not a problem to get one billion, which is enough to make Aikawa Nanase look familiar.
"City Hunter" has nothing to do with Hojo Tsukasa's original manga. The plot is all made up by Fatty Wang.
But the fight where he transforms into a street fighter is really a famous scene.
Chen Long’s cosplay of Chunli is superb. Whether it’s her facial expressions, movements, or her thick muscular thighs, she can be said to have been restored to perfection.
If it were Li Saifeng's face, it would be even more perfect.
The audience in the cinema burst out laughing. Yang Ye suddenly asked Wang Jing: "Is this paragraph authorized by Capcom?"
Wang Jing said: "Yes!"
Yang Ye thought for a while and said: "You said you would make a "The Legend of Chun Li", have you made any progress?"
"A Kung Fu movie? ?”
“Yes, let Aman play it!”
“Aman is pretty enough and can play. If there is a good script, I think it will work.”
Yang Ye nodded: "Then give it a try."
Wang Jingdao: "Actually, I wanted to make "Street Fighter", but Capcom sold the film adaptation rights to Columbia, and now both of them We are making a movie together."
Yang Ye said: "Even if you buy the copyright, you won't make the original version. Why would you spend that wasted money? I suggest you just spend some money and let them license the character image. Just use your strengths and make a spoof version."
Wang Jing's eyes lit up: "Yes, Sir, you are very thoughtful."
"City Hunter" fusion. In addition to Chen Long's actions and Wang Jing's spoof, as well as handsome guys and beauties such as Liming and Wang Zuxian, the local box office was 30 million, which is not bad.
The subsequent release of "New Meteor Butterfly Sword" hit the streets.
This movie is a follow-up to the popularity of Hong Kong martial arts films produced by Taiwan's Changhong Film Company.
Liang Caowei is the leading actor. In this era where great actors gather, he really doesn’t have much standing, and the box office is only 10 million.
Liang Caowei was originally just an actor in literary films and had little commercial success. It was Long Jie Xingfa who was brought out to show off because all the great masters had left or reduced production.
After that comes "Happy Events in the Flower Field".
After the filming of "Family Happiness", Huang Baiming and his investor Luo Jiecheng fell out.
Because Roger admitted that it is too easy to make a movie. Just find a bunch of stars and come up with an idea, and it will be a box office hit. It is really not cost-effective for Huang Baiming to take so many shares.
Huang Baiming has been in the film industry for more than ten years, but he is still looked down upon. He was very unhappy and quit directly. He stopped playing.
He then immigrated to Singapore, planning to retire and enjoy life.
At this time, Qiu Degen had sold the "Song City" in Hong Kong to Yang Ji, but built a "Tang City" in Singapore.
He wanted to increase his popularity, so he called Huang Baiming to visit, and promised that if Huang Baiming filmed in Tangcheng, he would film it for free without charge.
Huang Baiming thought to himself that there is such a good thing? So he came out again and produced "Happy Events in the Flower Field" to compete in the Spring Festival again.
"Happy Events in the Flower Field" is Huang Baiming's usual routine, finding a bunch of celebrities, laughing and joking, celebrating the New Year.
Everyone has fun during the Chinese New Year. If the whole family walks into the cinema happily and comes out laughing, your movie is considered a success.
"Happy Event in the Flower Field" grossed 35 million at the box office.
Then came "Invincible East 2: The Rise of the Storm". The movie itself had a poor reputation, and everyone was so keen on watching "Happy Events in the Flower Fields" that it was a hit at the box office.
On New Year's Eve, Yang Ye and his family gathered together to celebrate the New Year, which was very lively.
In previous years, people with children would come together, but this year Akina Nakamori also joined in.
She looked at Yang Ye, who was playing with the children in the living room, and felt a little bitter in her heart.
Now, she has quit the Japanese entertainment industry and lives in Hong Kong.
Although Yang Ye will try his best to spend time with her, this guy travels all over the world all year round and doesn't have much time in Hong Kong. He has to divide it with other people. After all, the two of them don't get together for long in a year.
This made Akina Nakamori feel a little lonely and even a little regretful.
In the past, she had a career and it was fine if the two of them were not together, but now it is no longer the case.
Momoe Yamaguchi came out with a box of sumptuous Osechi dishes. When she saw Akina Nakamori sitting there alone, she walked over.
“If you feel lonely, why not give him a baby!”
"Huh?"
Nakamori Akina was stunned for a moment. She did have the idea of having children after getting married.
But now she gave up on the situation with Yang Ye.
Momoe Yamaguchi smiled and looked at Yang Ye, who was having a fuss with the children in the living room, and said:
"Ye Jun, is like a famous name who had many wives in ancient times.
In this modern society, maintaining such a family relationship is a very strange thing.
But he is a genius and cannot be restricted by secular rules.
I am willing to be with him because I can feel that his love for me is sincere.
I loved him too, so I gave birth to little Niba with him.
Being a mother is a very tedious but very happy thing.
Watching the child grow up little by little from a little baby under my care.
That sense of accomplishment is far better than being a singer.
I just said the wrong thing, not because I felt lonely.
But if you love him, go with him and have a child! "(End of this chapter)