The first 20 days of July 1983 were all under the world of "Five Lucky Stars", and although "Mr. Duss", which Anle Cinemas purchased from Hollywood, also had a good box office, the only four theaters plus two or three theaters could not make much noise.

After "Mr. Duss" surpassed 10 million at the Hong Kong box office, it basically did not sell, and four theaters of Anle Pictures also joined the ranks of "God of Gamblers".

As soon as "God of Gamblers" debuted, it formed a crushing situation in the Hong Kong film industry, and "Five Lucky Stars", which had been released for nearly half a month, immediately weakened at the box office and had to gradually reduce the number of screenings.

As for Xinyicheng's "Yin and Yang Wrong", it is not too bad, under the huge pressure of "God of Gamblers", the box office on the first day was 1.58 million. In the next few days, the attendance rate did not decline much, with a cumulative box office of nearly 8 million in the first week, and Lin Lingdong, the director of "Yin and Yang Wrong", also became as famous as Zhang Jianting.

Even if "God of Gamblers" soared at the box office, DreamWorks' publicity department did not relax, and various publicity plans that had already been made were implemented step by step, and "God of Gamblers" promotional advertisements can be seen everywhere in Hong Kong.

From a month ago to the completion of "God of Gamblers", Kang Jianfei set a publicity budget of 2.5 million Hong Kong dollars. Last year, there were more than 60 Hong Kong films with a box office of more than 2 million, and the publicity fee of "God of Gamblers" alone is equivalent to the local box office of many Hong Kong films.

Two weeks after the release of "God of Gamblers", the attendance rate still had a significant downward trend, and Kang Jianfei suddenly made a big move.

In mid-July, a fire broke out in the wooden house area of Chung Tau Village in Aberdeen, burning more than 600 wooden houses and leaving more than 900 Hong Kong residents homeless.

Ma Qiao suddenly held a press conference to announce that as long as the local box office of "God of Gamblers" exceeded 30 million, 1% of the box office would be donated to the municipal council. For the placement of fire victims.

In the wake of the announcement, some newspapers accused DreamWorks of making box office money under the guise of charity, while others praised DreamWorks for its social responsibility.

Regardless of public opinion, the gain effect of this move on the box office of "God of Gamblers" is obvious. In the third week of the film's release, due to charitable donations as a gimmick, the attendance rate of "God of Gamblers" actually increased instead of decreasing, and many viewers who watched the film chose to buy tickets to watch it again.

The filming budget of "God of Gamblers" is 7.5 million, the advertising budget is 2.5 million, and if the cumulative box office is 30 million, donating 10% to charity is 3 million.

DreamWorks' box office share in Hong Kong has always been split between the same house and the same price. But Kang Jianfei's works and the "Royal Sister" and "Mr. Zombie" series won 60% of the box office.

In this way, even if the box office of "God of Gamblers" is 30 million, after donating 10% of the box office, DreamWorks can only earn 3 million, and taxes and fees have not been included in it.

But even so. Kang Jianfei chose to donate and did not lose anything. First, you can accumulate fame for yourself, and second, if the box office in Hong Kong exceeds 30 million. In Nanyang, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and other places, the distribution and sharing are much better. The 3 million donated can be more than enough to earn back.

Of course, when it comes to publicity, you must pay some newspapers to say good things about DreamWorks. For example, after "God of Gamblers" donated 3 million, the box office in the city did not make money or something, anyway, try to tout it as much as possible.

In fact, there are still hidden income in the marketing department that have not been announced at all, such as the product placement advertising revenue in "God of Gamblers", which is as much as 3.5 million.

One of the most ruthless is the sponsorship fee of the chocolate brand. The people in the marketing department of DreamWorks selected five mid-to-high-end chocolate brands, and one by one they came to the door to solicit sponsorship, directly saying that this was the work of director Kang Jianfei, and they asked for a sponsorship fee of 3 million yuan.

In the end, Ferrero, an Italian chocolate brand, agreed to sponsor. As soon as the two sides negotiated, the Ferrero Chocolate family gave 2.8 million advertising sponsorship fees.

Not to mention anything else, just this super high film sponsorship fee, Kang Jianfei can make all directors in Hong Kong blush. If it were someone else, it would be the limit for a movie to ask for 3.5 million sponsorships, and it would be possible for Italian chocolate brands to pay obediently, mainly because Kang Jianfei had sold a lot of money in the film department over the years, and last year he made "Home Alone", the second highest box office in North America.

In recent years, Kang Jianfei's films have had a lot of product placement advertisements, and the cooperation with Japan's Mitsubishi has not been broken, anyway, not many people care about how many sins Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has done before, Kang Jianfei, a rotten talent, will not be rich or unprofitable. For example, Zhou Yanfa's car in "God of Gamblers", as well as the car that the knife boy bought after transferring money, are all Mitsubishi brand cars.

Kang Jianfei did not disappoint the sponsors this time, after the hit of "God of Gamblers", Ferrero chocolate's market share in Hong Kong directly increased by 6 points that month.

Many viewers, especially those who like to play cards, deliberately eat two pieces of chocolate every time they play cards to bring themselves good luck after watching God of Gamblers.

Although Ferrero chocolate is a world-famous brand, its products also have several grades, and basically not too poor people can afford it. Because Kang Jianfei deliberately borrowed the mouth of Zhou Runfa to say the name of the Ferrero brand several times during the filming of "God of Gamblers", everyone now buys chocolate with Ferrero.

Ferrero chocolate's market share in Hong Kong increased by 6 points in a month, which is already a miracle of advertising sales, and the 2.8 million sponsorship fee is definitely worth the money. Not only that, once the brand Ferrero is linked to "good luck", then in the future, consumers will go to inertial consumption and subconsciously recognize this brand to buy, and this long-term benefit is difficult to predict.

Just like the brand Goldlion, its sales were not good, but once the brand was changed to "Goldlion", it immediately won the favor of the bosses.

The person in charge of Feliro Chocolate Asia will also come to work, "God of Gamblers" has not yet been painted in Hong Kong, he spent a sky-high price of 300,000 Hong Kong dollars, while the iron is hot and asks Zhou Runfa to shoot an advertisement, the advertising slogan is: Eat Ferrero chocolate, luck and you are always there!

As for the later release of "God of Gamblers" in various regions of East Asia, this commercial was re-dubbed and became a multi-national version. Because Feliro Company did not inform Zhou Runfa and Oriental Entertainment Company in advance, it also triggered a lawsuit, and finally the two parties settled privately, and Ferrero Company compensated Zhou Runfa 500,000 advertising fees before giving up.

In any case, Ferrero's collaboration with "God of Gamblers" is definitely a classic case of movie advertising. Since then. More and more brands are willing to cooperate with film companies, as long as there are famous directors or big stars involved in the film, they are happy to pay for it.

In this regard, both Cheng Long and Hong Jinbao are very embarrassed, most of their movies are early Republic of China films or costume films, which are really not good for product placement, and they waste a lot of money in vain.

On the contrary, it was Xinyicheng's "Best Partner 3", because Ferrero chocolate made a lot of money in "God of Gamblers", Lei Juekun contacted him, and he actually got a sponsorship fee of 3 million.

Such a high cost of film placement advertising. Those small companies and small directors can only watch and drool, without the support of big-name directors and big-name stars, they are not qualified to earn this "windfall".

Xinyicheng's "Yin and Yang Error" was released for four weeks, with a cumulative box office of 14.65 million, which is a relatively good result. "Five Lucky Stars", which was painted earlier than it. got a local box office of 22 million, which is the highest-grossing movie since Hong Jinbao's debut.

"God of Gamblers" is still being screened after "Yin and Yang Wrong" was painted. Until the end of August. The cumulative box office of "God of Gamblers" has reached more than 28 million, just a little bit closer to reaching 30 million.

DreamWorks has opened a small window in "Oriental Daily" and updates the box office of "God of Gamblers" every day. Due to the commitment to donate money, the box office of "God of Gamblers" reached 29 million, and suddenly set off a wave of movie-watching, and the box office has reached more than 33 million a few days later.

Until September 5th. "God of Gamblers" was finally painted after more than 40 days of release, with a cumulative box office of 34.18 million in Hong Kong, once again setting a new box office record for Hong Kong films.

"Film Fortnightly" wrote an article commenting: ""God of Gamblers", like "The True Color of Heroes", will become the vane of Hong Kong gambling films. Gambling films after "God of Gamblers". There will inevitably be a series of similar gambling films, just like the current flood of Hong Kong hero films. The God of Gamblers played by Zhou Yunfa has become a classic image of gambling films. In the past, when Zhou Runfa was mentioned, people would think of Xu Wenqiang, and later when Zhou Runfa was mentioned, people would think of Brother Xiaoma, and now when Zhou Runfa is mentioned, the first thing that comes to people's minds is the God of Gambling Gao Jin. ”

"Ming Pao Weekly" is more entertaining and gossipy, but the topic of this issue is a different way, beginning to summarize the main female roles in various movies since Kang Jianfei's debut, and call it "Flying Girl". From the original Li Saifeng, Wen Bixuan, to Guan Zhilin, Zhong Chuhong, Hui Yinghong and others, and then to the current Lin Fengjiao and Li Yuanfeng, "Ming Pao Weekly" has commented on them one by one:

Kang Jianfei has a magic power that turns stones into gold, and the actresses who have appeared in his movies will at least soar in fame even if they are not very popular. And under Kang Jianfei's lens, the potential charm of these actresses will be stimulated, which makes people unconsciously shine. Among them, the most brilliant is Lin Qingxia, who would have thought that Lin Meiren, who has always played the heroine in literary romance films, would have such a heroic side? Whether it is the personable demeanor in "Dao Ma Dan" or the non-shaved eyebrows in "Royal Senior Sister", Lin Qingxia's heroism is fully revealed, allowing the audience to appreciate another style on her...... Lin Fengjiao used to be as famous as Lin Qingxia in Taiwan, this time Kang Jianfei brought her to Hong Kong for development, Lin Fengjiao's brief appearance in "God of Gamblers" should just test the waters, the author is looking forward to how Lin Fengjiao will show her new side under the lens of director Kang Jianfei......"

More Hong Kong media are concerned about the box office of "God of Gamblers" and Zhou Yunfa's wonderful acting skills. When "God of Gamblers" broke the Hong Kong box office record the day after all, the entertainment pages of all Hong Kong newspapers carried the news in the headlines, and there were exclamators, envy, and jealous, but the unanimous tone was to celebrate the Hong Kong box office reaching a new high.

The two most eye-catching movies in this year's summer file are "Five Lucky Stars" and "God of Gamblers", and Hong Jinbao and Kang Jianfei are often compared and discussed together.

The funniest thing is the actor Zhou Runfa's side, because the reporter inadvertently photographed Zhou Runfa and Chen Yulian arguing and contradictory, a "Zhou Runfa and Chen Yulian are about to break up" came out the next day, or because of Fa Ge's empathy with Lin Fengjiao.

Zhou Yunfa and Chen Yulian quarreled, how could Lin Fengjiao be involved? Naturally, it is because the two play a couple in "God of Gamblers", and there are some specious intimacy scenes. The result is that Lin Fengjiao obviously has very few scenes, but after the film was released, the exposure rate increased greatly because of the scandal.

Not only that, Huang Qiusheng's pursuit of Li Yuanfeng during filming was also revealed by a member of the crew, and the outside world speculated whether the two were filming.

Huang Qiusheng was harassed by reporters every day. After being annoyed, he quickly said it: "Miss Li Yuanfeng already has a boyfriend, but this person is not me." ”

Huang Qiusheng was taught a lesson by his agent because of this sentence, Li Yuanfeng, as a member of a girl idol group, will naturally lose her charm when she has a boyfriend, and Oriental Entertainment Company hurriedly came out to clarify.

Anyway, throughout August this year, the pages of major entertainment newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong are often occupied by the main creators of "God of Gamblers". Huang Qiusheng, who plays the knife boy, has become famous, on a par with the fast-rising star Liu Dehua on TVB, and is listed as one of the two new generation students by the newspaper.

Even Xiang Huaqiang, who plays Long Wu. has suddenly become a well-known star, and some small directors who don't know the details even want to find him specifically to film.

On the morning of the second day of the painting of "God of Gamblers", DreamWorks held a press conference. A reporter from Phoenix TV also arrived with a camera in front of everyone. Ma Qiao donated HK$3.5 million instead of Kang Jianfei.

While fulfilling his promise, Ma Qiao also announced on the spot: "Mr. Kang filmed "God of Gamblers". It is purely a commercial entertainment act of film. It's not meant to glorify gambling and gamblers. On behalf of Mr. Kang, I would like to solemnly announce that the film "God of Gamblers" is not only in Hong Kong, but also in all regions where it is released, and is willing to donate 10% of the box office to support local charities! ”

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

There was a roar of applause at the press conference, and long guns and short cannons began to bombard the horse bridge indiscriminately.

It's not that Kang Jianfei discovered it with a conscience, but after the release of "God of Gamblers". It does bring a lot of bad social impacts.

Gambling is already popular in Hong Kong, not only playing mahjong and cards, but also betting on horses and lottery. After the movie "God of Gamblers" came out, it once again ignited the gambling enthusiasm of the Hong Kong people. It caused neighbors to gamble and quarrel from time to time.

Not only that, but there are also some teenagers who practice gambling hard after watching "God of Gamblers". They naturally can't practice gambling, but there are many people who have gone astray because of this, and "God of Gamblers" has harmed many young people like the future "Crazy Boy".

Although Kang Jianfei is a slut, he doesn't want to be pointed at by thousands of people, so he took the initiative to spill 10% of the box office to do charity. First, to accumulate yin virtue and good name for himself, and second, to offset those public opinion that is unfavorable to him.

However, Kang Jianfei's concerns are obviously a little redundant, on the third day of the painting of "God of Gamblers", Typhoon "Allen" hit Hong Kong head-on, causing 10 dead, 333 injured and 12 missing tragic casualties, and the economic losses cannot be counted, and the attention of the Hong Kong media has turned to the typhoon.

After the impact of the typhoon passed, the news of the breakdown of the second round of negotiations between China and Britain came again, and this time Hong Kong not only saw a sharp drop in the stock market and property market, but even the Hong Kong dollar also depreciated wildly. In less than half a month, the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar against the US dollar fell to a record low of 9.60 Hong Kong dollars to the US dollar.

For the citizens of Hong Kong, it is as if it is the end of the world, and it seems that the People's Liberation Army on the opposite side will come at any time. Ordinary citizens began to rush to buy daily necessities, firstly, to reduce the loss of the continuous depreciation of the Hong Kong dollar, and secondly, they were afraid that they would not be able to buy things in a war.

In front of all department stores and daily necessities stores in Hong Kong, there are long shopping queues all the time. Especially those aunts and old women are the craziest, not only rushing to buy oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, but even buying toilet paper box by box and storing it.

Soon there were rumors from nowhere that the mainland would blow up the High Island Reservoir and cut off Hong Kong's water supply in order to take back Hong Kong, forcing Britain to comply. Citizens bought large tanks and began to store water frantically, resulting in insufficient water pressure on many high floors, and even daily water use became difficult. However, the water cut was obviously caused by insufficient water pressure, but it was taken as proof that the reservoir was bombed, and panic quickly spread throughout Hong Kong again.

Hong Kong was in chaos in September, and the movie release plans of major companies were temporarily cancelled, because not many people would come out to watch movies during this time, and most of them snapped up things to watch TV at home.

The disaster of the film company has become a boon for the TV stations, and the ratings of both wireless and Phoenix have increased, so both TV stations are ready to release their own high-quality TV series.

What made Kang Jianfei cry and laugh was that this time TVB actually took the lead in broadcasting "Bao Qingtian".

For a long time, the bigwigs in Hong Kong's film and television industry have been like this, and after the fight is on fire, it is simply white-handed.

At the beginning, Shaw Brothers and Dianmao Dou box office was like this, Denmao was preparing to shoot "Liang Zhu", and Shaw Brothers immediately preemptively filmed "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" for release. In the past, the ratings of the wireless station and Lishi were the same, and Lishi heard that Shao Yifu recruited Zheng Shaoqiu to come back to shoot "Chu Liuxiang", and immediately rushed to shoot "Chu Liuxiang" to be broadcast.

Before Kang Jianfei filmed "Bao Qingtian" this time, it took a lot of time to prepare costumes and props, so it was naturally impossible to hide it from TVB. As a result, Phoenix Channel's "Bao Qingtian" has not yet been broadcast, and TVB's "Bao Qingtian" already has good ratings.

In the case of preconceived ideas, if the quality of the two TV series is not very different, the Phoenix Channel, which will be broadcast later, will be considered a loser. (To be continued......) RT