The 1993 movie Christmas file was more tragic than the summer file, last Christmas 10 Hong Kong films were released at the same time, but this year there are only 5 Hong Kong films.

Among them, "New Difficult Brothers" and "Money Robbing Couples" are both from UFOs, "Heaven and Dragon Slayer: The Demon Sect Master" is produced by Yongsheng, "White-Haired Witch" is produced by Huang Baiming's Xincheng Pictures, and Xu Ke's "Green Snake" is released in Oriental Theaters.

There are two main reasons why the number of Christmas movies is so small: one is that Taiwanese film companies have reduced their investment in Hong Kong films, and the other is that the Hong Kong box office has scared the theater dealers, and would rather leave the movie theaters empty than show those bad movies that are destined to hit the streets.

Many small and medium-sized film companies' works could only be released on VCD and video tapes because they could not be released, which stimulated the boom of the video tape market in disguise.

Among the five Hong Kong films released on Christmas, "New Difficult Brothers" (UFO) is far ahead with a box office of 21.36 million, "Money Grabbing Couple" (UFO) ranks second with a box office of 18.37 million, "Heaven and Dragon Slayer: Demon Sect Master" (Yongsheng Film Company) ranks third with a box office of 11.85 million, "White-Haired Witch" (Xincheng Pictures) ranks fourth with a box office of 1180, and Xu Ke's "Green Snake" (Oriental Dream Factory) only gets a box office of 10.32 million.

This is definitely the worst Christmas file at the box office in Hong Kong for more than ten years, at this time, the news of Kang Jianfei's "The Sixth Sense" being screened in the United States has not yet come back, and there are already media in Hong Kong who are shouting that "Hong Kong films are dead"!

Hong Kong film giant Golden Harvest did not participate in this year's Christmas file, last year's high-spirited Yonggao Pictures has been rumored to be about to stop production, Chen Rongmei sits on Hong Kong's largest cinema without investment in a film, even the always popular DreamWorks, this time the box office of "Green Snake" directed by Xu Ke only barely broke 10 million.

Kang Jianfei felt very depressed about this, originally the Christmas movie of Oriental Cinema was arranged for "Changing Face", but unfortunately Wu Yusen's guy jumped the ticket, so he could only take Xu Ke's "Green Snake" to temporarily top.

The only eye-catching thing in this year's Christmas stalls is UFOs.

Two years ago, when Hong Kong films were at their most prosperous, Zeng Zhiwei proposed an ambitious plan. He connected more than 20 actors, including Er Dongsheng, Xu Anhua, Luo Zhuoyao, Chen Kexin, Zhang Zhiliang, etc., to invest in filming in the name of director, and contacted eight theaters to organize a new cinema chain to shoot and screen films that these directors want to make but no one is necessarily willing to invest in, hoping to fight a bloody way through guò's novel creativity.

It's a pity that this plan was stillborn in the end, because Zeng Zhiwei was a little whimsical, and his fame and appeal were not enough to complete this plan.

The plan failed before it could be put into practice, Zeng Zhiwei had no choice but to settle for the next best thing, find Zhong Zhen and Chen Kexin, and the three of them jointly formed a UFO (the abbreviation of the producers' joint agency, "If Love", "Golden Branches and Jade Leaves", "October Siege", "Sweet Honey", "Casting Names" and other films are all made by this company).

At a time when Hong Kong films were shoddy, UFO insisted on creating films with unique styles and novel content. At the same time, the directors themselves are the bosses, and the films they make must consider the box office, so although the films produced by UFO are exploratory, they are not as incomprehensible as Wong Kar-wai's films.

This is extremely rare, UFOs are like a gust of wind blowing through the turbid Hong Kong film industry, at least Kang Jianfei is happy to see such a different film company appear.

Especially this Christmas, a total of 5 Hong Kong films have been released in Hong Kong, two of which are from UFOs, and they have won the first and second place at the Christmas box office.

Some newspapers even predicted that UFOs would become the new art city in the 90s.

The analysis of "Film Fortnightly" is more rational:

"The stunning performance of UFOs at Christmas is actually a clear proof of Hong Kong people's disgust with bad movies. Due to shoddy production and following the trend, many classic scenes have been made over and over again countless films, and the audience has long wanted to vomit, and the films produced by UFO may not be the best, but its style and plot can definitely be said to be novel and unique.

To put it more abstractly, this is a competition between the star-centric system and the director-centric system. In recent years, the vast majority of Hong Kong films are the products of the star-centered system, and the whole film revolves around these stars, relying on stars to attract the audience into the movie, so as to achieve the purpose of making profits. UFO is different, the three bosses of this company are all directors, they start the film to establish the style and content of the film, and then find the right actors to shoot, the director controls all aspects of the film, and there are few constraints from investors and distributors.

The core of the movie is always the movie itself, not a few glamorous stars, and the sudden rise of UFOs is actually a return to the essence of the movie. Those producers who want to rely on celebrities to deceive the audience into paying money may think more, the audience is not stupid......"

Zeng Zhiwei finally got a handful of glory, he had mixed in Xinyi City before, mixed in Oriental DreamWorks, and mixed under Zou Wenhuai and Chen Rongmei, and this time he finally became the leader of the Hong Kong film industry.

……

"Cheers!"

In the private room of the Red Leaf Club, Zeng Zhiwei, Zhong Zhen, Chen Kexin, Zhang Zhiliang and others gathered together to raise a glass to celebrate the rise of UFOs.

"This time, thanks to Ah Liang and Ke Xin, you two are great heroes, come and drink this cup!" Zeng Zhiwei is obviously in a state of excitement, and the film produced by his company actually dominates the first and second place at the Christmas box office, which is the peak of his life that he has never reached.

Chen Kexin and Zhang Zhiliang are both very introverted personalities, but because of their good mood, they actually toasted a few drinks with Zeng Zhiwei.

After drinking for a while, everyone's strength came up, Zeng Zhiwei waved his arms and said: "Although the Hong Kong film market is sluggish now, I think it is a good opportunity for UFOs to rise." In the 80s, Hong Kong movies were in a similar situation as they are now, full of shoddy kung fu movies and martial arts films, and the audience was tired of watching them. It's the same now, audiences are tired of watching gambling movies, zombie movies,, pee and fart comedies and new martial arts films, and our UFOs can attract audiences with an avant-garde and novel style, and definitely beat other studios that are not enterprising. I think that UFO should form its own theater chain in the coming year, so that the company's films can be scheduled in the future. I heard that Luo Jiecheng's Yonggao Cinema Line is ready to be sold, and now that the company has sufficient funds, we can take over a few theaters with good locations......"

Zhong Zhen was still sober, he poured a basin of cold water on Zeng Zhiwei: "Let's talk about the establishment of a cinema chain later, now that Hong Kong's cinemas are in oversupply, it is better to make movies with peace of mind than to be a cinema chain." As long as the movie is filmed, the owners of those theater companies will beg us to take the film to his theater for screening. ”

"I also don't think it's necessary to set up a theater chain." Chen Kexin pushes the frame of his glasses. In fact, he doesn't have much say in UFO, when he set up the company, it was Zeng Zhiwei and Zhong Zhen who paid for it, while Chen Kexin used the director's salary to get a small amount of shares.

Zeng Zhiwei is very tactful, although he is now in a high-spirited state, but when he heard that the two partners were opposed, he no longer mentioned the establishment of a cinema chain, because that would only cause conflicts between the partners. He laughed twice: "Then don't worry about the theater for now, now the company still has a drama that is about to be completed, and we have to hurry up to complete the later stage and enter the Spring Festival file." ”

Zhong Zhen, Chen Kexin and Zhang Zhiliang glanced at each other, and they all felt that Zeng Zhiwei seemed to be a little arrogant.

Zhong Zhen reminded: "There is something wrong with the Lunar New Year file, firstly, there is not much time for the post-production of the movie, and secondly, the competition for the Lunar New Year stall is too fierce. ”

Chen Kexin also said: "This year's Chinese New Year files include Liu Jialiang and Cheng Long's "Drunken Fist 2", Gao Zhisen and Zhang Guorong's "Rich Family", as well as Kang Jianfei and Zhou Xingchi's "Kung Fu". ”

Zeng Zhiwei was a little unhappy when he was poured cold water one after another, but his mind was also much clearer, although he still fantasized about going to the New Year stalls to compete, but the names Kang Jianfei, Cheng Long, and Zhou Xingchi still made it difficult for him to make up his mind.

"Well, take a break." Zeng Zhiwei still didn't have the courage to engage with those cattle in hand-to-hand combat.

……

Compared with the deserted Christmas file, the New Year's Day file on New Year's Day in 1994 was surprisingly lively, with a total of 15 movies released in January. It seems that Hong Kong films have signs of recovery, but several movies have only been released for a few days, and they have been released ahead of schedule because the box office is too miserable.

The only thing worth paying attention to is "New Cohabitation Era" directed by Yang Fan and Zhang Aijia. Invested by Taiwan's China Film Company and produced by Hong Kong's Bigao Pictures, this film is a three-stage literary romance film, which actually killed other commercial films released at the same time and won 20 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office.

I have to say that Hong Kong audiences have matured, and they are tired of watching shoddy commercial films, and they are more and more inclined to make well-made literary films.

The success of "New Cohabitation Era" sounded the clarion call for Taiwanese filmmakers to invest in Hong Kong films again. After a half-year thinking period, Taiwanese filmmakers still decided to invest in Hong Kong film production, but their investment is more cautious than before, and there will be no more magical events where Liu Dehua's film will sell for 8 million.

As the Lunar New Year gets closer and closer, the promotion of Chinese New Year movies has also begun to bombard the eyes of Hong Kong citizens. The most concerned are the two movies "Drunken Fist 2" and "Kung Fu", the former is the first collaboration between Liu Jialiang and Cheng Long, and the latter is the second collaboration between Kang Jianfei and Zhou Xingchi, and the fans of the four are looking forward to these two movies.

Hong Kong newspapers have already collectively climaxed: ""Drunken Fist 2" is undoubtedly a kung fu movie, "Kung Fu" can be seen from its name, Zhou Xingchi vs. Shang Cheng Long, and it is still a fist and kick, who loses and who wins is worth looking forward to." What's even more interesting is that Liu Jialiang's style is the traditional kung fu of hard bridges and hard horses, and what kind of sparks will he create when he collides with Cheng Long's humorous fighting style? In addition, it is rumored that Liu Jialiang also served as the action director of the three fight scenes in "Kung Fu", is this considered to be self-defeating? Zhou Xingchi has always been known for nonsensical comedy, although he has had fight scenes in films such as "Tang Bohu Dots Autumn Fragrance" and "Su Qier", but they were all filmed by Hang Weiya and a stand-in, can he compete with Cheng Long this time? ”R1152