Time has entered June, and the publicity offensive of "Fang Fang" in Hong Kong has entered the final stage, and the streets and alleys are full of stills and advertisements of "Fang Fang", and nearly 3 million yuan has been spent on sky-high publicity expenses.

Jiang Zhiqiang, the general manager of Oriental Cinema Line, Zhang Moren, the manager of Taiping Cinema, and Ye Zhiming, general manager of Oriental Entertainment Distribution Company, all three of them are opposed to spending so much money to promote "Fang Fang".

There is no other reason, just because "Fang Fang" is a literary romance film, and this type of movie has sold more than 20 million in Hong Kong. At present, the No. 1 literary romance film at the box office in Hong Kong is "Autumn Fairy Tale" directed by Zhang Wanting last year, relying on the touching plot and the popularity of Zhou Yunfa and Zhong Chuhong, it sold more than 25 million at the box office.

With a box office of more than 20 million, it is a waste to spend nearly 3 million to promote. What's more, "Fang Fang" has already won the Cannes Grand Prix, and the publicity in the newspapers and on TV has become so well known, there is no need for so many street advertisements.

It's a pity that Kang Jianfei is the boss of the company, and no matter how opposed the following general managers, they can only implement it according to his will.

Before the 80s, Hong Kong movies would not spend a lot of money on promotion, and even now, the publicity cost of big casts is at most more than 1 million.

Not only in Hong Kong, but also in Hollywood. It was because of the popularity of television and the diversity of entertainment options that the number of moviegoers in North America fell rapidly each year, and Hollywood counterparts were forced to start massively increasing their promotional expenses in the late 70s, trying to figure out how guò advertisements brought audiences back to the cinema.

Kang Jianfei, who crossed over from the afterlife. has long been accustomed to carpet-bombing propaganda, and naturally chooses to bombard the audience with advertisements.

Judging from Kang Jianfei's understanding. The revenue from advertising bombardment is not only to look at the box office, but also to hide the audience's brand identity with Kang Jianfei and DreamWorks. I want to walk on the street alone, and I can see the advertisements of "Fang Fang" everywhere, even if I never watch a movie, I will have a sense of this film, and at the same time, I will also have a feeling that the director and the film company are very powerful, so that I will gradually have a consumption inertia for the films of DreamWorks and Oriental Cinemas.

If a bad movie is so promoted, no matter how much it sells at the box office, it will smash the word of mouth, but if it is a good film, it will be hotly promoted. Then you can put the icing on the cake.

The most important thing is that there is another theater line this year, which means that there are more movies to grab the audience, and it is even more necessary to increase publicity costs at this time.

Once the film sells in Hong Kong, then half of the Nanyang countries and the South Korean market have already won, not to mention that the ban on the Taiwan side has also been loosened, and at most it will take another half a year for DreamWorks to sell the film to Taiwan again.

Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong. Hong Jinbao, who had just returned from Australia with his new girlfriend Gao Lihong, was stunned by the movie advertisements on the side of the road before he got home by car from the airport.

"Are Kang Jianfei and Pan Disheng crazy?" Hong Jinbao couldn't help but sigh.

Roadside movie advertisements are not only "Fang Fang", but also the promotional posters of "Infant Ning" have a higher appearance rate. Even Hong Jinbao found that two double-decker buses drove past in a row, and the body of the bus was all painted with paint into stills of "Infant Ning".

It's not just Kang Jianfei who burns money for publicity, but Pan Disheng, the boss of Debao, is also a local tyrant who is not bad for money. actually started a propaganda war with DreamWorks, and I heard that a total of 5 million was spent to promote the special effects ghost fox film "Infant Ning".

Pan Disheng's intention is not only to promote the movie, but more importantly, the scale of his Debao Cinema Line has just expanded, and he wants to take this opportunity to make a name for himself and exert influence, so as to attract more film sources and audiences.

Gao Lihong also asked in surprise: "Such a large density of propaganda. How much does it cost? ”

"At least a few million." Hong Jinbao said with some concern.

will soon enter the summer season of movies, and the release dates of new films in major theaters have been announced. "Oriental Condor" directed by Hong Jinbao is just on the same page as "Fangfang" and "Ying Ning".

"The Condor of the East" is Sammo Hung's ambition, and in another time and space, it has been hailed by many as a landmark film in Hong Kong film history.

Nowadays, Hong Kong films have swept the entire East Asian region, and even distributed to Central Asia, West Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and the United States.

The name of "Oriental Hollywood" is getting louder and louder, and now as long as there are movies shot with Hong Kong stars, there are already overseas filmmakers who come to buy the film before it starts.

Some bad Hong Kong filmmakers who are purely trying to make money have come up with all kinds of crooked ways, and those who invite celebrities to spend half a month making bad movies and selling them are quite conscientious. What's more, they fooled the star to sign the film contract, and then took the star's film contract to sell the film everywhere, and made enough money but didn't make a movie, some directly took the money to play missing, and some casually made a bad movie and let the star make a cameo in a few shots to make a difference, and then resold the star's film contract to make a second profit.

In the first half of this year, four popular actors from Oriental Entertainment Agency were fooled. In addition to asking Zhang Guozhong to blacklist those companies and directors, Kang Jianfei also made a call to Chen Guifang in Causeway Bay, except for one guy who went abroad, one who belonged to other gangs, and the other two guys who were artists of Oriental Entertainment Company, all of them were beaten with blue noses and swollen faces, and the defrauded money also went into Chen Guifang's account.

Chen Guifang is very ruthless, Kang Jianfei never thought of being able to control him, so he never really came forward to contact him. Kang Jianfei's plan is to use Chen Guifang as a gunman, such as teaching a few chaotic independent film company bosses, Chen Guifang got Li Kang Jianfei was angry, and everyone was a win-win result.

The topic is far away, and I just want to explain one thing earlier, that is, the Hong Kong film industry has really prospered.

As a successful director and actor, Hong Jinbao inevitably has ambitions in this situation. He has made a lot of money making kung fu comedies in the past few years, and now he wants to make some difficult and rewarding films, and by the way, fill the gap in Hong Kong genre films, so he filmed this war film "Oriental Condor".

The reason why "Oriental Condor" is a landmark film in Hong Kong. That's because this is Hong Kong's first real war film - although it imitates Hollywood, and the elements of bloody adventure are more than war dramas.

Hong Jinbao, who finished filming "Oriental Condor", was in a good mood. not only made the first war film in Hong Kong, but also took the opportunity to make the film to soak Hong Kong sister Gao Lihong. After determining the schedule and publicity plan, Hong Jinbao went to Australia with Gao Lihong to meet his future father-in-law, and now he is returning to Hong Kong to prepare for the final publicity before the release.

Unexpectedly, just after leaving Hong Kong for a few days, as soon as he came back, he saw the streets full of posters of "Fang Fang" and "Ying Ning", which immediately made Hong Jinbao's heart cool a lot.

The movie is about to be released in less than two weeks, and the temporary increase in the publicity budget will not achieve the best publicity effect. Hong Jinbao's mood suddenly became a little anxious.

After sending Gao Lihong back to his residence, Hong Jinbao immediately ran to find Zou Wenhuai.

"Sanmao, you're back, sit down!" Zou Wenhuai smiled and beckoned Hong Jinbao to sit down, "I have something to look for you, and if I don't go back to Hong Kong, I will call and urge people." ”

Hong Jinbao asked: "Is it about the promotion of "Oriental Condor"? ”

Zou Wenhuai nodded and sneered: "Yes." Kang Jianfei and Pan Disheng are really wealthy. ”

"Why don't we increase the publicity cost a little more?" Hong Jinbao asked tentatively.

Golden Harvest is not Zou Wenhuai's company, and the producers of "Oriental Condor" belong to Golden Harvest's subsidiaries Baohe and Jiafeng, and the temporary additional publicity expenses for "Oriental Condor" have to be agreed by other shareholders.

"I'm not stupid enough to throw money at them," Zou Wenhuai said obviously, that is, he did not agree to the additional publicity fee. However, he still said, "I talked to Fang Yihua of TVB on the phone, and she agreed to do a variety show for "Oriental Condor". ”

There can only be said to be a contradiction between Shao Yifu and Kang Jianfei, and the relationship between him and Zou Wenhuai can be described as "grudge" - being stabbed in the back by his friend and subordinate for more than ten years is absolutely unforgettable. And Kang Jianfei's business competitor is not enough to make Shao Yifu jealous for life.

To promote the movies of Golden Harvest's subsidiaries on TVB variety shows, Shao Yifu himself must be agreed. And Shao Yifu can agree to help the old enemy Zou Wenhuai with this favor, which can prove how much pressure Phoenix TV has put on TVB.

Originally, because of Wei Jiahui's ascension, the ratings of TVB TV dramas have increased a lot, and they have slightly pressed Phoenix TV in the past few months. But at the beginning of May, Phoenix Channel suddenly broadcast the CCTV version of "Journey to the West", a Mandarin TV series that has not been dubbed in Cantonese, and it quickly became a hit in Hong Kong.

At the most popular time, the ratings of "Journey to the West" reached 67%, although it is far less than the movies such as "Chu Liuxiang", "Shanghai Tang", and "Sister Tuogun" in previous years, but this is only because of the overall decline in the ratings of TV dramas, and its sensational effect is not lower than those dramas.

In another time and space, the ratings of the CCTV version of "Journey to the West" in the Nanyang region skyrocketed, but the ratings were dismal when it was broadcast in Hong Kong. It's not that Hong Kong audiences definitely don't like to watch the CCTV version of "Journey to the West", there are three main reasons for the poor ratings: first, the CCTV version of "Journey to the West" was broadcast on ATV, which was already very sluggish in Hong Kong in the mid-90s, and many viewers didn't watch ATV at all; the second is the collision between the CCTV version of "Journey to the West" and TVB's "Criminal Investigation File 2", which is a Hong Kong drama with explosive ratings; The third point is the main reason, the CCTV version of "Journey to the West" started filming in the early 80s, and the special effects and martial arts actions are very primitive and simple.

Don't you see "Huanzhu Gege" landed on Hong Kong Island, making ATV's ratings surpass TVB for the first time?

Phoenix Channel is now broadcasting the CCTV version of "Journey to the West", and there is no aesthetic generation gap of the times at all. Especially since more than ten episodes, due to the addition of martial arts instructors from two Kang family classes, the viewing of the martial arts scenes of "Journey to the West" has been greatly improved, so much so that from the 15th episode, the ratings of "Journey to the West" have skyrocketed by 17 percentage points.

Fang Yihua can't do anything about it, and today's overall ratings in the second quarter, TVB will definitely be surpassed by Phoenix Channel.

For Shao Yifu, TVB did not bring him too much financial gain, and he made more money in other businesses. However, he regards film and television as his life's work.

After the production of Shaw Brothers Film Company, Shao Yifu focused on wireless TVB. Now he is forced into a corner by Phoenix Terrace. Shao Yifu did not hesitate to agree to help the old enemy Zou Wenhuai promote the movie, if nothing else, as long as he could disgust Kang Jianfei.

Just when the promotional posters of "Fangfang" and "Infant Ning" were plastered all over the street, and Hong Jinbao appeared in TVB's variety show with the team, the bosses of the other two dramas, Mecca and Li Xiuxian, were as anxious as ants on a hot pot.

Mecca is better, with the strong strength of Xinyicheng behind it, it is not a problem to invest 1 million to promote his "Windfall of 30 Million". But Li Xiuxian is an independent filmmaker, how can he have so much money to smash. Even if you have money, you are reluctant to throw it in, and if the publicity effect is not good, it will be in vain.

In the face of unprecedented movie publicity, the film news of "Ming Pao Weekly" couldn't help but sigh: "This summer's movie is very exciting, and the major companies have already begun to fight before it is released." "Oriental Condor" uses Hong Kong's first war film as a gimmick, and "Infant Ning" is a special effects ghost fox film made by martial arts master Hu Jinquan for a year, and there are also Zhang Guorong's joining and Zhao Yazhi's return to the big screen as selling points, and "Fang Fang" is even more amazing. Having won the first-ever Cannes Film Festival Final Welcome Film Award in France, Hong Kong fans can't wait to see it. These three movies, one is a bloody war film, one is a special effects ghost film, and the other is a literary romance film, which can meet the different viewing needs of all audiences, and I don't know who will be the final winner after the release.

In addition, there are also "Iron Blooded Cavalry" of Arts Pictures and "Windfall of 30 Million" of New Art City. and the sequel to the Hollywood blockbuster "King Kong" purchased by Anle Pictures......"

When summer really comes, Hong Kong moviegoers are faced with a choice: which movie to watch first?

On the eve of the release of "Fang Fang" in Hong Kong, a news came back from France again: after "Fang Fang" was fully released in France, it quickly swept the whole of France. In less than a month after its release, it has already surpassed the 4 million viewers of Bruce Lee's "Raptors Across the River" and Xu Ke's "Shushan" of 2.4 million. It became the No. 1 grossing film of Chinese cinema in France.

In France, South Korea and some other countries, the number of moviegoers is used in box office statistics, which makes the specific box office statistics a little cumbersome, but it can better compare movies of different generations vertically.

The most watched film in French film history is "Welcome to the North", which has reached a terrifying more than 20 million viewers. And in another plane, Sophie? "Fang Fang" starring Marceau, but it was the third highest grossing film of the year in France that year (not the champion of the year as many fans say, the French box office champion in 93 was "Time and Space Sharp Turn", with nearly 14 million viewers).

Kang Jianfei's choice to change the story of "Fang Fang" to Hong Kong has reduced the French audience's sense of environmental identity with the film, but it has added a bit of exoticism, and there is no cultural barrier in the film, so it is difficult to say whether it has a positive or negative impact on the box office.

When "Fang Fang" was officially released in Hong Kong, it had been released in France for 28 days, and the number of moviegoers had reached 4.85 million, and it was about to exceed 5 million.

These box offices are even more intuitive when converted into dollars: $19.68 million, which is the largest box office in Europe.

Two years ago, France's annual box office champion "Three Men and a Cradle" was watched by 10.2 million people; Just last year, there were two films in France that exceeded 6 million viewers.

This year, the movies released in France are not very good, and "Fang Fang" has not yet been painted, and it has already won the box office champion with 4.85 million viewers.

Speaking of which, Sophie? Although Marceau is the goddess in the hearts of thousands of French men, her status in the French film industry is not high-end.

The three major actresses in France today are Catherine? Deneuve, Isabel? Adjani and Isabel? Huppert, the number one Catherine? Deneuve even has the reputation of "the first lady of Europe".

Sophie? Marceau can only be regarded as the best of the young actresses at most, but after the hit of this "Fang Fang", her fame is one step closer to the three major French actresses.

(.) RU