According to the analysis of Wang Xiaohu's previous life according to the development rhythm of Hong Kong martial arts films, it can be divided into four stages of development. [Full text reading]

The first period was from the late 40s to the end of the 50s, the boom period of Cantonese films, the golden age of "Wong Fei Hung Films", and the representative figure was director Hu Peng.

From the mid-60s to the mid-70s, it was the peak period of Hong Kong's Chinese martial arts films, Zhang Che, Hu Jinquan, Zhang Xinyan and other directors directly brought martial arts films from black and white into the "color martial arts century", when October 31, 1971, Bruce Lee's "Tangshan Big Brother" was released in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Southeast Asian regions, and the next two years were Bruce Lee's kung fu era. (In this book, "Big Brother Tangshan" began its premiere in early November.) )

The third period is the late 70s to the mid-80s, which is the transition period of Hong Kong martial arts films, Yuan Heping and Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, and Yuan Biao The three brothers jointly supported Hong Kong martial arts films, and also contributed a large number of exciting adventure action films.

The fourth stage is from the 90s to the rebirth of Wang Xiaohu, during this period of time, Hong Kong films and mainland films were not very successfully integrated, and co-productions began to become popular, which was the re-glory and "alienation" of martial arts films, and the most obvious representative of this alienation trace is Tsui Hark.

From the above four stages, you can see that Tsui Hark occupies a very large proportion of future Chinese martial arts films, and he did not go international like Yuan Heping, John Woo, Jackie Chan and others, but studied his own style and development for decades, trying to break the embarrassing backwardness of Chinese films.

Wang Xiaohu admires Tsui Hark's this, Tsui Hark has created "The True Color of Heroes", "Smiling Proud Jianghu", "A Chinese Ghost Story", "Wong Fei Hung" and other series, each series is a classic in the movie, "Women Are Not Bad", "Dao Ma Dan", "Green Snake" has made Tsui Hark develop in a diversified direction, he can shoot dozens of different types of movies, and his avant-garde ideas make Wang Xiaohu staggered.

Even so, Wang Xiaohu did not have the idea of taking Tsui Hark into his account, because he knew that Tsui Hark would soon become a member of the Seven Little Monsters, and with the gradual decline of the Shaw Brothers and the introduction of the restructuring plan launched by Concord Company, Hong Kong films will return to the era that Wang Xiaohu is familiar with.

Even if Concord Company is currently in the position of a big brother in the Hong Kong film industry, Wang Xiaohu is not arrogant to the point of being a scholar, and the end of doing so is likely to bury the future of Hong Kong films, so he is now only responsible for leading the way, as long as the direction of development is no problem, he will leave it alone and shift his focus to entering the mainland and Hollywood. However, Hong Kong is needed as a base for all plans to be implemented.

That's what he said, but there are some things that Wang Xiaohu still has to participate in, such as the establishment of the Hong Kong Film Awards, such as putting Donnie Yen and Jet Li, two future kung fu superstars, on the right path, such as the agreement with Jin Yong back then, after all, Jin Yong has tolerated himself so generously for almost 9 years, and if he doesn't put "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" on the TV screen, he will not be depressed to death!

However, after meeting with Tsui Hark tonight, Wang Xiaohu wants to do one more thing, that is, to get a partnership with Tsui Hark.

As for why he said that he was cooperating with Tsui Hark, rather than with Wu Siyuan, this point has to start from when Jackie Chan was encouraged by Chen Ziqiang and Wu Siyuan to jump to Jiahe, in a sense, Wu Siyuan poached Jackie Chan from Concord back then, and he has been hated by Concord Company to gnash his teeth.

Jiahe went bankrupt, Wu Siyuan, Chen Ziqiang and others formed their own Siyuan Company, and held Tsui Hark, Xu Anhua and other new wave directors in their hands, and resolutely followed the route of Concord Company to make a fortune and become well-off, which cannot but be said to be a shortcut.

So Wang Xiaohu said directly to Tsui Hark: "How about selling you a favor?" ”

"Favors?" Tsui Hark was a little confused, frowning a little cautiously, and hurriedly said, "I don't know what Brother Tiger means by this." ”

Wang Xiaohu smiled, took a sip of red wine, and said, "Don't worry, I won't dig Wu Siyuan's corner." I can rent you industrial light and magic and special effects studios for free, even without a penny, and will also fully direct your script, action, etc., how do you feel? ”

Tsui Hark was dumbfounded for a while, his lips moved and moved, I don't know if it was because of excitement or nervousness, the sheep beard with a surname also turned up and down, which was particularly interesting.

"Brother Tiger, I still haven't understood!" Tsui Hark poured a big sip of red wine and swallowed it hard, still feeling a little thirsty, no, it can't be said to be thirsty, it should be said that the blood in his body is burning and boiling!

Wang Xiaohu touched his nose with a smile, "I said, I won't dig you to change jobs, you can do whatever you want, and I won't let you sign any shady contracts, let alone make any box office sharing agreements with Siyuan Company." ”

When Wang Xiaohu said this, he stared at Tsui Hark's eyes, and suddenly whispered: "I just need you to help me make a few movies when you have time, of course, it is a purely private friendship invitation, and it has nothing to do with any company, and you will also get a salary, and you will not shoot it for me." ”

"What movie to make, when?"

Wang Xiaohu raised his eyebrows and said, "I haven't thought about it yet, but I don't know if you agree or not, it doesn't matter if you don't agree, what we agreed on before will continue to be valid." ”

"Promise!"

After Xu Hark just said this, he was much brighter in his heart, he currently has a half-year contract with Siyuan Company, Wu Siyuan has the grace of knowing him, he is really afraid that Wang Xiaohu will use this as a threat to let him jump to Concord, so that he will be in a dilemma.

However, Wang Xiaohu did not do this, and Tsui Hark was completely relieved, and did not ask Wang Xiaohu how many movies he was going to make.

As a representative of the New Wave of directors, Tsui Hark also has his own troubles, for example, several films shot in recent years have been unable to give full play to the content he has filmed deep down due to the intervention of funds and producers, for example, the current platform of Siyuan Company is getting smaller and smaller in his eyes, so that he cannot get a stage to display his talents with increasing ambitions.

In comparison, Wang Xiaohu's request is too simple.

As far as Tsui Hark's current identity is concerned, he doesn't think that his level is much higher than Yuan Heping, Sammo Hung and others, and Wang Xiaohu is willing to ask him to direct a movie, which shows that people look up to him, and it has always been his dream to cooperate with a tycoon like Wang Xiaohu.

Tsui Hark, who is in a state of excitement, now admires Wang Xiaohu very much, not only because Wang Xiaohu has a lofty status in the Hong Kong film industry, but also because of the perfect, free and reading system of Concord Company, and then Wang Xiaohu's character is not enough!

After Tsui Hark left happily, Wang Xiaohu sat in a chair and was in a good mood, so much so that he didn't notice a faint sinister smile on his face

On January 20, 1981, a fire broke out at the Seiko Hair Factory in North Point, Hong Kong, resulting in 11 deaths and 19 injuries, which was the worst factory fire in Hong Kong since 1971.

In the shadow of the fire, the business of Hong Kong films has also been implicated to a great extent, after all, the cinema is the most populous place, and everyone was afraid to go into the theater for a while.

Wang Xiaohu sighed, and that night he and Run Run Shaw made a special trip to the home of Sir MacLehose, the Governor of Hong Kong, and Wang Xiaohu proposed: All cinemas in Hong Kong should cooperate with the unified inspection of the fire department in the next few days, and the main content of the inspection is whether the fire protection measures in the theater are perfect, and whether the emergency passage can play a key role.

Hong Kong Governor MacLehose very much agreed with Wang Xiaohu's proposal, and the next day he convened a special meeting with the cooperation of various departments, which was the second meeting personally chaired by the Hong Kong Governor after the "clean government storm", and then the fire department and the police department jointly inspected public places such as cinemas, tea houses, and nightclubs.

The joint enforcement lasted for a week, and all of Hong Kong's film industry was hit the most in years.

Taking advantage of this time, Wang Xiaohu sold the completed "Shanghai Tang" to TVB and broadcast it as TVB's New Year's drama.

The income brought by TV to Wang Xiaohu is not very high, even if it is TVB, which is now wealthy, the first round of copyright for Concord Company is only 20,000 Hong Kong dollars per episode, and the price is very low. For this reason, many people complained for Wang Xiaohu, and even Run Run Shaw himself felt a little embarrassed.

"Xiaohu, the price offered to you this time is the highest in the Hong Kong TV industry, I really can't raise the price anymore, otherwise it will break the rules."

Wang Xiaohu smiled, he didn't care about this, filming "Shanghai Tang" was just to reproduce the classics, as he has always said, TV is just his act of playing tickets, as long as those classics in his previous life can be reproduced, he will be satisfied, as for losing money or not, he doesn't care anyway.

What's more, Wang Xiaohu is doing this to cultivate stars, for example, Chow Yun-fat hasn't seen the audience for two or three consecutive years since "The Story of Ah Lang", and the point view that was filmed in TVB before was also a supporting role or honed his acting skills, such as Liu Dan, an old actor has not had a classic image for many years, and then there is Lu Liangwei, he is a standard newcomer, he has a lot of scenes in the first few episodes of "Shanghai Tang", driven by an old actor like Chow Yun-fat, he went crazy directly.

Years ago, Lao Jiali's TV station has been dominating the ratings with Mi Xue, Wan Ziliang's version of "Tai Chi Zhang Sanfeng", and Huang Yuanshen's version of "Young Huang Feihong", and "Shanghai Tang" was broadcast for a week, and an episode was broadcast every other day, which directly increased TVB's ratings by 15 percentage points, and with the familiar melody of "Running Waves, Waves", as well as the classic three gunshots, a new round of ratings war has also begun.

In the first week, TVB was able to snatch the ratings back from Li's TV station, and when the fourth episode of "Shanghai Tang" was launched, the ratings on TVB's side had increased by 35 points, and it was still soaring rapidly!

Seeing this, TVB immediately launched a market survey and asked the citizens why this TV series is so good.

"The script is well written, Chow Yun-fat's style in it is beautiful!"

"The TV shooting is exquisite, the actors' costumes and acting skills are very different from the TV series broadcast by TVB before, and the plot of each episode is very tense, I love Cheng Cheng to death!"

"Watching Shanghai Tang is like watching a movie!"

"I have the feeling of watching "Jingwumen" a few years ago, I think Wang Xiaohu not only did a good job in the film industry, but even the TV series was filmed so exquisitely and carefully!"

"Mainland framing, it has the charm of big Shanghai!"

"Shanghai Tang" is completely different from other Hong Kong TV dramas, whether it is in the acting skills of the actors or the costumes and props, we can see that the main creators are very attentive, especially when they go to the mainland for live shooting, there is an immersive feeling!"

"It's okay for you to broadcast one episode a day!"

"Oh, I'm looking forward to the arrival of every weekend now, because on the weekend I can hear Wang Xiaohu sing "Shanghai Beach", so domineering!!"

Not only are TV interview programs talking about "Shanghai Tang", but Hong Kong's mainstream media newspapers are also talking about "Shanghai Tang", and they are very praising Wang Xiaohu for spending a lot of money to shoot such a delicate, beautiful and classic TV series.

All aspects are praising "Shanghai Tang", and "Shanghai Tang" has not disappointed the audience's expectations, the ratings are rising steadily, and TVB is jubilant.

And at this critical moment, there was another explosive news from Li's inside: Xu Xiaoming, Li's popular student and one of the three major martial arts instructors, suddenly jumped to Concord Company.

As soon as the news was reported in the media, there was an immediate uproar in the Hong Kong TV circle, and Li's side severely reprimanded Wang Xiaohu's despicable behavior, saying that Wang Xiaohu was deliberate, and at the same time condemned Wang Xiaohu's immoral behavior, because the launch of "Shanghai Tang" directly made Hong Kong's TV industry difficult.

"What do you do with a TV series shooting movie so classic! Do you show off your Concord company's deep pockets? How do you let your TV peers develop in the future! ”

An unnamed industry insider attacked Wang Xiaohu in the newspaper, saying that Wang Xiaohu deliberately broke the rules of the Hong Kong television industry and deliberately raised the cost of TV drama production.

After all, even TVB will not burn bags now, invest 2 million Hong Kong dollars to shoot a TV series with only 25 episodes, and shoot every episode as perfectly as a movie picture!

This is not what it is to burn a bun, and what is it that is not to show off the wealth of Concord?

But someone responded quickly.

"It is true that Wang Xiaohu's behavior has broken the inherent rules in the TV industry, but it is undeniable that "Shanghai Tang" sounded a wake-up call for his peers in the TV industry, as early as a few years ago, "Jingwumen" has fully demonstrated Wang Xiaohu's ambition for TV drama reform, but at that time, "Jingwumen" still adopted simple location and set shooting, knowing that "Shanghai Tang" was filmed on the mainland, this superior surname was undoubtedly revealed."

"Let's not deny "Shanghai Tang" from a critical point of view, because Wang Xiaohu pointed out a new path for the TV industry with "Shanghai Tang": that is, live-action shooting is far more attractive than indoor sets and simple exterior locations, and as for Concord, every episode is shot like a movie with high-quality pictures, but it is in Concord's consistent principle of high-quality routes, not to mention that Concord has only shot two TV series so far!"

No need to ask, this response article is from within TVB, and the initiator is Gu Zhaofeng, the screenwriter of "Shanghai Tang", the current hit of "Shanghai Tang" has benefited all TVB employees who participated in the filming a lot, they have learned a lot of things that they have not seen before through this TV series, and more importantly, they have found that rigorous, serious, meticulous and careful work attitude from Wang Xiaohu and Zhao Yazhi.

At a recent meeting of TVB, Gu Zhaofeng and others made a special trip to Run Run Shaw, Fang Yihua and other high-level executives to put forward a lot of reasonable suggestions, such as maintaining a close relationship with Concord Company, relying on the good bridge between Concord and the mainland, suggesting that TVB's future TV dramas go to the mainland for live shooting, etc.

"Xiaohu, thank you for taking revenge this time!"

On the evening of the twentieth day of the lunar month, Run Run Shaw walked into Wang Xiaohu's house with some simple gifts, and the revenge he said did not only mean that he overwhelmed Li with a big advantage in ratings, but also that Xu Xiaoming was poached from the bottom of the kettle.

Back then, Li dug Cheng Xiaodong over, which made TVB panic for a while, if it weren't for a few martial arts instructors who graduated from the Dragon and Tiger Martial Arts Union to provoke the main beams, Zheng Shaoqiu's costume TV series would not have been successful in action at all.

"But you've got a big problem for me, too!" After Shaw said the good, he began to talk about the bad again.

Wang Xiaohu spread his hands and said: "This is also a matter of no choice, I am willing to help Lao Dou enter the mainland to shoot, the problem is that none of you are willing to give up the Taiwan market!" ”

"Hey! Who's to say it isn't! Run Run Shaw sighed, and he now really realized why Wang Xiaohu was under tremendous pressure to open up the mainland market.

Run Run Shaw knows that Wang Xiaohu does not care about the broadcast copyright of "Shanghai Tang", but takes care of himself in the relationship between the two masters, and people's eyes have been fixed on the mainland, where the cake is several times bigger and fatter than Hong Kong.

As for his own group, they only toss around Hong Kong, Taiwan and other small areas.

Run Run Shaw suddenly changed to a pitiful tone and said: "Xiaohu, I will double the copyright of "Shanghai Tang" for you, and I will find a way to help you get the distribution of the TV station in Taiwan, but here in the mainland, you will share the soup and water with me." ”

(To be continued)