On the morning of September 10, 1980, a military jeep departed from Yanjing and headed east, passing through dozens of towns and villages in Hebei Province.

"Dou Fei's fellow villagers pay attention, tonight at 7 o'clock in the evening under the big poplar tree of the town party committee, I hope to convey it to relatives and friends in the neighboring village, remember it after dinner!"

"At half past six tonight, a movie will be arranged at the Majiapo Army's big field, and those who bring their children should take good care of their children, so as not to mobilize the whole village to help find them like last time."

"Sun Cun Commune Tonight"

The car continued to drive on the road to the east, and by this time it had reached a piece of Dezhou, Shandong Province, and it was vaguely possible to see many people riding bicycles, walking, or pushing trolleys in a certain direction. 【Reading.com】

"Lao Wang, do you feel the passion of acting in movies in our rural China?" Zhao Gang pointed to those who were in a hurry and said: "These are ordinary people who go to the movies, some of them are more than ten miles away from the screening location, and they rush to the whole village to go to the movies, but it is lively!" ”

"I feel it!" Wang Xiaohu looked at the slow-moving army of moviegoers, and was very excited in his heart.

In the seventies and eighties, watching movies was a very grand thing for the common people, after all, there were very few entertainment and pastime items in everyone's daily life, and the only thing to communicate with the outside world was the theater box (radio), but that thing could only hear the sound, not the human figure, so every time I heard the loudspeaker in the village inform that there was a movie to watch, the people were full of passion and enthusiasm.

All the way out of Yanjing, Wang Xiaohu has thoroughly felt the rich atmosphere of watching movies in the 80s. He had to admit that this large-scale movie-watching phenomenon is also unique in the world, which is a miracle!

Zhao Gang dropped a gap in the car window, lit a cigarette against the window and said: "What do you think, I don't choose such a good place for the Great Hall of the People to be released, I have to go to Pingling Commune in Shandong to watch "Myth", I have a disease in my head, right?" ”

Wang Xiaohu grinned and glanced at Zhao Gang, there were some things that Zhao Gang couldn't understand, and he didn't bother to explain anything.

"I just want to do a market research to see how people react to Hong Kong films, knowing that this is the first Hong Kong film to be released in the mainland."

"Then you don't have to go to Shandong, we can do a good job of investigation in Hebei Province, not to mention that the Ministry of Culture has already arranged the matters to do the investigation, don't you have nothing to eat and support?" Zhao Gang spit out a smoke ring and said angrily.

As he just said, although "Myth" was released in North America, Britain, France and other countries at the box office, it was the first time it was released in Chinese mainland, and he still did not know the main market conditions in the mainland market, so he must do a good job in the investigation, and then according to the investigation reports of the people, the next step of cooperation with the mainland should be carried out as appropriate.

As long as the release of "Myth" starts the situation of Hong Kong films in the mainland, he will send the films shot by Concord Film Company in the past seven years to the mainland for public screening, so that Concord Film Company will successfully enter the mainland in the early 80s ahead of any country in the world.

The mainland film market is an important battlefield alongside North America, although this potential status seems very slim now, but when the mainland market matures, it will be even more difficult to squeeze into this circle.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, the car arrived at Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, and when passing by the Daguanyuan Cinema, the car was moving more and more slowly, because the one-way road of only six meters was full of people who bought movie tickets, and the driver honked his horn vigorously, and it took him half a day to advance more than five meters.

"Commander, what should I do?" The driver turned around and asked Zhao Gang.

"Take a detour!" Zhao Gang sighed and said, "It seems that the propaganda work of the provincial capital city is also in place." ”

"Lao Zhao, you talk a lot of nonsense today!" Wang Xiaohu glanced at Zhao Gang, and the publicity effect was in front of him, and it was not difficult to see the enthusiasm of the audience from the black head in front of the movie theater.

In fact, Wang Xiaohu knows very well that any movie released in the early 80s will encounter such a situation, after all, the production of domestic films in more than ten years has not been much, as if the annual output of last year was only a pitiful more than 20, which shows the hunger and thirst of the audience.

"Go and ask how much the movie ticket for "Myth" costs!" Wang Xiaohu said suddenly.

"Okay." The driver immediately got out of the car and got into the black pressure of the army of ticket buyers, the two waited in the car for news, this wait was more than half an hour, Zhao Gang smoked five cigarettes, and the driver came back embarrassed.

"What's the matter, it's not for you to go to the battlefield, you see how many times you've been wiped out by the enemy if you're on the battlefield!"

Zhao Gang muttered dissatisfiedly, and the driver lowered his head and said: "This is much more fierce than going to the battlefield, at least I can still fight when I see the enemy, but these people who buy movie tickets are more fierce than the enemy!" ”

"Hey, when did you kid learn to talk back!" Zhao Gang was about to get angry when he stared at him, but Wang Xiaohu raised his hand to stop him: "Okay, Lao Zhao, don't be poor, Xiao Sun, did you ask about the price of movie tickets?" ”

"Asked!" The driver ignored Zhao Gang, who was blowing his beard and staring, and reported to Wang Xiaohu with a smile: "There are two kinds of tickets, one is a ticket, which is located in the front and middle rows, and each ticket is a dime and a half; There are also B tickets with slightly worse positions, each of which is a dime each. ”

Wang Xiaohu nodded, "Okay, let's get in the car and hurry." ”

The car drove back east, and it was only 20 kilometers from Jinan to Pingling Commune, and it was definitely possible to arrive before dark.

"What do you think?"

Zhao Gang saw Wang Xiaohu frowning and thinking about something, and asked in a low voice.

Wang Xiaohu smiled and said, "Settle the account." According to our current release model, how much box office can "Myth" make? ”

"Haha, I guess it can't be counted!" Zhao Gang was amused when he heard it, and said: "Anyway, I don't know anything else, the Ministry of Culture has just counted the box office data of "The Gunshots of the Secret Bureau", and I heard that this number has been more than a year. ”

Zhao Gang stretched out two fingers as he spoke, looking at Wang Xiaohu mysteriously.

Wang Xiaohu frowned, and after a while, he said, "Twenty million? ”

"Ahh How did you guess it! I think you'd say 200,000 or 2 million! Zhao Gang was obviously taken aback.

Wang Xiaohu said with a smile: "What's so hard to guess, there are more than 30 medium-sized theaters in Yanjing, if the number of moviegoers will definitely reach a terrible figure if it is broadcast 24 hours a day, and don't forget the nationwide, if "The Guns of the Secret Bureau" can have such convenient conditions as "Myth", I think the box office will definitely exceed 20 million yuan a year!" ”

20 million yuan, Wang Xiaohu was surprised when he said this! If the 20 million in the 80s were replaced by the standards of the 21st century, it would be tens of billions?

He believes that the box office earned by the mainland from "Myth" is definitely more than this amount!

Of course, he is quite skeptical about mainland statistics, because more than 85% of film screenings nowadays are free of money, that is, the box office in Chinese mainland is based on the number of moviegoers.

China is the most populous country in the world, and there are naturally a lot of moviegoers, assuming that the number of moviegoers of "The Guns of the Secret Bureau" is 600 million, according to the calculation of 1 jiao per ticket price at that time, it is more than 60 million. But the number of viewers is repeated, and some people have watched it ten or twenty times, and may not be willing to spend a penny, so you can imagine how much water the box office data comes out of.

Naturally, Wang Xiaohu also had doubts about the box office of "Shaolin Temple" of 100 million yuan that year. (In fact, it is not doubtful that since "Myth", mainland films have begun to embark on the prototype of the commercial road, and the 100 million box office of "Shaolin Temple" is not a one-year achievement, it is accumulated in n years, and Xiaohu does not know it yet.) ）

"Comrade, how far is it from Pingling Commune?" The driver, Xiao Sun, stopped the car and inquired about the way.

At this time, there is no shortage of people watching movies on the road, so it sounds more convenient, unlike usual, there are few people on the road.

"The young people also go to the movies?" The one asked was an uncle, grinning and revealing his cigarette-stained teeth that had been smoking cigarettes all year round.

"yes, we're going to the movies too!" Xiao Sun said with a smile.

"Ouch, it's really good, drive to the commune to watch a movie!" The rural uncle gave Xiao Sun a thumbs up, which attracted other villagers to watch, and they pointed and talked about it one by one.

"Uncle, don't you know, now Jinan can't buy movie tickets, I finally begged my buddy to pull me to watch the movie, so Nen quickly told me how to go."

Wang Xiaohu saw that the driver Xiao Sun couldn't answer all of a sudden, so he hurriedly stretched out his head to relieve the siege, and his mouth was an authentic Shandong accent, which made a group of people envious.

"Yo, whoever owns this kid must be an official."

"Yes, drive to watch a movie, it's really a burning bag!"

Seeing this, the rural uncle smiled slyly, took the cigarette bag and pot in his hand and said, "I'm old, it's good to take me a ride, or I won't tell you how to go." ”

"Okay!" Wang Xiaohu opened the car door and helped the rural uncle up.

Pingling Commune is the place where Wang Xiaohu was born in his previous life, he only knows the approximate location of the commune, and when he remembers, the commune has carried out many planning and demolition, and the Pingling Commune in this period is completely different from what he remembers, both the roads and the buildings.

After the rural uncle got into the car, it was naturally very fresh, touching and touching, until Zhao Gang gave him a cigarette, and after the car turned around, he said with a smile: "Turn south at the intersection in front, and see that the railway station is Pinglin Commune, and the movie is acting over there tonight." ”

When he was about to arrive at the train station, Wang Xiaohu's mood began to get excited, yes, this is it, this is his hometown, the place where black pottery and tribute rice are produced.

"Lao Zhao, have you implemented the things you arranged?" When he was about to enter the village, Wang Xiaohu suddenly said such a sentence without a head.

"What's the matter?"

"It's the projectionist of Pingling Commune."

"Oh, if you don't say I'm almost forgetting! That's called Wang Zhenrong, right? I personally watched this matter, and I sent the note to Jinan by Lao Huang, so it stands to reason that it has been arranged, right? ”

Zhao Gang was also a little unsure, he felt that this thing was not very beautiful, but let him, the head of the guard regiment, arrange for rural people to be projectionists, this matter is also a bit of a, if it wasn't for Wang Xiaohu's repeated advice, he would really be a.

"Lao Wang, what is the relationship between you and that Wang Zhenrong? Take care of him so much? Zhao Gang asked suspiciously, you must know that now mobile projectionists are iron rice bowls, with a salary of more than 20 yuan per month, and a subsidy of 5 yuan, they are only responsible for the screening work in nearby towns and towns, and every village is entertained with good wine and cigarettes, which is definitely a fat shortage.

Wang Xiaohu smiled and said: "Pingling Commune is my ancestral home, if you continue the family tree, Wang Zhenrong is my uncle's generation." ”

"Oh, you guys still have a family tree?" Zhao Gang frowned and asked, "How can I remember that you seem to be an orphan." ”

"The director of the orphanage told me." Wang Xiaohu said very seriously, in fact, when he was cooperating with the mainland, President Liang verified the identity of Xiehe, especially Wang Xiaohu, fortunately, Wang Xiaohu had already been prepared, and casually found the director of an orphanage to ask for cooperation in the investigation.

He answered Zhao Gang like this now, it is absolutely a matter of death without proof, whether it is Zhao Gang or the mainland's political axe, he can only believe it.

In fact, Wang Zhenrong is the relationship between Wang Xiaohu's uncle, to be precise, Wang Xiaohu's son!

When he came to the mainland in 76, Wang Xiaohu wanted to go back to his hometown to see, but Wang Zhenrong was not married at that time, and he didn't get married until 79, and Wang Xiaohu was born four years later.

Wang Xiaohu's family was indeed very poor when he was a child, so he took advantage of this opportunity to arrange a mobile projectionist, and he secretly went through the back door to arrange a good job for Lao Tzu in his previous life, which can be regarded as filial piety.

"What I didn't finish in my previous life, my son will pay it back in this life." Wang Xiaohu thought so.

"Young man, get to the place, thank you." The rural uncle took a free ride, and he was very happy in his heart, and when he got off the bus, he was full of energy, and even his slightly curved waist was a little straighter.

Getting out of the car, Wang Xiaohu only felt very comfortable in his heart, listening to the familiar local sound, looking at the familiar buildings, and tonight he could still enjoy the movie that Lao Tzu had shown him in his previous life, this mood made him unable to express it in words.

(To be continued)