"Director Li Xuan broke into Hollywood twice and won unexpectedly again and again! ——Sing Tao Morning Post"

"The peerless American dream of a Hong Kong director! - Ming Pao Morning Post"

"Watching Director Li enter Hollywood twice, on the cost of the film and the box office. -- Oriental Newspaper"

"Hong Kong films go out! ——Overseas Chinese Newspaper"

“……”

Li Xuan just led the team to participate in the 19th Taiwan Golden Horse Awards, and as soon as he returned to Hong Kong, he was surrounded by a large number of reporters, no way, although the box office of "This Man is from Earth" is not very high, not even one-third of the North American performance of "Cannonball Speed", but its cost is too scary.

You must know that "Cannonball Speed" cost $5 million just to hire a male lead, but the total cost of "This Man Comes to Earth" is less than $20,000, and the ratio of pay and return is simply a world of difference.

Of course, the $20,000 certainly didn't include the copy money, the money for renting the camera, and Li Xuan's money for supper......

For a while, there was a lot of discussion in Hong Kong entertainment newspapers, even Shao Yifu and Zou Wenhuai were a little crying and laughing, many reporters asked them what they thought of Li Xuan's new movie hit, especially Shao Yifu's face was blackened when he was asked, he participated in the "Blade Runner" invested by China and the United States at the beginning of the year, but the box office failed miserably, and now I still feel a faint pain in my heart when I think about it.

So now people in Hong Kong, whether they have watched "This Man is from Earth" or not, have taken this magical movie a step higher.

Li Xuan didn't gain much at the Golden Horse Awards this time, and won a Best Original Music Award for "Heavenly Love", but "Lucky Stars" was nominated for Best Director and Best Feature Film, but unfortunately the best director lost to Zhang Guoming of "Marginal Man", and the best feature film was taken away by the Hong Kong and Taiwan co-production political and educational film "Xinhai Double Ten".

In short, this Golden Horse Awards is a grand event where genre films and political and educational films fly together, and it has nothing to do with commercial films.

"Mr. Li, you really made a lot of money this time." Jiang Zhiqiang stood in Li Xuan's office, looking at the scenery outside the window and smiling.

Li Xuan smiled slightly, and replied: "No matter how much money you make, you can't afford to make money from Brother Jiang's theater, I heard that Brother Jiang has made a big deal recently?" ”

"Heh, it's just a little trick to carve insects."

Insect carving skills? Li Xuan really admires the two brothers of the Jiang family, and now they have begun to suppress political capital, no wonder they can later become the overlord of Hong Kong's cinema chain. Li Xuan has always wondered why Anle, who later controlled 40% of Hong Kong's cinemas, has not moved, and even in the golden decade of Hong Kong films, there has been nothing outstanding.

It turned out that long before the golden decade of Hong Kong films, the two brothers of the Jiang family had already set their sights on the post-97 period.

In the past two years, with the reform and opening up of the mainland, Guangdong Province has become the primary target of investment by foreigners and Hong Kong people, such as Huo Yingdong, a famous red capitalist in later generations, who went to the capital of Guangdong Province last year to invest in the construction of China's first five-star hotel, the White Swan Hotel.

Another example is Jiang Zhiqiang, who is standing in front of Li Xuan at the moment, and also went to Shenzhen City opposite to invest in the construction of a movie theater......

Running to the mainland to invest at such a critical moment is definitely an act of 'capital enemy' for the Taiwan authorities, but fortunately, Anle Cinemas is a cinema chain that screens Western films, and it does not produce or distribute films to the outside world, otherwise it will definitely die.

Because of the premature suppression of political capital and offended the Taiwan authorities, Anle Cinemas was so quiet in the golden decade of Hong Kong films, so Anle Cinemas became a behemoth in the Hong Kong film market after 97.

This is really: no one has heard of it for ten years, and once it is sung to the world!

"Insect carving skills?" Li Xuan smiled and said, "Brother Jiang is really a stroke of genius this time, don't forget my brother when he is developed in the future." ”

"Oh? Developed? It seems that Brother Li is also very confident over there. Jiang Zhiqiang asked in surprise.

Li Xuan shrugged his shoulders, also looked out the window, and said quietly: "How can I not have confidence, I grew up over there, and I have seen these things clearly recently, the Iron Lady is always just a lady." ”

"Oh?" Jiang Zhiqiang said with interest: "Then why doesn't Brother Li go to invest in any side?" ”

"Haha, Brother Jiang is really joking, I can't think about this in five years." Li Xuan waved his hand, diverted the topic and asked, "I don't know if Brother Jiang is looking for Li Mou to come in person this time?" ”

Jiang Zhiqiang smiled, and didn't bother with Li Xuan's words, and replied directly: "I watched Brother Li's "This Man is from Earth", and I feel very good, I don't know if I have found a publisher in Hong Kong?" ”

Li Xuan was slightly stunned, and then asked, "Oh, Anle Cinema is interesting?" ”

"Hmm." Jiang Zhiqiang nodded in response.

Although "This Man from Earth" is distributed by MGM in North America, its tentacles only extend to Europe and the United States, and the relationship in Asia is not as good as those local distributors. And in Asia, this kind of alternative sci-fi film will definitely not be very popular, Li Xuan didn't even think about releasing this movie, and when the time comes, he will directly sell videotapes and DVDs.

Moreover, Hong Kong is a fast-paced society, and Western films are too unpopular in Hong Kong, except for one or two Western films that are sometimes outstanding, other Western films are even inferior to some Hong Kong street movies at the box office.

This is also the reason why Golden Harvest Cinemas, which knew what kind of movie it was, did not look for him after "This Man is from Earth" became popular in Hong Kong newspapers.

However, if Anle Cinema is willing to release it......

"For the time being, I talked to Brother Jiang's theater, so ......" Li Xuan shrugged his shoulders and continued: "So now it seems that this movie can only be handed over to Brother Jiang's theater for release, but I don't have a bottom money." ”

"Haha-"

Jiang Zhiqiang smiled heartily and replied: "The western films screened in our theaters have never dared to ask those producers to collect the bottom money, so ah, we are the first theater in Hong Kong to abolish the bottom money, Mr. Li, I wish us a happy cooperation!" ”

"Happy working together!"

After some conversation, Li Xuan bid farewell to Jiang Zhiqiang and drove to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Hong Kong's stock market and real estate have been falling in the past two months, many people have been trapped in the stock market, many small real estate companies have also gone bankrupt one after another, and the whole city is full of mourning. For example, Ye Zhiming's good friend Yang Zhicheng also went bankrupt, and now he has become a worker at Emperor Jewelry, ironically taking care of this ancestral business that no longer belongs to him. But on the contrary, the Hong Kong film industry is bland, as if it has not been affected by the stock market crash, and many citizens who are immersed in depression choose to watch movies to escape this real dark world.

On the one hand, it is dilapidated, and on the other hand, it is very dazzling!

And Li Xuan also quietly found a real estate agent at this time, on the one hand, he was looking for a good villa to sell on the peninsula, as his net worth became higher and higher, it was no longer suitable to live in the broadcast road, so he just took advantage of this good time to buy a villa in price. As for the agent's other things, it is to help Li Xuan pay attention to what good real estate and theaters in Hong Kong can be acquired.

As the company gets bigger and bigger, Li Xuan feels that the theater chain has more and more restrictions on him, for example, because there is no good schedule now, Li Xuan simply didn't make a movie himself, wasting a lot of good time. With the prosperity of Hong Kong films, there are more and more cinemas, and now there are 97 cinemas in Hong Kong, which are about to break 100, and the number of cinemas in the 60s is almost reached.

These extra theaters are either attached to the big theater chain to form a loose alliance, or the neighborhood theaters put low-cost tertiary movies, Li Xuan now has more than 70 million Hong Kong dollars in his hand, and after waiting for the North American account of "This Man from Earth" in about a month, the funds that can be used will reach more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars, not to mention the box office income of "True Colors of Heroes", "Operation Falcon" and "Ghost Horse and Flying Man".

Therefore, Li Xuan plans to learn from Jiahe, first make a few good theaters to be the leading theaters, and then sign some small theaters to join to form a whole theater line, but these things can only be carried out quietly now, and even Li Xuan can't make a whole theater before this New Year's file, otherwise his theater line will definitely be blocked before the money is returned.

If you don't establish your own cinema chain, you can only keep opening a small company with one or two directors, and later Hong Jingbao broke away from Golden Harvest to create his own cinema line, isn't this the reason. Yuan Dart, Lin Zhengying, Wu Ma and Yuan Kui under his hands, which are not characters who can direct and act, and they all have box office guarantees, and it is too tiring to squeeze in Jiahe and Chenglong to grab the schedule.

However, the current Shaw Brothers made Li Xuan sigh very much, it is really a hundred-legged insect that dies but does not stiffen, and it has not collapsed after losing like this, otherwise it would be good for Li Xuan to directly acquire some of the Shaw Brothers' theaters, and when the time comes, he can directly inherit the distribution channels of Shaw Brothers in Nanyang and Taiwan.

But now there is no need to think too much, Li Xuan drove directly to Ye Zhiming's record company. Since the last time the album of "Heavenly Love" gave this guy a taste of sweetness, Ye Zhiming has fallen in love with the promotional method of mixing movies and records, and this time "The True Colors of Heroes" cannot be missed.

However, last time it was to promote Chen Shuhua, but this time it was replaced by Zhang Guorong.

"Ah Fa, what are you doing standing outside?" Li Xuan looked at Zhou Yan, who was standing outside the recording room, and asked.

"Ah Rong is recording a song in it, by the way, Ah Xuan." Zhou Yunfa hesitated for a moment and asked, "Do I really want to sing?" If only you two come, I really can't sing. ”

"Go, it's just a chorus, it's not like you haven't sung a song, go, go in."

Li Xuan casually despised Zhou Runfa, then gently pushed open the door of the video room and pulled Zhou Runfa in, where Xu Yuqin and two working brothers were standing, and Zhang Guorong was standing in the soundproof room inside singing.

“……

Hold you

The original warmth reappeared

In my heart

Childhood childish dreams are not polluted

Today, I'm here

Shoulder to shoulder with you again

……”

Li Xuan also picked up a headphone to listen to the music, and nodded while listening, Zhang Guorong is worthy of being born as a professional singer, this song "Love of the Year" sings very well, the voice is perfect, and the voice is also very focused.

This time, Li Xuan did not take a big deal of the new album, except for this "Love of the Year" and a three-person chorus "Infernal Affairs", the others were invited by Ye Zhiming or written by producer Xu Yueqin. For example, Xu Qiqin, this guy, took out three good songs at one time, "Love in Love", "Love in the Last Century" and "One Thousand Springs and Winters", letting Li Xuan know that this guy used to stay in wireless It was definitely a condescension.

“……

In my heart

The dream has not changed at all

Today, I'm here

Shoulder to shoulder with you again

The love of the year

Add freshness again

……”

The voice in the headphones gradually lowered, but the recording was over, Xu Qiqin pressed the switch and said, "OK, yes, Ah Rong, we are ready to record a song." ”

“ok！”

Seeing Zhang Guorong making an OK gesture to himself in the soundproof room, Xu Yueqin turned his head to Li Xuan and asked, "Ah Xuan, why are you alone, Ah Fa?" ”

"Ah Fa? He's not ...... early."

Li Xuan looked at the empty position next to him and was stunned for a moment, and then pushed open the door of the recording studio, but he was stunned to find that there was no one outside.

This, Zhou Runfa escaped from the battle? (To be continued.) )