"Lisheng Cinema Line is operating dismally, and the box office is sluggish and it is difficult to make ends meet. -- Ming Pao Morning Post.

"Humph! The jumping clown is vulnerable. Zou Wenhuai casually threw the newspaper on the table and snorted coldly.

"Hehe, this Lei Juekun is too arrogant, he thought that the whole eighteen theaters could divide the world into three parts, but he didn't expect ......, haha!" Cai Yongchang, who was sitting opposite, had not finished speaking, and burst into laughter.

Zou Wenhuai also shook his head with a smile and said, "I really didn't expect Shao Yifu to have such a big reaction this time." ”

"Can the old guy not react so much?" Cai Yongchang sneered: "He is not afraid of the appearance of a second Jiahe. ”

Lei Juekun's Lisheng Cinema was established in a hustle and bustle, and he thought that the situation would be very good, but he ushered in a blow.

For half a month, almost no film companies came to the door, and they could only hold one or two bad movies and old films to support the scene. More than a dozen theaters are losing money every day, if it weren't for Lei Juekun, a big financier, gritting his teeth to support him, the theater chain would have broken up long ago.

The reason why Lisheng Cinema is like this is that Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers have secretly issued a banning order, which scares those film companies and directors who dare not take the film to Lisheng to release it.

The internal reason is that the Lisheng Cinema Line was launched in a hurry, and there was no distribution channel in other cities.

In recent years, 90% of Hong Kong's films want to make money, and they can't do without the box office in other cities. For a low-cost movie, if you don't invite any stars, the investment in pure shooting alone will be about 400,000 Hong Kong dollars, and you will have to add about 200,000 yuan in the bottom fee and publicity fee to get the theater screening, and the final box office will have to be split with the theater chain. In this way, if the movie wants to not lose money in Hong Kong, the box office must be at least 1.5 million.

Just like in 1978, a total of 98 movies were officially released throughout the year, but only 18 of them had a box office of more than 1.5 million. And in these eighteen movies, there are stars supporting the scene. As a result, the cost of making a movie has risen again. So if these movies want to make money, they have to rely on the box office in other cities.

Needless to say, Tai Wan and Yue Ben believe that with Lei Juekun's ability, they will be able to get through the relationship in two or three months. It's a pity that Nanyang, which is regarded as Hong Kong's big box office, has two major cinema chains - Shaw Brothers and Cathay Pacific.

As mentioned earlier, Shaw Yifu came to Hong Kong from Nanyang to fight the world, so Shaw Brothers himself has hundreds of theaters in Nanyang. And Shaw Brothers has made so many movies in Hong Kong, and has never lost money, in addition to the large studio system and the labor is very cheap, another important reason is that it can be sold in Nanyang for money.

In the Cathay Cinema Line, where Nanyang and Shaw Cinemas have been fighting, they wear the same pants as Golden Harvest. Golden Harvest was founded when it took over Cathay's legacy in Hong Kong and grew as a true strategic partner. Cathay Cinemas needs film sources and Shaw Brothers Cinemas to compete for audiences, and Hong Kong can only compete with Shaw Brothers Golden Harvest, so Cathay Pacific and Golden Harvest have been close comrades-in-arms for ten years.

Now that the two have issued a ban order together, the film can't be sold in Nanyang. As for the sale of Yueben and Taiwan Bay, it seems that there is no future, maybe the film company has not been sold to other cities, and the film company has closed down because of the rupture of funds, so which small film company dares to come to the door to find abuse.

Now Lei Juekun has become a big joke in the hearts of some movie bigwigs of Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers.

Remembering Lei Juekun's aggressiveness at the celebration banquet of "People Are Scary" more than half a month ago, Zou Wen smiled shamefully, looked at Cai Yongchang and asked, "Don't mention him." By the way, how is Master Yu's movie? ”

"That movie ......, tsk!" Cai Yongchang rarely showed a crying and laughing expression: "It's filmed, and I hope it will be released as soon as possible." However, the quality of this movie is ......."

"The movie sucks?" Zou Wenhuai asked with a frown. couldn't help but think so, although this Yu Zhanyuan has a very good set of disciples and daughters, almost all of them are now famous in the film industry. But in terms of making movies himself, he is a bad movie after another.

"It's not very bad...... Cai Yongchang nodded: "It's very bad." ”

"Hey!" Zou Wenhuai sighed: "Then you can give two theaters at random and let this film be released as soon as possible." According to this time, Aaron's film can just be ranked in the New Year's file. ”

"Hmm." Cai Yongchang replied simply, but when it came to Chenglong, he thought of another thing, so he then asked: "Wen Huai, do you really plan to invest 60 million US dollars to make a movie for Ah Long?" The U.S. market is not so easy to break through. ”

60 million US dollars, not 60 million Hong Kong dollars. Such a huge amount of money made Cai Yongchang, who has always been a big spender, feel painful, and in order to raise the upfront investment of this money, Golden Harvest also canceled many investment projects in local films. Although Li Xiaolong's achievements are still vivid at this time, after all, a long time has passed. And just a few years ago, the lessons of Shaw Brothers were still being talked about.

In 1973, Shaw Brothers' film "The First Punch in the World" followed Li Xiaolong into the American film market, and ranked ninth among the top ten grossing films in the world that year, and was deeply loved by Western audiences. Shao Yifu tasted the sweetness now, and aroused his ambition to enter the world film industry.

As a result, from the following year, Shaw Brothers began to participate in international productions. In 1974, Shaw Brothers co-produced the horror film "Seven Golden Corpses" with the British company Salty Horse; In 1976, Shao Yifu invested 60 million Hong Kong dollars to shoot the film version of James Clare's best-selling novel "Taipan"; In 1978, Shaw Brothers invested $16 million in the Hollywood blockbuster "Earth Catastrophe" starring Sean Connery.

Shaw Brothers can be said to have invested a lot of money in order to open up the international market.

It's a pity that it backfired, and "Seven Golden Corpses" in 74 failed miserably at the box office; '76's "Taipan" had almost no repercussions; "Earth Catastrophe" in '78 was mediocre at the box office. The commercial failure of several major productions finally made Shao Yifu disheartened to enter the international arena.

And now Zou Wenhuai wants to take out 60 million US dollars to support Chenglong, if this is a defeat, it will really be a fiasco in a fiasco.

"Well, I'm optimistic about Aaron. Since we can win one Li Xiaolong, we must be able to win the second. Zou Wenhuai also replied with a serious face: "And we don't have to throw all 60 million into it at once, take your time, don't rush." ”

"Alright then!" Seeing that Zou Wenhuai had made up his mind, Cai Yongchang had no choice but to nod.

Just when Lei Juekun was dizzy by a stick, Li Xuan was very happy.

"The King of a Thousand Kings" is being filmed intensively, "Mr. Zombie" has also started smoothly, and the box office of "Scary" has also grown very well recently. What's even more rare is that this movie was finally released in Taiwan Bay, which made Li Xuan, who had been worried that the movie would be banned again, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But the most important thing is that the company's address is finally found. Li Xuan rented an office room in Kowloon Tong, which is not a small space, with two offices and an open office room. Originally, Li Xuan planned to buy one, but he had a little spare money anyway, but unfortunately no one was willing to sell it, and now the real estate business in Hong Kong is hot. However, Li Xuan thought about it and seemed to have a few stock market crashes in later generations, although he didn't know when, but there must have been a lot of people who sold houses at that time, so he didn't force it.

In the past two days, he has been busy with the decoration of the new company, and Li Xuan has not run to the set of "Mr. Zombie", and has been working as a supervisor in the company. At about six o'clock in the afternoon of this day, after the workers had finished work, Li Xuan locked the door and rushed home by bus.

"Dude, it's time to get a driver's license...... Li Xuan muttered helplessly while standing in the crowded bus.

Fortunately, the company's address is not far from the broadcast track, and there is only one station in between. Li Xuan, who got off the bus, looked at the newsstand next to the bus stop and took a deep breath. I suddenly remembered that I didn't seem to buy much newspaper lately, when did I start?

"Old Qitou, bring me a copy of "Ming Pao Evening News". Li Xuan threw a coin out.

To Li Xuan's surprise, Lao Qitou immediately stood up and said after seeing Li Xuan: "You finally appeared, someone has been waiting for you for several days." ”

"Someone waiting for me? Who is it? Li Xuan picked up a newspaper in a daze and asked. Who is waiting for him here when he is full? I won't go to his house and go straight to someone.

"An offspring named Ah Xing." Lao Qi turned his head and looked around: "Strange, the person was still here just now." ”

"Ah Xing! Sing! Lao Qi shouted twice.

"Hey! Uncle Qi, I'm here. Suddenly there was a reply from the playground behind the newsstand.

"You street boy, come on, the person you're waiting for is here!"

Lao Qi scolded with a loud laugh.