On Monday, before Shen Chong entered the conference room, through the glass door, he saw the three people inside laughing, and even Jiang Zhiqiang, who had never been smiling, was smiling.

"What, there's a happy event?" Shen Chong pushed the door in and asked with a smile, "Or is it interesting?" ”

"There are happy events, and there are interesting things." Luo Weiming held the cigarette, bowed his hand, and said with a smile: "Boss Shen, congratulations." ”

Luo Weiming is a veteran film writer and editor, and after Chen Baisheng went to prepare for the Hong Kong International Film Festival, he took over as the editor-in-chief of "Film Times", and he came to report to Shen Chong every Monday. (Note 1)

"Where does the joy come from?"

"Boss Shen, isn't it hypocritical." Luo Weiming pointed to the newspaper in Shen Chong's hand and said, ""Crazy Robbery" has a single-day box office of more than one million, isn't this a happy event? ”

Shen Chong snorted and casually threw a few newspapers on the conference table.

The newspapers were scattered, revealing several extremely explosive headlines - "The single-day box office exceeds one million, and "Crazy Robbery" is crazy! "Attracting 2 million in two days - the highest box office record of Hong Kong movies is about to be born!" ", "The movie is scary, the box office is even more scary, "Crazy Robbery" won 1o70,000 box office on Sunday! ”……

Shen Chong learned from the newspaper this morning that the box office of "Crazy Robbery" exceeded one million on Sunday, and yesterday he was too tired to stay up late and wait for Jiang Zhiqiang to report the box office.

Although he is very familiar with Li Kaiyuan's family, but the etiquette cannot be abolished, after the relationship between the two is clear, Shen Chong can't pretend that nothing happened, so yesterday he returned to Kwun Tong with a large bag of gifts and officially met Li Kaiyuan's parents.

After the visit, the family set out collectively and walked around several major attractions in Hong Kong for a day, and Shen Chong was so tired that his back hurt, so he rested early in the evening.

"Yesterday's full-page warning advertisement in the Oriental Daily was a stroke of genius." Luo Weiming said: "Avoided legal risks, earned the curiosity of the audience, and the box office rose sharply against the trend, more than the first day, this advertisement is indispensable, I don't know which master thought of it?" ”

"Luo Daxia has won the award." Shen Chong clenched his fists and said, "It's just down." ”

Luo Weiming smoked a cigarette and didn't speak, just gave a thumbs up.

"Mr. Shen, this is the detailed statistics of the two-day box office over the weekend." Jiang Zhiqiang stood up, handed a stack of reports to Shen Chong, and said, "The box office of the single hall, the building, and the hall are all counted separately. ”

Shen Chong took the report and looked at it carefully.

Screened for two days on the weekend, the box office is 2oo0,000, according to the general formula of later generations, the box office can probably reach 1ooo0,000, but the release period of those movies is basically about a month, and "Crazy Robbery" can only be released for two weeks, and it is still unknown whether the final box office can break the record of "Half a Pound and Eight Taels" and break through 10 million.

But even so, there is no suspense that "Crazy Robbery" will become the top of the annual box office charts.

In 1979, both the number of moviegoers and the total box office in Hong Kong increased a lot compared with 1978, but just like the calm before the storm, the film market was quiet throughout the year, and there was no particularly bright box office movie.

The box office champion in history in 1979 was Jackie Chan's "Laughing Boxing Tricks", with more than 5oo, only more than 7o ahead of the second place, and more than 2oo less than the 1978 box office champion "Deed of Sale".

"Laughing Boxing Strange Moves" was released in February and has long been offline, and whether it is "Bad Guy Fights for Life", "Twelve Tan Legs", "Intercepting Fist Eagle Claw Gong", or "Zhao Ji Zai", "Fighting Method", and "Big Destiny Fishing Family", which are ready to be released next week, are all unknowns, and they have no capital to compete with "Crazy Robbery" at all. (Note 2)

"There is a happy event." Shen Chong looked at the box office statistics and asked, "What's the interesting thing?" ”

"I'll have to ask Rover for interesting facts." Luo Weiming said: "Last night he encountered an interesting incident at Shaw Brothers Studios. ”

"Yesterday I went to "Southland Movie" to find a former colleague to help me check some information, and we got together in the evening and drank some wine." Rover explained: "About nine o'clock in the evening, when I came out of Shaw Studios, I saw that Uncle Six was in a panic at the door of his villa in Clear Water Bay, and there was an ambulance......

"Stop." Luo Weiming made a gesture to stop Rover, and said with a smile: "Boss Shen, guess, what's wrong?" ”

"What does this have to do with me?"

"Yes, it has a lot to do with it."

"Since it's related to me." Shen Chong thought about it with interest and guessed: "Could it be that which Shaw Brothers actress was stunned when she watched "Crazy Robbery"?" ”

"Fainting is that someone fainted, but it's not a female star, it's an old man." Luo Weiming laughed and said: "Uncle Six's banquet will inevitably show a movie, I don't know why I played "Crazy Robbery" last night, and it scared the famous real estate tycoon Wan Boss of Kowloon into a heart attack. ”

"Really?" Shen Chong's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "Are you okay?" ”

"It's fine." Rover said: "I inquired, it was relatively mild, and I only needed to recuperate in the hospital for a few days. ”

"What's the origin of this Boss Wan?"

"He used to be a manager at Jardine Matheson, and during the Korean War, he made a fortune by smuggling supplies." Jiang Zhiqiang introduced: "Later, I bought a lot of shops in Kowloon, specializing in rent, known as the king of Kowloon shops, with an estimated net worth of hundreds of millions. ”

"You know?"

"He has a property that he rents to people to run a theater."

Jiang Zhiqiang's father is the president of the Hong Kong Cinema Association, and he naturally knows him when he says this.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Shen Chong asked Rover: "I mean newspaper reporters." ”

"I don't know." Rover said uncertainly: "Over there in Clear Water Bay, except for Shaw Brothers Cinemas, it is very deserted, and there are not many people at night. ”

"So be it." Shen Chong tapped his fingers lightly on the table, thought for a while, and said, "Manager Jiang, in a while, in the name of the company, you will personally send a bouquet of flowers to Boss Wan to express our apologies." ”

"Boss, you're a little unkind." Luo Weiming had an expression of fear that the world would not be chaotic, and said with a smile: "Once this flower is given, it will be difficult for those newspapers to think about it." ”

"Wouldn't Uncle Six be unhappy about this?" Jiang Zhiqiang was a little worried and said, "After all, it was born in his villa. ”

"It's okay, Boss Six is a businessman." Shen Chong made a gesture of twisting the money and said: "The more popular "Crazy Robbery" is, the happier he is. ”

"Alright, I'll go now." Jiang Zhiqiang's execution ability is very strong, and he will go as soon as he says.

"Uncle Sixth has picked up the treasure this time, and he sits in the office every day, doesn't have to do anything, and waits to count the money." After Jiang Zhiqiang left, Luo Weiming sighed and said, "Such a good opportunity, why didn't it fall on my head." ”

"If you have ten or eight theaters, you'll count your hands cramping." Shen Chong teased, then coughed lightly and said, "Let's get down to business, how was the situation in the last issue of "Film Times"? ”

"The sales volume in the last period was 42,372 copies." Luo Weiming extinguished his cigarette, took out a stack of papers from his briefcase, and read it according to the book: "Sales have increased by 8%, and the reader satisfaction score is 86 points, of which the area with the highest sales volume is Causeway Bay, followed by ......"

Although the number is very boring, Shen Chong listens extremely attentively - with the increase in sales and the expansion of the influence of "Film Times", the magazine and the film company have initially possessed the ability to collaborate and interact, and there is a prototype of a three-dimensional media group.

"That's the basic situation of the last issue." After Luo Weiming finished his report, he put the text together and said, "All in all, the shape is very good. ”

"It's hard, it's hard." Shen Chong verbally praised a few words and said, "What about the plan for the next issue of the magazine?" ”

"The cover has already been set by you." Luo Weiming is also a big smoker, lit another cigarette, and said with half envy and half emotion: "Since the magazine was founded, it has never used a director as a cover, and Hui Anhua seems destined to be recorded in the history of Hong Kong films." ”

"We don't rely on celebrity faces to sell magazines." Shen Chong said: "We sell content. ”

"Boss Shen, aren't you too confident to say this?" Luo Weiming is more free and easy, not as strict as Jiang Zhiqiang, "Our magazine has been published since its inception, Zhang Aijia, Zhao Yazhi, Jackie Chan, Hu Yinmeng, Dillon, and Mi Xue in this issue, which one is not a star?" ”

"Except for the first two installments, the rest is up to you." Shen Chong laughed twice, and then asked: "Besides, with the current momentum of "Crazy Robbery", Sister An may sell more than those stars if she makes the cover." ”

"That's right." Luo Weiming was amazed and said: "In the past, when Li Hanxiang's "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" was released in Taiwan, thousands of people were empty, Ling Bo went to Taipei, and 100,000 people welcomed him, so Taipei is called 'Crazy City', if "Crazy Robbery" continues to sell well, I think Hong Kong will also become a madman city." ”

"Impossible." Shen Chong waved his hand and said: "After all, "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" is a traditional Chinese folk tale, a household name, suitable for all ages, and can be released for several months, "Crazy Robbery" is a suspense film, the sword goes sideways, it can't last long, and the box office will fall soon. ”

After chatting for a while, Luo Weiming complained: "Boss Shen, the screening rating column is good, but it's really not good, the few movies to be released this weekend won't let us do on-site investigations." ”

"There's nothing I can do." Shen Chong was also very helpless about this, he thought about it for a long time, but he couldn't find a solution, "I can only give up, don't do the midnight rating system, change to a movie rating system, and start from the next issue of the magazine, print a movie rating questionnaire." ”

"That's all it can be."

If you can do a good job in the scoring system of the screening, those shoddy movies will only have two days on the weekend to harm the audience, but unfortunately in the era without the Internet, if you want to do a questionnaire score, you have to go to the scene, and if the film party does not cooperate, there is no way, although the underworld has not yet invaded the film industry as crazy as in the early 9o, but if you block the door of the theater and force a questionnaire survey, the possibility of conflict is still very great.

As a movie rating system, the timeliness is much worse, and by the time the magazine runs next week, the movie may have been offline.

This is the biggest setback that Shen Chong has encountered so far, breaking his dream of having no last resort......

"Film Age" has been operating very maturely, Shen Chong doesn't need to intervene much, and after talking for more than half an hour, after feeling that there is no problem, Luo Weiming said goodbye and left.

Then only Rover was left in the conference room.

Rover came to Hong Kong from Guangzhou in the early 70s, and was admitted to Shaw Brothers Film Company as a dubbing, and later went to Shaw Brothers' official magazine "Southland Film" as an assistant editor.

At first, it was not brilliant, but it was not until Run Run Shaw's interview was completed that it became a blockbuster and attracted Shen Chong's attention.

Rover grew up in the mainland when he was a teenager, so his way of thinking is similar to Shen Chong's, he has a deep-rooted idea of "great unification", and is used to looking at problems from the level of the entire Chinese cultural circle, and his vision is broader than that of Hong Kong locals, so after chatting a few times, Shen Chong has a great sense of confidant, and on the occasion of making great achievements, he was directly promoted to the deputy editor-in-chief of "First Film Review".

The editor-in-chief Shu Ming personally went to Taiwan to ask for a manuscript, and Rover, as the deputy editor-in-chief, thought that Shen Chong asked him to come to talk about the work of the magazine, so he began to take the initiative to report: "Mr. Shen, this issue of "First Film Review" has completed eighty percent of the content ......"

"Rover, I'm not asking you to come today, not to discuss magazines." Shen Chong interrupted him and said, "I want you to ......"

Coincidentally, Shen Chong interrupted Rover's words, and the secretary Qiu Siyu knocked on the door of the conference room and interrupted him: "Mr. Shen, there is a call from Mr. Michael Ovitz in Los Angeles. ”

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Note 1: Law Weiming is a well-known Hong Kong film critic and former editor-in-chief of Film Fortnightly.

Note 2: See "Hong Kong Film Box Office Rankings over the Years"

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