During the Spring Festival, Xu Guanwu still gave out red envelopes, as if the God of Wealth had descended to earth. Among them, Cheng Long received a box office dividend of 500,000 Hong Kong dollars for directing and starring in the blockbuster "Young Master Long", as well as an additional 200,000 red envelopes from Xu Guanwu, wishing him that this "Young Master Long" has won the annual box office championship.

Director Zhang Jian also received a box office dividend of 200,000 Hong Kong dollars with the movie "Bad Life". At the same time, he also received an additional 180,000 red envelopes from Xu Guanwu to reward him for his contribution to the exploration of new themes in the movie.

Hong Jingbao also received a box office dividend of 400,000 yuan, as well as an additional 200,000 red envelope from Xu Guanwu, rewarding him with the total box office of the movies he made last year, and ranking first in the company.

But Hong Jingbao was a little unhappy in his heart, he was the protagonist of the year-end banquet before, and the movies he made were good-looking and blockbuster, and the total box office added up to more than twice that of Cheng Long. Now the total box office is just the same as him, which makes Hong Jingbao feel very unconvinced.

Mai Jia, Huang Baiming, Huang Bingyao, Chu Yuan, Gui Zhihong, Yuan Biao, etc., also got more or less red envelopes, more than 400,000 and less than 200,000.

Other second-tier, third-tier, dragon and tiger martial artists, etc., also have 5,000 to 10,000 red envelopes each, which can be regarded as a great joy.

At the beginning of the New Year, Xu's big payilai was, and held a ten-day year-end banquet at the Sea Emperor Restaurant to entertain nearly 10,000 of its employees, which is also known as a shocking generosity, which makes other employees envious.

In comparison, Shaw Brothers only paid this month's salary in advance, and Golden Harvest only sealed a letter of 500 yuan per person.

Last year, the two companies were combined. None of the Xu family is so profitable. So naturally, he will not be as heroic as Xu Guanwu.

Shaw Brothers is getting more and more old-fashioned now. Last year, nearly 80 films were made, which can definitely be regarded as unprecedented. However, the box office of each movie is not ideal, the most is only about 2 million Hong Kong dollars, and the few are only 100,000 Hong Kong dollars. Films like that are out of stock after two days of release, just like those shoddy bad movies produced by small companies.

Shaw Brothers' current business has actually fallen into a magic barrier, always thinking of using small fights to win high box office with low-cost low-cost movies, but the audience is not as enthusiastic as they expected.

Fight big with small. The essence of four or two thousand pounds is actually to win by surprise, the subject matter must be new, the shooting technique must be new, and the storyline must not be conventional. Just like Zhang Jian's "Male Thief and Female Singing" and "Bad Life", the cost is only one or two million, but because of the novel theme, grasping the social context, and meeting the audience's taste, it won everyone's praise after its release.

"The Seven Million Robbery" and "Integrity Storm" directed by Wu Siyuan. It is also to grasp the news hotspots of the current society and take advantage of people's curiosity and attention. Therefore, the movie became popular before it was filmed, and it won everyone's attention early on, so the box office was naturally guaranteed.

But most of the films that Shaw Brothers has invested in are old-fashioned kung fu films, either to avenge their father or to fight for treasures...... In the early 70s, movies with this kind of theme were still novel in theme. But years have passed, and even the most novel themes have become stale.

Even the kung fu comedy that was popular in the early Republic of China three years ago has now become less popular, let alone the martial arts theme that was popular six years ago. Now the director Zhang Cheda, whom Shaw Brothers relies on, has gradually lost his creative vitality, although there are more and more disciples from generation to generation, and there are more movies made every year, but it is a pity that the box office is not as good as year by year.

In recent years, Master Liu Jialiang, who has just sat on the director's throne, although he is a good martial arts instructor, he has limitations as a director. He thinks that he is the descendant of Huang Feihong, so he wants to promote orthodox boxing, so there are inevitably a lot of didactic elements in the movie. Compared with Hong Jingbao and others' laughter and scolding, it can't help but look old-fashioned.

Moreover, Liu Jialiang has a lot of experience in dealing with the martial arts scenes of fighting alone, and the shooting is also very exciting and good-looking, but once he shoots a group scene, he inevitably has some lack of skills, and it is often extremely chaotic. For example, the plot of grabbing flowers in "Lu Acai and Huang Feihong" is really chaotic and difficult to distinguish between priorities and priorities.

This is actually related to Liu Jialiang's background, he himself is a family martial arts background, and then he became a martial arts instructor, and what he is good at is the countless scenes of seeing and dismantling moves, one or two people fighting. The real melee scenes are scheduled by the director, so he lacks some ability to control the big scenes.

Relatively speaking, Hong Jingbao, Cheng Long and others were born in an opera troupe, and when they sing big operas on the stage, they pay attention to using a few people to play a scene of thousands of troops and horses, so in terms of scene scheduling, Hong Jingbao, Cheng Long and others are more experienced than Liu Jialiang.

In addition, Hong Jingbao, Cheng Long and others are young, and they know that they are lucky to get to the top, so if they don't understand, they will take the initiative to ask people. And when others see something bad, they will also put forward their own opinions.

But Liu Jialiang has been busy under director Zhang Cheda for more than ten years, and seeing that the younger generation is on the top, Master Liu Jialiang has just emerged, so it is unnatural that there will be a kind of eagerness to make some achievements. And he has high seniority, and no director dares to give an opinion. Master Liu Jialiang also feels that he is old enough and experienced enough, so he does not bother to listen to other people's opinions.

So it has become an eclectic, continuous learning, and continuous improvement; The other is complacent, old-fashioned, and does not want to forge ahead. Naturally, after the film is made, the audience will also vote with their feet.

Although Master Liu Jialiang claims to be an authentic Southern Boxing, the box office of the movies he made is only two million. Although compared to cheap investment, Shaw still has some money. But compared with Hong Jingbao, Cheng Long and other juniors, it is far inferior.

Hong Jingbao's worst box office "Tooth Shaker Tiger" last year also had a box office of 2.3 million Hong Kong dollars. Not to mention Cheng Long's "Young Master Long", which is more than 7 million Hong Kong dollars.

is another big director, Li Hanxiang, who launched three movies last year, including "Fenghua Snow Moon", "Emperor Qianlong Goes to Jiangnan", and "Buddha Jumping over the Wall", all of which have good results at the box office. can be regarded as an old courtier that the Shaw Brothers rely on very much now.

It is worth mentioning that Di Long, who played the Qianlong Emperor in "Emperor Qianlong's Descent to the South of the Yangtze River". At the beginning, he played the role of Emperor Guangxu in "Alluring the Country and the City" directed by director Li Hanxiang. It's a pity that the little eunuch Kou Liancai played by Jiang Dawei stole the limelight. The two people who also provoked turned against each other since then, making fans who love them feel sorry for a while.

There is also a "The Adventures of Emperor Qianlong" in front of "Emperor Qianlong", which is also a comedy in ancient costumes, based on the cross talk joke "Monarch and Minister" in old Beijing. Di Long was originally used to acting as a hero, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and he played the role of Emperor Qianlong, who was repeatedly tricked by Liu Luoguo, which was inevitably different from his previous acting path.

In fact, the character of Emperor Qianlong was not prepared for Di Long, but at that time, Di Long was invited by Xu to film "The Moon Knife at the End of the World". The Shaw family was afraid that Di Long would never look back, so he stubbornly detained him and refused to let him go. But there must always be a name for detaining people, just in time for director Huashan to prepare for the filming of "The Adventures of Emperor Qianlong", he just stuffed Di Long, who was not suitable.

Di Long is a very dedicated actor, when he played a costume hero earlier, because there were often scenes of riding horses and galloping, so every afternoon as long as he had time, he would practice riding with retired horses behind Shaw Brothers Studios. When he was in his forties, Di Long also practiced skating hard for filming, and such a dedicated spirit naturally won him the respect of everyone.

Therefore, although the role of Emperor Qianlong is different from his previous drama. It was arranged for him by the Shaw Brothers in order to keep himself. But Dillon still made all kinds of preparations carefully, and he went to the used book market on Morro Street. I found a book of Chinese cross talk, and I worked hard to find a few cross talk records, and carefully appreciated them over and over again, pondering the laughing passages, and feeling the charm of traditional Chinese cross talk.

Then he read the biography of Emperor Qianlong, read the notes on the history of barnyard officials and fields, and made notes of more than 100,000 words, and really ate the person of Emperor Qianlong, knowing how he acted, sat and lyed, what rules should be obeyed, etc., all of which were well known.

Sure enough, as soon as the filming of "The Adventures of Emperor Qianlong" started, Di Long put on a dragon robe and stood there, and he was really a Qianlong Emperor who was very happy, full of ambition, and talented and strategic. Therefore, although the box office of "The Adventures of Emperor Qianlong" was not too ideal, the Qianlong Emperor played by Di Long was still widely praised. Even Ms. Tang Shuxuan's "Big Close-up" magazine praised it.

In view of this, although "The Adventures of Emperor Qianlong" was not high at the box office, Shaw Brothers still opened a sequel for it, "Emperor Qianlong Goes to Jiangnan". The film was directed by director Li Hanxiang, who is familiar with the history of the Qing court and the folk tales of the north. Director Li Hanxiang was born in the north, and he has studied Qing history very well all his life, and he is also familiar with the cross talk in the north. There are often plots adapted from cross talk jokes in his works, such as "Guan Gong vs. Qin Qiong" in "The Interesting History of Warlords", "Little Fairy" in "Romantic Affairs" and so on.

Under the direction of director Li Hanxiang, this "Emperor Qianlong Goes to the South of the Yangtze River" is witty and witty, and has won wide acclaim after its release, and the box office has also reached more than 2.6 million, which is a rare box office achievement for Shaw Brothers this year.

In addition to these three directors this year, Shaw Brothers is also committed to discovering young directors. For example, Mu Dunfu, who is very artistic.

Probably due to the influence of Xu's Pictures, seeing the popularity of niche artists such as director Zhang Jian and director Zhang Guoming, the new directors excavated by Shaw Brothers are all full of artist temperament.

However, more than a dozen movies have been invested, and only the films made by Mou Dunfu are blockbusters, and most of the films made by others are lonely and self-appreciating, and there is no value for commercial popularization.

Mou Dunfu is the only new director who was appreciated by Shaw Brothers and signed a contract. And the first work he made after signing the contract sounded very CULT, and the name of that film was "The Adulter". It seems that from the beginning of this movie, director Mou Dunfu embarked on a road of no return and vowed to carry out the CULT film to the end.

"The Devil" tells the story of a young man who has committed many cases of bowing and female involvement, and how he fights wits and courage with the police to the end. Under the direction of director Mu Dunfu, this film is really filmed with ups and downs in the plot, and the delicate portrayal of criminal psychology greatly increases the appeal of the drama.

After its release, the box office reached more than 1.8 million Hong Kong dollars, which can be regarded as the watcher in the category of strange case movies, and it is on par with Gui Zhihong's "Hong Kong Strange Case" series, which can be called a moment of brilliance.

Xu Guanwu has naturally heard of the name of director Mu Dunfu, who is the director of the cult film named after the cult director Gui Zhihong, who pays the most attention to using extremely heavy bloody violence to stimulate the audience's attention and challenge the limit of what the audience can bear.

And when this person was filming, he was as cold-blooded as Gui Zhihong. Mu Dunfu is not a person, Gui Zhihong is better, and he is not a person. Although the box office is guaranteed, due to the pressure of public opinion, even the old club Shaw Brothers can't keep them. (To be continued......)