With the development of Hong Kong films in recent years, many potential independent film companies have emerged. For example, the colorful pictures company founded by Ye Zhiming, the elder brother of Boba Ye Yuqing, once produced the new wave film "Jumping Ashes", which led the police film boom in Hong Kong for decades. For example, the Century Film Company founded by Yu Yunkang produced the horror film "Murder List" last year, which is said to be the most terrifying type of movie in Hong Kong's history. Another example is Zhucheng Film Company, founded by Teddy Robin, which produced the police film "Dragon and Phoenix Thieves Catch Thieves" last year, with a box office of more than 4 million Hong Kong dollars.

The number of such independent film companies is scarce, most of them are just empty shelves, and the employees needed to make films need to be loaned, such as after Shaw Brothers is now lonely, many people have slipped out to find filming. Because Hong Kong movies are generally made relatively quickly, they can be completed in a month at most by working overtime, but they are usually filmed in only one or two weeks. So even if you slip out to pick up outside work, no one knows the way, and even if you know the way, you can't take people.

In addition to Shaw Brothers, like the three TV stations, they are also the hardest hit areas for loaned employees, making TV is the same as making movies, but making movies makes a lot of money. Besides, if a movie is a blockbuster, the actor's salary will be inflated immediately. In the future, whether you will continue to stay in the TV station or devote yourself to the film field again, the issue of remuneration will naturally be negotiable.

And for the behind-the-scenes staff, in fact, making movies is also more profitable than making TV. At the beginning, Hong Kong couldn't make many films a year, if you boldly came out to take this movie, and wanted to make the next movie after filming, I don't know if Lu Dao has a chance. Therefore, even if the behind-the-scenes staff comes out to take on outside work, they are secretly afraid that they will be found out and fry squid directly with celery.

But now Hong Kong films are developing rapidly, and there are endless filming every year. Therefore, the staff of the TV station has also become the hardest hit area of personnel loss. Among them, the two TV stations of Yili and Jiayi are the most serious. Clothing. Props, cinematography, screenwriting, electricians, stunts, etc., the employees all ran to make movies.

Because the salaries and benefits of these two TV stations are not high, employees can't make a fortune if they don't find outside work. Unlike Xu's, who has always given employees a salary increase, so that they can have no worries about food and clothing. In addition, TVB has always had TV dramas to film. Moreover, outstanding talents can also enter Xu's to make movies, where the salary and benefits are more generous. So Xu's and TVB are the companies with the least staff turnover.

Independent film companies have relatively little money, and most of them are filmmakers who like movies, trying to raise the first money to shoot, and then if the box office is successful, they can continue to shoot, and if the box office fails, they have to find another way. Mai Jia, the boss of Xinyi City, returned to Hong Kong with tens of thousands of dollars to make a movie, but he lost more than 100,000 yuan in the first film. Teddy Robin's Zhucheng Film Company also asked his old friend Liang Li Shaoxia for help, but fortunately, he started his business to do "Dragon and Phoenix Thief Catching Thieves" and did well at the box office. Otherwise, I really don't know how to explain to my old friend. Similarly, Yu Yunkang's Century Film Company and so on.

Low funding means that only one film can be made at a time. Then wait for the box office to return, and then open a second work. And the fastest box office return of movies generally takes more than three months, so independent film companies can make two or three films a year, and they are already earning. If the movie made by bad luck can't be released for a long time, I'm afraid that I may not make a work in a year.

Independent film companies like this naturally want to develop and grow, not to mention what lofty ideals they will have before, just to shoot good movies in their hearts, and they have never imagined that they will make money. In fact, even if a filmmaker who has no desire to be strong, if he knows that his movie is doing well at the box office, he will be very happy in his heart, because this is not only a benefit, but also an affirmation of his works and himself.

So when consortia like Taiwan, Nanyang, Hong Kong and other consortia found these independent film companies, they immediately hit it off, and the sky and thunder hooked the earth, as if a fat fan met a sassy woman, it was completely love at first sight, and he hated not to meet as soon as possible.

However, simply investing in the production of movies and then receiving dividends is naturally earned for the film company, and some people are willing to invest in their own films, and the profits are shared and the risks are shared, which is much stronger than investing alone and taking all the risks, so it is naturally more happy to agree.

But for the consortium, investing in movies is not to make good movies, but to make a lot of money. So whether they can recover their costs and make money is the only thing they consider.

But the film industry is really treacherous, even if you are a qualified director, you are not sure that your movie will be a hit. Even the eight major Hollywood studios dare not guarantee that they will make money on every movie. There's so much to test your luck here. If you're lucky, a bad movie can sell for a sky-high price. If you are unlucky, a good film will not recoup its cost.

In addition, when shooting a movie, whether it is the script, director, actors, behind-the-scenes staff, or even post-production, publicity, distribution, etc., all links are indispensable, and each link is related to the quality of the film, as well as the future box office, there are too many uncontrollable elements.

And the most fatal one is the theater problem of the release. After the movie was filmed, it was not released in theaters, so it could only be put in the film library to mold. Even if you are lucky enough to get a schedule to be released, this schedule may not be a good schedule. Like the summer file, Christmas file, and Spring Festival file, they are all relatively good schedules, even if they are movies of average quality, they can get a high box office when they are released during this schedule.

But if it is March and April after the Spring Festival, it belongs to the off-season for movies, during this period, because people have just watched a lot of blockbusters, so the taste is relatively good, and there are not many holidays in March and April, so these two months are more miserable.

However, even in the off-season of March and April, the schedule cannot be very long. For example, Xu's own movies, the schedules are generally arranged around the holidays, especially the three prime dates are booked early, and the release time is generally not less than three weeks, and some big-selling movies will even be released for two months. Last year's "A Scheme" was released for two months in a row, so the box office was so good.

However, for the works of other independent film companies, there is basically no schedule arrangement, and it is completely a stroke of luck. If you catch it, you will release it on whatever schedule. And if the attendance rate does not meet the requirements, it will be replaced immediately. I don't even say hello to you. I don't even give the opportunity to advertise to boost attendance.

To put it simply, the three major cinema companies choked the throat of independent film companies, and they were directly pinched to death if they were unhappy. Just like Xu Ke's "Butterfly Change", the box office was 1.15 million in one week of release, which is already good in the Hong Kong film industry. But it was because Golden Harvest wanted to kill Siyuan Film Company, so the painting was completed a week after the release, and Wu Siyuan, who was harmed, didn't even get the cost back.

These consortia have always been used to being strong, how can they allow their own business. The power of life and death is in the hands of others. Therefore, the competition for the theater chain has become their goal, and the first target is the art and art theater in Xu Guanwu's hands.

There are not many independent cinemas in Hong Kong, but any better cinema will choose to cooperate with film companies, so as to have a sufficient and stable source of films. Of course, if it is a big theater like Lee Stage, in addition to showing movies, it can also hold various performances, and there is no worry that no one will buy tickets to watch the performance, so it can be like a master in the world, not the three major theater companies.

Hong Kong is a cinema with a good location, good decoration and good hardware. Most of them cooperate with film companies and become part of the theater chain. What about the rest of the independent theaters. Either sitting in the countryside, in disrepair, or in a remote location, these theaters have no reinvestment value at all, and even if they are barely rented, they will have to spend a lot of money to renovate, and even then they may not be visited.

If you want to form a good reputation and attract the audience, it will take at least a year or two, and you must continue to screen popular and popular movies during this period. It's like Huang Baiming once formed his own Oriental Cinema Line in the 90s, but the cinema chain lost more than 10 million Hong Kong dollars in the first year. At that time, it was still the golden season for Hong Kong films, so it can be seen that even if a theater is opened, it is actually possible to lose money.

These consortia's pursuit of interests is naturally based on short, flat and fast, short time, small risk, fast payment, naturally do not have the mind to carefully operate the cinema, naturally find their own theater and then renovate it to make a reputation, and then change from the glass line to the gold line, and then make a lot of money. They can't wait to have a golden cinema in their hands now, and then any garbage movie will be popular, and they will be happy when they make a lot of money in their hands.

As a result, among the few cinema chains in Hong Kong, the only art and art cinema chain that has both word-of-mouth and influence immediately entered their sight.

At the beginning of its establishment, the Art Cinema Line was to screen Hui's ghost horse comedy films, and later because Xu Guanwu rebuilt the brilliant cinema line, the Art Art Cinema Line became an art film, in addition to art films from European and American countries, there are also films produced by local film companies in Hong Kong.

Because the Art Cinema Line pursues the supremacy of quality, it is impossible for a film without a certain level to be released, so after so many years of operation, it has accumulated a very good box office and has become a paradise for Hong Kong art film lovers. Although the annual profit is not as good as that of the brilliant cinema line, it is as much as 40 or 50 million Hong Kong dollars. It is a veritable silver cinema line.

However, Xu Guanwu has never bought all the art and art cinema chains, and still pays rent to the theater dealer every year, which gives those consortia an opportunity to take advantage of.

The reason why Xu Guanwu did not buy these theaters was mainly because Mr. Lei Juekun refused to sell. Several leading theaters in the art theater chain are Mr. Lei Juekun's, his brother used to like watching movies very much, and once fell in love with an actress of Shaw Brothers, at that time, both of them had reached the stage of talking about marriage, but unfortunately his brother passed away.

Lei Juekun is also interested in Hong Kong movies because of his brother's relationship, and later saw that Xu Guanwu really loves movies, so he agreed to lease Lisheng Cinema to him. Xu Guanwu then contacted several independent theaters, and finally established Xu's first cinema line, Yimei Cinema Line.

If Mr. Lei Juekun does not sell Lisheng Cinema, then even if Xu Guanwu buys and buys other movie theaters, it will be useless, so he has tried several times over the years, and when he saw that Mr. Lei really had no idea of selling, he could only give up this idea.

Unexpectedly, these consortia also saw this loophole, knowing that there are many theaters in the Dao Art and Art Cinema Line, with a good reputation and a good location, so they rushed to rent this cinema line from Lei Juekun.

Lei Juekun originally did business in Hong Kong, owning the Kowloon Motor Bus Company, Kowloon Development Group, etc., and is also a wealthy man with a net worth of more than 2 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Since they have made a fortune in Hong Kong, they are naturally inextricably linked, after all, Hong Kong is a small place, and you can't see anyone looking up. So when the consortium came to the door, Mr. Lei Juekun was suddenly in a dilemma.

On one side is the Xu family, and on the other side is the consortium, both of which are the general forces, and neither side is easy to offend. Shunde's brother's love and sister-in-law's disappointment is Mr. Lei Juekun's dilemma. (To be continued......)