After "Moonlight Panic" is drawn, it will be time for Christmas, and "Rocky 2" starring Stallone will be released. Whether this lost prodigal son can recreate his majesty with this movie, not only Xu Guanwu is watching carefully, CAA agents are waiting, but also Hollywood studios are waiting.

Hillfurter. Stallone's sudden success actually heralded the rise of a kind of low-budget action movie. The stories of this type of movies are relatively simple, but the scenes are relatively hot. Most of the protagonists are strong men with strong martial arts, and they represent a heroic image in a sense. This type of movie doesn't need to have much meaning, as long as there are car chase scenes, gunfight scenes, and some foul language, it is popular with young people.

Hollywood filmmakers have realized that the needs of the younger generation have changed, they don't need to enjoy movies with too many meanings, they prefer simple and popular stories, and the plot can best be summed up in one sentence. And the actors must have a full star flavor. Actresses like the sixties and seventies who relied on their personal traits to win are no longer sought after by young people. In fact, the actresses they like are more beautiful, more sexual, and more seductive, and the best is the kind of blonde with big breasts and no brains.

This change in movie-watching attitude has a lot to do with the general environment of the world at that time. In the '80s, the world was generally peaceful, and the threat of possible war was lost, while the US economy came out of the trough of the '70s and regained its vitality. The U.S. economy got out of inflation in '83, and the economic growth rate was as high as 6.9 percent in '84, the highest in decades. In the following years, although there was a decline, the US economy had a high growth rate until the 90s.

The development of the American economy has made it possible for the younger generation to be greatly materially satisfied, and they are no longer the same as the previous generation. Under the economic downturn and the threat of war, he lived a life of drunken dreams and death, as if there was no tomorrow after today. Their lives are richer and more hopeful, so they won't be interested in that kind of sad, gloomy, and profound social movies, they want very simple, simple stories, handsome men and beautiful women. The fiery action scenes, as well as the family-style finale, are enough.

In fact, with the rapid growth of the domestic economy, the movie-watching needs of mainland moviegoers are also undergoing tremendous changes. Before "Hero", there was basically no concept of blockbusters in China. Even the investment in Feng Pants' New Year films is generally not high. And movies such as "Hero", "Ambush on All Sides", and "The City Full of Golden Armor" can break box office records one after another, in addition to the promotional elements. In fact, it also caters to the audience's taste for watching movies.

Now audiences go to the theater to watch movies for leisure. is not to receive ideological re-education, so the box office of main theme movies like "Building X" continues to decline, and the reason is not difficult to understand. And domestic blockbusters like these "Heroes" have big-name stars and peerless beauties, and the story is so simple that it is almost mentally retarded. The picture of Niu X is to the extreme...... The audience flocked to it, and the box office soared one after another, but the word-of-mouth was declining wildly. In fact, it's not to blame that the director is bad, it's that the audience's appreciation is still stuck in eighty. The nineties.

In fact, the movie-watching demand of domestic audiences at this stage is basically the same as that of American audiences in the 80s. The actor should be handsome and beautiful, the storyline is simple, the more popular the action scenes, the better, and it is best to bring a little erotic shots. However, according to the high level of American Hollywood screenwriters, even simple stories can still be made up in a similar way.

But the screenwriting ability of domestic films is there, and the original script written may be good, but it can't stand the actor, the director, or a producer, or an investor, and they all start to change it together. So let's be very fortunate to see a lot of strange movies, all kinds of funny, all kinds of dog blood, all kinds of hard injuries, after watching it, you don't spit out a mouthful of old blood, you can bear it.

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In fact, this movie-going trend has already shown its signs in the late 70s. Lucas's Star Wars, such as Stephen. Spielberg's Jaws, such as Christopher. "Superman" starring River and so on, all have simple stories and powerful special effects, and the actors are all handsome men and beautiful women.

However, this trend has not yet been recognized by most Hollywood studios, and many studios still choose movies according to the old ideas, so 20th Century Fox has picked up a lot of cheapness. It's like a collection of George. Lucas, Stephen. Spielberg, and Harrison. Ford's three big names in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", no film company was willing to invest, and after a lot of persuasion work, it was easy for Paramount to agree to pay.

And whether low-budget action movies like "Rocky" can continue to create box office miracles is what these Hollywood studios have to observe.

The low cost of "Rocky" is relative to the high-cost movies of the "007" series, which has set a new benchmark for Hollywood action movies since the day it was born. Handsome men and beautiful women, high-tech, explosion scenes, car chase scenes, scenery in the world...... However, the cost of the 007 series is very high, and every movie has to be filmed abroad, and it often has to crash one expensive sports car after another, as well as explosion scenes and chase scenes, which cost a lot of money.

High-budget action movies like this are not what any studio is willing to afford, in fact, there are countless Hollywood studios, but 007 is only MGM. Other studios have not tried to replicate the saga of the 007 series, but unfortunately their attempts have always failed, and in the forty years since the 007 series was born, Hollywood has only one such 007.

So Hollywood studios set their sights on low-budget action movies, and "Rocky" undoubtedly gave them an idea. "Rocky" cost less than a million dollars, but grossed more than $200 million, a black and shiny dark horse, and its revenue was enough to make any Hollywood studio jealous.

But this movie alone is not enough, Hollywood studios have lost too much before, and their courage has been worn down. George. Lucas. Stephen. Spielberg adds Harrison. Ford, after filming "Jaws", "Star Wars", "Contact of the Third Kind" and "ET", these blockbuster movies, jointly formed a dream army to start filming "Raiders of the Lost Ark", there are adventures, stories, action and special effects, but they can't gain their trust, like "Rocky" Only this low-budget action movie succeeded, and naturally it can't make them feel at ease and boldly start shooting low-budget action movies. So they're quietly waiting, watching whether a movie like "Rocky" is a big hit, or if the spring of low-budget action movies is really here.

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The Christmas schedule is also the prime time for Hong Kong films. Since Xu's "Half a Catty and Eight Taels" a few years ago was released during the Spring Festival and won a super high box office, the Spring Festival schedule has become the best time for people to release blockbusters and compete for the box office. Then smart Hong Kong filmmakers have discovered the summer vacation schedule, Christmas schedule and so on. Of course, most of them are still Xu Shi who set an example first. Then other film companies thought it was feasible and hurriedly followed suit.

In fact, they are not to blame for realizing it later. There are a lot of people who make movies in Hong Kong. But there are very few people who study film. Hong Kong filmmakers rarely put forward their own theories, they either rely on their mentors and apprentices, or rely on experience to explore, or learn from the West, but there are not many filmmakers who put forward their own theories and cause repercussions in the Hong Kong film industry. Even Ms. Tang Shuxuan, who has published many issues of "Big Close-up" magazine for free, has not published articles on Hong Kong films, and with its meagre circulation, even if it has some real insight. It's also hard to be known by other filmmakers.

From the very beginning, Hui set up Stanley Market Research Company, which has done a thorough investigation of the Hong Kong film market, and has obtained a lot of survey data, which can be used as a reference for every decision made by the company.

It is said that there are various market research companies in Japan that specialize in researching a variety of data, and it is so detailed that it is possible to design the taste of the toothpaste, the duration of the toothpaste, the color of the toothpaste, and so on. The government also conducts a variety of surveys, and the data may not be immediately used, but it can be of great use when needed someday.

Xu's decision to create summer, Christmas and Spring Festival files is supported by data from market research companies. In the summer file, more films that young students like are screened, such as horror films and martial arts films; During the Christmas season, some comedies that boyfriends and girlfriends like, love love movies, and urban action movies will be screened; During the Spring Festival, some comedies and kung fu comedies suitable for family viewing will be screened.

And it is precisely because of this market segmentation and the types of films that are released specifically for the market, so even if the quality of the film is similar, the box office can be at least 30% higher than that of other companies in the hands of Hui, which is the benefit of market research.

However, not any film company is as painful as Xu Guanwu, in fact, Stanley Market Research is a money-burning company, although the data he makes is detailed and reliable, but the data cannot be applied to other companies except for Xu's. This is different from a general market research company.

In order to investigate and obtain reliable data, Stanley Market Research Company also needs to pay a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, which is not something that any film company in Hong Kong can afford, even if it is a film company like Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest, and they basically don't have that idea, everything is just based on experience.

In this year's Christmas schedule, in addition to the release of Lin Qingxia and Qin Han's love movie "Wild Goose in the Woods", there is also the comedy "Chasing Girls" written by Huang Baiming, directed by Mai Jia, and starring Zhou Runfa. Since Zhou Yunfa starred in "Childe Amorous" last year, he has once again played this kind of dashing son-in-law, which is like catching a turtle in an urn, and he looks tall, handsome, both good and evil, and he is going to fascinate the girl. In the previous life, this movie was starring Ishida, uh, although the movie story is exciting enough, but with Ishida's unlucky appearance to play the suave son, no matter how you look at it, it is not convincing.

And "Geese in the Woods" is also produced by Ms. Qiong Shao's Superstar Film Company, which regularly releases two movies every year, one around Christmas, and the other around Youth Day. This year's "Geese in the Woodtops" was released simultaneously with the theaters in the Wanwan area.

The box office of Ms. Qiong Shao's movie in Hong Kong is just average, but it was released around Christmas, but compared to the box office in Taiwan, although it is small, it is also a lot of money, so it is said that Lin Qingxia and Qin Han will come to Hong Kong to do publicity. This can't help but make Xu Guanwu look forward to it very much. (To be continued......)