The peak of Hong Kong theatre was in the early 70s, when the number of cinemas in Hong Kong reached a staggering 180.

It's a pity that in 73 years encountered a stock crisis, coupled with the later oil crisis, Hong Kong stocks, housing prices, land prices plummeted, so that the major theaters have closed down, and now it is estimated that there are only seventy or eighty left, and these seventy or eighty theaters can be roughly divided into five major theaters except for a few small theaters.

"Five major cinemas! But how did I hear that there are only two cinemas in Hong Kong, Shaw Brothers and Jiahe! Zhang Aijia asked.

Lei Wei explained: "That's because Shaw Brothers and Jiahe are too famous, in fact, there is a Lisheng Cinema Line in Hong Kong, and it is not famous because this cinema line has only 4 cinemas, which were established by the Lei family, and it has been leased to Golden Harvest for many years, which is equivalent to the sub-cinema line of Jiahe Cinema Line."

In addition, there is a cinema chain called Shuangnan Cinema Line, which generally only shows mainland films and Hong Kong leftist films, and it is difficult for other films to be screened in Shuangnan Cinema. ”

"Continental background?" Zhang Aijia was curious.

Lei Weidong nodded and said: "Yes, the Shuangnan Cinema Line is the mainland background, and the films of the three leftist film companies, the Great Wall, Phoenix, and Xinlian, are all released in the Shuangnan Cinema.

However, Shuangnan Cinema is very strict in reviewing films, and even has a special film review committee. Don't say anything colorful. Love and violent scenes, as long as the word 'sexy' appears in the movie lines or promotional posters, it is impossible to pass the review of the Shuangnan Cinema Review Committee, and the relevant content can only be approved for release. ”

"With such a review, it is estimated that it is difficult for a movie to be released there!" Hearing Lei Weidong's explanation, Zhang Aijia spoke.

"Yes!" Lei Weidong nodded and said: "Hong Kong's commercial films generally will not be released in Shuangnan Cinemas, in addition to strict censorship, the main thing is that as long as the films that have been screened in Shuangnan Cinemas cannot enter the stage. Bay market, its production company will also be blacklisted by Taiwan's electrical inspection office.

The "Seventy-Two Tenants" filmed by Shaw Brothers a few years before last was screened at the Zhujiang Theater under the Shuangnan Cinema Line, and the Taiwan authorities immediately made trouble when they learned about it. Shaw Brothers was almost stuck, and no movie could sell to Taiwan for more than two months. Later, I heard that it was Boss Shao who personally went to Taipei to dredge up the relationship. ”

In addition, there is also a Western cinema chain in Hong Kong called "On Lok Cinema Line", which specializes in European and American films, and basically does not show local Hong Kong films.

Except for Shaw Brothers, Jiahe, Shuangnan, Lisheng, and Anle, all the others are independent cinemas.

Among these independent cinemas, there are both luxury cinemas such as stage theaters, as well as village and neighborhood cinemas that provide screening services for villagers and neighborhoods. Generally speaking, movies are not shown in these theaters.

"Lei Shao, you said so much, in the end, it's not just Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest who can show movies!" Zhang Aijia listened to Lei Weidong's words for a long time, and in the end, only the two theaters of Shaw Brothers and Jiahe could choose!

"In fact, only Jiahe can choose, Shaw Brothers Cinemas mainly screens Shaw Brothers films, and the films of other companies have no good relationship with each other, and they basically can't be scheduled for a good schedule, even if they are filmed, they will not be screened for a few days, plus Shaw Brothers has a monopoly on overseas distribution channels, so if we make a movie out of Shaw Brothers, we will lose a lot of money!"

Lei Weidong directly excluded the Shaw Brothers, but Lei Weidong was very clear about Shao Tycoon's character, he was too stingy.

"Then let's go to Jiahe, is there any problem?" Zhang Aijia has a good impression of Golden Harvest.

In 1972, 19-year-old Zhang Aijia went to Hong Kong to develop, became an actress under Jiahe Company, and began the road of film. In the same year, he participated in the first movie "Dragon and Tiger King Kong".

Although Zhang Aijia left Jiahe for some reason in 1973, his impression of Jiahe was still good.

"Jiahe is not a very good choice! Lei Weidong shook his head and said.

Although there are not many bad rumors about Jiahe Company now, there are too many negative rumors about Jiahe Company in later generations, and it can be said that there are a lot of searches on the Internet.

"What's bad, let's hear it!" Zhang Aijia was very curious.

"First of all, there are too many subsidiaries of Jiahe Company, such as Xu Guanwen Xu Xiaoxing's company, Wu Siyuan's Siyuan Film Company, they all have shares of Jiahe in their company, and what is not good is that they are all Jiahe's own sons, and companies like ours are outsiders, how to compete with those sons, they will definitely not be able to get a good schedule."

Lei Weidong analyzed: "And even if you get a good schedule, it is estimated that it will not be released for a few days, and even if you get a high box office, there is a problem that is not easy to solve!" ”

"What's the problem, let's hear it!" Zhang Aijia also agrees with Lei Weidong's statement about Jiahe's own son and outsiders, after all, this is a clear rule, and Zhang Aijia also heard about it when he was in Jiahe.

"Jiahe's ability to default on dividends is too powerful, like Xu Guanwen has made so many blockbuster films, but in fact, he got very little money, and most of it was swallowed by Jiahe!" Lei Weidong told what was spread on the Internet in the future.

Later generations of movie fans know that Jiahe once had a system that greatly stimulated the motivation of his filmmakers-subsidiary system, which means that the head office invests, the subsidiary does things, and then dividends are distributed according to work.

This system is said to be set up by Jiahe in order to support Hong Jing Bao Hong Fat, but the system looks good, but it is not easy to get the money, because Jiahe's ability to default on dividends is very powerful, and sometimes it makes fake accounts, so that the subsidiary can not receive dividends at all, which also lays the groundwork for Jiahe's downfall!

For example, Hong Jingbao, who founded the film company Baohe with the support of Jiahe, made a series of blockbuster films, and did not fall behind in the slightest when he competed with Xinyicheng.

But Mai Bald Head and Ishida in Xinyicheng have already made a fortune, while Hong Jingbao was still very poor compared to the bosses of many film companies in the 90s, and he had no money to support his son as a star.

In an interview afterwards, Hong Jingbao admitted that although he made countless blockbuster films, the remuneration he received was quite meager.

Jiahe didn't give him a penny of the box office dividends he promised before, and the only time he made money was "Best Lucky Star" that Zeng Zhiwei pulled in to co-shoot.

In fact, all the satellite companies that cooperate with Jiahe basically end up in trouble.

Xu Guanwen helped Jiahe hold up half the sky in the 70s, and made great contributions to Jiahe's ability to continue to compete with Shaw Brothers Cinemas after Liu Xiaolong's death.

Although the limelight was stolen by Cheng Long, Fa Ge and others in the 80s, the box office is still very secure.

Xu's Film Company also launched many blockbuster movies, such as "Chicken and Duck", "Detective Chocolate", "Family Carnival" and so on, but later because they couldn't receive dividends, they finally fell out with Jiahe.

His wife, Ms. Chen Jieying, also went to Jiahe Company to check the accounts, and everyone was unhappy in the end.

Wang Jing's published memoirs also mentioned that in the 90s, he made a lot of blockbuster movies under Jiahe. But when he finally left Jiahe, not only did he not get a dime in dividends, but after accounting, he owed Jiahe nearly 10 million Hong Kong dollars.

Not to mention the loss of all the film copyrights of Wang Jing, he lost some money out of his own pocket.