On January 20, 1981, "The Wrong Car", which was released in Taiwan for nearly two months, is still firmly released in major theaters in Taiwan. There are really no good films in Taiwan this year, an American film that was screened twice in Taiwan 20 or 30 years ago can be screened for five consecutive months when it is shown in Taiwan for the third time, and a good film like "The Wrong Car" that is close to the lives of Taiwanese people has to be screened for five or six months before it looks like words.

As for "Royal Sister", attendance in Rìben and Hong Kong has slipped to a certain number, and Princess Jin and Shochiku Films are gradually reducing the number of screenings. So far, "Royal Sister" has received more than 19.3 million at the box office in Hong Kong, and the box office in Rì is an astonishing 1.4 billion rì yuan (equivalent to about HK$45 million).

The box office situation over there was transmitted back to Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong film industry was boiling, and Cheng Long's movie was less than 1.2 billion yuan at the most.

The horror box office of "Royal Sister" in Rìben once again attracted many Hong Kong filmmakers to join Oriental DreamWorks, or director Dúlì took the script to DreamWorks to attract investment.

"The Original Scenery of Hometown" also sold well in the United States, reaching 200,000 copies in only half a month. This number can only be considered small compared to other pop records, and the top few albums in the United States are millions of copies sold. But "The Original Scenery of Hometown" is a pure music record, and the sales of 200,000 copies are already very good results.

Kang Jianfei, who had a big record hit, was sitting at Tang Shuxuan's house at this time, playing with a Tao Xun and crying and laughing.

This Tao Xun was bought from an American musical instrument store, and it also came with a record of "The Original Scenery of Hometown" and a simple Tao Xun wind playing textbook.

Tang Shuxuan brought a cup of coffee to Kang Jianfei and said: "The review of "Royal Senior Sister" has passed, and the movie rating is R (recommended for people over 17 years old to watch). ”

Kang Jianfei said with a smile: "Ha Luha, fortunately, it's not brain-dead level 17 (NC-17, it is forbidden to watch under 17 years old). ”

Tang Shuxuan boredly flipped through Tao Xun's simple textbook and asked, "You wrote this booklet?" ”

Kang Jianfei shook his head and smiled bitterly and said: "The Yankees made it up, I said how could Columbia Records spare no effort to help me promote the record, and it turned out to sell musical instruments and teaching materials by the way." The Tao Xun in my hand was made in an American factory that used to specialize in the production of ocarina. It is estimated that before the record was released, they had studied the structure of Tao Xun thoroughly, mass-produced it by making an ocarina, and then compiled basic teaching materials to sell with the record. ”

Tang Shuxuan said: "Tao Xun is our Chinese musical instrument, and it is not bad for the Americans to promote it." ”

Kang Jianfei sighed: "I heard that Columbia has just negotiated with several conservatories in the United States to supply Tao Xun and records for music research and teaching. I can't get a penny for the pottery and textbooks they sell, and I only get a share of the records when they sell them. ”

Kang Jianfei is really depressed, if Columbia Records can promote Tao Xun's musical instrument in the United States, it will be more profitable to sell musical instruments than to sell records. But Kang Jianfei has no way at all, even if he gets a Taoxun factory out now, he can't grab business with Colombia, and people's sales channels in the United States are trump cards.

"Ding-dong, ding-dong......" The doorbell rings.

Tang Shuxuan got up and opened the door, but it was Jiang Zhiqiang who came.

After Jiang Zhiqiang sat down, Kang Jianfei hurriedly asked, "Brother Jiang, how is the matter of forming a temporary theater?" ”

"It's a little difficult," Jiang Zhiqiang analyzed, "and now the total cost of a movie in large movie theaters in the United States is about 500 US dollars. Movie theaters in the Chinese community cost between $50 and $200 for a movie because of their low operating costs. Based on the price of a movie at $2, the average movie needs 70 viewers to recover the cost. But these cinemas are too small, the maximum is only about 500 seats, and the smallest theater is only 200 seats. After deducting all kinds of taxes and expenses, based on a 500-seat theater, even if the audience is full, we can record a maximum of $500 at the box office. ”

"How do you negotiate the rent of the theater?" Kang Jianfei asked.

The rent of the theater is related to whether the temporary theater chain makes money or loses, because of the $500 box office, even if Kang Jianfei only shares 30% of the production share, then there is only $350 left. In order to set up a temporary theater chain, they also have to pay the rent of these theaters, and after paying the rent, the rest is the money earned by the theater chain and the theater.

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "The monthly rent of two theaters ranges from $6 to $100,000 per theater. For a 500-seat theater, the daily rent is more than $1,600, with an income of $350 per show, and just $1,750 for five shows a day, just enough to earn 150 yuan. ”

"That's a loss?" Kang Jianfei smiled bitterly.

said that each theater can earn 150 yuan per day, but in fact, it is calculated according to the fact that the theater is full, and it is full for two months.

Is this possible?

Apparently impossible.

"The only way to do this is to reduce costs and reduce rents." Jiang Zhiqiang took out a small notebook and said, "I have calculated repeatedly, since we are a temporary operation, the cost of film screening can be reduced by about 30%. The operation of the theaters in those Chinese communities is also relatively poor, and if you continue to talk, the rent should be able to reduce by 10,000 or 20,000 yuan. In this way, each theater can earn $700 a day based on the best case, and $300 under normal conditions. ”

Kang Jianfei took the notebook in Jiang Zhiqiang's hand and looked at it, only to see that it was written all kinds of expenses, and he drew it out with a red pen to indicate how to save expenses and so on. Looking at it, the semi-literate slut Fei looked big, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Some things still have to be done by professionals, if he and Tang Shuxuan, the two directors, run the theater, the only result is to lose all the underwear.

Kang Jianfei asked: "How many movie theaters have you been in contact with now?" ”

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "A total of 47 theaters have been contacted, but only 31 theaters are left, except for some that are not conducive to the formation of a theater chain or are bound to lose money." ”

31 theaters, based on the daily income of 200 US dollars per theater, the income of theaters and theaters alone is 6,200 yuan, and the net profit of 370,000 US dollars in two months is 370,000 US dollars.

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "Judging from the audience base of Chinese community theaters, I think it is best to maintain our temporary theater chain within a month. After a month, the same movie was basically unwatched, and the two-month lease was too wasteful. In this way, the single rì income will also increase significantly. ”

"I just need 25 percent of the box office revenue." Kang Jianfei took the initiative to reduce his production share.

If the distribution company in the United States is asked to help with the distribution, the distribution company alone will have to share 30% of the box office, and then remove the theater chain and theater share and taxes, and he can get 17% of the price of conscience.

Kang Jianfei has contacted some big Hollywood companies in the past few days, and 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. are willing to act as agents for the release of "Royal Senior Sister". But Kang Jianfei has no foundation in the American film industry, these grandsons have settled on Kang Jianfei, and even he has to pay for the publicity expenses, and all kinds of expenses are deducted, and they can get a maximum of 10% of the box office.

Kang Jianfei didn't expect how much box office he and Jiang Zhiqiang's temporary theater chain could make, he just wanted to use this to make "Royal Senior Sister" famous, so that American distribution companies and theater companies could see the box office strength of the film, and then negotiate with the other party on this basis.

Kang Jianfei took the initiative to give up 5% of the box office share, Jiang Zhiqiang did not refuse, but said: "Ah Fei, I contacted Martin Cinema Company, they are a little interested in your film." ”

"Is there a Martin Cinema Company?" Kang Jianfei had never heard of it.

Jiang Zhiqiang said with a smile: "There are many movie theaters in the United States, and it's normal that you haven't heard of it." The Martin cinema chain company is off the beaten path, with a total of 119 theaters and 233 canvases under its umbrella. In terms of theater count alone, Martin Cinemas ranks seventh in the United States. However, most of its theaters are small communities with less than 200,000 people, and their profits are very low, and they are generally not taken seriously. ”

Kang Jianfei didn't know that the Martin Cinema Line at this time was the predecessor of Carmichael Cinemas, the fourth largest cinema chain company in the United States in the future.

Kang Jianfei asked, "What conditions are they willing to give?" ”

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "The Fuqua Group, where Martin Cinemas is located, has its own film distribution company, and if your film is favored by them, then they are willing to give you 10% of the distribution fee." Roughly speaking, you can get at least 25% of the box office revenue. ”

Kang Jianfei said strangely: "This Martin Cinema Company and Fuqua Group, why do you give me these discounts?" ”

Jiang Zhiqiang said with a smile: "Because their theaters are in small communities, these communities have few choices if they want to watch movies, so they can only go to the theaters under the Martin Cinema Line, so they can save a lot of money on publicity." Moreover, in order to survive and develop, Martin Cinema Line has always adopted the means of small profits and quick turnover, which is their corporate strategy. ”

When Kang Jianfei heard that there was such a good thing, he hurriedly asked, "Where is the headquarters of Martin Cinema Line?" I immediately went to them with the film. ”

Jiang Zhiqiang said: "In Georgia." ”

Kang Jianfei thought in his heart that with the temporary cinema chain they set up to be screened in the Chinese community, and the Martin cinema chain screened in a small community, coupled with the quality of "Royal Senior Sister", it would definitely be famous. At that time, if you go to the mainstream theater to talk about the second screening, you should be able to take the opportunity to ask for more than 20% of the box office share.

Alas, it is too hard for small companies to want to distribute films overseas, and a little profit share has to be taken care of. Some time ago, Kang Jianfei was also dissatisfied with Lei Juekun, and felt that "Happy Ghost" was sold for more than half a year before it was sold, and the talks collapsed several times. Now he realizes Lei Juekun's difficulties, overseas distribution is really not so easy to do.

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Lao Wang is not familiar with the affairs of the American film industry, and he does not know anything about the situation of the American film industry in the 80s. The data in this chapter cannot be found on the Internet, and it is all calculated by Lao Wang based on various data from the mainland, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United States, and then the economic development of various countries in the decades before and after. There are definitely discrepancies in the data, but it's not too outrageous, and that's probably what it looks like.

This chapter of Lao Wang's search for information is at least five hours...... (To be continued.) )