"The average attendance at the United Cinema yesterday was 53 per cent."

"The average attendance at Huamao Cinema yesterday was 56%."

"The average attendance at the Golden Jade Cinema yesterday was 47 percent."

"The average attendance at the Golden Sing Cinema yesterday was 51 percent."

"The average attendance at the Taiping Theatre yesterday was 52 per cent."

"The average attendance at the Queen's Theatre yesterday was 67 per cent."

“……”

In the conference room of the headquarters of the New Era Cinema Line, the owners or managers of major theaters are listening to the attendance reports of various theaters with concern.

The release of "The Terminator" in Hong Kong was a bit bad, and it was worse than Kang Jianfei expected. Among the five movies in the Spring Festival file, there are comedy films for comedy films, kung fu movies for kung fu films, and the rest of the audience who like to watch science fiction movies have been robbed a lot by "Star Wars 3".

Even after large-scale publicity before its release, the presence of "Terminator" is still too low. "Terminator", which was released in 18 theaters at the same time, not only is the box office not as good as "Shaolin Kid", which has only 14 theaters, but even "Star Wars 3", which is only released in 10 theaters.

Only on the third day of its release, cracks appeared in the loose alliance of the new era theater chain, in addition to Kang Jianfei's own 9 theaters, the other 9 theaters have asked to reduce the number of "Terminator", even if it is replaced by Zhang Jianting's "City Lights", they are willing.

Although Anle Cinema Line and Kang Jianfei were quite unhappy, it was Jiang Zhiwen who was in charge, and Jiang Zhiqiang was still the general manager of the New Era Cinema Line. He set his eyes on Kang Jianfei and Zhang Moren, and was about to say something, when he suddenly heard good news in a flood of mourning.

"The average attendance at Fanling Cinema yesterday was ...... 100%。 ”

Everyone in the conference room looked at the owner of the Fanling Cinema, and the owner of the Fanling Cinema, Cheng Cuisheng, only smiled and said nothing.

Why is it that when the average attendance rate of other cinemas is only about 5%, Fanling Cinema can be full of people?

Because Fanling Cinema is a rural cinema.

Fanling is located in the northeastern part of the New Territories and is already bordering Shenzhen. As remote as you want, you can be as remote as you want. Moreover, Fanling Cinema is the only cinema in the three districts of Sheung Shui, Fanling and Taipo. In other words, if people in Sheung Shui and Dapu districts want to watch a movie, they also have to take a car to Fanling.

In this way, as long as the movies released in Fanling Cinema are not too bad, the attendance rate in the Spring Festival stalls is basically above 9%. Unfortunately, the ticket price of this theater is on the low side, and there are only more than 500 seats.

Fanling Cinema was formerly an open-air cinema that has been in business since 1949 and has changed owners over the decades, such as Khoo Tak Gun, who ran Fanling Cinema for several years.

The New Territories North is too backward. The surrounding area is full of inaccessible rural areas, so the Fanling Cinema has always been poorly equipped and small-scale, and for a long time, most of them were showing second-round films or old movies, relying on low ticket prices to attract peasant audiences - high ticket prices are reluctant for peasants.

However, since 1978, Hong Kong's economic development has been rapid, and the pockets of farmers in the North New Territories have slowly swelled. In the past two years, the ticket prices of Fanling Cinema have increased a lot. At the same time, peasant audiences are not willing to watch only old movies and second-round films, and Kang Jianfei promised to reduce the rent of copies for Fanling Cinema. That's why this rural theater chose to join the New Era Cinema Line.

Zheng Cuisheng, who was not worried about the attendance rate, did not speak. The manager of Jinyu Cinema spoke: "The attendance rate of "Terminator" is less than 50%, and if other films are not arranged to replace it, Jinyu Cinema will definitely withdraw from this joint screening." ”

The old man Zhang Moren asked suspiciously: "I don't know which good film is going to be screened after Manager Lu Daodi withdraws from the joint screening?" ”

Manager Di said with a straight face: "I don't have to worry about this old man Zhang." ”

"It's not going to be Star Wars 3, is it?" Zhang Moren said with a smile.

Manager Di sat there without saying a word, seemingly acquiescing.

"Ahem!" Jiang Zhiqiang coughed to hide his embarrassment. On the one hand, he is the general manager of the New Era Cinema Line, and on the other hand, he is Jiang Zhiwen's younger brother. is also one of the shareholders of Anle Cinemas, and he also has a good personal relationship with Kang Jianfei, but the scheduling of "Terminator" and "Star Wars 3" has made him in a dilemma and anxious.

The owner of Huamao Cinema also spoke: "Mr. Kang, Huamao Cinema Line is for your sake. took the risk to rehearse "The Terminator". Why do you have to come out with a charter now, it doesn't matter if the attendance rate is 5% in the off-season of the movie, but now is the prime time of the Spring Festival. ”

"The "Swordsman of Xinshu Mountain" directed by Xu Ke has been filmed for half a year, right?" The owner of Hongyun Cinema suddenly said, "It's better to get off "The Terminator" and urgently rehearse Xu Ke's "Shushan". ”

Kang Jianfei has been laughing disdainfully in the face of these fast-turning theater dealers, most of their theaters used to be second-round theaters, if it weren't for the backing of DreamWorks' film sources and discounts, they are now not qualified to talk about what films will be released in the first round of the Spring Festival.

Now that the wings have grown stiff, the attendance rate of only one movie is not good, and after only two or three days, I can't help jumping up and down and asking to change the film.

Although according to the convention of the theater chain, the attendance rate of the Spring Festival stalls is too low, so the number of screenings should be reduced, or even replaced with other movies for release, what these theater companies did is not wrong, but Kang Jianfei is still very unhappy.

Because these theaters can develop rapidly, it is all thanks to the convenience and support of DreamWorks, just for the sake of his Kang Jianfei's face, at least let "Terminator" be screened for a week before talking about anything else.

Kang Jianfei doesn't care about other people's face, but he doesn't like others not giving him face very much. Facing the faces of the gentlemen in the conference room, he strengthened his determination to recreate the cinema company.

Kang Jianfei's anger in his heart did not show it, but said with a smile: ""Shushan" is still early, and half of the progress is not there. ”

Kang Jianfei didn't lie, "Shushan" did only shoot a little bit.

Xu Ke's speed of filming is not grinding, and the reason why he only shoots a little bit in half a year is for a special reason.

It took some time to go to Hollywood to hire the special effects team, and then I came back to make the special effects model, and it was already November when I went to the mainland to shoot.

Xu Ke first went to Zhangjiajie for a walk, and was immediately shocked by the great rivers and mountains of the motherland. Then Xu Ke went to Jiuzhaigou again, and after he got there, he didn't take a shot, so he called Kang Jianfei directly. Said he wanted to overturn the original idea and rewrite the script.

It's pitiful to see that Xu Ke has been filming in Zhangjiajie for more than half a month, and rewriting the script means that half a month's filming is basically invalid.

As for the reason why Xu Ke rewrote the script, it is very simple, those natural beauties with great visual and spiritual impact have brought him too many ideas and inspirations.

Now most of the crew of "New Shu Mountain Swordsman" have returned to Hong Kong, leaving only Xu Ke and his wife Shi Nansheng to stay in the mainland, and under the leadership of mainland guides, they will visit famous mountains and rivers in various places.

As for when "The Swordsman of Xinshu Mountain" will be filmed, only ghosts know what to do, and Kang Jianfei has been cheated this time.

"Haven't finished filming for half a year? That's long enough. The owner of Huamao Cinema sighed.

The owner of the Jinsheng Theater said, "Mr. Kang." Since joining the New Era Cinema Line, the number of seats in our Jinsheng Theater has doubled, and such a 50% attendance rate is really hurting, and I also support the rescheduling of films. ”

The owner of the Jinsheng Cinema is also a wonder, his cinema originally had only 300 seats. Because I made a lot of money after joining the new era theater line, that seat could not meet the growing audience. So I thought about expanding the scale of the theater.

However, the company did not choose to build a multiplex. Instead, they rented the room next to the theater and added more than 300 seats directly after breaking through the wall.

The attendance rate of "The Terminator" is only 50%, which means that more than 300 new seats in the Jinsheng Cinema are vacant.

Jiang Zhiqiang set his eyes on Kang Jianfei, obviously asking about his plans.

At the moment, there are two ways to go, one is to reduce the number of "Terminator" screenings and replace "Star Wars 3", and the other is to replace it with other DreamWorks movies. For example, Zhang Jianting's "City Lights".

From Jiang Zhiqiang's standpoint, he naturally hopes to release "Star Wars 3" in more theaters, and the more "Star Wars 3" box office, the more distribution points Anle Pictures earns. And he Jiang Zhiqiang is also one of the shareholders of Anle Pictures.

"Star Wars 3 is not good," Kang Jianfei shook his head and said, "The current attendance rate of this movie is about 8 percent, but please note that this is when only 10 theaters are released, it can be said that the box office potential of "Star Wars 3" has reached the limit. If your theaters also rank "Star Wars", then the attendance rate of "Star Wars 3" will be quickly reduced, and I am afraid that it will not be much better than "Terminator" by then. ”

When Kang Jianfei said this, those merchants also reacted, except for one or two who still have expectations for "Star Wars 3", everyone else has given up their plans to cooperate with Jiang Zhiwen, but hopes that DreamWorks will come out with a new film.

Kang Jianfei raised three fingers and said: "Give me three more days, if the box office of "Terminator" is not improving, McDonald's "Can't Stop Love" will be released." ”

"Is that the film played by Zhang Guorong, Wen Bixuan, Li Lizhen and Wu Mengda?" The boss of Jinsheng Cinema Line asked.

Kang Jianfei explained: "It's that film, "Can't Stop Love" was completed after New Year's Day, and it just passed the film inspection a few days ago, and it was originally going to be released after the New Year. ”

"Can't Stop Love" is a sequel to "Pretty Girl", with Kang Jianfei putting forward the idea and Wen Jun being in charge of the screenplay, which can be regarded as a film that pays equal attention to art and business.

"Pretty Girl" was applauded and popular when it was released, and "Can't Stop Love" was its sequel, and Zhang Guorong, Wen Bixuan and others joined the starring role, which was still very interesting at the box office.

Kang Jianfei made a three-day promise, after all, those merchants will rely on DreamWorks to provide the source of the film in the future, so naturally they can't force it too much, and they all agreed one by one.

After the meeting ended, Jiang Zhiqiang called out to Kang Jianfei and said: "Mr. Kang, I'm really sorry for this incident, after all, Anle Pictures is my brother in charge." ”

"I know that you are caught in the middle and are in two dilemmas." Kang Jianfei said with a smile that he was still very satisfied with Jiang Zhiqiang's Spring Festival schedule this time. Among those members of the New Era Cinema Chain, only 6 followed Anle Cinema to release "Star Wars 3", and the remaining 9 theaters were all screened by Jiang Zhiqiang "Terminator".

Jiang Zhiqiang sighed and said: "I'm afraid there will be more and more such situations in the future, I want to resign from the position of general manager of the New Era Cinema Line and go back to help my brother run the Anle Cinema Line." ”

"What is the future of those four Western film theaters?" Kang Jianfei suddenly smiled and said, "I'm going to rebuild a cinema company, why don't you come and be the general manager of Brother Jiang?" ”

Jiang Zhiqiang looked at Kang Jianfei in surprise, quickly reacted, and said with a smile: "I know that Mr. Daokang, you will not be satisfied with a loose temporary theater chain, and one day you will create a regular theater line." It's just that I don't know why Lu Dao chose me to be the general manager, isn't Mr. Zhang Moren very suitable? ”

Kang Jianfei explained: "He is old, he has problems with his waist and cervical spine, bone hyperplasia cannot sit for a long time and cannot be tired, and managing several theaters is already the extreme, and he has no energy to manage a whole theater line." ”

In fact, Kang Jianfei likes Cen Jianxun very much, he is going to let Zhang Moren be the general manager of the theater line, and then send Cen Jianxun to be Zhang Moren's assistant in the past, and he will be promoted after two or three years of training.

But Kang Jianfei never expected that Cen Jianxun was actually a friend of Pan Disheng, and handed in his resignation on the first two days of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Compared with working in DreamWorks, although the Debao Film Company, which has not yet been officially registered, is small, after all, Pan Disheng gave Cen Jianxun some shares. Cen Jianxun would naturally choose to be his own boss instead of staying in DreamWorks to work for Kang Jianfei.

Jiang Zhiqiang was hesitant, after his father died, the four theaters of Anle Cinema Line were used as inheritance, and the brothers each got a share. But the problem is that his brother Jiang Zhiwen has the final say in the theater chain, and Jiang Zhiqiang can only go back and forth to Europe and the United States to buy films.

Jiang Zhiqiang is an ambitious young man, although he is only 30 years old, he has been running in the world since he was 13 years old, and he has wanted to let go for nearly 20 years.

Now Jiang Zhiqiang has two choices, one is to stay in Anle Cinema Line as a second owner, and continue to run around to buy films to develop four family theaters; The second is to accept Kang Jianfei's invitation to serve as the general manager of the new cinema company, judging from the prosperity of DreamWorks, maybe the cinema chain will develop to Nanyang and Taiwan in a few years.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Kang Jianfei added with a smile and said, "I'll give you 10% of the dry shares of the cinema company." ”

Dry shares can only be dividends, not bought and sold, and Jiang Zhiqiang will have to take them back after he resigns, so naturally they can't be compared with his shares in Anle Cinema Line.

But the development prospects of the two cinemas are not the same, Jiang Zhiqiang thought about it, and the temptation to be alone made him unable to refuse, after all, after returning to Anle Cinema, he could only help his brother Jiang Zhiwen.

"I'll do it with you!" Jiang Zhiqiang said with a sigh. (To be continued......)