Chapter 44 Spring Festival

At the dinner table, everyone gathered around Jiang Heng and talked about the response and box office of "100 Million Years BC".

"Ah, I can't believe it. Not many people in mainland China watched movies a few years ago, but now a box office of 100 or 200 million seems very normal!" Yuen Wah took a sip of wine, feeling deeply moved.

After more than a month of release, "2 Million BC" broke the 2.07 million yuan mark at the mainland box office, settling at million yuan.

This news not only gave mainland filmmakers great confidence, but also greatly shocked the Hong Kong film industry, allowing those Hong Kong filmmakers who were in confusion to see another way out.

The reason, of course, is that the Hong Kong film industry is so miserable at the moment!

Originally, on March 99, 3, two months later, a major event occurred in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

On this day, all cinemas stopped showing films, radio stations stopped playing records and music all day, and nearly 2000 film and television practitioners took to the streets to stage a large-scale parade.

Cheng Long, Liu Dehua, Tan Yonglin and others led the team, shouting slogans to crack down on piracy.

There are many reasons for the decline of Hong Kong films.

The conquest of the market by Hollywood blockbusters and the prevalence of pirated CDs are two important reasons.

And these two points complement each other.

Hollywood blockbusters introduced to the mainland and Hong Kong often use shocking visual effects as a selling point. It is not satisfying to watch such films on pirated discs. You have to go to the cinema to see the essence of the film.

Just like when Avatar was released in 10, IMAX 3D ticket prices were sold for thousands of yuan. At that time, there were only a limited number of IMAX screens in China, and many movie fans traveled long distances to other cities just to see the legendary stunning IMAX 3D visual effects.

Were there no pirated copies back then? Of course there were!

But this movie is all about the super shocking visual effects. Even if you can't buy the IMAX version, you have to watch the regular 3D version!
However, many films in mainland China and Hong Kong rely on plot and dialogue as their selling points, so poor picture quality and even pirated discs with shaky images are acceptable.

This is why Hollywood blockbusters that have entered mainland China and Hong Kong in recent years often achieve extremely high box office results if they are of excellent quality and properly promoted.

For example, "Titanic" earned 1.15 million yuan at the box office in Hong Kong. Even many years later, no Hong Kong film could surpass it.

"Jurassic Park 2" had average reviews, but still earned 5823 million.

This is a movie starring foreigners. If it was a special effects blockbuster starring Chinese, the sense of immersion would be doubled and the box office results would definitely be higher!
It was based on this understanding that Xiang Huaqiong, Xu Ke and others planned to shoot "The Legend of Zu".

It can be said that Hong Kong filmmakers at this moment still have a clear understanding of future development.

It's nothing more than going to the mainland, making blockbusters, and fighting piracy.

Among them, Jiang Heng took the lead.

"The Matrix" and "100 Million BC" were released in mainland China, and the degree to which the two films were affected by piracy was far less than other low-cost films.

At this moment, pirated videotapes of "100 Million Years BC" are already being sold on the market in Hong Kong, but because the quality of the pirated recordings is so poor, not many people buy them.

After all, the shocking effect of the dinosaurs seen on TV and on the big screen is completely different.

In particular, many schoolchildren, after seeing the promotional poster of "100 Million BC", clamored for their parents to take them to the cinema.

Who are you trying to fool with pirated CDs?
For example, the Tang Monk that your classmates see is always wearing a red cassock, but the one you see is black and white, so there’s no way to chat!
At this moment, everyone present had already tacitly agreed that Jiang Heng's film would become the box office champion of this year's Spring Festival. Everyone gathered around to flatter him, hoping that they would have the opportunity to participate in Jiang Heng's next new film.

At Jiahe Company, Zou Wenhuai, Cai Yongchang and Liang Feng gathered together again to discuss this year's Lunar New Year box office.

"I never thought that a minor actor could become a big movie director!"

Zou Wenhuai had a deep look in his eyes and kept smoking, thinking about the global box office performance of "The Matrix" and the movie-watching craze that "100 Million BC" had caused in various places. He always felt like he was dreaming.

Cai Yongchang smiled bitterly, "Who said it wasn't true! Before, Aaron and Zhou Xingxing were already suppressed by him, so this time it's not going to be easy either!"

They still sounded tough, but deep down, the three people in the room knew that neither "Glass Bottle" nor "The King of Comedy" could rival "100 Million Years BC" during this year's Spring Festival.

The movie "Glass Bottle" is simply a casual work of Jackie Chan.

He had previously entered Hollywood and shot "Rush Hour", which achieved box office success of 1.41 million US dollars in North America and 2.44 million US dollars worldwide, making Jackie Chan a top star in Hollywood.

Returning to Hong Kong to shoot "Glass Bottle" can be seen as a return work by Big Brother, who has not forgotten the Hong Kong market. It is purely a playful effort.

In this film, Cheng Long rarely uses action scenes as the main selling point, but talks about love with the heroine played by Shu Qi, letting Zhou Huajian, who looks silly, play the villain. He also invited Stephen Chow, Richie Jen and others to make cameo appearances.

Zou Wenhuai and the other two knew exactly how much a movie like this could earn at the box office.

As for "The King of Comedy" directed by Stephen Chow, you don't need to know too much about it. Judging from Stephen Chow's performance in recent years, we know that the box office results will not be too high. How can it compete with Jiang Heng's Jurassic blockbuster?
Unless we can get high-definition, authentic film sources and put them on the market on a large scale, the box office will definitely be reduced a lot.

Just doing this is too despicable.

There is no wall that is impenetrable. As the overlord of the Hong Kong film industry, Jiahe also has to save face.

The three of them were silent for a while, and Liang Feng suddenly said, "How about we talk to him?"

"How to talk?"

"Please ask him to release it in advance!"

"in advance?"

Zou Wenhuai's eyes lit up, and he roughly understood Liang Feng's idea.

"100 Million BC has been promoted for a long time, and some people who can't wait have gone to Shenzhen to watch it. In fact, it's meaningless to wait for the Spring Festival. It's better to release it a week in advance, so that three movies won't compete on the same day and affect each other's box office."

Liang Feng talked freely, and then said: "As a condition, we can let "100 Million Years BC" be released in Jiahe Cinema Line, and we will definitely allocate all the prime time slots for it in the first week. As for A-Long's "Glass Bottle", we will also arrange a certain number of screenings for it after it is released."

Cai Yongchang said: "If its box office performance is good, it is not impossible to share the prime time slot with "Glass Bottle"!"

The overall Hong Kong film market has shrunk in recent years, and the three cinema chains are not doing well. Jiahe also needs a hit movie!
But Jackie Chan's "Glass Bottle" doesn't look like it will be a box office success.

Zou Wenhuai and others were also very annoyed.

The room was silent for several dozen seconds. Zou Wenhuai suddenly put out his cigarette butt in the ashtray and said with a sigh, "Okay, let's ask Jiang Heng to come out and tell him we'll treat him to a meal!"

(End of this chapter)