Chapter 334 The Popular Calabash Brothers Movie
Chapter 334 The Popular Calabash Brothers Movie
Time quickly came to April 4nd.
Yang Wendong brought Su Yiyi and his eldest son Yang Zhiwen to the entrance of the cinema inside Changxing Shopping Mall:
"Mr. Yang, Mrs. Yang." Zheng Zhijie from Changxing Real Estate and Zhang Zhiyuan from Changxing Comics naturally rushed over after knowing that their boss was coming.
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "I just came here to watch a movie. The Calabash Brothers premiered, and I wanted to accompany my son to watch it."
"Calabash Brothers" is already a well-known comic story in Hong Kong, and even has some fame in Southeast Asia, mainly because of the superpowers in it, which are so attractive in this era. Isn't it more interesting than the martial arts stories that just hum and ha ha?
After the production of the movie "Calabash Brothers" was completed, coupled with the publicity capabilities of Changxing Media, almost everyone in Hong Kong knew about it. Many families with children were ready to bring their children to the cinema, and the Yang family was naturally the same.
This is also the first comic-adapted movie in Hong Kong.
"The movie will start in 20 minutes." Zheng Zhijie said with a smile, "Then we will wait until you finish watching it and then come to see you."
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded.
Afterwards, the two of them left, and the three members of the Yang family followed the team and were given tickets one by one to enter the cinema.
"Brother Dong, many children are about the same age as ours, and they all come to watch the movie." Su Yiyi said with a smile.
Yang Wendong replied: "Yes, there are not many comics in Hong Kong, and many of them are not suitable for children. Our Calabash Brothers can be regarded as a very good school-age comic. I guess many adults read it to their children like us."
Any comic, no matter how simple it is, requires basic literacy from the reader, so the audience is limited. Many preschoolers or children with low education cannot understand it, but they can see the comics, and out of curiosity, and with the initiative of adults, some adults will read it to them.
The same is true for the Yang family. Yang Zhiwen is almost 2 years old and can already understand some comics. Su Yiyi has also read them to him several times.
"Well, have you seen it before?" Su Yiyi asked.
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "No, I was waiting to see it with you."
This is true. He did not watch the animated film in advance, mainly because he himself is not very professional and his perspective is different from that of the times, so he cannot give opinions blindly according to his own requirements.
The most important point is that if you give a lot of opinions, many professionals may follow your requirements and will not pursue higher quality, but only seek to avoid mistakes. This is also a problem for many companies.
If it is physical factories, shipping, or real estate, Yang Wendong, as a time traveler who knows the future, would dare to slam the table and make decisions, but he has no advantage in this kind of comics or future movies.
Therefore, in this industry, he only needs to decide the content direction, and all the details will be decided by his subordinates.
"Okay." Su Yiyi said with a smile.
Soon the two entered the cinema. Their seats were naturally in the middle and back. Anyone who has seen a movie knows that the seats in this small area are the best.
Su Yiyi said: "This cinema is much better than the ones in Shaw Brothers and Cathay."
"The ticket prices are also more expensive." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
As a big capital, the core purpose of Changxing Group's participation in the construction of cinemas is to use this "reason" to stockpile land, so the locations it chooses are not bad, even if they are on the Kowloon Peninsula, they are all in the center of the town.
Such a location naturally requires better decoration and better hygiene management, so the price will naturally go up. It can be said that it is a misaligned competition with Shaw Brothers and Cathay Pacific's cinema.
However, because the movies are different, people including Su Yiyi and Yang Wendong would often go to Shaw Cathay to watch movies.
Su Yiyi nodded: "Yeah."
"It's going to start soon." Yang Wendong said again.
The beginning of the movie was not a show, but an advertisement, which is also the norm for Hong Kong movies. Many real estate companies are particularly keen on putting movies in cinemas because they can cover hundreds of thousands of people with good economic conditions.
A few minutes later, the movie officially began: starting with Grandpa Hulu going up the mountain.
Yang Wendong and Su Yiyi were also watching the movie plot seriously. It was actually similar to the plot in the comics, but with sound, action, and even special effects (drawn), the visual impact was much stronger.
The big gourd boy, who is extremely strong, can lift huge rocks and throw them at the enemy; the second gourd boy, who has the ability to see and hear from thousands of miles away, can see what is happening thousands of miles away; the third gourd boy, who has a head of copper, arms of steel, bones of steel, and is invulnerable to swords and guns, moves forward courageously;
The fire-breathing fourth calabash brother can burn everything; the water-breathing fifth calabash brother can swallow and spit out water from rivers at will, and can spit out lightning from his mouth to produce rain; the sixth calabash brother can become invisible, come and go without a trace, and successfully rescued several trapped brothers;
The most magical one is the little gourd baby, who has a magical treasure gourd, similar to the space ring in the fantasy novels of the previous life.
Together, the seven of them finally defeated the snake demon and began a simple and happy life with their grandfather.
While the movie was playing, many children stared at the screen without blinking, and Yang Zhiwen was the same.
Until the movie ended, the screen went dark, and the lights above turned on, many children in the audience began to chatter and say angry words.
"Brother Dong, it seems that this movie is very attractive to children." Su Yiyi said.
"Of course." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "It depends on how high the box office can be. The box office is the only criterion for testing quality."
This time, Yang Wendong's ambitions are relatively big. With all kinds of publicity, the quality of the content, his own theater chain, and his long-standing fame as a comic book artist, he hopes to have a high box office.
One advantage of comic movies is that a child can bring in one or two box office revenues. Adults may not want to watch them, but in order to accompany their children, they have to pay more money. This is also the reason why many mainland animated movies have set new box office records in the past.
Of course, there are also some downsides, that is, people without children will not watch it, including singles and unmarried couples, and even some couples whose children are older, so they will not come.
In short, there are good and bad things.”
Su Yiyi said, "I remember the highest box office in Hong Kong was Shaw Brothers' "Legend of the White Snake" last year, which grossed 79. Almost half of the people in Hong Kong who can afford to watch a movie saw it. Do you think our "Calabash Brothers" can break the record?"
"It's quite difficult." Yang Wendong said with a smile, "I don't expect to break the record for the first time, but I'll try to get into the top ten in Hong Kong's history." Although he has strong resources, the quality of a movie is ultimately what matters. This is not an industrial product. It's not that you can gain market share immediately just by being creative. Generally speaking, there may be dark horses every year, but it's very difficult for a dark horse to get first place.
"Then with our theaters and media, it shouldn't be too difficult." Su Yiyi added, "In fact, it's only a few hundred thousand, and it's not much even if you include the profit, right?"
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "It's not much, this little profit is nothing, but the cultural industry is not a factory, the things produced can only be sold once, and then you can make profits many times, and there are many derivative products;
As long as Hong Kong animated films become popular, it will boost the sales of sticker toys again, and overseas theater companies will also broadcast them, so derivative products can also be sold there. This is much simpler than sending comic books over there."
Although television and movies have high production costs, once they are produced, as long as the content is good, they can be easily spread many times. To exaggerate a little, it is possible for 100 million people to see them in a year.
But comic books? Even Dragon Ball, the most exciting comic in history, has only sold 30 million copies in 2.6 years of publication. Most people know Dragon Ball through the cartoons.
The same is true for some other well-known novels, such as Jin Yong's martial arts books, Harry Potter, etc. Most people know them through TV and movies, not books, and not many people have read the original works.
"Well, it can be seen that you really attach importance to comics." Su Yiyi said with a smile.
Yang Wendong said: "Yes, although the scale is small now, it has great potential. Once the copyright is created, you can reap the dividends for a lifetime, and there will be other copyrights later. You can really make money even if you lie down."
Many cultural companies or individuals can make a fortune after creating an IP, even if they do nothing else. For example, Jay Chou has basically not released any new songs since the 21s, but he still occupies the first place in the music revenue rankings every year. Although this is also because other people are too incompetent.
Of course, cultural IP also needs to be maintained, which is a little different from music. Disney's Mickey Mouse is also constantly launching new animated story series.
Soon, the three of them followed the main group out and found that Zheng Zhijie and Zhang Zhiyuan were still at the door.
"You won't be waiting here all the time, right?" Yang Wendong asked.
Zhang Zhiyuan said: "No, we just went back to work for a while, and came back when we saw that it was almost time."
"Yeah." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, let's go upstairs."
Su Yiyi said, "Then I'll take the kids for a walk."
"Okay." Yang Wendong agreed, and then signaled to the assistant beside him, saying, "Safety must be ensured."
No matter where they are, even in Central, the core members of the Yang family are always surrounded by bodyguards, one to prevent accidents, the other to avoid possible disturbances by reporters, etc.
As the largest Chinese company in Hong Kong today, every move of many people in the Yang family is news.
After coming upstairs, Yang Wendong said with a smile: "It's the first movie of the day, and the seats are basically full, and the feedback is very good."
Zhang Zhiyuan smiled and said, "We have to thank Changxing Media for the publicity."
"Yeah." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "We'll have to wait a week for the box office figures to come out, but I don't think they'll be bad. You need to increase the production capacity of stickers and toys. After the movie is released, the sales of derivative products will definitely increase significantly."
Making money from movies is too low-end. Real cultural giants make money from a series of follow-up products, especially animation programs. Even if movies or TV series do not make money, as long as they are well-known, they can make a lot of money later.
Zhang Zhiyuan said, "Okay, Mr. Yang, I have already notified Mr. Wei to increase production capacity."
"Okay." Yang Wendong then asked, "What about the overseas film channels?"
Zhang Zhiyuan replied: "I have also contacted many cinema companies in Southeast Asia, and they have all agreed to import this film, but the specific price still needs to wait for the box office results to come out."
"That's normal. They must be cautious about the buyout price." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "We have our own theaters, so we can play it more times to increase the data."
Hong Kong films have always relied on foreign companies since the very beginning, otherwise they would not have been able to develop at all. Foreign companies also buy out the films with cash and are responsible for their own profits and losses after the purchase. Therefore, the Hong Kong local box office is a touchstone.
"Okay." Zheng Zhijie smiled and said, "I will arrange more screens here."
Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "We have more than 20 cinemas now, right?"
"A total of 26." Zheng Zhijie replied.
Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "Well, although the data is a bit fabricated, Shaw Brothers is also fabricating it. We will lose money if we are honest."
This is how the business world is. Many times, the data you see is not necessarily true, especially in the film and television industry. A dozen years later, Hong Kong began to focus on anti-corruption and anti-gangsterism, and a bunch of gangsters squeezed in just to launder money legally because it is very feasible.
Of course, the money I earn is definitely legal, I’m just playing with the data.
Zheng Zhijie also laughed and said: "Yes, we have our own cinema chain. Even if we don't fake it, others will think it is fake. This is the reality."
"Let's wait for the box office results to come out and see what happens next," said Yang Wendong.
The first animated film, even if it has made achievements in the animation field, can be regarded as the beginning of entering the film field.
It is true that the current profits in these two areas are very low, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Only by laying a solid foundation now can we move forward step by step to the top in the future.
The next day, the first day box office of the animated film "Calabash Brothers" was released, with a total box office of 6.7 Hong Kong dollars.
Ming Pao even directly declared on its cover: This is the rise of Chinese comic culture.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
I had some personal matters the past two days, so I only updated once. Today I will resume my normal two updates.
(End of this chapter)