Chapter 335: Poaching from Shaw Brothers Films

Chapter 335: Poaching from Shaw Brothers Films

Chapter 335: Poaching from Shaw Brothers Films
In the early 6.7s, HK$60 could buy a 90-square-foot (-square-meter) luxury house in Central.

This figure is just a drop in the bucket for Changxing Group, but it is a bombshell for the film industry, which has a very small market.

In 1962, Shaw Brothers' Legend of the White Snake only grossed 8 Hong Kong dollars on the first day, while its total box office was 79. According to this ratio, the box office of Calabash Brothers could easily exceed 50 Hong Kong dollars.

In the history of Hong Kong, this is also the first Chinese film produced as an animated film.

Headquarters of Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Limited, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong:

Shao Yifu sat at his desk, reading the Ming Pao report carefully. After a while, he put down the newspaper, looked at a middle-aged man next to him, and said, "Raymond, what do you think of the movie Calabash Brothers?"

Raymond is the English name of his capable subordinate, and his Chinese name is Zou Wenhuai.

Zou Wenhuai said, "Mr. Shao, I have never thought that this comic can be made into a movie. This time, Changxing Culture has indeed ambushed us."

Shao Yifu said: "In the United States, there are also many animation programs. You should know, right?"

"Of course I know that." Zhou Wenhuai nodded and said, "But I never thought that someone in Hong Kong would actually make this movie."

Shao Yifu said: "It's not your fault. Animation movies don't require real people to participate, nor do they require a shooting location. Plus, we didn't think about it beforehand, so we didn't know about it in advance. It doesn't matter. Besides, knowing it in advance is useless."

"Yes." Wrinkle Huai said again: "We can't imitate this kind of movie yet."

Although Shaw Brothers also has innovative programs, if they see a subject matter for a blockbuster movie, they will try to shoot it. This tactic has been tried and tested, but now it doesn't work when it comes to animated films.

"Yeah, we can't do it." Shao Yifu asked, "Do you think their movie will have a big impact on us?"

Wrinkle nodded and said, "Of course there is an impact. Although the content is different, the money that Hong Kong families are willing to spend on movies is limited. After watching their movies, they may not watch ours. The same should be true for Cathay Cinemas."

Movies are very expensive. People without money naturally won’t watch them. People with better economic conditions usually watch them once every few months. If they choose one, they won’t watch other movies.
Although the wealthier ones don’t care about the price of movie tickets, they still need to consider their time. Not everyone has the time to watch movies regularly.

Therefore, the competition among many film companies in Hong Kong is extremely fierce, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is a life-and-death battle.

Shao Yifu also said: "Yeah, I think so too. But they have their own cinema chain, and the quality is higher than ours. This is the trouble. If Changxing Culture continues to make animated films, it will definitely have a serious impact on us."

Zou Wenhuai said: "But there is nothing we can do. We can't make the movies they make. What I am more worried about now is that Changxing Culture will make other movies and compete directly with us."

"Are you sure?" Shao Yifu's face changed drastically.

There are many people in Hong Kong who are into movies, and even many rich people will make movies just to please a girl. Shaw Yi-fu doesn't care about these at all.

However, Changxing Group is a Chinese-funded giant in Hong Kong. Once such huge capital enters the film industry, it will have a huge impact on the entire industry.

Zou Wenhuai said, "I can't say I'm 100% sure. Mr. Shao, do you still remember that we intended to purchase the film adaptation rights for several of Jin Yong's novels?"

The essence of a movie is the story, and the same is true for a novel. In the past two years, martial arts movies have been very popular, so Shaw Brothers Film Company thought of filming Jin Yong's novel.

Although the plot of the novel is too long and difficult to compress, it doesn't matter. You can just film it casually and make a lot of money by relying on the name of Jin Yong's novel.

"Yes, you didn't buy it? Or was it bought by Changxing Culture?" Shao Yifu asked.

"Yes, it was bought." Zhou Wenhuai said, "So it's only a matter of time before Changxing Culture makes a martial arts movie. I just don't know when it will be."

"." Shao Yifu was silent for a long time, and then said, "I really can't do anything."

Faced with powerful capital and others who also had their own cinema chains, Shaw Brothers, which dominated the Hong Kong film market, was powerless.

Wrinkle Huai said: "We can only wait."

"Yeah." Shao Yifu nodded.

Time quickly came to April 4th, and the movie "Calabash Brothers" had been released for a week.

On this day, Yang Wendong came to Changxing Building. Just as he sat down, Zhang Zhiyuan from Changxing Culture rushed over and said with a smile: "Mr. Yang, our weekly box office is out, a total of 29.6 Hong Kong dollars."

After listening to this, Yang Wendong said, "I remember it was 6.7 on the first day, right?"

Zhang Zhiyuan said: "Yes, because of publicity, the box office of movies is always the highest on the first day, and then it will gradually decline. Unless it is a dark horse movie that is not well promoted in the early stage and then relies on its quality, it may show a gradual upward trend."

"Well, our publicity is definitely enough." Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "Then based on the first week's data, the final box office should be roughly estimated, right?" Zhang Zhiyuan replied, "Yes, Hong Kong movies are generally only released for 2 weeks. Unless the quality is very good or there is a shortage of new movies in the market, they may continue to be released in the third week.

If we follow the general rules, our total box office is estimated to be around 50 Hong Kong dollars, but Mr. Zheng promised to give us more resources, and I estimate that the final box office will be around 60 Hong Kong dollars. "

"60? Not bad." Yang Wendong nodded.

Although the box office of a movie can be faked, there is a limit to it. Because by the time it reaches a later stage, all the people who like to watch the movie have already seen it, and those who don’t like it may not watch it even if you offer it for free.

Of course, this refers to normal circumstances. If the purpose is to launder money, the data can be made very large, but we also have to respect the government's thinking. It is said that gangs in previous lives forced popular stars to make bad movies just to get a big box office in "name".

Zhang Zhiyuan said: "Yes, the box office in Hong Kong alone can recover our investment costs. Now, many theaters in Southeast Asia have contacted me."

"Well, very good." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "It is very difficult for our comic newspapers or single books to enter Southeast Asia. It is difficult to get channels, and many languages ​​need to be translated;

But movies are much simpler. We can make money by selling them to foreign countries, and they are still responsible for the translation, and they will also take care of the film distribution channels.”

Problems that are difficult to solve with paper content can be easily solved with movies, and the latter even has stronger communication ability and influence.

"Yes." Zhang Zhiyuan said, "Mr. Yang, I have already started negotiating with Southeast Asia, but neither our internal nor the invited legal team knows much about overseas film negotiations. We can only refer to the overseas transaction prices of other film companies."

"I understand what you mean." Yang Wendong nodded, then asked, "Before the movie was released, didn't you consider selling the foreign company?"

Zhang Zhiyuan previously worked at Disney in the United States promoting cultural derivatives, so he is suitable for developing surrounding markets. As for the overseas film business, and even the film business itself, it is only the first film that has been tested, so there is indeed no professional person in charge.

Zhang Zhiyuan quickly replied: "We have considered it. Although many Hong Kong film companies have gone abroad, small companies basically have no say. It is all decided by the foreign parties, that is, the theaters outside.

There are only two companies in Hong Kong that are qualified to negotiate with foreign cinema chains: Cathay Pacific and Shaw Brothers.

"I know these two companies." Yang Wendong asked, "Wouldn't it be good to poach people from them?"

Many people in the previous life may not know about Shaw Brothers Film Company, but basically everyone born in the 80s and 90s in the previous life knows about another asset of its boss Run Run Shaw, which is TVB, the first wireless television station in Hong Kong that Yang Wendong is preparing to compete for next.

Cathay Films was a film company that was no smaller than Shaw Brothers in the 60s, but its founder died in an aviation disaster in 1964, and the company subsequently declined. However, because of its emergence, Hong Kong's business history has deviated too much today, and it is hard to say whether its boss Lu Yuntao will encounter an air crash again.

Zhang Zhiyuan said: "The person in charge of foreign affairs at Cathay Pacific is their boss Lu Yuntao, and the assistants only do small things, so it is not feasible to poach people from them.

On the Shaw Brothers side, the person in charge of external affairs was called Zou Wenhuai, a very capable top student, and the third in command within Shaw Brothers Film Company. I had originally wanted to recruit him, but when I sent someone to talk to him, Zou Wenhuai refused to meet with me. Later, I personally went to his door to stop him, but he ignored me and refused to talk to me.

"So loyal?" Yang Wendong asked in surprise, "You didn't tell me about the treatment?"

In the original history, it was Zou Wenhuai who founded Golden Harvest Films, which almost destroyed Shaw Brothers Film Company.

But it’s still early in the timeline, and Yang Wendong didn’t expect that Zou Wenhuai is so loyal now.

"I told him I could talk about anything, but he just wouldn't." Zhang Zhiyuan said, "I couldn't tie him up, and time was tight, so I didn't succeed."

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "That's interesting. So, go find him again and tell him that I want to see him and ask him to come over."

"You want to see him?" Zhang Zhiyuan asked in surprise.

"Yes." Yang Wendong said, "Also tell him that I plan to focus on developing the film and television industry and would like to invite him to be the head of the film company."

Given the scale of the Hong Kong film market, not to mention Yang Wendong, even a real estate tycoon might not be interested in it. To put it in an exaggerated way, the annual box office revenue of the entire Hong Kong is not even worth the value of a residential building.
Even if we take into account foreign countries, it is not much stronger, and Hong Kong film companies are not capable of operating in this surrounding area.

However, for Yang Wendong, this is only part of the cultural industry. He has enough capital and can fully support Hong Kong's film and television, as well as music, novels, comics and other industries in the future. Once these industries have grown in scale, coupled with his future overseas investment channels, a huge cultural industry chain can be formed.

Even in the 90s, when facing the impact of Hollywood, as long as they grasped the mainland market, they would not shrink too much, and they could even make use of the talents and potential of the mainland market to become bigger.
To exaggerate a little, the cultural industry may not make as much money as electronics and real estate, but it is part of the core industry of the future, and one of the foundations of this industry is Hong Kong films.

In addition, Zou Wenhuai is one of the most powerful figures in Hong Kong's history, and it is worth interviewing and talking to him in person.

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away." Zhang Zhiyuan agreed immediately.

A day later, in a residential area in Qingshui Bay, Zou Wenhuai was stopped again. Just as he was about to avoid the person, he heard the person say, "Mr. Zou, our big boss Mr. Yang wants to see you."

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)