Chapter 93: "The Laughing Boy" is released
On January 1, the streets and alleys of Hong Kong were filled with the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year. The Hong Kong film industry entered the Lunar New Year period, and many people watched movies every day.
The midnight screening of "The Young Master" was held on the 18th. Xu Xiaoming brought a group of main creative staff to a theater and sat in the back row to see the audience's reaction. This is a custom in Hong Kong movies. The midnight screening is the time that can best reflect the audience's true feelings. After the movie is over, the main creative staff will also go on stage to accept the audience's evaluation.
Those who can come to watch movies at midnight are all people who truly love movies. Of course, because the tickets for midnight shows are cheap, the quality of people who watch movies at midnight shows varies. If the movie is well made, they will not hesitate to praise it. But if the movie is bad, they will not hesitate to give sugar cane or rotten eggs in their hands, and some people will even rush to the stage to beat people.
Liu Hongmin also went to the midnight show. Lan Jieying sat next to him and said to Liu Hongmin, "Mr. Liu, will you stay in Hong Kong for the New Year this time?"
"Yes, this is the company's first film, I want to see how it performs."
Lan Jieying smiled and said, "That's great. There are many fun things to do in Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year. How about I take you there?"
Liu Hongmin nodded and pointed at the screen: "Let's start!"
Lan Jieying had no choice but to sit up straight, but she was soon drawn into the movie. This was also her first time watching the movie, and she found it very interesting.
Liu Hongmin focused his attention on the audience, who had not seen the original version, so they watched with great interest and laughed from time to time, especially when Fan Shaohuang played a trick on He Jiajin, the laughter was particularly loud.
Ho Ka Chun is very famous in Hong Kong, and the audience especially likes to see him get humiliated. Driven by this bad taste, the theater was filled with laughter.
When Liu Hongmin saw this, he knew that "The Young Master" was a success.
Sure enough, after the movie ended, the audience couldn't help but stand up and look towards the back row.
Xu Xiaoming took the lead and stood up, "Let's go! Let's go up!"
He Jiajin took a deep breath and followed him, followed by Zhou Xingxing and Lan Jieying.
When the main creators came on stage, the theater immediately burst into warm applause. Many people shouted and praised, "He Jiajin, you acted so well, you should act in movies in the future!"
"What's your name, pretty girl?"
The staff brought the microphone over, and Xu Xiaoming said with a smile, "The pretty girl next to me is called Lan Jieying. Do you like her?"
"like!"
"Thank you all for your love, and thank you all for liking "The Young Master". Here, I want to ask you one thing. If you think "The Young Master" is good, please help us promote it when you go back..."
The high reputation of the midnight show fermented during the day. The attendance rate of "Shaolin Soccer" was very high, and almost every show was sold out.
"The Young Master" is a family movie with various elements, which can be adapted to all kinds of people. Adult men can watch martial arts, adult women can watch handsome men, the elderly and children can watch comedy, and young men and women can watch love on a date.
Many people walked out of the cinema with smiles on their faces. Seeing this, the cinema chain immediately increased the filming of "The Young Master". Their decision was very correct. In the following days, the attendance rate of "The Young Master" remained high.
After the first day box office figures came out, Zou Shifang has been grinning.
"We've made a fortune! We can recover our costs from the Hong Kong box office alone, and the Southeast Asian box office is pure profit."
Xu Xiaoming was also very happy. "It's just that the cinema chain's payment is a little slow. Otherwise, we can shoot another movie right after that and continue to make money."
Liu Hongmin asked: "163 million, is this a high box office?" "Very high!" Xu Xiaoming explained: "According to the box office rules in Hong Kong, the first week's box office is about % to % of the total box office. Now is the gap period for movie releases. New movies basically have to wait until the Spring Festival to be released. Old movies have basically exhausted their potential. We can completely enjoy the box office of these few days. Therefore, most of the total box office of "Shaolin Kid" will be obtained in the week before the New Year."
Liu Hongmin nodded. The movies scheduled for the Spring Festival include Cheng Long's "Dragon Master" and Jet Li's "Shaolin Temple", both of which were at the top of the Hong Kong box office chart in 82. Under the pressure of these two movies, the box office of "Shaolin Kid" will definitely be cut in half after the Spring Festival.
Therefore, Xu Xiaoming decided to release "Shaolin Kid" on the 18th, in order to occupy the one-week gap before the Spring Festival. Now it seems that this strategy has been successful.
Zou Shifang said: "Hongmin, now that the movie is released, I don't have much to do. Please write me an outline for a unit first, and I will try to finish it before the New Year."
"No need to be so anxious, right? It's Chinese New Year!"
"I want to save some manuscripts first. After that, I want to write a martial arts novel."
Liu Hongmin nodded, "That's a good idea. Don't worry, I'll find time to write it for you in the next few days. If I have more time, I'll see if I can write another script. Let's do the preparations first, and when the money arrives, we'll start filming."
Xu Xiaoming: "Aren't you waiting for the cinema to pay you back?"
Liu Hongmin shook his head. "Judge Bao sold more than 600,000 copies on Green Island, and the royalties were over a million Hong Kong dollars."
Zou Shifang thought for a moment and said, "The company still has more than 300,000 Hong Kong dollars left, which is still a little short of enough to make the movie."
Liu Hongmin said: "This time when I go back, I will contact the China Film Group to sell the copyright of "The Young Master". This requires the help of Beijing Film Studio, and I have to give them 300,000 RMB."
"There's still 600,000 RMB left." Zou Shifang calculated, "If we still shoot in the mainland, that's enough."
Xu Xiaoming immediately said: "Then I will start filming Justice Bao 2 after the Chinese New Year, and after that, we will shoot a new movie."
Wang Yaowei remained silent until the three of them had discussed it. He then said, "I will urge the cinemas to settle as much of the money as possible. Otherwise, the company will have trouble operating."
"Then do it!"
Liu Hongmin trusts Wang Yaowei very much. Although Wang Yaowei has a lot of bad habits, he is very calm and steady in doing things.
The four of them separated and each of them was busy with their own things. Liu Hongmin returned to the office and helped Zou Shifang write the outline of the third part of "Judge Bao".
Xu Xiaoming took the main creators to various theaters to promote the film, and did not stop until the 23rd. The effect of the promotion was very significant. As of the 23rd, the total box office of "Shaolin Kid" successfully exceeded million.
This result is very good. In the box office rankings of 1981, it ranked second, only behind "The Bodyguard".
On the 24th, Lan Jieying came to the company to find Liu Hongmin and said, "Mr. Liu, we agreed before that I would take you shopping."
Liu Hongmin looked at her in astonishment. When did they agree on this?
"Today is New Year's Eve, let's put our work aside for now. It will still be in time to look at it after the New Year."
As he spoke, Lan Jieying pulled Liu Hongmin up, walked out of the company, and took a taxi to Dapulin Village.
(End of this chapter)
