Huayu 1992, my entertainment era

Chapter 107 Gigi Lai's brother, the movie is released

On the 11th, after a series of publicity and reports, "New Hard Times" was officially released.

There weren’t any big premieres.

The investment in this film was only five million, which can almost be classified as a low-budget movie.

With this investment, plus the fact that Zhou Ziheng himself has a lot of attention, the outside world has already known about this movie.

Whether the box office is good or not no longer depends on publicity, but on word of mouth and the quality of the film.

In fact, the main reason is that the place is too small.

Hong Kong is different from the mainland. It is a large place with a large population. If we want more audiences to know about this movie, we need large-scale publicity.

In Hong Kong, the place is so small and there are so many people.

After one or two rounds of promotion, most people will know about this drama.

However, whether you watch it or not ultimately depends on the quality of the movie.

However, although there was no decent premiere, UFO still gave free movie tickets to some film critics and invited them to go to the cinema to watch the film on the first day.

After all, it is his first movie. Although it has not been premiered, Zhou Ziheng still attaches great importance to it.

Early in the morning, Zhou Ziheng came to Gigi Lai's house to pick her up, ready to mingle with the crowd to see the audience's reaction.

"Brother-in-law!"

At the door of Gigi Lai's house, as soon as Zhou Ziheng parked the car, Gigi Lai came out, and with her was her younger brother Lai Ying.

Zhou Ziheng would occasionally send Gigi Lai back home, and after doing so many times, her family knew about this person, Zhou Ziheng.

The whole family is quite enthusiastic about Zhou Ziheng.

Especially Li Ying, his brother-in-law was so enthusiastic towards him.

Whenever she has time, she likes to go to Zhou Ziheng's place to play with him.

Well, borrow his luxury car to go out for a spin.

Some time ago, Zhou Ziheng finally got a driver's license in Hong Kong and spent 700,000 Hong Kong dollars to buy a decent sports car.

Young people love to pretend.

Li Ying was no exception.

Ever since he found out that his sister was dating the big star Zhou Ziheng, he has been calling him brother-in-law all the time.

It's a sweet call.

I always try to please him when I have nothing to do.

Zhou Ziheng was pretty nice to this brother-in-law who might be temporary or permanent.

Not only did he often lend him a sports car to show off, but he also gave him some pocket money from time to time.

Let him experience what it's like to have a rich brother-in-law.

"Brother-in-law, I'm with you guys too, so I shouldn't be considered a light bulb!"

When he arrived in front of the car, Li Ying got in without any hesitation and said.

"It's fine with me, as long as your sister is willing."

Zhou Ziheng smiled.

"You have to come back after the movie." Gigi Lai said with her eyes wide open.

What do you think about Gigi Lai’s family situation?

a little complicated.

Her family was originally a famous film family in Hong Kong.

His grandfather is Lai Man-wai, known as the "Father of Hong Kong Films", and his aunt is the popular actress Lai Xuan.

It sounds like her family is pretty powerful.

But in fact, her family situation was very difficult.

Her father was deaf due to meningitis, and his hearing was only 20% to 30% and his eyesight was also very poor. After Lizi's grandmother, Lin Chuchu, passed away, the wealthy family's dispute over the family property happened to her family, and the family was driven out. Her father was disabled, and Lizi and Lai Ying were still young. The family mainly relied on their mother's work as a truck driver to make a living.

This situation continued until Gigi Lai was discovered by Wong Jing and entered the film and television industry, and things improved slightly.

Even so, because TVB's salary was not high, Gigi Lai didn't actually make that much money, just enough to get her family out of financial difficulties.

Because Gigi Lai had the hope of getting into university, but she chose to drop out for the sake of her family.

So she had high expectations for her younger brother, hoping that he could study hard instead of dropping out like herself.

Li Ying is also very hardworking and has always achieved good grades, and he is expected to be admitted to the University of Hong Kong.

"Sister, can't you let me take a day off?

I don’t know how long my brother-in-law can stay in Hong Kong, and I want to spend more time with him!”

When Li Ying, who was sitting in the back seat, heard this, his face suddenly turned bitter.

"Stay with him for a few more days. Are you dating him or me?"

Gigi Lai rolled her eyes at him.

"Brother-in-law, you..." Li Ying looked at Zhou Ziheng.

"I can't do anything about it." Zhou Ziheng raised his hands to show that he had no way to do anything.

"Uh..." Li Ying was speechless.

Zhou Ziheng started the car and drove towards the Oriental Theater.

The three Christmas movies were released in different theaters.

"New Hard Times" was released in Wong Jing's Oriental Cinemas.

"The Demon Cult Leader of the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is produced by Golden Harvest's Golden Lok.

"The Money-Grabbing Couple" is in the Golden Princess.

These three films are the main movies promoted by these three theaters during this period.

Unlike later movie theaters which generally have a large number of screens.

There were very few cinema screens in Hong Kong at that time.

Except for Golden Harvest, most theaters have two or three halls.

Other cinemas usually have only one hall, which means they can only show one movie at a time.

Therefore, the competition for screening schedules for movies is very fierce.

Major film production companies have often argued with theaters over ranking issues.

Xu Guanwen's Xu Brothers Company changed several cinema chains due to scheduling issues.

Oriental Cinemas is a newly established cinema chain.

In addition to Wong Jing's Oriental films, the films of UFO Company, once one of the Seven Monsters, Eric Tsang, are also generally released in Oriental Cinemas.

Also, because Zhou Ziheng is very popular, the first film attracted a lot of attention from fans.

Therefore, "The New Hard Times" became the main movie promoted by Oriental Cinemas during this period.

The weather in Hong Kong is not good today. It is cloudy and rainy, and there are no pedestrians on the streets.

However, there were quite a few people in front of the Oriental Theater.

Hundreds of movie fans holding umbrellas lined up to buy tickets to enter the theater.

"These are all your fans, brother-in-law!"

The car stopped on the roadside opposite the theater.

Li Ying opened the car window and looked at the audience queuing outside to enter the theater, and couldn't help but be amazed.

"Brother-in-law, do you know how many fans you have in Hong Kong now?"

Li Ying looked at Zhou Ziheng.

"I'm not sure, but it should be quite a lot."

Zhou Ziheng really didn't know.

Unlike the Four Heavenly Kings, he is not someone who has been deeply rooted in Hong Kong for a long time and even established a fan club.

His fan meeting is still being planned and prepared.

"I hope your movie is a big hit at the box office, it would be great if it could earn tens of millions.

By then, your salary will increase significantly, up to tens of millions for one film."

Li Ying said with anticipation.

"Pfft!" Gigi Lai couldn't help laughing, "You think it's easy to get a film pay of tens of millions? In the whole of Hong Kong, there are only a few people who can get a film pay of tens of millions.

This is not something that can be achieved by the success of one or two films.

Those who are now paid tens of millions for their films have all made three or four successful films, and each of them has grossed no less than 30 or 40 million yuan.”

"How is it impossible? My brother-in-law has so many fans. With this as a foundation, he can act in two or three movies with more than 20 or 30 million yuan. If his salary doesn't increase by then, I will stand on my head and eat shit."

Li Ying said with a pout.

"If this movie is a big hit, I'll buy you a motorcycle!"

Zhou Ziheng smiled and said, he put on a hat and a mask to hide himself, then got out of the car.

"Let's go! We don't have to wait in line to buy tickets."

Zhou Ziheng took out a few movie tickets.

"You're lucky, kid. I got several tickets yesterday, otherwise you would have to buy your own ticket."

He had already decided yesterday that he would go to the theater to experience it for himself today, so he went to UFO and got a few tickets for the Oriental Theater.

Three days later, you enter the theater with your ticket and enter the screening room after inspection.

Oriental Cinema is a large theater in the Oriental Cinema Chain, the kind that can host movie premieres.

Not only are there three theaters, but the screening room is also very large and can accommodate more than 300 people.

Although the movie had not started yet, there were already quite a few people sitting in the screening room.

Most of them are young men and women.

Today is Saturday and students have a holiday.

In addition, students also make up the majority of Zhou Ziheng's fans.

"I don't know how the movie will do, I hope it will do well at the box office."

Wang Xiaohui sat with her best friend, looked at the increasing number of people in the hall, and prayed.

"Don't worry, at worst we can get more classmates to support us later.

But looking at the current situation, the box office should be very good."

My best friend glanced around and said confidently.

Both of them are loyal fans of Zhou Ziheng.

As a fan, of course I have to support my idol.

As soon as they knew the release date of the movie, they dragged many classmates to buy tickets early in the morning to show their support.

“The results of the preview of The Demon Cult Leader of The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber are out.

I heard that the result was not ideal. Film critics were generally pessimistic about Jet Li's movie. I heard that the plot and characters were changed all over the place.

Zhang Wuji became an ambitious hero, and Zhang Sanfeng was directly transformed into Zhou Botong. "

In a corner of the film world, two people wearing hats are discussing.

The person who spoke seemed to be gloating.

"After all, Jet Li has great appeal, so we shouldn't underestimate him."

Another slightly plump man wearing a hat said this and looked around the theater.

"This Zhou Ziheng has a strong appeal. Many people came to see him. They must be his fans."

"The fans are just looking for the movie. If the quality of the movie is average, by the time these fans have seen it, the box office will definitely drop significantly."

The person who spoke before said with disdain.

“Chen Kexin still has some talent, the quality of the movie shouldn’t be too bad.

Not to mention Tony Leung and Carina Lau also came to support us.”

The slightly plump man did not agree with him.

"In addition, this kind of time-travel movie is popular in itself, and everyone is very curious about this kind of movie."

"Hey... look, isn't that Zhou Ziheng? The one next to him looks like Gigi Lai."

The man who had spoken before suddenly spoke again.

The slightly plump man, Xu Guanwen, who was nicknamed the King of Comedy in the 1980s, looked over there when he heard this.

Sure enough, I saw a man who looked like Zhou Ziheng.

The woman next to him was not wearing a mask, and Michael Hui recognized her at a glance as Gigi Lai from the promotional poster of "Young and Dangerous".

"Tsk, judging from the way they look, they should be dating."

……

Zhou Ziheng leaned back in his chair, grabbing popcorn from Gigi Lai's hand and putting it into his mouth while waiting for the movie to start.

A few minutes later, the screen in front lit up and the movie began.

"The New Hard Times" is a sentimental film, but also a comedy in line with the current trend.

What is different from other comedies is that in addition to the hilarious jokes, the audience can also interpret a condensed memory and emotion of the old times.

Although Zhou Ziheng's acting in the film is a bit immature, it is not particularly bad and can be regarded as supporting his role.

Tony Leung’s acting skills are top-notch, the supporting actors are also quite strong, and the participation of actors such as Carina Lau, Gigi Lai, and Daniel Lee has greatly enriched the watchability of the film.

Despite this, the film did not become a star-studded affair.

Each supporting character played his or her role appropriately, with distinct characteristics but not stealing the limelight from the protagonist.

When describing human relationships, Chen Kexin’s work is delicate and humorous.

In fact, requiring the new generation to learn from their predecessors' spirit of helping each other, working silently and not fearing losses has always been the mainstream idea in Hong Kong society.

Chen Kexin handled this old-fashioned story not by using any innovative ideas, but by simply endowing each character with silliness and persistence. With the humorous performances of Tony Leung, Chow Chi-hang and other actors, the film avoided being overly dull and didactic, and was still full of fun.

After the movie started, the audience went from being uninterested at first to laughing more and more loudly after the time travel.

Especially Li Jiacheng played by Li Zixiong.

Wearing glasses, working in the plastic products industry.

All of this implies that he is Li Ka-shing, the current richest man in Hong Kong.

This plot of going back to the past to meet the richest man and becoming his boss has become a commonplace in the future.

But in this era, this is definitely a very remarkable idea.

This can be seen from the discussions among the audience around that the protagonist should invest in Li Jiacheng's business.

"If I were to go back to the 1960s and 1970s, I would definitely hoard houses as much as possible and not do anything else. In a few decades, I would definitely become a wealthy man."

"That's right, be Li Ka-shing, let Li Ka-shing sell his plastic products."

"Zhou Ziheng's acting is a bit poor. If his acting was better, the film would definitely be better."

"It's not bad actually! I think he acted well, handsome and playboy."

"By the way, the actress who plays his girlfriend is so pretty. Her two dimples are so beautiful when she smiles."

"You don't even know Gigi Lai? She's a TVB actress who has acted in several TV series.

Besides, haven’t you seen “Fairy Tale”? She’s the heroine in it.”

The movie ended and the audience began to leave.

Zhou Ziheng and the other two mingled in the crowd, listening to everyone discussing the plot, and immediately smiled.

He was just afraid that no one would discuss it.

As long as people are discussing the plot, it means everyone has watched it seriously.

The fact that you can watch it seriously shows that the movie is still attractive.

“What did you think of this movie?”

Michael Hui and Rosamund Kwan were also walking out.

They didn't go up to greet Zhou Ziheng.

Hong Kong is such a small place that celebrities can often be seen on the streets.

When you meet someone, you may say hello if you know each other.

If we don’t know each other, we will just treat each other as strangers.

Many people think that people in the entertainment industry may all be friends.

Not necessarily.

Hong Kong movies are all fast-paced movies.

The shooting time of a film may be as long as a month or as short as a few days.

Even if they cooperate, many people are actually just acquaintances and are not familiar with each other.

Take the Four Heavenly Kings for example.

The outside world always thought they were friends.

In fact, they were just friends at work.

After leaving the stage, everyone basically went their separate ways.

Everyone has his or her own circle.

"Overall, the quality is very good." Zhang Zhiliang no longer had the disdain he had at the beginning, but said seriously.

“Yes, I think so too, judging by the audience’s appearance, they also like the movie very much.

It seems that this will be our biggest enemy during this period."

(End of this chapter)