Huayu 1992, my entertainment era

Chapter 167 Zhou Ziheng's Ambition
"Mr. Du, resign from the Metropolitan Film Studio and come work with me! Together we will set up a new film company, just like Cinema City in the 1980s, and open up a new era."

Zhou Ziheng looked directly at Johnnie To and spoke.

Upon hearing this, You Naihai, who had been wondering why Zhou Ziheng had asked Johnnie To out, suddenly looked at Johnnie To in disbelief.

He thought of many reasons why Zhou Ziheng wanted to date Johnnie To.

But I never thought that Zhou Ziheng actually wanted to poach Johnnie To.

Judging from Johnnie To's expression, he didn't seem surprised by this.

In other words, Johnnie To may have the same idea.

Compared to You Naihai's surprise, Johnnie To's expression did not change much.

However, his eyes flickered violently, indicating his inner uneasiness.

After a long pause, he looked at Zhou Ziheng and spoke slowly:
"If I want to start my own company, there are bosses willing to invest in me. Why should I join you?"

Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng couldn't help but smile.

He knew that Johnnie To was moved.

As for his doubts, they were just normal attempts to find out more.

Again, Zhou Ziheng does not have the spirit of a turtle. It is impossible for him to make others bow down to him just because he shows his strength.

For a well-known director like Johnnie To, he really has no shortage of investment.

If he goes out on his own, there are indeed some wealthy bosses willing to invest in him.

He has no shortage of investors.

Therefore, if Zhou Ziheng wants him to join his company, he must show his advantages.

If you don’t have advantages, you can’t make money. If you can’t make money, why would others work with you?

Is it because you have a big face?
To put it bluntly, Johnnie To is not entirely focused on seeing the company's future.

What he meant was also to find out how much benefit Zhou Ziheng was willing to give him.

"First of all, after you join, I will give you the greatest freedom. You won't be restricted in everything like you were in the metropolis."

Zhou Ziheng raised a finger and stated the first condition.

This is also what directors like Johnnie To hope for the most.

Any director with a bit of ambition hates having his or her play dictated by others.

Johnnie To has often been subjected to this kind of constraints in Metropolis.

The person in charge of the Met is Sir Run Run Shaw’s wife Mona Fong.

This person always likes to meddle in the company's affairs, sometimes even the filming of movies.

“Second, I will be involved in one of the company’s films every year.

I think you should understand what I represent now. Not to mention Europe and America, just Asia, with my current popularity, as long as I act in the film, the overseas revenue of the film will definitely not be bad. "

Although Zhou Ziheng has only acted in one movie since his debut, in fact, his status in the film industry is not low.

Apart from anything else, his appeal in Japan alone is enough to make him one of Hong Kong's current top actors.

Don't underestimate Japan.

The reason why Jackie Chan is firmly sitting on the seat of Hong Kong's number one superstar is that his box office appeal in Japan is extremely terrifying. He has a huge number of fans, and any movie he makes in Japan will earn a huge box office.

In recent years, Stephen Chow and others have held the top spot in Hong Kong's box office charts almost every year. Why is Jackie Chan still the number one movie star in Hong Kong and his position is unshakable?
The reason is that Jackie Chan's movies may not win the annual championship in Hong Kong, but in the whole of Asia, when all regions are added together, his annual box office data is far ahead of others.

The same is true for Jet Li. If we really talk about the box office in Hong Kong, Jet Li's performance in Hong Kong is actually far behind that of Stephen Chow, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat and others.

Jet Li is the only superstar who has never had a movie top the Hong Kong annual box office chart.

But the fact is that his status is no weaker than that of Stephen Chow and others.

The reason is that his box office in other parts of Asia is very high.

Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and other places.

All in all, he is second only to Jackie Chan.

Zhou Ziheng may not be as good as them now.

But his popularity in the music industry is terrifying. Even if it is one-tenth of the original number, his appeal in these areas will be terrifying.

The most typical one is "New Hard Times".

The film grossed 26 million in Hong Kong.

It barely ranked eighth on the 1993 annual box office list.

But over the past few years, the total profit of this movie has completely surpassed the previous movies.

It is second only to a few movies such as "City Hunter" and "Fang Shiyu".

As for the reason, it was naturally because of Zhou Ziheng.

Because Zhou Ziheng is very popular in Japan and South Korea.

Incidentally, this film also boosted the videotape and VCD markets in these regions.

According to incomplete statistics, Zeng Zhiwei's UFC company made direct and indirect profits of more than 30 million Hong Kong dollars from this film alone.

This is just UFC. If it is considered the distributor, the total profit of this film will only be higher.

Therefore, Zhou Ziheng is actually very popular in the film industry now.

Major Hong Kong companies, including Golden Harvest and Yongsheng, have contacted Zhou Ziheng more than once, hoping to get his film contract.

Even though Zhou Ziheng refused again and again, the scripts that came to him kept piling up.

"I admit that your appeal is very strong in Asia, and there are few people in Hong Kong who can compare with you.

But movies are not songs. If a movie fails, your appeal will collapse.

There's no guarantee that your next movie will be up to par.

So, it’s not enough.”

Johnnie To was obviously tempted, but he still raised doubts.

Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng was not surprised at all.

He directly used a big move.

“I plan to set up a cinema chain!”

wow...

As soon as Zhou Ziheng said this, both Johnnie To and You Naihai couldn't help but look at Zhou Ziheng suddenly.

Johnnie To's eyes sparkled, "Are you serious?"

After a pause, he hesitated and asked, "Do you have so much money?"

1995 was definitely a year when the Hong Kong film and television industry faced a major reshuffle.

As the Taiwanese market began to squeeze out Hong Kong films, all the cinema companies originally existing in Hong Kong were affected.

In the mid-1980s, there were only a few large cinema chains in Hong Kong, including Golden Harvest, D&B, and Golden Princess.

In the late 1980s, a large number of wealthy people, including Taiwanese film producers, saw the booming Hong Kong market and wanted to enter the film market with their money in hand.

But at that time, Hong Kong was dominated by three major players: the Golden Princess Cinemas, the D&B Cinemas which was derived from the Shaw Brothers Cinemas, and the Golden Harvest Cinemas. While competing with each other, the three major cinema chains also tried to dominate the cinema market in Hong Kong, leaving the hot money that flowed into Hong Kong with no chance to enter the film and television industry.

It was under such circumstances that Chen Rongmei, one of the owners of Golden Princess, saw the opportunity and directly established the Xinbao Cinema Line.

Compared with the previous three cinema chains, Xinbao Cinemas does not have a stable satellite company to supply films. In order to stabilize the film source, Xinbao Cinemas often acts as a middleman, connecting the hot money pouring into Hong Kong and allowing them to cooperate with independent production companies to produce movies.

The finished products shot in this way can be released in the Xinbao Cinema Line, and investors can also take the films back to their own territories to release them, eliminating the trouble of going to Golden Harvest and Cinema City to buy films. It can really be said to be a win-win situation.

Since then, Hong Kong films have entered their peak period since the 1980s.

The influx of a large amount of hot money has made Hong Kong's film and television practitioners almost crazy busy.

This was the craziest era for Hong Kong films.

A bad movie made in a random way, but labeled as produced in Hong Kong, could earn huge profits in foreign markets. At its peak, Hong Kong had more than a dozen cinema chains in order to match Taiwan's supply of movies.

There are more than a dozen cinema chains!

Hong Kong is such a small place, but there are more than a dozen cinema chains, and each cinema chain has at least a dozen or twenty theaters.

All in all, the total number of cinemas in Hong Kong has reached three to four hundred.

With so many cinemas, they certainly made a lot of money when Hong Kong films were at their peak.

But the 1993 film "Jigong" directly burst this balloon that had expanded to the extreme.

Wang Yingxiang spent 30 million Hong Kong dollars to purchase "Journey to the West". After he got Wanwan back, the box office suffered a huge loss and he almost lost all his money.

This led Taiwanese film producers to realize that not every Hong Kong film would be a big hit in Taiwan.

So they united to ask Hong Kong producers to lower the prices of film distribution.

Hong Kong naturally doesn't want to do that.

In 1993, Hong Kong films were at their peak, and the film companies in Hong Kong believed that Taiwan would not be able to hold out for long.

As long as Hong Kong doesn't give them films, they will surrender in no time.

As a result, who would have thought that Taiwan's film producers would take a tough approach this time. After Hong Kong disagreed and refused to supply films to Taiwan, they turned around and put pressure on Taiwan to lift restrictions on Hollywood films.

Wanwan simply stopped playing with Hong Kong and instead went to Hollywood to buy movies.

The result was that Hong Kong movies couldn’t be sold in Taiwan for a while.

Taiwan doesn't want Hong Kong's movies, so it's naturally impossible for Hong Kong to produce a large number of movies.

After all, if no one wants the product you make, it will just be a waste of your time!

As the number of films being shot in Hong Kong has decreased, naturally, most of the dozen or so cinema chains in Hong Kong have no movies to show.

If there are no movies showing in cinemas, then it would be just like waiting to die!
Therefore, starting from 1994, a large number of theater owners in Hong Kong declared bankruptcy or sold their theaters.

However, even if theaters were worthless at that time, it would take more than a few million to set up a cinema chain. Without tens of millions, it would be impossible for ordinary people to do it.

Although Johnnie To knew that Zhou Ziheng must have a lot of money, he had only been in the industry for two or three years.

He felt that it was unlikely that Zhou Ziheng would come up with so much money.

"You don't have to worry about this at all. All you need to know is that I will set up a cinema chain and it will be completed within this year."

Zhou Ziheng smiled and didn't explain how much money he had.

Sometimes, speaking out about this kind of thing will cause hatred.

As for where does he get his money?
He has accumulated tens of millions of assets in recent years.

This year's "Zhou Ziheng" is another big hit.

Soon, it was time for him and EMi to settle the bill again.

The album "Zhou Ziheng" has sold over nine million copies so far.

More importantly, this is an English album, which sells for a higher price in Europe and the United States.

It is no exaggeration to say that Zhou Ziheng can earn tens of millions from this album alone.

The income from this album alone was enough for him to set up a cinema chain in Hong Kong.

Zhou Ziheng has never considered himself as just a simple artist.

Now that he has traveled through time, he can’t always be an artist being controlled by others!
Being a boss is the right way to go.

And Hong Kong will only be the beginning.

Wait a few years later when the mainland opens up its policies and allows private cinema chains to be established.

By then, he will also set up a cinema chain in the mainland.

By then, he will have control over the cinema chains. In this circle, at least in the Chinese entertainment circle, who can do anything to him?

"If you can really set up a cinema chain, I agree to join your film and television company."

Johnnie To said solemnly.

Cinemas are very important to film companies.

With the cinema chains in hand, not only is scheduling films not a problem, but there is also no need to worry about being suppressed by other companies, and the company can be completely self-sufficient.

"By the way, I have a request!"

Johnnie To pondered for a moment and then spoke again.

"You say." Zhou Ziheng nodded.

Johnnie To looked at You Nai-hoi and said, "I have a few friends who will join me."

After listening to Zhou Ziheng's plan, You Naihai was already excited and wanted Johnnie To to bring him along.

Hearing what Johnnie To said, he immediately looked at Zhou Ziheng nervously.

Zhou Ziheng glanced at You Naihai and couldn't help laughing.

He was originally thinking about how to get Johnnie To to bring people like Yau Nai-hoi in, but now he actually took the initiative to bring it up.

This saved him a lot of trouble.

Glancing at You Naihai, Zhou Ziheng smiled and said, "I welcome all talented people to come to my company.

Please rest assured about the treatment. I am not a stingy person. As long as there is ability, the company will never treat anyone unfairly. "

"It's settled then, I will contact some of my friends after I return.

When can your company be officially established? "

Johnnie To seemed a little impatient.

"The company will be established in a few days. I am arranging people to handle it at the cinema. It will be completed in a month at the latest."

Zhou Ziheng roughly calculated the time and found that one month would be enough.

As for the cinema chains, many theaters are now selling at a loss due to the shrinking market. As long as you have money, it won’t take long to get the deal done.

“You can help recruit more people during this month.

correct……"

As he spoke, Zhou Ziheng took out the script of "The Con Man" from the briefcase next to him.

"This is the company's first project. I will be the director myself. I hope you can help me as the assistant director."

Johnnie To took the script and couldn't help but frown, "You're the director?"

"Yes, don't worry, this will not affect your subsequent works. If this play fails, I will invest more money to let you shoot your play."

Zhou Ziheng knew that Johnnie To didn't believe in him.

But Zhou Ziheng didn't care.

To be honest, he himself is not very confident.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have let Johnnie To be his assistant director.

"I think to be on the safe side, let my friend Wei Jiahui be your assistant director! I'm preparing another movie here. If this one fails, this movie can serve as a backup."

Johnnie To said after a moment of hesitation.

Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng thought about it and felt that it was okay.

Wei Jiahui is actually a good director.

Having him as assistant director is enough to help me deal with some things that I can't handle myself.

And if Johnnie To makes another movie, it can make up for the gap to a certain extent.

"Then you can take out a script and I'll take a look at it in the next few days."

(End of this chapter)