Literary Master 1978

"The King of Chess" has been released for more than a month, and millions of viewers go into theaters every day to watch this movie, setting off a huge movie-watching craze across the country.

At the same time, the media has also paid very high attention to this movie. Many film magazines including "Popular Cinema", "Film Art", "Film Review", "Contemporary Film" and so on have given high praise to "The Chess".

"Popular Movies": "Chess" is an excellent patriotic film that deserves the love of all Chinese people.

"Film Art": Knowing that something cannot be done but doing it, Jiang Nansheng interprets the true meaning of "Chess Master" with a fearless spirit.

"Contemporary Film": With his profound artistic skills, Chen Huaikai dedicated a patriotic film to the national audience, leading the audience back to that turbulent era.

In these media, in addition to articles praising "The Master of Chess", stills of "The Master of Chess" were also published.

Tony Leung Ka-fai is the absolute protagonist of "The Chess", so his face has frequently appeared in these movie magazines for more than a month, coupled with the popularity of "The Chess" and "Behind the Curtain".

The popularity of his face is now as good as that of local movie stars such as Zhu Shimao, Zhou Lijing, Liu Xiaoqing and Pan Hong.

"Hui Zai is now a famous star on both sides of the Taiwan Strait!"

When they met again, Lin Chaoyang saw Liang Jiahui and couldn't help but patted him on the shoulder and joked.

Listening to his words, Liang Jiahui looked shy, "Mr. Lin, you are joking, I cannot have this fame without the cultivation of you and Director Li!"

Lin Chaoyang laughed, "There is no need to cultivate or not cultivate. It's up to you to strive for success."

He then said to Li Hanxiang: "Old Li, you have picked it up this time. Hui Zai is not only the new Best Actor at the Academy Awards, but also a box office elixir. If "Fire Dragon" does not succeed, it will be your fault."

Li Hanxiang said, "Bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah!" "Crow's mouth! My movie will definitely gain both box office and word-of-mouth success, so please stop cursing me!"

Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "Feudal superstition!"

After the success of "Curtain Curtain" last year, Li Hanxiang originally planned to pursue the victory and make a series about Cixi, but he ended up falling out with the co-production company due to uneven distribution of the spoils.

This time he found CCTV to cooperate, and the subject of the movie changed from Cixi to Puyi. These two people can be regarded as the historical figures that Li Hanxiang is most interested in in the later stage of his career.

The idea of ​​filming Puyi actually preceded the filming of Cixi. However, four years ago, Li Hanxiang came to the mainland and proposed to the superiors to make a film about Puyi based on Puyi's "The First Half of My Life", but it was rejected. .

The reason given above is that some people around Puyi are still alive and have not yet made a final decision, making it difficult for the film to accurately process.

This time Li Hanxiang once again took up the subject of Puyi. The reason why it was successfully passed is that on the one hand, after a few years, many people who are still alive have withered away, and on the other hand, Li Hanxiang found a different approach this time.

This time he abandoned "The First Half of My Life" and adopted "The Second Half of His Life" written by Puyi's wife Li Shuxian after the liberation.

It tells the story of the second half of the life of the former emperor Puyi as an ordinary person after liberation, and the love life between him and his wife Li Shuxian.

In this way, there will be far fewer taboo areas in the film, and naturally there will be no obstacles to filming.

"Fire Dragon" is scheduled to start filming in early December. One of the main filming locations for the movie is Puyi's former residence, located at No. 40 Dongguanying Hutong, Xicheng District, just across from the two-in-one courtyard house that Lin Erchun bought some time ago. An alley.

Today, Lin Chaoyang was invited by Li Hanxiang to come here for a walk. The preparations for the shooting of "Fire Dragon" have basically been completed, and the filming will start in two days.

"Chess Master" was successfully released in Hong Kong, and Li Hanxiang was very excited when talking about it.

He didn't direct this movie, but he invested hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars, and now the movie has gained a lot of box office and word-of-mouth reviews. Naturally, he, as an investor, will benefit from it.

Don’t look at the 10 million box office that “Chess Master” achieved in Hong Kong is far less than the nearly 30 million earned by the two parts of “The Master of Chess”, but the investment in “The Master of Chess” is also low, only one-fifth of the investment of “The Master of Curtain” One, Tuoduo is a typical example of Xiao Bo Da.

Just the box office share of Hong Kong has doubled Li Hanxiang's investment share, and according to Li Hanxiang, film producers from Southeast Asia have been contacting him recently.

Southeast Asia has always been one of the ticket warehouses for Xiangjiang movies, but Xiangjiang movies are mainly introduced there through buyouts.

In the past two years, Hong Kong movies have been booming. Some big-budget movies with strong star casts are often cast only by the cast, and film producers from Taiwan and Southeast Asia take the initiative to send money with cash boxes.

"Chess Master" is a co-production between the Mainland and Hong Kong. The Bay Island market is a no-brainer, and the Southeast Asian market must not be ignored.

According to Li Hanxiang's estimation, it is not a big problem to earn HK$3 million from the "Chess" buyout.

When Li Hanxiang said this, his tone was full of regret, "It's a pity that "The Master of Chess" doesn't have any big stars, otherwise it wouldn't be impossible to sell it for five million!"

Then he asked Lin Chaoyang, "How big is the box office of "The King of Chess" in the mainland now?"

"I don't know. All the money went into China Film Group's pocket. I guess it should be 40 million."

It has only been released for a month and a half, and with the popularity shown by "Chess Master", the box office of 40 million is only a conservative figure.

"That's more than 1 billion Hong Kong dollars. People in Hong Kong think that the mainland is poor and the market is small. They don't understand the terrifying power of a market of one billion people!"

Li Hanxiang lamented the short-sightedness of his peers, but he couldn't help but complain about the distribution system of the mainland film industry.

"If we use Xiangjiang as an analogy, China Film is the same as Shaw Brothers 20 years ago! All the staff in front of and behind the scenes can only receive wages, and all the money earned belongs to the boss.

It’s really strange, how can such a system be maintained for decades? And can the mainland’s film market still be so prosperous? "

“Your analogy makes some sense, but it’s not entirely correct.

The existence of China Film Group certainly poses certain constraints to the development of the film industry, but its existence also has a positive side.

You have to know that in addition to cities, China also has vast rural areas.

A large part of the huge profits that China Film makes from releasing movies every year is invested in rural areas. It is precisely because of the existence of those rural screening teams that ordinary people can watch movies for a few cents, and even Watch movies for free.

This is also an important factor in promoting the prosperity of the Chinese film market.

But you said that the current film market is booming, which is not accurate. In fact, the domestic film market has been shrinking in recent years.

In the past, ordinary people had few other means of entertainment, and watching movies was the most cost-effective activity.

The number of TV sets has increased in recent years, and with the impact of new things like video halls, I am afraid that the movie market will continue to shrink in the next few years. "

Lin Chaoyang's analysis was so insightful that Li Hanxiang nodded unconsciously. His understanding of the mainland film market was very superficial. After Lin Chaoyang's analysis, he felt a little enlightened.

"Chaoyang, according to you, it won't be easy to make money in the mainland film market in the future?"

"The film industry is winner-take-all. As long as the film is good, there is no argument that it will not make money. But with China Film here, outside capital is indeed unlikely to make money."

Li Hanxiang nodded again, and after pondering for a moment, he asked again: "Speaking of which, the box office of the movies you wrote as a screenwriter were tens of millions or hundreds of millions, and you only received RMB 8,000 in royalties. Do you feel sad?"

Lin Chaoyang said with a smile: "Acid is useless, this is the reality."

Li Hanxiang wanted to continue talking, but someone happened to come over at this time, so he had to stop the topic.

"Brother Chaoyang! Long time no see!"

The visitor had a Chinese-character face and was wearing a windbreaker. As soon as he approached, he enthusiastically held Lin Chaoyang's hand.

"Shifang, I haven't seen you for a long time. Why are you here?"

The person who came was Zou Shifang, grade 77 of the Philosophy Department of Yan University. He was a backbone of literature and art when he was in school. He participated in the establishment of the May Fourth Literary Society and was responsible for the "Weiming Lake" magazine. He was an acquaintance with Lin Chaoyang.

"I'll come over to the crew for an interview."

Zou Shifang said hello to Li Hanxiang and Liang Jiahui.

After graduation, he was assigned to the supplement of the "People's Political Consultative Conference" as an editor and reporter. Puyi's workplace during his lifetime was in the CPPCC. After a while, the crew will go to the CPPCC compound for filming.

"Fire Dragon" is a film about the second half of Puyi's life. As the CPPCC media, "People's Political Consultative Conference News" naturally needs to pay more attention to it.

Zou Shifang came with a mission this time. Li Hanxiang and Liang Jiahui both had to be interviewed and take some photos.

When taking pictures, Zou Shifang called Lin Chaoyang together again, and everyone took a few more photos.

At noon, Li Hanxiang arranged to go to Donglaishun to eat hotpot mutton. Eating hotpot mutton in this season is naturally a good thing, and everyone agreed.

When they arrived at Donglaishun and had the hotpot mutton, Li Hanxiang resumed the topic interrupted by Zou Shifang in the morning.

"If a production company in Hong Kong asked you to write a script, would you do it?"

Lin Chaoyang looked at him, "Who? You?"

Li Hanxiang laughed and said: "My small workshop can't satisfy your huge appetite. Just during this period, I chatted with people from some production companies, and they are all very interested in you."

"Interested? Are there any production companies in Xiangjiang that value screenwriters?"

Li Hanxiang said: "Xinyi City has become extremely popular in the past few years. Now not only the stars in front of the stage are making money, but the heroes behind the scenes are also getting dividends."

When he mentioned New Art City, Lin Chaoyang looked a little serious.

New Art City started its business by relying on a group of talented filmmakers. Compared with companies like Shaw Brothers that treat talents as footwashing water and throw them away after use, New Art City is a rare group in the Hong Kong film industry. Clear stream.

But at this stage, Xinyi City seems to have begun to split, right?

Lin Chaoyang chatted with Li Hanxiang for a while and listened to him talk about the situation of Xinyi City in the past one or two years.

Although Xinyi City has achieved great things now, the abnormal ownership structure has led to constant internal struggles within the company.

He was a short-legged tiger before. At the beginning of this year, Xu Ke, one of the Seven Eccentrics of New Art City, left and established his own studio after filming the annual box office champion "The Queen's Secret Order" for New Art City. , the name is the movie studio.

His wife, Shi Nansheng, is also a leader in New Art City. Naturally, Shi Nansheng cannot stay if he leaves. The couple's departure is nothing less than a major blow to New Art City.

Fortunately, after the couple established the studio, the financial backer was still Princess Jin’s boss Lei, who could be regarded as half of Xinyi City’s allies.

Lin Chaoyang listened to Li Hanxiang for a long time and asked: "I heard when I was in Xiangjiang that Xinyi City is full of talents. There should be no shortage of scripts, right?"

"Who told you that Xinyi City is looking for you to write a script? They have so many people, do they need you?"

Lin Chaoyang looked at Li Hanxiang speechlessly. Why did you mention Xinyicheng for no reason?

Li Hanxiang explained: "I'm telling you that things are much better now than before. Screenwriters also get dividends!"

Unexpectedly, Lin Chaoyang changed the subject and asked, "When will you give me the red envelope for "The Chess Master"?"

Li Hanxiang was immediately furious and quickly argued: "You have to ask China Film for the money. The money they earn is worth hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars."

"That only counts if they can give it. Old Li, you just said there are dividends. Are you trying to default on your debt?"

Li Hanxiang was cornered by him and was speechless. He stammered for a long time and finally said: "Dividends... Dividends will be discussed after the Southeast Asian distribution rights are sold."

"Okay, I'll remember what you said. I'll wait for your dividends when the time comes."

Li Hanxiang looked at his fearless expression and couldn't help complaining in his heart. If he had known this, he would never agree to help him.

To be a good person, he still has to pay out of his own pocket. With Lin Chaoyang's appetite, he must give a big red envelope.

"Hey! By the way, who wants me to write a script?" Lin Chaoyang asked.