Hong Kong Entertainment’s Life Simulator

After a while, Zhao Donghuai sent He Guanchang away and waited for him to clean up. He was about to go to the Clear Water Bay Studio to develop the new action-type samples shot yesterday.

I saw a young man in a suit knocking on the door.

When the young man saw Zhao Donghuai, he smiled warmly, "Director Zhao, I, Li Guoxing, it's really not easy to find this place."

Zhao Donghuai invited the other party in and said with a smile, "Li Sheng, who is this?"

Li Guoxing's smile became even brighter, "You came uninvited, so I'll make a long story short. I want to come up with 10 million to buy out New World's distribution rights in Southeast Asia, even Wanwan, island countries, and South Korea."

"I know that Director Zhao cooperates with Shaw Brothers and there is no shortage of distribution channels, but for Shaw Brothers' distribution, in which month is it released in various places, how long does it take to be released, and how much time is left after the release to check out? Transfer money? It won't be released within half a year, right? , it’s even harder to get stuck.”

"If Director Zhao is willing, sign a contract and 10 million will be credited within two days."

Zhao Donghuai, "..."

This is one of the key channels for Hong Kong films to make money. The local box office really doesn’t make much, and it’s a problem to slowly repay the investment of 5 million. It’s better to have a box office hit. At most, you’ll encounter distribution companies such as Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, and Golden Princess. I'll wait until it takes you a few months to split the box office accounts, and then I'll do it slowly.

Of course, it’s also common for the darker ones to drag you down for half a year or a year.

When you get to other places, whether it is Wanwan, South Korea, island theaters or theaters in Xingjiapo, Malaysia and other places, you will slowly settle the accounts after the screenings are released, split the accounts with Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest and other companies, and then go to Shaw Brothers Golden Harvest to pay Production film company, that time will be...

It’s quick to get it within half a year.

Selling out is a quick way to recover funds.

Now that Cheng Long has become popular, it is very common for Wanwan and Southeast Asian film producers to approach the film company before the film is even made and want to buy out the distribution rights for new films.

In the past, Zhao Donghuai was unknown, but now publishers come to his door, which is normal.

After thinking, he smiled and said, "Ten million? Li Sheng is somewhat sincere."

As He Guanchang said before, Cheng Long's "Master Long" cost 18 million Hong Kong dollars in his hometown, but including Wanwan, South Korea, the island nation of Xingjiapo, etc., the cost is roughly 13 million US dollars.

If one U.S. dollar is exchanged for 7.8 Hong Kong dollars, that’s a box office of 100 million Hong Kong dollars.

Even if they split with theaters around the world, they would still get tens of millions. This is how Jiahe and Cheng Long make money, and it is also the reason why Cheng Long's salary is so expensive. What's more, theater release is only one of the profits, and there is also video distribution. .

This is not the era of the 1990s, when DCD and VCD were rampant and pirated copies were everywhere. In this era, video tapes were basically used, which were expensive and difficult to produce, and the profits from the distribution of video tapes were also huge.

Before the rise of piracy, video tapes were actually very profitable.

You said that the exchange rate between Hong Kong dollars and U.S. knives has been changing, and Mr. Long’s example is inappropriate... That’s right. In the early and mid-1970s, one U.S. dollar was only worth a little over 5 Hong Kong dollars, but this spring and summer, one U.S. dollar was worth almost 9 Hong Kong dollars.

In October, this month, the Hong Kong dollar was set at 7.8 to one against the U.S. dollar, which remained unchanged for many years.

Take Plan A as an example. It will be released in December this year. The exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar has been determined. The local city of Hong Kong Island has more than 19 million yen, ranking under the Five Lucky Stars and the Best Partner. However, an island country has 3.1 billion yen, which is worth 1,000. With tens of thousands of U.S. dollars, the U.S. dollar against the Japanese yen is about 1:240 at this time.

The total box office is about more than 26 million dollars, and the island country accounts for half of the total box office.

Multiplied by seven point eight, the total box office is more than 200 million Hong Kong dollars!

The approximate proportion is divided between half or more of the theaters in various countries. After paying taxes, deducting publicity and distribution costs, and other miscellaneous expenses, Jiahe and Cheng Long can also pocket about 70 to 80 million, and the video tapes will make even more huge profits.

But this is Cheng Long.

If the market in his new world is too poor, it may not be able to reach major theaters.

It's not too much to cut the total box office by nearly half, which is 100 million Hong Kong dollars. This is still a benchmark for Plan A, a box office hit for all countries outside the island country.

The original Infernal Affairs 1 and New World are in the island country? ? Not much box office success.

Countries deduct taxes, publicity and distribution, theaters deduct half of it, and Shaw Brothers deducts a few percent again when he returns to Hong Kong Island. He will only pocket 20 million yuan, which is the top income. It takes a lot of time to wait. If any country fails to explode at the box office If so, the number will be less.

If you were cheated by a foreign theater operator and stole the box office...

If you think about it, getting 10 million in two days is not a small amount.

"It's okay to sell it outright, but I want fifteen million."

All other places are as popular as Hong Kong Island. After a few months or even more than half a year, more than 20 million will be received one after another, and if there is 15 million in a few days, he will definitely choose the latter.

In other words, the total box office figures in Hong Kong Island are similar to the final net box office profits in other cities.

But here comes the biggest problem. He doesn't recognize anyone in Xingjiapo, Malaysia, India, Thailand and other places. Even if the box office in one place sells three to four million US dollars, theater distributors in various countries will just talk about it. Even if he told half of it, it would be difficult for him to verify it.

Even if Mr. Shao is kind and doesn’t cheat, what about the theaters in various countries? After the turn of the millennium, theaters in various provinces and cities in the Mainland are trying to steal the box office, and it is difficult to restrain themselves from the prefix Chinese. How can we talk about overseas tricks in this era?

It's really better to get the money in advance to do some business. Even taking advantage of the current low real estate market price, you can make enough money by selling a few good houses with room for appreciation.

Before Li Guoxing could speak, he continued, "There is no need to bargain. Everyone knows that my play is supported by Shao Sheng. If you agree to this figure, I will ask Shao Sheng if he is willing to pay the same price as you." "

He and Shaw Brothers have always been a win-win situation. They have supported a handful of Shaw Brothers theaters, which have a limited number of people. From Johnnie To to Chow Yun-fat, he has also been a fan.

It would definitely be unjust if he poached Johnnie To, Chow Yun-fat, Wan Ziliang and others to sign contracts during the filming period, but he didn't poach anyone!

The salary of that large group of people has increased greatly since then, and he can't get a penny.

Shaw Brothers can be divided into commissions.

I wanted to sign Lan Jieying to be the female lead in the new film. When I asked Lan Jieying to make an appointment, the other party hadn't officially signed a contract with TVB, so he didn't steal her.

From renting equipment from Shaw Brothers to the studio, assembling people, releasing the film, etc., he paid enough money according to all the rules.

It was released in Shaw Brothers Cinemas, following the small and medium-sized company model. Shaw Cinemas divided 60% and he got 40%, instead of Xu Guanwen's Golden Harvest release. Xu Guanwen took 60% of the box office in the first week. Of course, the King of Comedy's 60% Cheng... His company has Jiahe shares and subsidiaries, and Jiahe will be divided again.

The most important thing is that at the beginning, it was only said that it would be released on Hong Kong Island, and the appointment was made.

There was no word from other places, and there was no verbal agreement. At that time, Shao Daheng still thought that he would rush to the street and let Wang Tianlin remake it.

Li Guoxing frowned and thought for a while, then nodded, "All 15 million will be issued, okay. You and Shao Sheng have made an agreement and call me anytime."

After saying that, he took out a business card and put it on the table, smiled politely, and left.

Boss Li wanted to get the video tape as well, but unfortunately after asking the theater distributors, he knew that the video tape was not available. The video tape, Once Upon a Time in China in 1991, Ajie's, the box office in Hong Kong was 29 million Hong Kong dollars, but in the ten years from 1991 to 2001, Amei made $10.23 million from video rentals alone.

Hanging?

Ajie's Fist of Heroes grossed HK$15 million at the Hong Kong box office, which was considered a blockbuster given his celebrity status. However, A-Mei's DVD rental and sales sold for HK$8.4 million and video tapes for HK$8.35 million, a discount of more than HK$100 million.

The Black Man has a box office of more than 13 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong Island and is a hit! Amei’s DVD rentals cost 18.6 million U.S. dollars, and the video tapes cost 17.47 million U.S. dollars. A black man only worked as a salesman in North America and earned 36.07 million U.S. dollars, which is more than 200 million Hong Kong dollars based on 1:7.8.

The salesmen who wear coats in later generations are so weak!

This is still a film that has not been released in Amei theaters, or has a mediocre box office after its release.

Cheng Long later said in an interview that he was paid 5 million U.S. dollars for the first film of Rush Hour, but for Rush Hour 2, he was paid 15 million U.S. dollars plus more than 20 million U.S. dollars in dividends. The more than 20 million U.S. dollars were divided into dividends, and the DVD and video tape market occupied the majority.

After more than ten years of filming, there are still a lot of dividends received every year.

Therefore, in the Chinese film industry, if you look at Hong Kong Island's local city, Ajie is still tied for double Monday, but outside of it, Ajie and Cheng Long are both international superstars, and their salaries are exploding.

Similarly, video tapes are not fought over for one or two years. It is common for them to still make money after ten or twenty years. Then the Internet copyright comes.

After watching Li Guoxing leave, Zhao Donghuai grabbed the business card and played with it, then smiled and picked up the phone and called Shao Daheng.

"Shao Sheng, my name is Zhao Donghuai. I am resting at home today. A man named Li Guoxing came and said he was willing to spend 15 million to buy out the distribution rights of New World to overseas theaters in East Asia and Southeast Asia except the mainland."

"If I promise, I can get the money in a few days."

"I originally invested 5 million, and the profits have doubled in the past few months. I am really excited. As you know, I am short of Hong Kong dollars."

"But I haven't agreed to him yet. I'm still thinking about it. Shao Sheng, do you think I should sell it or not?"