Chapter 522 Past Events
Hong Kong, Jiahe.
Wrinkle Wenhuai is already showing his age!
In fact, after entering the new millennium, Golden Harvest's performance was very poor, Hong Kong films were declining, Hollywood was conquering the city, and Wrinkle Wenhuai had already doubted himself!
A few years ago, a bunch of companies wanted to acquire Jiahe.
The most dangerous time was when Australian shareholders wanted to buy up Jiahe shares and annex Jiahe. Fortunately, Li Jiacheng invested a large amount of shares in time and saved the situation;
Then there was Lin Jianyue - before successfully acquiring Media Asia, he had tried to acquire Golden Harvest Film Company, but in the end it failed due to various reasons...
For various reasons, Taiwanese electronics giant Acer came forward...
After experiencing these, Jiahe has become an asset-light company that mainly relies on issuance and financing to make money.
But...film companies should still rely on production to turn around!
After Shen Xudong joined, he first filmed "Cruel Streets" and then "Glory of the Tang Dynasty", and even persuaded Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung to buy shares in Golden Harvest. He himself spent 20 million and successfully obtained 10% of the shares...
The market value of Jiahe... is really small, only 127 million Hong Kong dollars!
Speaking of Wrinkle Wenhuai, he decided to let go...
"Taken" sold for $40 million.
represents what?
It represents Shen Xudong’s so-called action superstar creation plan. The idea is correct!
Moreover, a bunch of Hollywood companies came to buy the copyrights for the works produced by Donnie Yen and Wu Jing...
I heard that "The Karate Kid" sold for US$2 million!
What really makes Wrinkle Wenhuai feel that he is behind the times is that "Human Purge" sold US$107 million worldwide...
107 million U.S. dollars. You must know that last year, Hong Kong's total box office did not reach 900 million Hong Kong dollars. In other words, the global box office of Shen Xudong's movie exceeded Hong Kong's box office data.
Wrinkle Wenhuai quickly asked someone to buy the disc. After watching it, everyone was confused...
Alas, times have really changed!
The saddest thing for a filmmaker is that he can't keep up with the times and doesn't understand the public's aesthetic points...
What should you do if you encounter this situation?
Retirement, what else can I do?
Do you still have to stand in the latrine and not poop?
Wrinkle Wenhuai doesn’t have an actor son to praise!
I calculated the assets - Jiahe's shares are worth HK$123 million, and bonds and the like are worth HK$80 million...
Looking back on that year, when Jiahe was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Zou Wenhuai's net worth was as high as HK$600 million!
In just ten years, his net worth has shrunk by 500 million...
…
Shen Xudong flew to Hong Kong that night, accompanied by Gao Fenfen...
Well, the two top executives from Tianmei are here!
Shen Xudong whispered: "There is no need to attach too much importance to Jiahe. It is of course a symbol of glory, but it has indeed gone downhill now!"
Gao Fenfen nodded: "I also read the information. I heard that Wan Wenhuai speculated in real estate in 1997... and the compensation was so miserable..."
"It was indeed tragic... He Guanchang passed away that year, Jackie Chan left, the Asian financial crisis, and yes, there was also "The Lost City"..."
"Secret Agent" was invested and produced by Golden Harvest. It was filmed in many places in South Korea and Turkey, with a total investment of more than 170 million Hong Kong dollars. Later, it overspent to 200 million Hong Kong dollars. Adding in the 10 million publicity fees, it is conservatively estimated to be 210 million Hong Kong dollars. The best at the time of creation.
The box office and reputation were very poor!
why?
Because Jiahe started playing with streaming media - the 30 minutes of the movie's ending are on a video website called I-Content!
At that time, Hong Kong businessman Lin Jianyue wanted to acquire Jiahe, so Wenhuai turned to Taiwanese electronics giant Acer.
After Acer took a stake in Jiahe, Jiahe carried out structural reorganization. Acer has been committed to the research and development of electronic products, software and hardware, so it is very sensitive to the Internet market.
Seeing the declining Hong Kong film environment, Acer hoped to transfer Golden Harvest's film market from theaters to the Internet and established a video website called I-Content.
And "The Secret Agent" has also become an "experimental work" for Jiahe Films to shift to the online platform.
In order to allow the audience to watch "The Secret Agent" on the online platform.
Golden Harvest divided the original plot of the movie into two works, "The Lost City of Secret Agents 2003" and "The Lost City of Secret Agents".
Among them, "Secret Agent 2003" is 30 minutes long and was the first to be broadcast on the online platform.
"Secret Agent" lasts 108 minutes and will be released online and in theaters at the same time.
Nice idea, but that was 2001!
The Internet video market system is not mature yet.
Not only did "The Lost City of Secrets" fail to open up a blue ocean in the Internet market for Jiahe, but the theatrical version of the story also left the audience confused because of the lack of relevant content in "The Lost City of Secrets: 2003".
What's even worse is that Jackie Chan left Jiahe in anger...
Gao Fenfen lamented: "There are too many sexy tricks. A movie is just a movie. Once it leaves the theater, it is no longer a movie."
Shen Xudong shook his head: "The future movie channels, video websites are the big platforms!"
"I do not believe!"
"Why don't you believe it? Think about it, who doesn't have a computer now? It would be much easier to watch movies online..."
"Then pirated copies..."
"The country will definitely make great efforts to rectify it..."
Gao Fenfen hesitated for a while...
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that what Shen Xudong said made sense: "Hey, do you think we should launch a video website?"
"Let's talk about it then. It's too early to say this now. Copyright planning will take at least three to five years..."
…
Opposite the old studio of Jiahe on Fushan Road, there is a tea restaurant.
In its heyday, Jiahe "made its fortune" on Fushan Road
In the 1960s, the most famous studios in Diamond Mountain were studios such as "Wada" and "Grand View", and filmmakers flocked there.
After Zou Wenhuai and He Guanchang left "Shaw Brothers", they applied to the government for a piece of land to build a film studio on Ax Hill Road.
Not far from Ax Hill Road is Clear Water Bay Road, um, Clear Water Bay Shaw Brothers Cinema.
"After the handover, the government wanted to take back this land for separate development. We originally planned to move to Tseung Kwan O, but several companies joined forces to intercept and the bid failed. Since then, Jiahe has lost its "base area"!"
"Shao cut off the beard?"
"Not only Shaw Brothers, but Shaw Brothers teamed up with China Star, Media Asia Variety Show, Age International, American Asia International, and Crystal Arts Films to fight against Golden Harvest..."
"Wang Jing's Jingyi movie?"
"Yes... Jiahe was very sorry for him back then..."
Why are you sorry?
Wrinkle Huai didn't say it clearly, but he could almost guess that it was just because of money. Wang Jing also cooperated with Jiahe back then.
In 1995, Wang Jing, Wen Jun and Liu Weiqiang established the "Best Partner" film company and became an instant hit with the movie "The Young and the Dangerous".
Jiahe came to visit...
Continuing Wang Jing's cooperation model during the prosperous period, he not only bought the filming rights for "Young and Dangerous", but also invested in major productions such as "The Heroes of the World" and "Heroes of China". Wang Jing also became the last member of the Jiahe Empire system. Glory…
It stands to reason that it is a pleasure to work together...
Jiahe once had a subsidiary system that motivated its subordinates. The head office invested, the subsidiaries worked, and received dividends according to their work. However, Jiahe often defaulted on dividends, and the subsidiaries did not even receive dividends. The subsidiaries that cooperated with Jiahe basically ended up breaking up.
Among them, the one who caused the most trouble was Sammo Hung!
Sammo Hung couldn't help but accuse, "Baohe is a company I established myself. He is Jiahe. I made many movies and they were very profitable. In the final reckoning, I still lost money and couldn't make any money. Why? My movie , if I can sell it for 5 million, but they only sell it for 1 yuan, you only earn 1 yuan, do you understand? At that time, how much money did "Ghost Fight" make? It was sold in Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. I couldn't get a dime. After so many years of filming, I couldn’t get any money. ’
Whether it’s Sammo Hung or one of Jiahe’s own people, they don’t care about money. How about you, Wang Jing, who is nothing?
Wrinkle Wenhuai admitted that Jiahe did cheat Wang Jing: "I'm very sorry for Wang Jing...but Jiahe really didn't have any money at that time..."
"...Shaw Brothers really built a movie theater on the land in Tseung Kwan O?"
Wrinkle Wenhuai nodded: "It was indeed built, and it cost hundreds of millions!"