Although I thought about the reason why Zhang Guozhong came, I also guessed that he might ask me for help. But Lin Xiaozhi still didn't expect that the receptionist had just introduced him into the company's reception room. Zhang Guozhong only said a few polite words. After Lin Xiaozhi's secretary made him a cup of black tea and left, he immediately asked: "Lin Sheng must have guessed it." The reason why I came this time is not hidden. The current situation of the entertainment industry is very bad. If possible, I hope that Lin Sheng can take action to save the entertainment industry for the sake of past friendship." Lin Xiaozhi and him were not the only ones in the reception room. Two people, Chen Qiang was also left behind by Lin Xiaozhi. This was also his intention. Although he was first arranged to enter Xinya by Li Guoxing, when Lin Xiaozhi quickly completed the annexation of Meiya by She Tunxiang, Chen Qiang stayed very calm and contented under him for several years. He is conscientious and can complete almost any dirty work thrown at him. This style of professional manager ethics made Lin Xiaozhi like him more and more. When Media Asia went public, he was rewarded with 100,000 shares of the company, and then sold him 500,000 shares at a low price, which allowed him to continue his career. Media Asia's listing makes small and medium-sized businesses a lot of money. It is also because of this trust in him that with more and more properties under his name, Lin Xiaozhi also intends to let Chen Qiang take more responsibility for Media Asia's daily operations. Therefore, Zhang Guozhong came to the company to ask for help, and he did not ask Chen Qiang. Excluded. Zhang Guozhong spoke frankly about his request as soon as he came up, which Lin Xiaozhi didn't expect. He immediately asked with a half-perplexed smile: "Director Zhang's words made me a little confused. The financial situation of the entertainment industry has always been good, and it is well-known in the industry. . Although some film companies in Hong Kong have had financial problems due to two murders recently, your Yineng movies have been selling well in Taiwan. Where did your bad statement come from? The relationship between Macau tycoon Yin Guoju and Lin Xiaozhi is unclear, but as he said, Lin Xiaozhi knows that his artistic ability depends on the relationship with big-name stars such as Zhou Yunfa and Andy Lau, and he can often invite them to surrender. The film franchise has been selling well, especially in Taiwan, and he doesn't think that the Macau boss suddenly withdrawing funds and leaving will immediately severely damage the entertainment industry, so he asked this question. Who would have expected that Zhang Guozhong¡¯s face would become even more bitter as soon as he finished speaking. He said, "I'm sorry," and then lit a cigarette for himself and took a puff, then said with a wry smile: "It seems that Lin Sheng hasn't paid much attention to Taiwan recently. Your Media Asia family has a big business. Taiwan They quit when they said they wanted to, and they didn¡¯t care about the box office. But recently, those rotten Taiwanese bananas have become increasingly difficult to serve, especially after they created the ¡®Small and Medium-Sized Academies and Business Alliance,¡¯ and they will no longer be able to survive.¡± After complaining for a while, Lin Xiaozhi and Chen Qiang finally figured out the cause of the matter, and it seemed that this matter had something to do with Lin Xiaozhi and Media Asia. As we all know, Taiwan is the only economically developed region in the world that is not a third world country but does not have a complete local film industry chain. This is even worse than Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia. Because there is a strange rule in Taiwan, the Taiwanese authorities can directly collect 30% of the movie box office as a tax. Among the remaining box office, only a few films by well-known Taiwanese directors can enjoy the "55,45," treatment, that is, the distributor takes 55 of the remaining box office and the theater chain gets 45. Generally, the share between the film company and the theater chain is divided. It is fixed at around thirty-seven, and for those with fair faces, it is at least four or six. Such high taxes and bizarre regulations have doomed Taiwan¡¯s local films to tragedy. A movie with an investment cost of NT$10 million must have a box office of more than NT$30 million to barely make a profit. If it really wants to make money, it must sell at least NT$40 million in the local area (this only refers to being screened at the local box office, not at the local box office). Counting video tape distribution and screening in other overseas markets). Since the first movie was made in Taiwan, apart from before the Chiang family and his son came to Taiwan, they could only occasionally produce a few profitable movies in the 1960s and 1970s. The rest relied on financial subsidies from the government to maintain capital. No wonder Taiwan¡¯s box office is not small, but in the past 91 years, Taiwanese local films only accounted for 19% of the total box office. This is why Taiwanese film producers prefer to introduce Hong Kong films. But since the mainland began negotiating with Britain in the late 1970s and early 1980s about the return of Hong Kong, the Taiwan authorities began to consciously suppress Hong Kong films and increase the introduction of American blockbusters and films from other Asian regions. Thai films, Korean films, and Singaporean films all began to enter the Taiwan market during this period, and soon began to gain some influence. However, they were completely incomparable to Hong Kong films, which had the essence of commercial films. Since the early 1980s, Chiang Kai-shek Since the Second Generation approved the intensification of efforts to introduce foreign-language films, the only competitor that can pose a threat to Hong Kong films in the Taiwan market is American films. Although they do not have the cultural integration of Hong Kong films that Taiwanese audiences can easily understand and immerse themselves in, American films rely on rigorous scripts, outstanding imagination, super-class budgets, and the world's best special effects to quickly overtake the original Hong Kong films. The Taiwan market, which the film regards as its own territory, has taken a bite out of the market. By July this yearSince then, four American blockbusters including "Instinct", "Alien 3", "Batman Revealed" and "Predator" have hit the Taiwanese market, followed closely by "Highlights" and "The Predator" Get ready for "Beauty and the Beast". Although the Hong Kong films released at the same time are also shining with stars, including "The Deer and the Cauldron", "Police Story 3", and "The Swordsman: The Invincible". "Basic Instinct" is a movie that relies on topics such as exposing scenes and celebrities. Since its release at the beginning of the year, it has quickly aroused a movie-watching craze in Taiwan. After being screened for 68 days, it unexpectedly earned NT$77UU at the box office. For the time being, It won the title of highest box office in Taiwan in the first half of this year. "Alien 3" earned NT$35 million at the box office on the day it was released. "Predator" on the day it was released, although the box office was only NT$1 million, was still being screened because the distributor was Taiwan's four major state-owned theaters. "Batman" was the most miserable. This American-themed movie barely earned NT$19 million at the box office in 34 days of release, becoming the only American blockbuster to fail in Taiwan in the first half of this year. ¡°However, compared with Taiwanese films, Hong Kong films are not that good. The box office of "The Deer and the Cauldron" has been soaring since its release. It is true that Zhou Xingchi has become extremely popular in Taiwan in the past two years, and soon earned more than NT$30 million in box office. However, because the screening theater is a private theater chain owned by Cai Songlin, the addition of The film's stamina is no longer enough. It may hope to hit a final box office of NT$50 million or even NT$60 million, but it will be difficult to shake the super high box office of "Basic Instinct" of nearly NT$80 million. "The Swordsman: The Undefeated" was also well-received and a hit in Taiwan, but it faced the same dilemma as "The Deer and the Cauldron". Now with a box office of over 20 million, its upward momentum has begun to show a significant decline. When it finally dropped, the box office It is very likely that it will be difficult to reach more than 50 million, and the final box office is estimated to be at most 30 to 40 million when the film is released. Cheng Long's "Police Story 3" should be the only Hong Kong film this year that is qualified to challenge "Basic Instinct" for the championship. However, although this film is distributed by one of Taiwan's four major state-owned theaters, it has the same It also has two American movies, "Patriot Games" and "Beauty and the Beast," so it's hard to say whether its schedule and number of performances will be squeezed in the end. Not only did Hong Kong films suffer miserably in the competition for box office rankings this year, they also lost nearly 10% of their market share in the first half of the year alone. Hong Kong films¡¯ market share in Taiwan has now dropped to only about 30%. The confrontation between Media Asia, Hong Kong's largest film group, and Taiwan has also begun to deeply affect the interests of many film producers in Taiwan. Taiwan is one of the most developed economies among the Four Asian Tigers. Due to the lack of local movies, the island's 20 million residents have a high demand for movies. Every year, they need to purchase at least nearly 300 movies from abroad to satisfy the people. need. Most of these outsourced films can only be seen by the public through video tapes and television screenings. However, at least more than a hundred films are still screened in major theaters in Taiwan every year, and Hong Kong films have always firmly held the spotlight. This is the advantage of being the largest source of outsourced films in Taiwan. As the largest film producer in Hong Kong, in the 91 years since its listing, Media Asia has relied on its strong financial resources to directly produce 17 films a year. It has participated in investments and co-produced films with other companies as many as 1, accounting for an impressive 10% of the total. It accounted for more than one-tenth of the total number of Hong Kong film productions last year (47). If we also exclude those films that have not passed the censorship review and those that are not allowed to be released in theaters, the proportion is almost one-third. But after Media Asia announced a unilateral ban on Taiwanese films, Media Asia stopped cooperating with any film producers in Taiwan. Not only "Assassin's League", "Dark Man", "Once Upon a Time", "Fighting Back to School 3" and many other movies that are highly anticipated by Taiwanese audiences and have guaranteed box office will not be released in Taiwan theaters, losing this one After being able to export 20 to 30 films to Taiwan as the main supplier in 2016, many film studios in Tainan, Taichung, Taipei, etc. have experienced film shortages to varying degrees. Especially during the Lunar New Year period at the beginning of this year, Taiwanese theater companies were forced to invariably Significantly extend the playback time of movies to alleviate the dilemma of having no movies to show. The Taiwan authorities are naturally unwilling to compromise easily with a Hong Kong film company, and Media Asia also has a tough and clear position. As a result, while the audience in Taiwan was dissatisfied with the two major parties fighting each other, the Taiwanese academics suffered misfortune and innocent people were harmed, becoming the party taking the blame. Amid the shortage of film sources, Taiwanese people's enthusiasm for watching movies has also dropped sharply. The box office in five of the six months in the first half of this year has declined to varying degrees compared with last year. In order to attract more viewers to watch movies in theaters, major theater operators in Taiwan have also tried their best to show their magical powers. There are constant offers such as free popcorn and cola drinks for watching movies. How to obtain more high-quality film sources has become a source of trouble for major cinema operators in Taiwan. That¡¯s it for the four major state-owned theater chains. As the property of the Kuomintang, they are backed by the Taiwan authorities. They can be said to be very wealthy. They can also easily climb into the United States and spend tens of millions of dollars to introduce and buy out many American movies to supplement the insufficient supply.source. Private tycoons such as Cai Songlin are not afraid. The scale of Cai Songlin's cinema chain is still larger than that of each of the four major state-owned cinemas. Moreover, he is generous and has cooperated with many Hong Kong film companies, so he does not have to worry about not being able to get it. Got a good movie. But for many small and medium-sized medical institutions in Taiwan, which only have a few or a dozen, they have suffered the most in the confrontation between Media Asia and the Taiwanese authorities in the past six months. They neither have the influence of the four major state-owned theater companies to outsource American blockbusters, nor do they have the close ties between private theater tycoons like Cai Songlin and the major powerful film production companies in Hong Kong. Some of them can only tolerate Hong Kong film companies. At a much higher price than in previous years, I bought a batch of shoddy films and went back to play them. I had no money and were unwilling to accept the Hong Kong film producers, so I could only buy a few films from the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and South Korea at low prices. Come back, hoping to find one or a few dark horses. However, this wish is somewhat unrealistic, although since the 1980s, local films in Southeast Asia and even other East Asian countries have been learning from Hong Kong films and American films, and are making progress little by little. But if you really want to compare it with American movies or even Hong Kong movies, the gap is not just one or two points. Naturally, there are few that can satisfy Taiwanese audiences. This forced many Taiwanese small and medium-sized theater developers to come to Hong Kong again after going around in circles, accepting the blackmail from Hong Kong film companies and buying out the films at a higher price than in previous years. "Don't say that the relationship between Hong Kong film producers and Taiwanese theater companies has never been harmonious. In previous years, Taiwanese theater companies often took the opportunity to lower prices and suppress the profits of Hong Kong film companies. Nowadays, the situation is changing, and Hong Kong film companies are naturally not polite. In the first half of the year, they severely raised prices and killed many small and medium-sized theater companies in Taiwan. As a result, they were naturally unwilling to give in, so many small and medium-sized theater chains in Taiwan joined together. They used the excuse that Hong Kong movies have become more and more expensive in recent years, and there was a tendency for stores to bully customers. They openly formed a theater that was different from Taiwan's. The Taiwan Small and Medium-sized Theaters Alliance, formed by the four major state-owned theaters in the province and the giant private theaters in Taichung and Tainan, jointly put pressure on film production companies in Hong Kong and bargained for prices. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? When the Taiwan Small and Medium-sized Cinema Developers Alliance was established, many film studios in Hong Kong didn¡¯t take it seriously at first. They didn¡¯t expect that they would soon realize the power of these Taiwanese guys. Because in the past six months, Hong Kong film producers have raised prices too much by taking advantage of their film sources, which has caused many theater chains in Taiwan to lose money, so this time, several well-respected people in Taiwan's theater business community took the lead and formulated a " After a phalanx of advancing and retreating together and unifying prices, dozens of small and medium-sized theaters in Taiwan were immediately gathered together. They no longer rushed to buy films from Hong Kong film producers, but instead formed a team to lower the price. Not to mention, the film production company here in Hong Kong suddenly became a mess. Among the many film companies in Hong Kong, except for Media Asia, Golden Harvest, Evergreen and New Arts City, which have successfully opened up new markets in other overseas countries and regions, other film companies that do not have the ability to develop new overseas markets have regarded the Taiwan market as As the most important market after our own city, dozens of small and medium-sized theater operators in Taiwan united to lower prices, and many film companies in Hong Kong immediately became panicked. At this time, we happened to catch up with the Huang Langwei incident and the Cai Ziming shooting case. The two murders triggered the British Hong Kong government to launch a heavy attack on the local underworld forces. In recent years, many small and medium-sized film companies and directors in Hong Kong have lost their filming funds. Society funding has an unclear relationship. As the power of social groups has been damaged, many film companies in Hong Kong are unable to obtain new investment in a short period of time. If the film has been shot or half-shot, the film will be sold for gambling in the 1980s and 1990s. If you hold it in your hands and cannot sell it, and if the funds cannot be withdrawn, you will really have no way to live. As a result, the "happiness" of Hong Kong film producers could not last more than a few days before they were immediately returned to their original form, even worse than before. Some Taiwanese people remember that at the beginning of the year, the film companies here in Hong Kong raised the price of the film and trailer, and tried every means to lower the price of the film and trailer in tit-for-tat. They relied on their control of the Taiwan market to put on a show of "If you like it, sell it, if you don't sell it, go away." To put it bluntly, taking advantage of the recent financial crisis that Hong Kong film companies have experienced, they have taken a very tough stance to lower prices, and the prices are even lower than a few years ago. Although the artist relies on his excellent connections in the industry, he can occasionally invite Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau back to the Lang family to make films for a reduced salary, but this is a favor that should be used sparingly. Therefore, like many small and medium-sized companies in Hong Kong, the majority of the films invested and produced by YiNeng are small and medium-cost follow-up films. This kind of film has become increasingly less popular in Taiwan in recent years due to its shoddy production, and one of the major shareholders of the company is Media Asia. With this important status, they have become a target of hatred among Taiwanese people. Therefore, when Yi Neng was discussing distribution with those Taiwanese guys recently, they were severely underpriced. If they accepted it, it would be almost equivalent to working for Taiwanese theater companies for free (most theater companies buy films directly without sharing the copyright), but they cannot accept it. It may lose the Taiwan market again. Zhang Guozhong is also a smart man. He knows that his company is unable to compete with Taiwanese people, but his artistic ability is not necessarily the sameNot so Asia. Seeing the recent crisis in the Hong Kong film industry, most film companies are becoming more and more miserable day by day. He immediately took the opportunity and ran directly to see Lin Xiaozhi, hoping to get some money from the pocket of this rich man who was not short of money. Lin Xiaozhi sat on the sofa nearby, listening to him finish his complaint without changing his expression, and then looked at each other with Chen Qiang, and both saw the smile in the other's eyes.