Chapter 64: Can the Box Office Still Go Up in Flames?

  A cinema entrance in Ximending, Taipei.

  "Ai, wasn't it a romance movie ticket that I asked you to buy? Why did you end up buying a war movie ticket?" A heavily made-up girl shook her plump body and coquettishly leaned against her boyfriend's arm.

  "My dear, I've been thinking that the short film shown on TV these two days is quite wonderful, so I bought two tickets to see if it's really that wonderful," said the girl's boyfriend with a look of expectation.

  "Honey, listen to me, I don't like watching those meaningless war movies, I just want to watch romance films." The girl's voice became even sweeter as she leaned against her boyfriend again.

  "This was bought a few days in advance, it's a pity if I don't go." The boy said with a regretful face after glancing at the ticket in his hand.

  "Don't even think about backing out." The girl, seeing her boyfriend hesitating, changed from her previous coquettish demeanor and scolded him in a low voice with her eyebrows raised.

  The boy immediately replied, "Okay okay, I'll refund the ticket right away."

  "Hey, since you're not going to watch it anymore, why don't you sell the ticket to us?" The boy standing behind the couple had been listening for a while and quickly chimed in when he heard the man agree to return the ticket.

  The boy turned around to see a thin young man holding several new Taiwan dollars, smiling at him. It seemed that he had been following behind him for some time.

  The boy was furious, but he couldn't withstand his girlfriend's angry gaze, so he reluctantly handed the ticket to this 'premeditated' young man. The young man took the ticket and said thank you, then ran away quickly, as if afraid that the boy would change his mind.

  The boy sold the ticket to the young man and returned to his girlfriend, saying with a painful face: "Wife, I've sold the ticket as you ordered. Now let's go buy a romantic movie ticket."

  "Husband, I love you." The girl said with a sweet voice after hearing the boy's words and kissed him on his face.

  After queuing for a long time at the cinema, the two finally reached the ticket counter.

  "Boss, are there any good romantic movies lately?" the boy asked.

  "No, now the cinema only shows 'The Battle at Red Cliffs', and they're all tickets for three days later. Don't want them? Hurry up and get out of the way!"

  The staff member glanced at the couple and said disdainfully.

  "Yeah, you're just farting around, if you're not buying then hurry up and leave, I still need to buy my ticket." The person behind him jeered.

  "What's it called, what a broken cinema, there isn't even a romance movie, let's go Ajie, they don't have it here, let's go to another cinema to watch."

  She then pulled her boyfriend out of the ticket hall.

  Watching the two disappear, the ticket seller sneered: "Foolish kid, why not watch 'Ying Lie Qian Qiu', such a great movie, but instead you want to watch some trashy romance film."

  In the cinema, some people who had managed to buy tickets with great difficulty looked at the big screen with worried faces, wondering if the movie would really be as wonderful as it was shown on TV.

  But immediately dispelled the doubts in his mind.

  A girl pulled her boyfriend and said: "Wow, Ah Liang, it's so beautiful! How did the director shoot such a beautiful scene?"

  The boy saw his girlfriend with a dazed and mysterious look, leaned in close to her ear and whispered: "I'll tell you a secret, according to internal information, these scenes were all shot by the director on an airplane."

  "How did you know?" the girl asked in surprise.

  "You don't even know who your man is!" The boy said proudly.

  When Lin Qingxia appeared, everyone in the screening hall couldn't help but exclaim: "Wow, such a beautiful girl."

  "Where did the director find such a beautiful actress? She's like a fairy descending to earth! From now on, she'll be my dream girl!" a man shouted loudly.

  "Isn't your dream girl Zhenzhen? How come you've changed to someone else?" The man's friend said with a look of disdain.

  "Why can't I replace her now?" The man said with a serious and solemn expression.

  "Long time no see" said the man's friend.

  ············································。

  When they saw the Japanese army slaughtering villages, insulting pregnant women and dissecting them, everyone in the cinema was shocked with their eyes wide open, staring at the big screen and shouting: "This is simply a beast, a group of beasts."

  Some girls couldn't help but burst into tears.

  When the screen splits in two, listing the Japanese army preparing to leave and Lin Qingxia's portrayal of a woman preparing to return to the village, the whole scene suddenly becomes quiet.

  The people in the theater all shouted out of sync: "Run fast, don't go back, run!"

  When they saw the boy save the girl, everyone in the crowd couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

  And when seeing the grand and intense war scenes.

  "One of them couldn't help but shout: 'This is what a war movie should be like! Compared to this one, the previous war movies are simply trash.'"

  The audience's words resonated with those around them: "Yes, this is what a war movie should be."

  Listened to everyone's words.

  One of the onlookers said with a smirk: "You're country bumpkins, aren't you?"

  Everyone said "......"

  "You don't know that this is a movie directed by Wang Wei? Wang Wei is the director of Big Brother Tangshan, my idol!" The audience said proudly.

  "No wonder he can make such a good-looking movie. I've decided that from now on, I'll only watch Wang Wei's movies." An audience member said with a determined look on his face as he stared at the big screen.

  "Me too" "Me too", this audience's words immediately triggered a resonance.

  As the film progresses, the winter offensive finally erupts, and General Zhang Zizhong has no choice but to select a dare-to-die corps to engage in a decisive battle with the Japanese army.

  When they saw the members of the dare-to-die corps wielding their swords and engaging in close combat with the Japanese army, one by one falling to the ground. The onlookers' eyes all turned red with excitement. Some people...

  He could no longer bear it and stood up, waving his fists and shouting: "Kill, kill these little devils."

  "What are you doing? Sit down! Can't those in the back see?"

  Until Wang Tiezhu fell at the end, he fantasized about marrying his wife in his mind. At that time, whether it was a man or a woman on the scene,

  The women couldn't help but shed tears.

  At the end of the movie, when General Zhang Zizhong refused to surrender to the Japanese and took his own life, everyone present couldn't help but shout: "The general is mighty!"

  The soldiers fearlessly retrieved the general's body, and the general's funeral was held. The stirring melody of "Loyalty to the Country" resounded in the cinema, and the movie ended.

  Is it going to end like this?

  Every audience's heart flashed a hint of unwillingness, no way, I have to watch it again, and not just me, my friends and family must also come to see it, such a good movie will be regrettable for a lifetime if missed.

  A week later, in the chairman's office of Yan Huang Film, Li Bin stood in front of Wang Wei's desk with a report form and said excitedly: "Boss, look at this. In just one week, the box office in Taipei has already broken 5 million, and the box office statistics for Tainan have not been sent over yet. However, I believe it should be at least over 3 million. These two places combined will surely break 8 million."

  Although Wang Wei had expected the box office to be very hot, he did not expect it to be so hot that in just one week it exceeded the box office record of "The Big Brother of Tangshan", which was calculated based on a month's box office.

  After reading the report, Lin Bin continued to say: "Because of this film, Miss Lin Qingxia is thoroughly popular now. However, previously Miss Lin was acting in this play as your friend and boss's identity, not as a real artist. So I think if Miss Lin intends to pursue a career in film and television, we'd better sign her early. I believe after this film, many movie companies will want to sign Miss Lin."

  Because Wang Wei has always had an ambiguous relationship with Lin Qingxia, Li Bin felt that it was necessary to discuss this matter with Wang Wei.

  "This matter, you don't have to worry about it for now, I'll take care of it. Oh, and Abin, hurry up with setting up the branch company in Hong Kong, oh, and also speed up the investment company's matters." Wang Wei said after thinking for a moment.

  After listening to Wang Wei's words, Li Bin opened his mouth and stopped. Some time ago, Wang Wei had entrusted Li Bin with the establishment of a film branch company and an investment company in Hong Kong. As for the former, Li Bin was more understanding, and he also thought about establishing a branch company in Hong Kong. After all, the Hong Kong film industry is more mature than TW and has a larger market. As for the latter, Li Bin was a bit puzzled, why did the boss suddenly think of setting up an investment company? Was the boss going to play stocks?

  But playing stocks doesn't require setting up an investment company, and Li Bin didn't want Wang Wei to get involved in stocks either. Although the Hong Kong stock market has been booming since the beginning of this year, with a continuous bull run, as someone from a financial background, Li Bin knew that this was just superficial, and it would eventually fall, only the timing was uncertain.

  Li Bin had already advised Wang Wei several times, but Wang Wei just smiled lightly and didn't take his advice to heart. Li Bin was very worried about this.

  In the Shaw Brothers' chairman's office in Hong Kong, "Yifu, the news from Taiwan is that 'A Better Tomorrow' has earned over $8 million at the box office in just one week." Deputy General Manager Fang Yihua said to Shaw Brothers' head and Hong Kong film and television mogul Runme Shaw.

  "It is said that this film broke through the traditional shooting method and the war scenes are magnificent and tense, it's a rare war movie."

  Shao Yifu listened to Fang Yihua while opening the file, and suddenly frowned: "This Wang Wei is so familiar, isn't he the new director of that Tangshan brother?" Shao Yifu was indeed the head of Shaw Brothers, although he had already passed his sixties, but his memory was still very good, and he remembered Wang Wei at a glance.

  "Not bad, it's that new director, I heard that the new director also set up his own film company." Fang Yihua nodded and said.

  "This kid is interesting, the saying 'heroes emerge in youth' isn't wrong. It seems I misjudged him last time, I should meet this young man when I have time." Shaw Yifu's eyes lit up as he heard that Wang Wei had set up his own studio. Jiahe has been quite arrogant lately, relying on the success of "The Big Brother of Tangshan" to gain a foothold in the Hong Kong film industry, and occasionally making moves against Shaw Brothers. This was unbearable for Shaw Yifu, who believed that there are no eternal enemies or friends, and since Wang Wei had set up his own studio, it meant he had ambition, and with ambition comes opportunity for cooperation. This was the conclusion Shaw Yifu drew from years of doing business.

  "Well, in that case, will our cinema show this movie or not?" Fang Yihua asked.

  "Let go, why not let go, having money and not making it is foolish." said Shao Yifu in a domineering tone.

  Jiahe General Manager's Office

  Zou Wenhuai, He Guanchang and Liang Feng, the three founders of Jiahe, sat together with a document that had just been sent over from TW.

  Zou Wenhuai smiled wryly and said, "This kid, I thought he was unusual from the start. In just a few months, he's caused such a big stir. Our company doesn't even have a decent studio, but this kid has already bought such a large one."

  He Guanchang on the other side replied: "However, this kid indeed has talent. Ah Huai, whether or not our cinema shows 'Eternal Heroes' is up to you."

  "Let it go, how can you not let it go? Without mentioning the quality of this film, just looking at this kid's face is enough to let it go." Nowadays, Chow Yun-fat is no longer the Chow Yun-fat from half a year ago. With "A Kid from Tibet" and "The Master", he has thoroughly made a name for himself in Hong Kong.

  P.S: Seeking recommendations, seeking member clicks