01.
In the late 1970s, Huang Baiming wrote a script called "Little Lives Afraid of Ghosts" and sent it to Jiahe . Jiahe confiscated. A few years later, Liu Jiarong, the younger brother of Liu Jialiang and , wanted to make a comedy ghost movie. Huang Baiming hurriedly turned out the script and renamed it " Xiaosheng afraid of ". When
"Small Lives" was released, it happened to fight with Jiahe's "Eight Colors Lin Yazhen". This film rubbed Jiahe on the ground and won 9 million at the box office. Huang Baiming finally let out a bad breath.
And who is the director of "Eight Colors"? Woo Yusen. After
lost, he filmed "Heroes Without Tears" and hit the actor with live ammunition. Jiahe was furious and hid him and the film. Wu Yusen had no choice but to rely on a good friend. His good friend Tsui Hark is in the same company as Huang Baiming. "Xiaosheng Afraid" is produced by this company.
This is the famous "Art City".
In the Hong Kong film industry in the 1980s, Art City was indeed a powerful existence. In just three years, it has become the company with the fastest box office growth in Hong Kong, scaring the two giants "Shaw Brothers" and "Golden Harvest" together to stop it. The result has not been shot down. But at the same time, it is a short-lived company. It has lived for ten years, but its peak is less than five years. Five years after the founding of
, the seven people in the company fell apart.
In this romantic past, there are miracles, humor, betrayal, but more, it is embarrassing.
"The story begins with them"
The time goes back to 1975. Mai Jia, who studied engineering in the United States, often went to Chinatown to watch Hong Kong kung fu films, and had the urge to be a director. Not just impulse, but action. He felt that these films in Hong Kong were too bad. After returning to Hong Kong, he hired a friend to rent an office in Tsim Sha Tsui and founded "Pioneer".
Maggie clearly underestimated making movies. He transplanted the "Spaghetti Western", that is, the set of Eastwood's performances, and made "A Bachelor Walks the World", which invested millions and earned 740,000 at the box office. The company's best "Mianmuxinjing" is only 2.69 million Hong Kong dollars. After three movies, "Pioneer" lost all the bottom pants.
Mai Jia doesn't want to do it anymore. A senior persuaded him to say:
"Keep persevering, perseverance is victory." The male lead of
"The Bachelor" is Liu Jiarong. A year later, he introduced Makka to Sammo Hung. Sammo Hung was eager to love his talents and partnered with him to set up "Jiabao". The company's entrepreneurial work is called "Tiger Frog".
originally went to Sammo Hung, but Mai Jia felt that it was just around the corner. However, Sammo Hung has an appointment with Jiahe, and he still has a "Baohe" to take care of. The Jiahe family has a great business, how could Sammo Hung have the intention to start a business with Mai Jia?
, who was seeking independence, had to recruit people again and set up another team.
has two partners, one is named Shi Tian and the other is named Huang Baiming.
02.
Shi Tian was born in Tianjin and moved to Hong Kong with his parents when he was three years old. In his youth, Shaw Brothers was the dominant family. He went to take the Shaw Brothers training class. After three years of study, he made his debut as a supporting actor. Made 8 films, wrote the first script, and won the director award. Screenwriter, director, acting, all can do it.
At that time, Kung Fu comedy was popular in Hong Kong in the early Republic of China. His most famous appearance is with Jackie Chan in "Snake Hands". When I went to play a supporting role in "Tiger Frog", I could chat with Mai Jia very well. Mai Jia felt that to form a company, there must be an actor in front of him, and Shi Tian was very suitable. In addition, have toHave a good screenwriter.
Huang Baiming, who loves drama, is the best choice.
Huang Baiming didn't come from a movie background, but he did finance. Shortly after graduating from high school, he was recommended by relatives to work in a British bank as a small clerk, and he could not eat or starve to death. In my spare time, I watch dramas. Soon, he joined the Hong Kong Qingyi Drama Club, and after get off work every day, he went to the club to arrange plays. In the drama club
, there are TVB artists. Following them, Huang Baiming learned a lot. He also successfully entered the "Wireless TV", under the stage name Huang Baiming, participated in a " folk legend ".
For ten years, he has worked as a director, screenwriter, and actor. The best thing
did was writing the script.
In 1978, he scraped together the money to direct and act in his first film, The Vortex. Unfortunately, it failed. For the sake of the movie, he quit his job directly and broke the boat. In Garbo, he was diligent in writing, writing, planning, props, and everything. Wrote a "Desperately Killing Gun", which is not bad.
Mai Jia felt that this person had a future, so he said:
"Why don't we work hard together?"
"The "Struggle" Trio"
has suffered so many defeats and found his comrade Mai Jia, which is different from last time. After the founding of "Struggle", it produced two works, "The Salted Fish Turn Over" and "Crazy Old Thousand", both of which were low-cost in the hundreds of thousands, with a box office of several million, which was very profitable. The life of the three of them became more and more moist. Suddenly one day, Mai Jia received a call from someone saying that we want to invest in your company. Are you interested?
is the director of Kowloon Bus, Lei Jue Kun.
Lei Juekun represents a cinema called "Golden Princess". There are also two shareholders, Feng Bingzhong and Wu Zhaocan. In Hong Kong in the 1970s, the cinema structure was turbulent. After one fight, only the top three remained. A golden princess, as well as "Shaw Brothers" and "Jiahe". But the other two, not only cinema, but also investment and production. As for Princess Jin, she could only find some independent films to be released by herself, which was ridiculed as "glass line".
At first, Princess Kim wasn't going to be involved in the production. Unexpectedly, Xiao Fangfang showed Xu Anhua's "Crashing to the Right" to Boss Wu. Boss Wu liked it very much and wanted to send it immediately. Xiao said yes, you have to add two more theaters. Before Boss Wu finished talking with the other two shareholders, Xiao Fangfang called and said:
"Sao Rui, the film was given to Jiahe by my boss." ?
Jiahe asked him back, why is I?
Boss Wu was so angry that he went back to Boss Lei and Boss Feng and said:
"All good movies have been taken away, why don't we make movies ourselves?" The "struggle" of the three. After
heard the news, Shi Tian asked the two, we are making a lot of money now, why do we need to raise money? Give money to people? Huang Baiming and Mai Jia said that we make money, but we can't make high-cost productions, and no one can give us the bottom line. If we can make more money, we will make more money if we split it.
That's it, on September 23, 1980, in Room 606, Hong Kong Pioneer Building, Art City was established.
The most coquettish legend in the history of Hong Kong films begins here.
"a familiar icon"
03.
The first thing to do when Xinyicheng was established was not to film, but to fortune-telling.
In Hong Kong back then, there was an authoritative Kwong who looked very accurate, saying that if you are poor, you will be poor, and if you say that you are rich, you will be rich. Mai Jia, Shi Tian, and Huang Baiming went to see the photographer. Kwong looked at it and said, you set up a company, I guarantee you will earn 10 million within five years, or US dollars. The three were very happy to hear it, but did not expect it to become a reality.
took the money from Princess Jin, and the company only has five people. In addition to the three bosses, there are also two running the street. Now that they have more money in their hands, they want to hire a powerful foreign aid to make entrepreneurial works.
thought about it and thought about a friend, John Woo.
Don't look at John Woo's development of violent aesthetics in the future. In the era when Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest were competing for hegemony, he made a lot of popular comedies. When Xinyicheng asked him for help, he was still eating and drinking spicy food at "Jiahe" and was very popular. Friends please help, can't not go. So he changed his name to "Wu Shangfei" and filmed the comedy " Funny Times ". Before filming, Chaplin died. The film is a tribute to a generation of comedy masters. The
movie was released, 1 million investment, 5 million box office. A good start.
Then, Art City asked Wuma to direct "Happy Fairy Nest". Another five million. The two movies
"Shi Tian in "Funny Times"
gave the three founders and three funders a reassurance.
But it's not a problem to ask foreign directors all the time. Better to have an ace of your own.
At that time, kung fu comedy was very popular in the early Republic of China. Art City didn't want to go the old way. I heard that there was a new wave coming to Hong Kong, so I bought the "Movie Bi-Weekly", hoping to attract people from this magazine that founded the Academy Awards. At a glance, Tan Jiaming is in Jiahe, Zhang Guoming is in Shaw Brothers, and there is another named Tsui Hark. When I asked about
, it was a coincidence that John Woo knew him.
And he met Tsui Hark, and he also answered those five words:
Hero cherish hero.
Okay, let's insert a historical background explanation of Hong Kong films first.
Long before the confrontation between Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest, the real threat to Shaw Brothers was a film company called "Cathay Pacific". The boss is Lu Yuntao from Singapore. When Shaw Brothers made Huangmei opera films and Cathay Pacific made fashion films, the two were competing against each other. The westernized "Cathay Pacific" has the potential to overwhelm Shaw Brothers. The two sides robbed actors, scripts, and themes, causing a lot of grievances. Unfortunately, the Cathay Pacific plane crashed, and 50 backbones including Lu Yuntao were burned to ashes. Run Run Shaw didn't catch his breath. Shaw Brothers films dominated the Hong Kong film industry.
Then, his right-hand man Zou Wenhuai , because he felt that Shaw Brothers was too talkative, left to set up "Jiahe", discovered Bruce Lee , Xu Guanwen, and was willing to make money with these directors, open subsidiaries, and use the progressive form of dividends to make money. The Shaw family business caused a shock. This is where the two giants are formed. The birth of Bruce Lee and Xu Guanwen also directly ended the hegemony of Shaw Brothers Li Hanxiang and Zhang Che.
In the late 1960s, John Woo, who loves Western films, was doing a recording at Cathay Pacific. After the collapse of Cathay Pacific, he was introduced by Qiu Gangjian, the screenwriter of "Departing to the Furious Sea" in the future, and went to Shaw Brothers to do a recording, under the tutelage of Zhang Che.
is like Wu Ma and Li Xiuxian, these are his brothers.
Zhang Che loves this apprentice very much. In the 1970s, John Woo started his apprenticeship and filmed "The Tenderness of an Iron Man", which was banned for being too violent. Zhang Che wrote a recommendation to Jiahe's He Guanchang and asked him to become a director at Jiahe. The martial arts instructor of
"Tenderness of Iron Man" is called Jackie Chan. John Woo also recommended him to Golden Harvest. Jiahe has no bird, Director Wu. When Jackie Chan's "Drunken Fist" became popular, Jiahe quickly sent the contract.
"Director Wu who was wild and unruly when he was young"
In Jiahe, Wu Yusen had a good life for a few years. During this period of , he happened to watch "Golden Swordsman Lover" by Jiashi , and was amazed by a beautiful scene. When I found out, it was made by a director named Tsui Hark. Since then, John Woo has always told everyone how powerful Tsui Hark is, and recommended him everywhere.
At that time, Tsui Hark was at a low point.
Tsui Hark studied film in America, but couldn't survive in America. After graduating, he worked as an editor and illustration in a newspaper, and it was difficult to make a living, so he had to return to Hong Kong. After working in TVB for a year, I went to Jiashi again. After Jiashi closed down, he was recommended to meet Wu Siyuan, and filmed "Butterfly Change" and "Hell No Door", all of which hit the street at the box office. The filming of "Type 1 Dangerous" was also banned because of the plot of "Young People Throwing Bombs". Investors avoided him.
Xinyicheng heard that Wu Yusen knew him, and went to Wu.
Wu said, this person, you must reuse.
That's it, Tsui Hark joined Xinyicheng and filmed a movie "Ghost Horse Wisdom Stars". Not only was it a big hit at the box office, it also won the Taiwan Golden Horse Award. I remember that when the film was filmed, it was over budget before it was finished. McKay was not sure, so he asked John Woo to watch the demo and asked how he was going. John Woo, who supported Tsui Hark, said at that time:
"You guys can make big money." This famous movie came out, and a housekeeper was also presented as a gift.
That is his wife Shi Nansheng.
04.
Nansheng Shi studied statistics and returned from studying abroad to work in a public relations company. At that time, TVB had a "Miss Universe Diary", and she was introduced to those who needed to know foreign languages. Later, he went to the publicity department of Jiashi and became the subordinate of McDonald's , the director of "The Lame Man" in the future, and worked all the way to the deputy director of the program.
She has a best friend named Zhang Peiwei, who is familiar with Xu Ke, and has always boasted that Xu is more talented. One day, the two were eating Japanese food in Tsim Sha Tsui. Zhang said, "If Tsui Hark is here, I can introduce you to each other." After speaking, Tsui Hark actually appeared. The two fell in love at first sight. Soon after, Xu Anhua asked Shi Nansheng for help in the filming of "Crashing to the Right", but she didn't go.
She and Tsui Hark went to America to get married. When
Xin Art City found Tsui Hark, Shi Nansheng originally said to investigate again. Because the first impression of Mai Jia and Shi Tian was not good. At that time, they were drinking tea at the Peninsula Hotel, and the two were dressed like the underworld. Shi Nansheng asked three questions, what is your company's annual turnover, how many films a year, and what is the budget for each film?
directly stunned Mai Jia and Shi Tianwen.
did not wait for the inspection to be completed, and Tsui Hark went to film "Ghost Horses and Many Stars" and won the Golden Horse Award. Soon, Shi Nansheng's account had an extra month's salary. It was called in advance by Xinyi City. Ask her to manage.
Miss Shi is embarrassed for not going to work.
"The Woman Who Overcame Tsui Hark"
At the same time, New Art City added two main players:
Teddy Robin and Zeng Zhiwei .
Teddy Robin is a child star. It was hot in the 60's. Later, he played in a band and served as the lead singer of "Playboy", which became popular earlier than Xu Guanjie . At that time, English songs were still popular in Hong Kong. The guitarist of his band is Zheng Donghan . Zheng Donghan's son, everyone must be familiar with, his name is Zheng Zhongji.
made music, and Robin joined Shaw Brothers for filming. In the 1970s, he went abroad to play around. After returning to Hong Kong, the trend of English songs is gone. Zheng Donghan became the boss of Polygon and asked him if he wanted to sign a contract. He didn't go. After the establishment of
Art City, I looked for him many times. In the end, he agreed to join in and starred in "Ghost Horse Wisdom Stars". The addition of Zeng Zhiwei to
is the icing on the cake.
was a Hong Kong film that year, there is a saying of " degree bridge ". It is to plan the plots and ideas into the plot, and string together wonderful scenes. Zeng Zhiwei was once known as the "Bridge King". However, before becoming the screenwriter of "Bridge King", he first did martial arts. Before becoming a martial artist, he also worked as a professional player.
Zeng Zhiwei was influenced by his father Zeng Qirong to play football. Zeng Qirong is the subordinate of the four Chinese detectives Lu Le , and eats and drinks spicy food with Lu Le. Zeng Zhiwei, the second-generation official, is naturally very happy. When he was a teenager, he met another boy who loved to play football, named Alan Tam.
Since then, Zeng Zhiwei joined the Sing Tao football team to win glory for Hong Kong, and Alan Tam formed a band and became the king of singers.
"Leader Teddy Robin (middle)"
On the court, Zeng Zhiwei also met a director, Liu Jialiang. He asked Director Liu if he wanted to see the big star Ling Bo? Director Liu said, how difficult is this. Send him to the " Fourteen Heroines " runaway. This film was shot by Cheng Xiaodong his father Cheng Gang, and there are fourteen actresses in it, all of them are so beautiful that their eyes lit up. After
retired from the football team, he simply joined Liu Jialiang in the film circle.
Just like that, Zeng Zhiwei was transferred to the "Zhangjiaban" of the great director Zhang Che.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Che went to Taiwan to form "Longbow Pictures", Zeng Zhiwei went to Taiwan with him, the conditions were very poor, and he regretted it to death. When he was ready to return to Hong Kong to continue to be a rich second generation, Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption was established, Lu Le was finished, and his father Zeng Qirong was also wanted. Back in Hong Kong, Zeng could only go to work at Hong's family class .
Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung all started from martial arts, became martial arts practitioners, and then became big stars. Zeng Zhiwei looked at his body and appearance, and it was estimated that it was enough. He has no martial arts background, and it is difficult to be a martial artist.
He thought, I might as well be a screenwriter.
"Wu Xing Zeng Zhiwei"
In 1978, he wrote the first complete script in his life, which was Garbo's entrepreneurial work "Tiger Frog". Not long after
, Luo Wei invited Jackie Chan to be the assistant director to film "Laughing Fist Strange Trick". At Rowe Company, he filmed "Kick the Pavilion" and "Dirty Thieves", and he was very good at ideas. Seeing this, Mai Jia asked him to join the "New Art City". The
condition is also very simple. That year, "Ghost Horse" won the award, and Art City made another "Chasing Girls", which created a trend of "picking girls" in Hong Kong. Mai Jia said to Zeng, if you join, I will let you be the protagonist.
So far, "Seven Monsters of Xinyi City", the collection is completed.
05.
1981 is the foundation year of Art City. Tsui Hark's "Ghost Horse Wisdom Stars" took more than 7 million at the box office, and "Chasing Girls" took another nearly 10 million. The "Chasing" film lost to "007" of the same period, which stimulated the seven monsters. Everyone said, why don't we make an action movie too?
For this "Best Partner", Xinyicheng can be said to have invested a lot of money. When
filmed "Ghost Horse", the film budget was only over one million, and "Best Partner" directly increased to six million. The main reason for
is that they hired Xu Guanjie. After
planned the script, Xinyicheng immediately looked for Chow Yun-fat , 's fat brother felt that Xinyicheng was too small and did not go. Tsui Hark said, why don't we find Xu Guanjie, he has been hanging out with his brother, living in the "shadow" of Xu Guanwen, we find him alone, he will definitely come. So Huang Baiming agreed to go to Sheraton for coffee and blow the script into a messfall. Xu Guanjie listened with relish, and then quoted two million.
Huang Baiming and Mai Jia listened, and their jaws almost dropped to the ground. The money
was finally given. They went to Taiwan to invite Zhang Aijia again. Previously, Zhang Aijia played Lin Daiyu in Li Hanxiang's "Red Mansion". In order to partner with Xu Guanjie, Beauty Zhang cut her hair short. The director of
"Best Partner" is Zeng Zhiwei. In order to look good, we compiled all kinds of wonderful scenes into it. There is a stunt car, you have to ride a motorcycle from the second floor to the street, even the people invited by Hollywood dare not do it. Others are ready to give up. Zeng Zhiwei said, it doesn't matter, I asked my friend Xiaohei to do it. Xiao Hei was present, and everyone advised, you just got married and your child was born soon, don't force it. Xiao Hei said, I never do anything I am not sure about. The little black
is the Ke Shouliang who will leap over the Yellow River in the future.
"Best Partner" sold 26 million at the box office as soon as it was released. Every night at the entrance of the theater, there are long queues to watch this film. According to the population of Hong Kong at that time, half of Hong Kong people watched it.
""Best Partner" made Mai Jia popular"
At the same time, after "Ghost Horse" won the Golden Horse Award, Xinyicheng set up an office in Taiwan and asked Zhang Aijia to be the general manager. When everyone was in the meeting, Shi Tian said that it's boring to shoot comedy, we can also shoot tragedy . Hong Kong people don't like it, so take it to Taiwan and release it. The script was discussed, and it was a tragic story. The family kept dying, even the dog died. Show it to Taiwanese director Yu Kanping , Yu read it and said, it's boring, it's too old-fashioned.
found another director and wrote a story about a tour group going to Tainan and encountering natural and man-made disasters. The name of the movie is " takes the wrong car ". Everyone saw it, but they were still not satisfied. Originally a father-daughter family story, but wrote a bunch of political events, very awkward. Finally, Zhang Aijia said to the chief screenwriter Huang Baiming:
"There is no way, you should write it yourself." It turns into a story of a bribe and an abandoned baby. Originally wanted to call "drinking wine if there is no sale". Unexpectedly, because the adopted daughter in the play wanted to sing, Zhang Aijia joined a group of songwriting giants in Taiwan. Su Rui. Hou Dejian composed the song "Dried Wine If You Can't Sell It" that Su Rui sang. After writing, Hou Dejian went to the mainland. This song is not allowed to be sung.
not only the songs are not allowed to be sung, but the movies are not allowed to be called "If you sell dry wine".
Huang Baiming said fuck it, it's called "Taking the Wrong Car"! After the release of
, "Taking the Wrong Car" made a lot of moviegoers cry, and it was re-screened as many as 11 times.
"Best Partner" won the annual box office championship, and "Taking the Wrong Bus" became a phenomenon-level literary film. This suddenly aroused the vigilance of Shaw Brothers and Jiahe. For this reason, the two rivals actually joined forces to block Xinyi City, and released " Qimen Dunjia " and "Tathagata Palm" regardless of the theater. But this year, Xinyicheng's "Xiaosheng Afraid" and "Difficult Brothers and Difficulties" were unstoppable. The former received more than 14 million, and the latter received 20 million.
"Eight-colored Lin Yazhen" was co-screened by Shaw Brothers Golden Harvest, but was beaten to no avail. In just two years since
was founded, Art City has become the king.
06.
Why is Art City rising so quickly?
The secret is of course those seven.
Nearly all the early blockbuster movies of Xinyicheng came from the study of Maijia's small apartment, which is the legendary "struggle room". struggle room workThe time starts at twelve o'clock in the middle of the night and ends at seven in the morning. Every night in the dead of night, Mai Jia, Shi Tian, Huang Baiming, Tsui Hark, Shi Nansheng, Teddy Robin and Zeng Zhiwei are desperately trying to dig out themes, find stories, make up bridges, and string together ideas.
chat about creativity while recording. When the discussion is almost over, give the recording to Huang Baiming and let him rent a hotel alone to sort out the recording and write the script. In "Myth of Xinyicheng", Mr. Huang boasted that he wrote most of Xinyicheng's best-selling plays, which is true. But he didn't tell everyone that the draft script was created by the seven monsters who stayed up every night and chatted. Tsui Hark is in charge of the imagination, Zeng Zhiwei is in charge of Duqiao, and Robin is in charge of sorting out the logic of the story. Whoever has a good idea and strong creativity will use whoever. The rule of
Art City is that once the script is finalized, no one can change it. As for who will be the director, who will be the producer, and who will be the protagonist, everyone will discuss and take turns. each other, support each other.
If you ask another director to direct, and the other party insists on changing the script, I'm sorry, you can leave.
"Seven Eccentrics of Xinyi City"
In 1983, because of the popularity of "Dish Fairy", the Seven Eccentrics wanted to shoot this kind of theme and conceived a female ghost story, which is "Yin and Yang Wrong". The script was given to director Liang Puzhi, who had great ideas, changed the script every day, and even let the actors play freely. A few days after the change, Mai Jia asked him to leave. After that, Liang took over the "British Pipa" and had to change it according to his own wishes. Producer Teddy Robin called directly and told him to fuck off.
Liang Puzhi saw the power of Xinyicheng, so he had no choice but to go back to the crew and film the script honestly.
And "Yin Yang Cuo", which he had been filming for a few days, was handed over to another rookie director by Xinyicheng. This person was Chow Yun-fat's classmate in the wireless training class. When Brother Fa was playing tricks, he acted in TV dramas. Later, he felt that he had no future in acting and turned to work behind the scenes. To TVB, became Tsui Hark's colleague.
After watching Tsui Hark's film, this gentleman was very ashamed and went abroad to study for a few years.
went back to Hong Kong and went into Art City to see, damn, Tsui Hark became my colleague again.
The director who filmed "Yin Yang Wrong" according to the script honestly is Lin Lingdong .
It is precisely because the "Seven Eccentrics of Xinyicheng" who stayed up all night came up with too awesome scripts. In addition to Lin Lingdong, there were many directors and actors at that time. Because of their works, they became popular overnight or turned around.
For example, after Lin Lingdong became popular, he was poached by another company as a director and took over a movie. The other party took down the original director Yu Rentai . Huang Baiming went to Yu Rentai and said it's better for you to help us make a movie. Then handed over the script " Aura ", please come to Chow Yun-Fat. As soon as the film was released, it took more than 12 million yuan. is the first movie of "box office poison" Chow Yun-fat to break 10 million yuan. Brother Fa finally raised his eyebrows.
Another example is that in 1984, Huang Baiming watched a drama competition for middle school students in Hong Kong. A student named Ma Weihao wrote a "Zhu Xiucai", telling the story of three girls and a hanged ghost in a broken temple, and used it to change it into a script. No one wanted to shoot or act in Xinyicheng, and the budget for the star was not enough. Huang Baiming simply acted by himself, and asked the rookie screenwriter Gao Zhisen to be the director. This movie is " happy ghost ".
"Happy Ghost" cost 2 million yuan. It was a big hit in the summer and received more than 17 million yuan. It is the most profitable movie in Xinyicheng. Defeat the "Provincial and Hong Kong Flag Soldiers" of the same period. Gao Zhisen also entered the front line.
In 1985, after filming the sequel " Happy Ghost Summer Vacation ", Gao Zhisen was poached by "Debao" at ten times the high price.
At that time, there was a girl who was working as an operator in Xinyi City during the summer vacation. Huang Baiming took a fancy to her. After performing "Happy Ghost Summer Vacation", she became popular overnight. The girl
is Zhang Gewang's wife, LuoMei Wei.
Two years later, Huang Baiming is going to shoot " Happy Ghosts ", looking for a new director. He thought of an actor who participated in the TVB drama "Folk Legend". This gentleman was also in the wireless training class. Later, he went to film TV series with Wang Tianlin and . In fact, he is very talented, but he didn't have a good chance.
This person who has been buried for a long time is Du Qifeng .
Previously, Du Qifeng filmed a "Blood and Cold Mountain Killing Gold", which was a complete failure. Most of the time, he is filming Jin Yong's martial arts dramas on TVB, and he is not allowed to enter the film circle. Huang Baiming looked for him, but he was still a little hesitant. I heard that there will be Tsui Hark doing special effects and Lin Lingdong doing the speeding car, and gladly took over "Happy Ghost Hit Ghost".
This has become a ticket for John To to step into the film circle.
""Happy Ghost" is a box office miracle"
has discovered a lot of newcomers, is there anyone who misses the mark? There are also.
Shi Nansheng was in charge of finances and saw a screenwriter named Wong Kar Wai . But never saw this person in the company. I went to ask Huang Baiming, said whether you are coming to work? It turned out that Wang was writing the script at home, and he had not written it for a full month. Huang Baiming asked him to come to the company, and Wong Kar-wai said I was holding back. Huang said, I'm also a screenwriter, bro, I wrote "Take the Wrong Car" for two days, and "Best Partner" for a week. Do you think I'm stupid?
Huang asked Wang to hand in the script in a week. It took half a month to hand it in. The company looked at it and said it was all waste paper.
and Wong Kar-wai was fired.
there is Maggie Cheung . When she was a teller, she was recommended to Shi Nansheng. Shi Nansheng asked her to find Shi Tian. At that time, Art City was planning to film "Chasing Girls". As a result, Shi Tian didn't like Maggie Cheung. Not long after, Zhang Meiren went to participate in Miss Hong Kong, won the runner-up, and won the Best Photogenic Award.
When Teddy Robin was filming " Caiyun Song ", he chose the heroine. Actor Guan Shan and his wife brought their daughter Guan Zhilin , hoping to participate in the show. Everyone watched and was shocked, but in the end they chose Xu Feng's sister Xu Jie. The Andy Lau , who auditioned for the male lead, was lucky. Although he was not selected, he still got a small supporting role.
And the most unlucky person is probably Zhou Xingchi . At that time, he was still the host of the 430 shuttle, went to Xinyi City to apply for an actor, filled out a personal information form, and was not sent at all.
07.
has a new art city where the seven monsters work together, which can be said to be invincible in the world. The box office of the "Best Partner" series was higher than one year in a year, and the third film was filmed, setting a new historical record. Comedies such as "Chasing Girls" and "Happy Ghosts" have created a new way of Hong Kong comedy. " Family Portrait " and " Merry Christmas " broke through the HK$20 million mark successively.
In 1984, Princess Jin's annual total box office beat Jiahe, and won the championship of Hong Kong's annual box office.
So at that time everyone shouted the slogan: Produced by Art City, the audience was confident.
When they were promoting the movie, the scene was often crowded. Mai Jia, Shi Tian, and Huang Baiming went to Taiwan to accept the award, and even received threatening letters. The company is getting bigger and bigger. From the initial five people, it has become a one-month labor cost of 500,000 yuan, up and down two floors. One movie celebration cost HKD 500,000.
However, no one expected that as soon as it reached its peak, Xinyi City would face disintegration. The first person
left was Zeng Zhiwei.
At that time, he said something:
"This pot of porridge is too small for seven people to share, so I will go out to find some food, so everyone can relax. "
After doing a variety show for a while, Zeng Zhiwei went to Golden Harvest and became Sammo Hung's right-hand man to help plan "Mr. Zombie." Mind. As a new wave warrior, Tsui Hark didn't want to make any comedy films at first, and had a higher pursuit in film aesthetics. When he proposed to leave the team, Princess Jin's boss Feng Bingzhong tried his best to retain him and invested in the establishment of a "movie film" for him. Studio”, which operates under the name of Xin Art City.
’s pioneering work “ Shanghai Night ” won 11 million box office, and Tsui Hark announced his independence. Internal shock, people's hearts suddenly dispersed. Shi Nansheng works in Xinyi City during the day and works in a movie studio at night. Mai Jia and Shi Tian couldn't say anything. Teddy Robin was filming 'The Wesleyan' in Nepal and didn't know anything about it. When he returned to the company, he found that Xinyi City had disintegrated.
In 1985, Art City's box office began to decline.
Shi Tian's "Gong Xi Fa Cai" was defeated by Sammo Hung's "Fu Xing Gao Zhao", and the summer file "Working Emperor" once again lost to Sammo Hung's "Summer Fortune". At this time, Gao Zhisen and Yu Rentai have been poached by "Debao", a partnership established by Pan Disheng and Hong Jinbao.
In this year, none of the 13 films released in Xinyicheng exceeded 20 million, only four exceeded 10 million, the others were as low as 3 million, and as many as 8 million. Seeing this, Princess Jin made another tricky move, and asked Mai Jia, Shi Tian, and Huang Baiming to split into three small teams, each of which was in formation. The strategy of
directly announced the end of the "Seven Era of Xinyicheng".
In 1986, there was only one popular model in Xinyicheng, and that was John Woo's " heroic character ".
At that time, Zhang Aijia, the manager of the Taiwan office, wanted to support Yang Dechang in making literary films and resigned. Woo Yusen lost power in Golden Harvest, was abandoned, transferred to Xinyi City, and was sent to Taiwan. The filming of "The Laugher" was unsuccessful. Wu Yusen was so annoyed that he drank every night, and even started drinking on the set. Seeing this, Tsui Hark hurriedly called him back to Hong Kong, and gave him the "True Color of Heroes" that he had been brewing for a long time to cheer him up. At the end of the filming, one day, Tsui Hark complained during a dinner party:
"The top actually made me burn the film." !"
was the film that burned down and saved the new Art City that year. "The True Color of Heroes" once again broke the Hong Kong box office record, and also sent Chow Yun a bottle of the long-awaited Academy Award Best Actor. Wu Yusen, who has been persuaded countless times to stop being a director, has established his status in the arena by relying on it.
"The True Color of Heroes"
Who was the one who let the film burn?
That's the founder, Mika.
Not only that, that year, McKay also did something that hurt morale. Once Zeng Zhiwei made a bridge, he actually went to work with Sammo Hung and used the titles of the "Best" and "Lucky Star" series to shoot " Best Lucky Star ". Before going to the collaboration, everyone had a meeting and said that you liked the drama, and the big deal is that we will make a "Water Margin". After all, Mai Jia is always picking on faults, and the final conclusion is that he must go. Later, Huang Baiming said:
"Everyone thinks it doesn't matter to be the boss, so what else is there to say?" The invoice room can't work. Dillon's was out of breath and didn't show up, so Huang Baiming took Du Qifeng's "Happy Ghosts and Ghosts" to fight it. result, the former was released 10 days longer than the latter, and the box office increased by several million.
After Mai Jia came back, Xinyicheng didn't think about taking care of it together. I deliberately asked Tsui Hark and Shi Nansheng for a meeting, saying that you might as well close the film studio, and we got together again. Tsui Hark said, it is impossible to pass. Xinyi City is a big family. You like to live in a big house. As for me, I will build a gazebo in the courtyard by myself.
talked about it, but did not agree. Later, even Shi Nansheng resigned and went to work in a film studio wholeheartedly.
Not long after, Teddy Robin also left and established "good friends" with Zeng Zhiwei and Alan Tam.
Mai Jia, Shi Tian, and Huang Baiming have already been divided into three.
Since then, Art City has lost its soul.
08.
After the "Best Fortune Star" incident, the history of Xinyi City in the last years is a development history of its own.
Teddy Robin and Zeng Zhiwei met Huang Yulang who drew cartoons and filmed "Call Girl 1988" and other films. As a result, Huang Yulang went to prison, and the two had to rely on Jiahe to produce "Kawashima Fangzi" and "Pan Jinlian's Past and Present". The screenwriter of these two films is Li Bihua.
Later, Zeng Zhiwei joined Chen Kexin to set up UFO. This is something that will be discussed later.
Tsui Hark and his wife's film studio began to grow by leaps and bounds. Not only signed newcomers such as Wang Zuxian, Ye Qianwen, Li Zixiong, but also signed cooperative relations with major directors such as John Woo, Cheng Xiaodong, To Qifeng, and Chu Yuan, and filmed "The True Color of Heroes 2", "A Chinese Ghost Story", "City SWAT", "Blood Double" male".
It's a pity that the output is not small, and many of them do not make money.
In 1989, the studio was planning to shoot "Swordsman", and asked Hu Jinquan to come out. As a result, there was an unpleasant quarrel with Director Hu. Unexpectedly, this movie established Tsui Hark's new martial arts status. After that, with the help of Wu Siyuan, the film studio cooperated with the mainland Xiaoxiang Film Factory to film the classic "New Dragon Inn".
Tsui Hark's aesthetics have been carried forward since then. His explorations in film have also gone further and further.
At this time, he has no relationship with Xinyicheng for half a cent.
"Tsui Hark finally teamed up with Jiahe"
Of the remaining Mai Jia, Shi Tian, and Huang Baiming, only Huang Baiming had the last laugh.
Shi Tian, who was born as an actor, is slightly inferior in terms of creativity and planning. After Xinyicheng was divided into three parts, almost all the films he made were silent. As Shi Tian himself entered the real estate industry and calculated the book numbers every day, his ambitions in the film gradually declined and fell into silence.
As for Mai Jia, before he became obsessed with stock speculation, he only did one thing in the late 1980s, and that was to support Lin Lingdong.
Because Lin Lingdong has made great contributions to Xinyi City. He gave him several million and said that this time, you don't have to be limited by the script and subject matter, you can shoot whatever you want. At that time, the Hong Kong police and gangster film was the tone of "The True Color of Heroes", which was too romantic. After Lin Lingdong went to many courts to do the actual collection, he found that the gangsters were not so glorious at all. So he made "Dragon Tiger Wind and Cloud" based on his own observation of reality.
"Dragon Tiger Wind and Cloud" won the Academy Award for Best Director, and Lin Lingdong became famous. Since then, he has filmed "Prison Storm" and "School Storm" to form the "Story Trilogy", pioneering the real crime film in Hong Kong.
At this time, Mai Jia was doing his last struggle.
"Tsui Hark, Lin Lingdong, Johnnie To"
And Huang Baiming has successfully entered the new world and has become the king of New Year's comedy in Hong Kong. After
went into battle, Mai Jia grabbed Lin Lingdong,Huang Baiming caught Du Qifeng. At that time, Du Sir had not yet figured out his own routine, and helped Huang film "The Eight Stars Announcement" and "A Lang's Story". The former is Huang Baiming's creation of the trend of "celebrating the New Year", and the latter is copied from a Korean film "My Beloved One".
"Eight Stars" was 37 million Hong Kong dollars, which was not broken until "The Gambler", and "A Lang" gave Fage a bottle of gold statue award.
During this period, Huang Baiming and Mai Jia actually staged an "infighting".
In 1989, Huang Baiming approached Xu Guanwen for cooperation, preparing to film "Family Love". When Mai Jia heard that, he joined Xu Guanjie, Leslie Cheung, and Li Xiuxian, and wanted to make a "New Best Partner" to block this film. I heard that Mai Jia has a big heart and wants to find Chow Yun-fat. Huang Baiming told To Qifeng that you can't let Brother Fa film "A Lang's Story" for a day. If he goes to film "New" again, we won't be able to play. .
In the end, "Family Love" had 32 million, surpassing the 10 million box office of "New".
This is not over yet, there is more to Boss Huang's show.
In 1992, there was a flood in East China, which flooded several provinces. Hong Kong stars joined a charity performance to raise funds for the disaster area. At the same time, Huang Baiming found almost all the famous stars in Hong Kong, and filmed the "Night Banquet of the Wealthy Family". The producer of this film is "Yong Gao", which he formed with Roger after he left Xinyi City.
"The Banquet of the Giants" was released, and Yonggao was an instant hit. Immediately afterwards, Huang Baiming continued the "star brushing face" routine, inviting Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, and Stephen Chow to shoot "A Happy Family", which took 13 days and collected more than 48 million yuan. When Boss Luo saw it, it turned out that it was not that difficult to make a movie, so he turned his head and emptied Huang.
Huang Baiming left Yonggao immediately and formed his own "Oriental". He happened to meet Qiu Da, the son of the owner of ATV, who opened a "Tangcheng" in Singapore, so he brought his old friend Gao Zhisen to help and filmed "Happy Events in Flower Fields".
"Happy Events in the Flower Field" was filmed in 25 days. The 8 actors performed together for only 3 hours, but it received 35.48 million yuan, which is more than the Lunar New Year film of the same period. I have to say that Mr. Huang is very powerful.
In addition, there is an episode. When Huang Baiming formed the fifth cinema chain in Hong Kong, "Happy Events in the Flower Field" was set for the Lunar New Year. In January, there was still one film left. Through his relationship, he appeared in "Farewell My Concubine". In 1993, "Overlord" was released in Hong Kong for 19 days, with a box office of 9.17 million, setting a new record for mainland films released in Hong Kong. The record of
was not broken until the arrival of Heroes.
"Gao Zhisen and Huang Baiming"
During Huang Baiming's prosperous time, Mai Jia only made one movie "Love Saint" with Zhou Xingchi.
Since then, he has completely faded out of the film industry.
And as early as 1990, Xinyicheng could no longer do it, and sold the entire film source library to Li Zekai. The record company Xinyibao also gave up, leaving it to PolyGram. Princess Jin's vitality was greatly damaged because of this. The last big-selling movie of the three shareholders of
was "The Swordsman: The Undefeated in the East", which invested in Tsui Hark.
Soon, the theater business was not as good as real estate, and the golden princess ended the theater era.
, "produced by Xinyicheng", has withdrawn from the stage of history.
In the 1990s, when it comes to Hong Kong comedy, no one still remembers "Best Partner".
They only remember the name that was completely ignored by Xinyicheng: Zhou Xingchi. The legend of the
generation, struggling with the seven monsters, went with the wind.
09.
Looking back at Art City, it only took three short years from its establishment to its peak. And from peak to disintegration, it only takes a blink of an eye. In 1984, Tsui Hark's independence was indeed due to the reason that "people have their own aspirations and types are divided." But in the final analysis, this is not the fundamental reason for the disintegration of the Seven Devils.exist. When
Xinyicheng collapsed, the Hong Kong film market was not affected, and there are many more films that will continue to set box office records in the future. To say that the creative power of the Seven Devils is drying up day by day, it is not to mention that whether Zeng Zhiwei or Huang Baiming, the success of the two people in the future proves how wild the brains of these people are.
Hong Kong films in the 1980s were extremely hot and crazy days, with 30 to 40 million box office successes at every turn. If these people keep working together, I am afraid no one can be their opponent.
So after all, there is still one word: money.
is like Zeng Zhiwei who was the first to go out to find food. He said with a smile in an interview in the future:
"Why did you leave in the first place? Make money!" Created by "struggle". When Princess Jin injected capital, it was also for this company. The earliest statement is that in terms of equity distribution, Princess Jin accounts for 51%, and Mai Jia, Shi Tian, and Huang Baiming account for 21%, 19%, and 9% in their own names, respectively. After verification by the Hong Kong Archives, in fact, at the beginning, Princess Jin accounted for 51%, and Mai Jia monopolized 49%. In 1981, when the shareholding changed, Shi Tian and Huang Baiming accounted for 19% and 9% respectively in their own names, and the remaining 72%. %, controlled by a company founded together by Mai Jia and Princess Jin.
It can be seen from the beginning to the end that Mai Jia is the biggest beneficiary. Back then, the reason why he found Shi Tian and Huang Baiming to start a business was because these two wrote, directed, and acted in every way, but they had not yet made their debut, and they worked hard without complaining.
not to mention calling for Zeng Zhiwei to play "Chasing Girls", a phone call came, and he didn't even get paid.
As one of the seven monsters, Tsui Hark is actually a part-time worker. Do you think he can be independent?
"The old "Seven Eccentrics of Xinyi City""
Zeng Zhiwei and Teddy Robin have no shares in their hands, and they have no say in the company's final decision. So Zeng Zhiwei sees it most clearly, take one step first, and then pull in Robin to partner. When
filmed "Best Lucky Star", despite the dissatisfaction of the whole company, Mai Jia felt that he was so popular that he went out to act in a movie, but you didn't support me, instead he was even more angry. It is strange that such a team does not disperse.
At the beginning of the filming in Xinyicheng, there was no clear monthly salary. They all paid a settlement fee first. When the film was sold, the settlement fee would be deducted, and then a little more would be distributed to you. The decision maker here is most likely Mai Jia.
No one cares when a movie doesn't make money or makes little money. When Xinyicheng is unstoppable, Zeng Zhiwei and Tsui Hark are all famous, and when they can take charge of themselves, they will definitely find better and bigger jobs.
Even Gao Zhisen knows to go to Debao, not to mention the Seven Devils.
It's no wonder that many years later, Shi Tian said in an interview:
"What I can share with friends who are interested in the film industry is that when everyone wants to form a group, they must consider more comprehensively, and combine the best and worst of human nature. If we think about it together, the perfect structure will work well, and the foundation of the world can be established.”
Shi Tian pointed out, it is self-evident.
A brilliant gathering of meaning, but ultimately lost to the reality of money calculation.
Xinyi City, which has risen rapidly, cannot escape the fate of hasty fall.
Fortunately, at the beginning of Juyi, in that struggle room, whether it was out of love for movies, out of ambition to change the Hong Kong film industry, or more to realize self ambition and material desire, this In the end, the seven people have created so many wonderful bridges, which add luster to Hong Kong films, and the directors and screenwriters who came out of the Xincheng Building have all spread their branches in the Hong Kong film industry. This is also a good story.
"Return to the "Struggle Room""
In September 2021, Shi Tian passed away. The memory of Hong Kong films is missing another corner.
This year, Lin Lingdong's posthumous work "The Band of Seven" was released, and the box office was only a pitiful 15 million.
The torrent of a big era is rushing over, and the grudges and divisions of the past may not be important anymore.
After Shi Tian's death, Brigitte Lin and Nansheng Shi invited Mai Jia, Huang Baiming, Zhang Aijia, Teddy Robin, and Zeng Zhiwei to eat together, and reserved tableware for Shi Tian. To add vegetables to Shi Tian. Everyone laughed and laughed in tears, chatting about the past, and chatting about the restaurant closing. When
left, everyone turned back to Shi Tian's seat and said:
"Bye bye!"
"The full text is over, see you next time"
Some references in this article:
[1] "Myth of Xinyicheng", Huang Baiming 3] "Hong Kong Film Past", Wei Junzi
[4] "Hong Kong Film History", Wei Junzi
[5] "The Legend of the Iron Triangle 30 Years", Sina Entertainment
[6] "Xinyicheng En without the emotional filter" "Chou Lu", Entertainment Management
[7] "Up the Ridge, Rising Wind and Clouds, Lin Lingdong", China Screen
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