Chapter 174: Changes in the Environment (Seeking Subscriptions)

"If you have an idea, then you should give it a good try!"

In a corner of the celebration banquet hall, Wu Feng encouraged: "However, once the film is shot, you must choose a good release window, such as during a long holiday, otherwise it would be a waste!"

"I understand, isn't that what they call a family-friendly film?"

Jing Kun laughed: "You guy, I don't know where you get so many ideas from, yet they happen to be quite applicable!"

"I have some bad news to tell you!"

Wu Feng said with a smile: "I plan to open another small film company, specializing in low-budget comedies and emotional dramas!"

"You kid, you kid are trying to steal my business!"

Jing Kun was shocked, and the look he gave Wu Feng became unpleasant.

It was only because he was successful now and understood Wu Feng's personality that he didn't react as he would have in the past—which would have been to draw his weapon, or rather, to turn hostile without mercy.

His temper had mellowed quite a bit, but that didn't mean he had no temper at all.

"Steal what business?"

Seeing Jing Kun's reaction, Wu Feng was fairly satisfied and explained patiently: "Do you know what a low-budget comedy or urban romance film is? The kind with a budget of less than a million!"

"With such a low budget, what kind of good film can you make?"

Now it was Jing Kun's turn to be astonished; for a moment, he couldn't react.

Hadn't Wu Feng always told him to make qualified or even high-quality films?

"Just to let newcomers practice!"

Wu Feng explained softly: "You also know the film production process at Fengrui Film and Television!"

"For a comedy like 'Good Luck', if we followed that process, it would probably only gross a few million at most; there's no need to go through all that trouble!"

"This, that is indeed true!"

Jing Kun was no longer an outsider, and he realized it as soon as Wu Feng spoke.

He hadn't expected that such a seemingly perfect entertainment process would have such drawbacks.

"So, I plan to set up a story collection under the newspaper!"

Wu Feng laughed: "Specifically to collect short jokes and stories!"

"The small film company I'm opening will use this as material to expand into films!"

"The quality certainly won't be very refined, and the plot will probably only be passable, but the production cost is low, so as long as we don't mess around, we basically won't lose money!"

"Some newcomers to the company can be put in there to train and develop!"

This works too?

Jing Kun listened, dumbfounded, unable to react for a moment.

At this point, he naturally knew that Wu Feng wasn't trying to compete with him for business.

Besides, there were many film companies in Hong Kong, and many were good at making comedies; one more new company was no big deal, it was just hard to accept when he first heard it.

"You don't think about it, how many people under me are eating from the film industry bowl now?"

Wu Feng sneered: "I can't favor one over the other, can I? Wouldn't those talents all jump ship?"

"Oh, you mean Asia Television!"

Jing Kun nodded to show he understood; there were quite a few actors and directors at Asia Television.

If they knew Wu Feng had another film company, and a well-known one at that, how could they not be tempted or want to make films?

Not to mention the natural hierarchy of the film industry, the gap in earnings alone was enough to make many ambitious directors and actors at Asia Television start having ideas.

Wu Feng had thought of this while staying in Sai Kung.

Of course, he had other motives for acting this way, but there was no need to explain them too clearly to Jing Kun.

"By the way, there's something I need to tell you!"

Jing Kun changed the subject, lowered his voice, and said: "I have friends in Taiwan who want to invest in films produced by Qiankun Film and Television Company, and the terms offered are quite generous!"

"Oh, what terms did they offer?"

Wu Feng's heart stirred, and he asked curiously: "They wouldn't just be giving you money for nothing, would they?"

"How is that possible?"

Jing Kun rolled his eyes and said irritably: "If that were really the case, I wouldn't dare take it!"

"They only wanted the box office revenue and video tape revenue from Taiwan!"

"That is indeed very generous. Did you agree?"

"I'm just feeling unsure, so I wanted to ask for your opinion!"

"If it's normal business, then accept it. As for the abnormal ones..."

"I've finally reached where I am today with great difficulty; how could I go back to the old path because of some messy business?"

Jing Kun's expression was quite serious when he said this.

"Haha, I hope you remember what you said today!"

Wu Feng didn't dwell on it; the situation in Taiwan would soon undergo a major change.

The film distributor forces that had been suppressed would sweep through Hong Kong like a volcanic eruption.

The golden, yet most chaotic, era of Hong Kong cinema was about to arrive.

Wu Feng's attitude toward this was to sit and watch.

Just as he told Jing Kun, normal cooperation was fine.

As for abnormal matters, he would absolutely not touch them easily.

Don't look at how everything is going smoothly for him now; who knows how many forces are harboring ill intent in the shadows?

There was no other reason; his investments in the Mainland were too large.

Other Red Mansion figures all invested in hotels and real estate, but Wu Feng was investing in solid, tangible industries.

In the eyes of certain people and forces, that was a sign of closeness to the Mainland.

It was just that Wu Feng had no intention of actively involving himself in the core real estate and finance of Hong Kong, which was why he did not attract the hostility of the Red Mansion group.

Yet he had always remained vigilant in his heart!

His industries in the Mainland would only grow, and naturally, he would be targeted by certain people and forces; this was an unavoidable matter.

But damn it, other places simply did not possess the advantages of the Mainland, and it was impossible for him to easily concede, as the interests involved were truly too great.

Soon the celebration banquet began, and Wu Feng was once again "protected" by Li Saifeng and Weng Hong.

He did not crowd in with the group of film company bosses, but instead found a random spot to chat and laugh with the two women.

"A film company just sent me an invitation!"

After eating some buffet snacks, Li Saifeng suddenly asked: "Should I take it?"

"What type of film is it?"

Wu Feng did not find it strange; Li Saifeng's reputation as an action actress was already very loud at this time.

In the two-part *Swallow Li San*, Li Saifeng was certainly not just a pure vase decoration.

Whenever it reached a critical moment, she was always the one to step in and help the male lead out of a predicament or provide backup.

The fight scenes were not few at all, and they were quite intense.

If one did not have sufficient physical fitness, it would truly be impossible to hold up; that is not an exaggeration at all.

It was precisely because of this that Li Saifeng's quality as an action actress was top-notch.

With Fengrui Film and Television as her backing, Li Saifeng's fame at this time had already easily surpassed another well-known Hong Kong action actress, Huaiyinghong!

After she became famous, she indeed received film invitations from the outside.

Unfortunately, none of them were standout roles, so she basically declined them all.

Unexpectedly, at the celebration banquet hosted by Jing Kun, someone actually approached her with an invitation.

"A modern action gunfight film; I heard it's going to be filmed over in Taiwan!"

Li Saifeng did not hide anything; her attitude toward this film was indifferent.

"Then don't take it!"

Wu Feng said in a deep voice: "Taiwan has not been very peaceful in the last two years, and I don't have any friends I can trust over there!"

"Fengrui Film and Television is very close with Silver City Institution, so I'm afraid we've long been marked!"

"Remember, if there are any film invitations from Taiwan in the future, you must inform the company in a timely manner!"

"If you are suddenly asked to go to Taiwan for location shooting while filming outside, you must also report it to the company immediately; the same goes for artists from other companies!"

Li Saifeng's incident this time served as a reminder to him.

Despite having connections with the Hung Hing, the situation in Taiwan was complex, and the face of the Hung Hing might not necessarily be effective.

In reality, ever since Wu Feng began cooperating with Silver City Institution, he had already voluntarily abandoned the Taiwan film market.

Of course, the box office that could truly be provided there was not much; even an action superstar like Cheng Shilong would only get a box office share of at most thirty or forty million Taiwan dollars there.

In ordinary times, it was only around twenty million Taiwan dollars, which converted to less than ten million Hong Kong Dollars.

Like Jing Kun, Wu Feng basically just sent videotapes over there.

A single Taiwan market could basically consume about fifty thousand to one hundred thousand videotapes, which was already quite good.

The income from sending videotapes only required splitting the profits with local gang leaders, and the profit was even higher than playing them directly in theaters, so neither Wu Feng nor Jing Kun had cared much about the theater market there before.

Of course, after 1988, the situation would be very different!

But right now, it was definitely not a good time to have too much contact with the film merchant forces there.

Wu Feng had an intuition that the film invitation Li Saifeng received was likely similar to *Angel Enforcers* in normal history, and it was highly probable that it was a film by Ximi.

You have to know, the box office of the first *Angel Enforcers* was not high, only a little over eight million!

If one really relied on box office share income, I'm afraid even the costs wouldn't be recovered.

Yet, such a film was actually filmed for three consecutive installments.

One was worse than the last, and the box office of one was lower than the last!

He was now a tycoon in the Hong Kong film circle, so he naturally understood some of the ins and outs of the film industry very clearly.

Films like this, which had very average box office results but were filmed in consecutive sequels, naturally had big problems.

And yet, the investors were all companies from Taiwan!

The reason Wu Feng understood this so clearly was because of Li Saifeng.

During the golden age of Hong Kong, there were only a few action actresses!

Li Saifeng was the most beautiful, and her films were quite popular in the Mainland.

Later, because of writing needs, he looked up quite a bit of information in this regard, so naturally, he had some information about *Angel Enforcers* and could easily see the problems.

Li Saifeng nodded to indicate she understood; she originally didn't have much interest in taking outside roles anyway.

It wasn't as if she hadn't been in the crews of other companies; she knew what the situation was like in her heart.

It could be said that the crew of Fengrui Film and Television was the most orderly crew she had ever seen or even heard of.

In the crew of Fengrui Film and Television, she basically only needed to worry about her own scenes; she didn't need to spend any energy dealing with other miscellaneous matters.

But in outside crews, how could there really be no problems at all?

Not to mention, it wouldn't be long before she had to go to the Mainland to film the third part of *Swallow Li San*, so she simply wouldn't have much time to deal with outside films.

Today there are only two chapters.

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(End of this chapter)