History of Hong Kong Island

Chapter 12 The Movie Dollar Store
Manager Zhang is the director of a theater in Central, Shaw & Sons.

Shaw Brothers and Sons was formerly known as Shanghai "Tianyi Film" Company, and its founder was Shao Zuiweng, the elder brother of "Ningbo Shaw Brothers". There are five brothers and two sisters in the same generation, and a family of seven.

His father, Shao Yuxuan, ran a paint shop in Shanghai in his early years with the name "Jintaichang".

Later, due to the force of the war, Shao Zuiweng transferred all film materials and production tools to Hong Kong Island, renamed Nanyang Film Company to continue operating, and expanded the studio to acquire cinemas, becoming the film company with the most filming on Hong Kong Island at that time...

In the end, the second brother of the Shaw Brothers, "Shao Villager", had the most shares in the expansion, and with his son Shao Weimei, his brother Shao Zuiweng reorganized Nanyang Film Company into the "Shaw Brothers and Sons" company.The second elder brother, Shao Villager, was the chairman of the board, his son Shao Weimei was the general manager, and each theater appointed a manager to manage it. The eldest brother Shao Zuiweng began to retreat to the second line.

The younger Shaw Brothers "Shao Shanke" and "Shao Yifu" went to Singapore in 26 years to develop the Nanyang Chinese film market and established the "Shaw Brothers" company. At present, there are more than 100 movie theaters in Nanyang countries. It has established a complete overseas film distribution chain and dominated the Southeast Asian market.

Before the "Shaw Brothers" returned to Hong Kong Island, "Shaw Brothers" was the most famous film company on Hong Kong Island, and already owned four cinemas in Central.

The "Shaw Brothers" are known to everyone in Southeast Asia. They are the first brothers in the film industry among the Chinese businessmen who went south. It can be said that the Shaw Brothers have their own achievements. There are hard times.

The "Tianyi Company", which filmed the first Chinese-language sound film in Shanghai that year, was not a smash hit, but it had already suffered a dismal business amidst the war and ended in dismay. The "Shaw Brothers and Sons" did a great job on Hong Kong Island, but they couldn't surpass the "No. [-] in the World" in Shanghai. On the contrary, the "Shaw Brothers" who left Nanyang were so unique that it was surprising.

A studio manager backed by Shaw Brothers is considered a respectable figure in Central. He only cares about how much money he can make. How could he be afraid of the threat of a uniformed policeman?
He Dingxian moved the projector to the rickshaw, supported the projector with Zhu Youzai, and walked to North Point Pier to take the last ferry back to Kowloon.

The projectors are delicate these days, and if they are damaged, the loss will be great. The two of them were careful all the way, and they were relieved when they got on the ferry.

Lard Boy wiped the fat from his face and asked, "Brother Xian, we don't really want to open a movie theater, do we?"

He Dingxian scolded: "Open a movie theater, if there is a movie theater without a production company, it's still a part-time job for people."

Shaw Brothers was able to open up the market in Nanyang and continue to expand because of the Shaw Brothers and his sons on Hong Kong Island to provide films. On the premise of ensuring the quality and quantity of movies, cinemas have room to expand their profits.

Otherwise, they are all working for the studio behind them, and they will be on the verge of bankruptcy in the off-season.

However, if the theater chain is big enough, it can rely on distribution to eat up small film companies.

The market is a relationship where the strong take all.

"The Shaw Brothers" finally returned to Hong Kong Island to grab the class and seize power. It was also because "The Shaw Brothers" were defeated in the quality of the film, and they had to come back to host the production.

"Then I really can't figure out what to buy a projector for?" Lard boy's shrewdness is useless in business, and a more ambitious vision is needed to do a good job in business.

Ho Ting-yin said with a smile, "We will put the projector in Shek Kip Mei later, we just need to circle an open space and collect one ticket per person, one yuan per ticket."

"A movie theater on Hong Kong Island now costs 15 to [-] yuan per ticket, depending on the location, the studio, and the cast."

"The fare is too expensive." He lit a cigarette and smoked against the sea breeze: "Those rich people and managers think highly of it, but refugees don't look down upon it."

"Although they show new movies, we show old movies, but for those who haven't seen them, old movies are new movies!"

The acquisition cost of new films is too high, and the acquisition cost of old films is much lower. Two films plus a machine only cost 5000 yuan, and it only costs one to 2000 yuan to buy one film.

That is to say, each film can pay back its cost by selling more than 1000 tickets.

Is this a lot?
Too little!
Even if there are only [-] people watching it a day, after [-] days, the money will be paid back, and all the rest will be pure profit. The audience of the film industry is very large.

His open-air screening room cost nothing.

Lard boy thought about it: "It turns out that it is a housing estate business, a strategy of encircling the city with the countryside, but are the estate boys willing to spend a dollar to watch a movie?"

He Dingxian smiled confidently: "Everyone has entertainment needs. No one is willing to buy a ticket for more than ten yuan, but many people are willing to buy a ticket for one yuan."

"A family in Shek Kip Mei earns more than 100 yuan as a coolie, and spends up to [-] to [-] yuan on food and drink. The rest of the money is saved."

"This money is the money they will spend. Our ticket price is more than ten times cheaper. One movie earns the whole family, and only earns five or six yuan. We spend five or six yuan a month to make the whole family happy. Who wouldn't? There must be quite a few people willing to come and spend."

The poorer the people, the more they need cheap entertainment. Movies are considered a high-end form of entertainment on Hong Kong Island. If they are labeled as cheap entertainment, they will definitely be flocked by most people.

Moreover, there are very few people in the housing estates who have watched movies. Everyone in the housing estates is a potential consumer. The poor in Hong Kong Island are far more than the rich. Therefore, if the cinema wants to make money, it must take the civilian route. This is also the current weak income of the Hong Kong Island film market reason.

Although, the Hong Kong Island film market in this era has obtained the best equipment, screenwriters, production accumulation, and the richest customers from the Mainland.

However, the Hong Kong Island film market in this era is really small. Movies basically don’t make much money in Hong Kong Island, and they are all distributed to the Nanyang market to make money.

Because there are too few rich people and too many poor people on Hong Kong Island, making movies into high-end entertainment is destined to keep more people out of the door.

Therefore, there are only nine theaters in Central on Hong Kong Island, and only two theaters in Kowloon, and none in the New Territories.

A barren commercial film market has not yet been cultivated, and the 80s and [-]s, when the time is no longer glorious, are truly able to open up the film industry and create a dominant film group.

"Hong Kong Island currently has a population of more than 200 million, the rich are only 200 of them, and the remaining [-] million belong to us!" He Dingxian is full of confidence.

In the past two years, far more than 50 rich people from mainland China have fled to Hong Kong Island, but most of them have fallen into poverty. Their rich family assets were either robbed or cheated. Most of the tycoons come from here.

The rest of the rich are either ghosts, or have left Nanyang and North America. When counting the Chinese film market, naturally they cannot be counted as ghosts.

(End of this chapter)