Chapter 493 A New Era
If you say time goes fast, I always hate it for being as slow as a snail when I am busy at work every day; but if you say time goes slow, it seems that in the blink of an eye, another year is coming to an end and the New Year is coming.
Su Yun announced this time that she will gradually shift the focus of her career back to Hong Kong. Not only in North America, but even in Hong Kong, people feel that it is "not worth it" - after all, many people make movies just to make money, and the box office in Hollywood is definitely much bigger than the money in Hong Kong. If there is no opportunity to make it there, then you can only stay in Hong Kong, but Su Yun obviously has a lot of opportunities to make it there!
But she just had to come back, and no one knew whether it was to come back to guard the family property, or... because she had run out of ideas?
However, before those with various thoughts could find out the true story behind Su Yun's return, the box office figures of the "Jiuzhou Past" series that followed had already caught their attention with an extremely powerful attitude.
Is such a number really something that my poor cousin, who used to need quantity limits and approvals to buy something, could achieve?
Why can it develop so fast!
Just like the great changes in the times, they had watched the long-traveled mainland undergo a series of changes without even noticing. In just a hundred years, the world had been turned upside down, and they simply could not keep up with the pace of change.
While they were not paying attention, the box office revenue in mainland China suddenly soared, surpassing their long-time box office stronghold Treasure Island, and then Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and other places, which also surpassed them by relying on their numerical advantage!
When I think of the fact that Taiwan and Southeast Asia have recently launched boycott actions such as "local protection policies" while secretly introducing Hollywood blockbusters to them to counter Hong Kong films... many people who are engaged in the film industry or intend to make money from the film industry suddenly feel uneasy.
However, it seems that China is making a lot of money, but once it is linked to that country, it is equivalent to giving up all the box office revenue from Taiwan. If there were no conflict between the two sides, everyone would have thrown themselves into the market development in China. Unfortunately, you can't have both...
It seems that mainland China is making more money now, but the turmoil of that year is still fresh in our memory. Who knows if it will come back again after a while?
What if they chose the mainland because of greed for immediate benefits? If there were any changes there, even if they could withdraw safely, they would not be accepted by Taiwan anymore...
In other words, only Su Yun, who had long been "cut off diplomatic relations" with Taiwan, would be so desperate that he rushed to the Chinese mainland without much hesitation and made a fortune by taking advantage of the information gap.
Yes, apart from the fact that everyone agrees that Su Yun can’t compete with him in special effects, they think that many of Su Yun’s movies are just ordinary popcorn commercial films. I can do it too…
Especially after the advancement of technology in recent years, anyone can do the job of transcribing. Video studios are springing up everywhere in mainland China. They have made a lot of money just by secretly transcribing pirated videotapes and selling them there.
The best-selling ones among them are comedy, action, horror and those with colors. Mixing these elements together can basically meet the viewing needs of most people...So, these people who not only engage in pirating but also have black clothes can also make movies.
Anyway, there are no-name directors and third- and fourth-tier artists everywhere. You don't have to spend time to hire them. They will come to you if you throw some money at them. Then you can let those street-level screenwriters write a few scripts based on popular themes, and you can make a movie!
If you want to make it bigger, you can spend money or use other means to get one or two big stars to be the main dish, and print them on the cover to almost make back your investment. If they sell well, you can make a lot of money.
What kind of sinking market is this? !
This is clearly to meet the daily needs of the general public! And you can also make money at the same time, a win-win situation!
Of course, the most cost-effective way to make a lot of money is to secretly record and transcribe pirated videotapes, directly taking ready-made videos shot by others, and then recording them at full speed, and then selling them through the channels they control in exchange for piles of cash.
Anyway, they don't need to worry about the life and death of the film industry. If the film industry can't survive in the future, they can still go back to their old business. There is always endless money to be made in the gray area.
With this in mind, it is beneficial for Su Yun to return the focus of his career to Hong Kong. At least they have one more target to secretly record, and it is the kind that has been verified by the market - as long as Su Yun has not "run out of ideas".
At this time, those who were happily thinking that there was another fat sheep to fleece did not expect what the real reason was for Su Yun's return this time.
She has devoted so much of her energy over the years to film technology and post-production special effects because special effects blockbusters and new technologies are currently the only weapon against the impact of piracy.
Because Su Yun has personally experienced the time when piracy hit the film industry to the point of being half-dead and on the verge of collapse, she understands that in addition to the measures such as industry transformation mentioned earlier, another very important point in revitalizing Hong Kong entertainment is to protect the entire film market and maintain the long-term development of the industry.
Even if there are people who are willing to make movies even if it means losing money on electricity, how long can they last?
Only by maintaining the long-term development of the industry can we ensure the long-term survival of Hong Kong films.
Hong Kong is now in the last golden age of the film industry with the right timing, location and people. It is also a critical transition point between the older generation of greats and the younger generation of talents, and a period of vigorous development for the new generation.
If we protect it well and don't let it collapse due to the impact of piracy and foreign blockbusters, there is a high probability that in the future we will use it as a foundation, starting with the integration of the entire Hong Kong area, gradually spreading to the mainland and other regions, and then gaining a foothold in the Asian market with enormous development potential, forming an Eastern film system that is opposite to but interdependent with the Western film system.
Now, the time is ripe, and the things she has buried step by step over the years are finally about to break out of the ground.
Taking advantage of the transition between the end of the year and the New Year, Su Yun started making big moves both openly and secretly, spending a lot of time and energy, and finally got a list of people who could "cooperate" before the Spring Festival.
She is a person who can tolerate gray in her eyes, but the intensity of this gray must also meet her standards and requirements.
Words like piracy and copycat, which are subservient to interests, will never be eradicated in her lifetime, so the only thing she can do is to fight against them as much as possible and in a targeted manner, suppress their expansion and resist their attacks.
On the one hand, we need to take advantage of the improvement of production technology to correspondingly increase the cost of piracy and counterfeiting and curb their rampant numbers; on the other hand, we also need to create a "brand effect" and use better technology to change people's consumption habits in terms of thinking and cultivate their awareness of genuine products.
Apart from these two major points, there are of course a lot of additional details. However, if you can master these two key points, you can win a lot - especially the "brand effect", which can be understood from the perspective of thinking. It encourages people to believe that "genuine" is better, and makes people try their best to get "genuine" if they have the conditions, instead of settling for "pirated" versions.
The reason why those big brands can successfully break through the competition from numerous pirated, copycat and low-priced similar products is mainly due to these two key factors.
Undoubtedly, this plan would offend many people, so Su Yun carefully selected and gradually gathered the power to realize this plan from the political, business and underworld circles.
Compared with those short-sighted people who only care about the present and not the consequences, most of the people she chose can understand the correctness and necessity of her plan.
Between fishing out all the resources and making a living, anyone with a bit of brains and vision knows which to choose.
Once she gathers this team, it will be a protracted struggle, especially in the dark grey areas that are not visible on the surface, where there will be silent and bloody battles.
But in the final analysis, this battle is inevitable, and we must do our best and fight to the death.
A few months later, at a meeting themed "Discussion on the Future Development of the Hong Kong Film Awards", which was intended to use the Academy Awards as the basis for integrating the entire regional film industry in Hong Kong, and then radiate to the entire Asian film selection and stand opposite to the Oscars, Su Yun stood up decisively when faced with the questions raised by many bigwigs from all walks of life.
"Why do you think it's impossible before you even start doing it?"
"It's just like a long time ago, before the telephone was invented, people said it was impossible; before the movie was invented, people also said it was impossible; later, before the television, computer, mobile phone, PDA... before every new thing came out, people said it was impossible!"
Feeling that he was speaking too excitedly, Su Yun took a deep breath, looked around the room again, and said in a deep voice: "But now, what's going on?"
“We are where we are today because of people who believed they could make the impossible possible.”
"If you reject me today, will you regret your decision one day in the future when you look back on your life?"
"I can say that if this plan succeeds, Hong Kong's film industry will turn disadvantages into advantages, regain its past prosperity, and create a more prosperous glory than ever before!"
“But what if it all fails in the end?” The question is always there, and the meaning is always the same.
When Su Yun heard this question, she smiled meaningfully: "Who among you has achieved your current status without gambled everything you have?"
"Don't think about failure before you start; don't think about the impossible before you try."
"Yes, I can't guarantee that this plan will succeed, but I can guarantee that even if this plan ends in failure, when I am old and look back on the past, I will never regret the decision I made today."
"And if the plan succeeds... all the big guys present here and I, a young man, will be the founders of a 'new era' in the future."