In November, many theaters in Shanghai were screening an opera movie, which was enthusiastically sought after by the audience.

It’s not how good the quality of this movie is, but the protagonist of this opera movie is the famous Peking Opera actor Mei Lanfang. With the audience’s love for Peking Opera in this era, even silent films have a large number of fans who buy it.

This movie was filmed by Hong Kong Minxin Film Company.

In August, Li Minwei, the owner of Hong Kong Minxin Film Company, personally rushed to Peking to shoot five short opera films for Meilanfang.

Including the "Feather Dance" in Xi Shi, the "Sword Dance" in Farewell My Concubine, the "White Dance" in Mrs. Shangyuan, Mulan's "Walk Border" in the army, and Daiyu's "Buried Flower" in the flowers.

These are all classic songs by Meilanfang. These five short films are edited together to form this opera movie.

This is an attempt by Hong Kong Minxin Film Company to enter the Shanghai film market.

During the Republic of China period, Hong Kong was not at a high level and it became a British colony since 1842.

After World War II, Hong Kong began to enter a high-end development stage due to its special geographical location, thus becoming an Asian financial, service and shipping center.

In 1924, Shanghai was the financial center of the Far East and a prosperous metropolis in the East.

Film companies in Hong Kong and Nanyang want to enter the Shanghai film market to get a share.

However, due to regional and cultural differences, Hong Kong movies still have markets in Guangdong and Lingnan, and when they arrive in Shanghai, they are no longer competitive and the audience will not buy it.

Moreover, the film market in Shanghai is also fiercely competitive.

Originally, Western films dominated the world, with the joint efforts of Lin Zixuan's star film company and other Shanghai film companies, domestic films gradually occupied a place.

Among them, the audio films shot by celebrity film companies have achieved the point where they can compete with foreign films.

However, the quantity and quality of domestic films are not comparable to Western films. Most of the luxury theaters in Shanghai still focus on screenings of Western films.

Celebrity film companies shoot up to 10 feature films and dozens of short films every year.

Including Journey to the West series, martial arts film series, gambling film series, romance novel adaptations and social films, etc.

Li Minwei of Hong Kong Minxin Film Company is not satisfied with living in a corner of Guangdong and wants to enter the mainland market. To be precise, he enters the Shanghai film market.

Most of China's film companies are concentrated in Shanghai, which is the center of Chinese film culture and production.

He filmed Mei Lanfang's opera movies because Mei Lanfang is a famous Peking Opera actor and will be recognized in any city in China. There is no large regional barrier to the art form of Peking Opera.

In fact, this is true. Famous celebrities such as Mei Lanfang and Yang Xiaolou are very popular in Shanghai.

Although this opera movie has no sound, it can make a lot of money just because of Mei Lanfang's reputation.

Li Minwei came to Shanghai to inspect the film market in Shanghai, before coming. (? Luo Mingyou from Peking specifically told him to pay more attention to the celebrity film company and Lin Zixuan.

Luo Mingyou's status in the Peking film circle is equivalent to Lin Zixuan's status in the Shanghai film circle.

He founded the North China Film Company, which does not shoot movies, but runs theaters. He united the theaters operated by foreign-run in Peking and Tianjin to engage in film screenings and festivals.

Luo Mingyou's family background is much stronger than Lin Zixuan, and he has a relationship in both political and business circles.

He came from a prominent family in Guangzhou. His father was a comprador of the Hong Kong Lulin Foreign Company. His second uncle was the president of the Guangdong High Court and his third uncle held an important position in the Beiyang government.

Li Minwei went to Peking to shoot Meilanfang's opera movies, which also included Luo Mingyou's relationship.

The two of them hit it off at first sight and became friends.

Luo Mingyou has many theaters in his hands and is very familiar with the current situation of Chinese films, especially paying attention to celebrity film companies.

After more than two years of exhibition, this star film company has become a leading company in the Chinese film industry.

After Li Minwei came to Shanghai, he contacted the theater to show Mei Lanfang's opera movies, and went to the theater to watch domestic movies.

When the theater in Shanghai heard it was a film by Mei Lanfang, it would be screened without hesitation. This is the influence of famous Peking Opera actors.

In this way, Li Minwei put down his worries and focused on the film industry in Shanghai.

After he learned about celebrity film companies, he realized that he underestimated the heroes of the world.

Minxin Film Company has its own theater in Hong Kong, and has purchased advanced shooting equipment from the United States, and established a studio in Guangzhou, with a total assets of over 50,000 yuan.

In the Hong Kong film industry, it can be regarded as the largest film company.

But compared to celebrity film companies, it's a big deal.

At this time, the celebrity film companies were full of talents, with many famous directors and various stars, as well as various film technical talents. They had their own studios and could shoot four movies at the same time, and each movie could make a profit of tens of thousands of yuan.

In addition to the many theaters in hand, the total assets have already exceeded 10,000 yuan.

Of course, the theater has Feng Jingyao's shares, and Lin Zixuan's personal assets are about 150,000 yuan.

Therefore, the film industry is profitable, especially when it only makes money but not lose money.

Li Minwei watched movies from celebrity film companies, including all kinds of movies, but many of them were entertainment films, deliberately catering to the audience's viewing fun.

Like other aspiring young people in this era, he believed that films should have the effect of promoting good and punishing evil and changing customs, and can be used as auxiliary education and to improve society.

He put forward the slogan of "movies save the country" very early.

Therefore, Sun Zhongshan once wrote the inscription "The world is for the public" for Hong Kong Minxin Film Company.

However, Li Minwei has to admit that the films of celebrity film companies are very mature, and many shooting techniques are worth learning from, and they are worthy of being the leader of the Chinese film industry.

Moreover, he saw the broad prospects of audio films and believed that the era of silent films might be over.

Even so, he did not give up his determination to enter the Shanghai film market. If he wanted to make the film company bigger and stronger, he had to come to Shanghai, which is the center of Chinese films.

He was even more confident when he thought about what Luo Mingyou mentioned to him when he was in Peking.

Luo Mingyou has long been interested in entering the film production industry, but he has no film creators.

He controls the theater, and Li Minwei is responsible for filming the movies. The two of them work together and may compete with celebrity film companies.

This proposal strengthened Li Minwei's idea of ​​moving Minxin Film Company to Shanghai. It was not that the Raptors were no longer the Jiang. In the film industry, he was full of confidence in himself.

He will learn the advantages of celebrity film companies and subtly promote while taking care of the audience's interests.

After watching the movie for a few days, Li Minwei was preparing to go to Guangzhou to shoot a costume film, which was based on the story of the strange story of the Chinese Studio. He found that Shanghai audiences were very interested in costume films.

This movie is called Rouge, and it is the first costume feature film of Minxin Film Company.

If Lin Zixuan knew Li Minwei’s idea, he would definitely tell him that costume films were a popular trend in the Shanghai film industry last year and were no longer popular this year.

This year, the hitman film is popular because his movie killer Li Ang is about to be released.

It has become a common practice for celebrity film companies to lead the trend of domestic films, and other film companies to follow suit.
Chapter completed!