Chapter 35: Acquisition of Debao ()

Shaw Brothers Film Company is a listed company. Zhang Bixuan has a total of 70% of the stocks and has absolute controlling stake. No matter what his opinion is, other directors of the board of directors combined together cannot deny their decisions. In the past, Shaw Brothers Film Company was the era when Shaw was the only one-man show. Now, Zhang Bixuan is more powerful than Run Run Shaw, and all directors will not oppose any decisions of Zhang Bixuan for the sake of loyalty.

After Zhang Bixuan acquired Shaw Brothers, he vigorously injected the assets of Longteng Film Company into Shaw Brothers, and changed the name of Shaw Brothers Film Company to Longteng Film Company.

After the stock of Longteng Film was suspended for a few days, the stock price of Longteng Film Company was leaping thousands of miles a day after the opening, and from a company with a market value of less than one billion Hong Kong dollars to a market value of tens of billions. Because Longteng Film Company's major shareholder Zhang Bixuan is the richest man in the world, and Longteng Film Company is also the only listed company in Zhang Bixuan's hands, so shareholders of all sizes have a mentality of reluctance to sell. In fact, Longteng Film Company's team is still the original resource of Shaw Brothers Film Company, but investors do not think so, as if Zhang Bixuan put his hands there and it becomes a profitable company. Longteng Film Company's stock has risen rapidly every day and quickly became the top ten blue-reward stock in the Hong Kong stock market.

Then, the movie "God of Gambling" marked with the word longteng is released in almost all cinemas in Hong Kong! Hong Kong is facing a stock market crash, and many citizens go bankrupt. In addition, Hong Kong is close to Macau, the largest casino in Asia, and many people are not unfamiliar with gambling.

Hong Kong people know that there are gambling kings in Macau, Stanley Ho, Ye Han, and Ho Ying-tung, but they have never heard of any gambler who is called a god. In addition, the starring Chow Yun-fat has made several movies that are both well-known and popular in recent years. The first movie of Longteng Film Company, the most popular stock in the stock market, has been investing in the film. Most Hong Kong citizens have spent 10 or more Hong Kong dollars to buy tickets and went to various cinemas that are screening "God of Gambling".

In 1987, Chow Yun-fat was a glorious year. In this year, he starred in "Dragon and Tiger Storm", "Fairy Tales in Autumn", and "Prison Storm". In the last month of 1987, "God of Gambling" starring Chow Yun-fat naturally had a strong appeal to movie fans. What's more, this movie was a luxurious production of Longteng Film Company invested a total of more than 20 million Hong Kong dollars. This gimmick alone can attract people to see what it is. After all, it is not easy for a Hong Kong movie to achieve a box office of 20 million in this era. It is rare to dare to shoot a big production in Hong Kong. Some Hong Kong movies can even be shot with less than one million, and can earn millions of box office when they are released.

During the three-day preview, there were many praises. Audiences and professional film critics entered the cinema again and again, and admired Chow Yun-fat's peak work intoxicatedly. The discordant voice was inaudible, or it was banned by Long Teng.

"Brother Fa is so handsome and so stylish!" The infatuated girl said with her heart in her hands, her eyes blurred and her expression was shy. This is a girl's film review.

"I would have Gao Jin's gambling skills. Next time I ask someone to ask me about where to learn real gambling skills..." said a fraudster who was in a small club.

"Tsk, I know a talented student who graduated from Macau University of Gambling. His gambling skills are much better than Brother Fa. Look at Brother Fa's acting like a real person, but in fact..." Someone was pressed to the ground and stepped on him before he finished speaking.

"Is there a Macau University of Gambling? I often go to Macau, why haven't I heard of it?" Some people doubted.

A group of doctors wearing big white clothes jumped out of an ambulance and shouted, "Fuck this time, you're going to run there. Every time you're in a psychiatric hospital, you're not honest. You always sneak out to watch a movie..."

'Chinese people like gambling, and only in China will they take "gambling" as a type of shooting. Gao Jin's classic image reflects the Chinese people's gambler's psychology.' said a foreign film critic.

Then, there were various behind-the-scenes and news related to "Game God" in countless entertainment newspapers, and even everyone who showed their faces in "Game God" were regarded as a master of gambling. Originally, Liu Tianwang, who was in his previous life, performed miserably in "Game God" filmed in 1989, and was a rookie among the rookies. This time, at the request of Zhang Bixuan, Wang Jing made almost harsh demands on Andy Lau's performance. Although she was still a little immature, it has to be said that she could fully serve as a foil for Chow Yun-fat.

Although Xier does not have the experience of Joey Wong, she is able to rely on her true performance instead of experience. In addition, her image on the screen is much more pleasing to Joey Wong, which also makes her a second-tier female star in one fell swoop. Since the release of "God of Gambling", Xier has received constant film appointments, but Zhang Bixuan sent her to wireless for further study, giving her the qualities of a professional actor. After all, a person who relies on acting may not always act well, and his acting skills can sometimes fully interpret the scenes needed in the play.

When it was officially released on December 7, all cinemas in Hong Kong were full. Even so crazy that tickets were hard to come by. In order to let more viewers buy tickets to watch movies, many small cinema owners actually sold "stand tickets" without chairs. The cinema with a total of 3,000 people squeezed 4,000 people. The box office reached 5 million on the first day, which was equivalent to one in every ten Hong Kong citizens staying in the cinema for two hours on this day to watch "God of Gambling".

Then, the box office of 5.8 million in one day on the second day, and the box office of the third day fell slightly to 5.2 million. In the first week of its release, the lowest box office per day reached 4.5 million. In just 7 days, the total box office of "God of Gambling" in Hong Kong had exceeded 40 million, breaking the record for a Hong Kong movie's local box office.

The whole Hong Kong is crazy about this movie called "God of Gambling", because Chow Yun-fat is fighting against his opponent and having a classic chocolate chewing action on the betting table. The chocolates in major supermarkets in Hong Kong were sold out in just a few days.

A week later, Zhang Bixuan asked Longteng Film Company professionals to push "God of Gambling" to other Asian markets and find opportunities to release it to European and American markets. The local release in Hong Kong has already recovered the cost of investment for Zhang Bixuan at that time, and the profits made in other regions are completely pure profits.

At this time, Zhang Bixuan was already trying to take all the top three Hong Kong film industry under his command.

"Pan Sheng, I admire you very much for not relying on family power to start from scratch. You have created such a large foundation for Dison Group in just over ten years. Moreover, the Debao Company, which you do in the game, has become one of the top three in the Hong Kong film industry. However, unfortunately, I have become interested in the Hong Kong film market. Moreover, there are three tigers in the Hong Kong film industry now. There is still three tigers swaying in front of me. I don't want to see competitors in this market. If someone opposes me to monopolize the entire market, I can't do anything. I am not very knowledgeable, but I have just learned a trick to hurt people with my own ability!" Zhang Bixuan said to Pan Disheng with a smile.

Pan Disheng was a little depressed. He went through hardships to challenge the authority of the two giants of Xinyi City and Jiahe, and forced his own power to be inserted into the entertainment industry. This made Debao Company's dominance in the Hong Kong film industry and became the Hong Kong film company that produces the most movies every year. However, in a blink of an eye, Zhang Bixuan, who is thousands of times stronger than him, insisted on acquiring his own company.

In fact, in 1983, Pan Dee-Sheng provided funds to establish Dee-Bao Film Company by Sammo Hung and Cen Jianxun. Although it was a short-lived company. Although it was once glorious, it was like the New Art City of the same era and soon disappeared from the film industry. Originally, after Shaw Brothers finished filming business in history, most theaters were sold to Pan Dee-Sheng. Pan Dee-Sheng started large-scale film industry construction. Dee-Bao’s movies mainly have two types, one is fashion action movies, and the other is middle-class Yupi movies, but one of the important projects is to make Michelle Yeoh full of popularity. In Cheung’s memoir, it was written as follows: Michelle Yeoh was eventually made famous by him as the "head actress" of "Dee-Bao". She was the most outstanding martial arts actress after Cheng Peipei. She got married and quit the film industry. The final result was that Dee-Bao only filmed 39 movies, and Pan Dee-Sheng and Michelle Yeoh also ended up divorced.

It only took six years from its establishment in 1983 to its disbandment in 1989. It can be seen that Pandison may not necessarily regard movies as a long-term career in his heart.

At this moment, Pan Disheng regretted and agreed to the invitation from Run Run Shaw of Debao to tell Zhang Bixuan. He reluctantly smiled and said, "Zhang Sheng likes me, a small Debao company, and I am not a ignorant person. But I have spent countless money and hard work in Debao company. You won't let me lose money, right?"

Zhang Bixuan held his hands and smiled and said, "Very good. If you can put forward the conditions, it means that some of them have been discussed! However, I don't like wasting time because I will rule the entire Hong Kong movies this week. Your company is only a small part of my plan. Let's do this. 1 billion Hong Kong dollars to acquire all your film-related industries, including sets, theaters, stars, and film libraries. Anyway, you have to sell them to me for movie-related things!"

Pan Disheng was delighted. All his investments in the film company were only 200 million yuan. The total value of Debao now is no more than 500 million yuan. Zhang Bixuan was willing to acquire it at twice the price. If he got the money, he could push his Dison Group to a peak. Where can I find such a good thing? Even if Debao is a printing machine, it will take more than 10 years to make 500 million Hong Kong dollars. And if he has 1 billion cash, he can make more than one billion yuan every year by working in an industry with a return rate of more than 10%. After thinking about it, Pan Disheng smiled sincerely: "Zhang Sheng is so domineering! I, a small businessman, can't you decide your kindness! I agree to this business!"
Chapter completed!