Chapter 00066: Enlightenment at the Dragon's Lair
# Enlightenment at the Dragon's Lair
Chapter 66
Novel: 1979 Golden Age
Chapter 66: Enlightenment at the Dragon's Lair
The bank staff's attitude towards Chen Qi was not exaggerated.
These days, when ordinary citizens received remittances from overseas relatives and went to the bank to withdraw money, the staff would warmly chat with them: "Oh, write more letters to your relatives, tell them you have special privileges, and ask them to send more foreign currency..."
Especially in the southeastern coastal areas, where overseas Chinese were most numerous.
Don't underestimate this move; just the remittances from overseas Chinese to support their families back home could reach tens of millions of dollars annually.
Chen Qi's alignment with the leftist companies was unquestionable, but the benefits were indeed fewer.
This time, without the overseas remittance coupons, he really planned to write a script for a local Hong Kong company or submit a novel to the U.
S. to earn some real dollars.
He directly deposited the converted RMB, and the small passbook now shone with a total asset of 4000. Enough to marry eight wives!
...
In the afternoon, Chen Qi returned to the Beijing Film Studio.
After a quick glance at the items sent from Hong Kong, he went to the main building to find Wang Yang and requested access to the reference room.
As mentioned earlier, the main building of the Beijing Film Studio had three and a half floors, with the half floor being the reference room, which also housed many books and served as a reading room.
It was usually empty, and an old factory worker opened the door for him, saying, "Put the books back in their original places after reading, don't dirty or damage them. If you take them to the guesthouse, you need to register."
"Got it, don't worry!"
Chen Qi entered, looked at the dozen or so rows of bookshelves and a few tables and chairs, took a deep breath, and got to work.
He first picked out some newspapers and magazines related to Soviet and Yugoslav films, found a seat, and buried himself in reading.
Currently, Sino-Soviet relations were still tense, normalizing only by the mid-1980s, but films were friendly ambassadors, taking the lead.
After China's reform and opening up, Soviet films were unbanned, and occasionally domestic films were sent to Eastern Europe for screening.
Relations with Yugoslavia were better, with frequent exchanges.
These two socialist camps, with a combined population of nearly 300 million, mostly produced war films, films reflecting the working class, praising laborers, and criticizing capitalism, among others.
"The Yugoslav market is very active, and Romania is quite vibrant too."
Chen Qi noted some things and then searched for information on European films, soon piling up a stack on the table.
He needed to gauge these countries' acceptance of certain types of films, to avoid making movies that might offend their sensibilities.
He really didn't know much about these, having no exposure in his previous life, but he was quite familiar with the U.
S. market, where the rise of New Hollywood, represented by Coppola, George Lucas, and Spielberg, had already completed their masterpieces.
"Star Wars" had ushered Hollywood into the era of blockbuster films.
Next, the U.
S. would enter a golden age of cinema, dazzling and bizarre, where any kind of film could make a splash at the box office.
This was the best time for American cinema, until it was overtaken by superhero films.
Back to martial arts.
The first Hong Kong martial arts film to be released in U.
S. theaters was Shaw Brothers' "The Big Boss," starring Lo Lieh, who later got involved with Le Yun from the "Dream of the Red Chamber" crew, who followed him to Hong Kong and committed suicide by jumping off a building.
This film grossed 20 million dollars at the box office because dumb foreigners had never seen martial arts films before.
A few months later, Bruce Lee's "Fist of Fury" was also released in the U.
S., grossing 2.8 million dollars, "The Chinese Connection" 3.4 million dollars, and "Enter the Dragon" was a huge hit, grossing 25 million dollars.
"Way of the Dragon" didn't do as well, with a global box office of just over a million dollars.
"..."
Chen Qi stared at this set of data as if he could see flowers blooming from it.
"The Big Boss" benefited from being the first of its kind, while "Fist of Fury" and "The Chinese Connection" didn't do well because the American mainstream didn't like these themes.
So why did "Enter the Dragon" succeed?
Because Bruce Lee had just died a month before its release, the film had a gimmick, and it featured Americans getting beaten up.
Americans didn't mind being beaten up in movies; they knew they were strong in reality, each with a face that had never been bullied.
What they were really wary of was:
Did the film incite the working class?
Was it anti-capitalist?
Were there any traces of the Chairman? Including any photos, badges, songs, quotes, etc.!
In short, as long as it didn't touch their core values, they didn't care if you wanted to fight; it was all entertainment...
Chen Qi summarized his thoughts, filling many pages.
He categorized martial arts films that were popular overseas into three types: big-budget films like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Hero," and "Fearless," with big stars, big productions, stunning visuals, and themes that foreigners could understand.
The second type was small films, pure martial arts, non-stop action from start to finish, focusing on the thrill, represented by "Iron Monkey" and "Fist of Legend," where action choreography was key.
The third type was art films, using martial arts as a veneer to explore deeper spiritual themes, like "The Swordsman in Double Flag Town."
Many kung fu films didn't perform well at the overseas box office but found success in VHS and DVD rentals.
For example, "Fist of Legend" had modest overseas box office earnings but made 16.75 million dollars from U.
S. rentals alone.
However, VHS was just starting out, so these weren't considerations yet.
The Beijing Film Studio had a budget of at most 700,000, so big-budget films were out of the question.
Even if they had the money, the hardware facilities weren't up to par.
"So we can only make small films, add some scenic shots of the motherland, and that should be enough to fool the dumb foreigners. The key is the martial arts choreography!"
Chen Qi had a plan in mind but then worried.
Mainland action design evolved from martial arts routines, while Hong Kong had gone through the hard-hitting phase, and Jackie Chan's acrobatics and Sammo Hung's flamboyance were becoming popular.
When Tsui Hark's new wave of martial arts films emerged, they were even more imaginative and free-spirited...
"Foreigners now like the style of fists hitting flesh. We need to find a Hong Kong martial arts choreographer who's proficient in techniques, like Wang Yuyan. But how to lure someone from there?"
Chen Qi was stuck in the reference room, pondering all these things, and before he knew it, the words on the books became indistinct as it grew dark.
He rubbed his neck and left with a pile of papers.
It was quitting time, and everyone was curious.
"Xiao Chen, what are you up to?"
"Nothing, just checking some things!"
"Got some inspiration? What are you planning to write?"
"Nothing concrete yet, but I'll let you know when I figure it out."
He brushed them off, left the main building, and took a look at the studio.
The Cultural Congress had ended, and "Romance on Lushan Mountain" continued filming, expected to wrap up by mid-December.
...
And so, he spent three consecutive days holed up in the reference room.
Rumors spread at the Beijing Film Studio: "Wow, Xiao Chen is up to something, reading books for three days straight, burning the midnight oil, forgetting to eat and sleep. Look at that pretentious posture, does he think he's having an enlightenment at the Dragon's Lair?"
On the fourth day.
Chen Qi finally stopped going to the reference room and knocked on the director's office door.
"Come in, have some tea!"
Wang Yang personally brewed the tea and smiled, "Everyone knows you've been in seclusion cultivating. Now that you're out, do you have some ideas?"
"Sort of, got a bit of inspiration."
"Tell me quickly!"
"I've thought of three ideas, let me summarize them for you."
Chen Qi took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and said, "The first is a story about a western swordsman, the second is about the legendary thief Li San, and the third is about the Tai Chi master Yang Luchan."
(End of Chapter)