1980 My Entertainment Era

Chapter 116: Shaolin Temple

Just after the New Year, Xia Tian received a letter from He Chen in Hong Kong.

In his mind, He Chen said with great excitement that there was a "super, super good kung fu movie" being shown there, "different from those other fake ones", "super handsome", "I've watched it three times"... and there were countless similar descriptions.

He said that the movie was shot here and it’s called “Shaolin Temple”!
He Chen also asked Xia Tian in the letter: Brother Tianer, is the Shaolin Temple so powerful? Do you know the masters there?

Xia Tian started writing back: I don’t know shit. That temple was traitorous during the national crisis, and now it’s almost ruined. There are only a dozen hungry monks left there chanting sutras and farming…

Today's Shaolin Temple has indeed declined to the extreme.

However, because of the movie "Shaolin Temple" starring Li Lianjie, he came back to life in an instant!

Later, he built a lot of buildings and turned them into famous places of interest. He also established his own group, engaged in tourism, real estate, martial arts schools, and consecration.
"If 'Shaolin Temple' is released in Hong Kong, it will definitely be released here soon! This is not good, this is very bad!" Xia Tian muttered to himself.

Milan came in with a plate of freshly washed apples and asked, "What's wrong?"

Xia Tian gave her He Chen's letter. She read it and was puzzled: "Why is it not good? Is the movie "Shaolin Temple" not good?"

Xia Tian shook his head. "Shaolin Temple isn't bad, it's too good! I'm afraid it will collide with Spirit Transformation!"

As the saying goes, what you fear will come true. "Shaolin Temple" was released in Hong Kong on January 1st, and Xia's father saw a copy of the movie on February 21st.

After watching the movie, Xia's father was extremely surprised. He went home and said to Xia Tian: "I didn't expect that an action movie could be made so well! Although the connotation is hard to say, this is obviously a popular film for a wider audience, not an art film."

He thought for a moment and said, "I thought that "The Mysterious Buddha" had broken the convention and allowed people to see something different. I didn't expect that "Shaolin Temple" could achieve this level! To be honest, the fighting was so good, just like the real thing!"

In fact, many of the staff who "reviewed" the movie in advance with Xia's father were very excited at that time.

They even reviewed it over and over again, and everyone still felt unsatisfied.

Now the copies have been sent to various cinemas, there are dozens of them, and next the cinemas in Yanjing will show the film on a large scale.

Dad Xia thought of something and asked Xia Tian: "When will "The Transformation" be released?"

Xia Tian replied: "Director Lei said it will be released here in March..."

"Fortunately, there is a month left, so it shouldn't have any impact."

Dad Xia obviously underestimated the "miracle" of this domestic film!

One month's time will have a huge impact!
Xia Tian looked at the "Popular Movies" on the desk. The cover of the second issue was Li Xiuzhi/Cong Shan of "The Shepherd".

Domestic films have entered the fast lane!
……

Taking advantage of some information, Xia bought movie tickets in advance, seven or eight in total, and brought out everyone who could go.

"Okay, let me show you a movie. You will definitely be shocked after watching this movie!"

Not to mention Dachun, Milan, and Yu Beibei, even Ye Jing and Ma Xiaojun came.

By the time we got to the cinema, it was almost dinner time. After all, it was Monday and everyone was going to school or work.

There was only a crude painted poster outside the cinema, which was not very realistic and had the three words "Shaolin Temple" written on it.

This is how it is these days. There is no awareness of publicity and advertising, and there is no need for it.

After all, it makes no difference to the theater and its staff whether there are many or few people watching a movie.

Later, when cinemas in various places also started to contract out production, they started to steal tickets and prevent piracy.

As the saying goes, governing a big country is like cooking a small fish. Many things are indeed difficult.

I cut my ticket and entered the theater. It wasn't too crowded. Today was Monday, and not many people knew about this movie.

Soon the movie started...

The story is probably based on the story of the thirteen monks saving the Tang King, and the main plot is the story of the protagonist learning martial arts in Shaolin for revenge.

There are many familiar faces in the movie, such as Li Lianjie, Yu Hai, Ji Chunhua, Yu Chenghui...

However, Li Lianjie, who was only 17 years old at that time, still looked very immature, which was quite different from his later appearance.

You must say, the fighting is really strong! Very real, smooth, and beautiful! There are long-shot action scenes at every turn!

One shot to the end, isn’t it bold? !
I heard that the actors designed their own fighting routines and they are all martial artists.

If this happened thirty years later, the kung fu and martial arts films of that time would often have all kinds of shot cuts, and the protagonists would often have their backs to the camera - those were all stunt doubles.

There are also various slow motion shots and 360-degree surround shots...

The movie soon played the shepherdess, and the familiar melody sounded: "The sun rises over the valley of Songshan Mountain, the morning bell startles the birds, the stream in the forest gurgles, the grass on the slope is green..."

Listening to this song in the summer, it is very simple and fresh, with harmonious rhymes and three parts in one, which has a very ancient feel.

The female voice is also very soft. This song should be sung by Zheng Xulan from the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe.

This song "Shepherd's Song" and the movie's martial arts training interlude "Shaolin Shaolin" were both written and composed by Wang Liping.

Zheng Xulan also sang Wang Liping's "On the Sun Island" in 79. That song is quite famous.

After singing the song "Shepherd's Song", she became even more famous! She was called one of the five golden flowers of the song and dance troupe!
(Later, the heroine married a man from Lijiapo and was no longer a Chinese)
And when in the movie, the bad guys hung the shepherdess on a tree, tore off her trouser legs, and called her "game" - Ma Xiaojun and Ye Jing beside Xia Tian were excited!

Game~
Oh! This word is used well~
Since then, the term "wild game", which is even more vulgar than "chick", has quickly become popular.
That is to say, the screenwriter and the crew are all from Hong Kong. It’s not that we can’t think of it, but we certainly can’t afford to do it. Besides, if we write it like this, we will probably make a mistake…

This is a martial arts film that I have never seen before. The real beauty of the action is elevated to this level.

One can imagine the huge impact it brought to all the audiences!

By the time we came out of the cinema, everyone was acting abnormally.

Dachun was like a sleepwalker, his eyes were not focused. If Xiaodong hadn't held him, he would have been lost.

He pushed his glasses up and down from time to time, still thinking about the "wild game"!

Xiaodong is more stable...

Ma Xiaojun frowned unexpectedly, and Ye Jing's face turned red and he kept waving his fists.

Yu Beibei also chattered with Milan, and Milan looked a little sad - no, it's just a martial arts movie, how can you be sad!
Not only them, but other audiences also felt a little dazed when they walked out of the theater, and were excitedly discussing the content, lines, martial arts moves and so on in the movie.

Although there is not much publicity these days, "tap water" has existed since ancient times.

At this time, watching movies is a mainstream form of entertainment. After watching a good movie, everyone has the habit of promoting and discussing it with relatives and friends.

As you can imagine, this movie will become a hit soon!

……

After returning, Xia Tian finally understood what Milan was worried about at that time.

Milan asked Xia Tian carefully: "Tell me, if you were that young monk Jueyuan, would you become a monk in the end?"

Xia Tian understood and smiled: "I have already taken revenge, why should I stay in Shaolin? I will naturally return to secular life..."

A bright smile immediately appeared on Milan's face.

Xia Tian continued: "I returned to secular life and became a Taoist priest~"

"Aiya! I'll beat you to death!" Milan gritted his teeth and pounced like a tiger~
The next day, Ye Jing and Dachun couldn't help but go to see Shaolin Temple again. They felt that watching it once was not enough!

This time, more people watched the movie. According to later reports, the attendance rate reached 70%!

By the fifth day, it was too late to buy tickets.

Many audience members complained at the cinema ticket office: "Can't you open more theaters?!"

"How can there be so many copies!" the ticket seller said impatiently.

"Then play it a few more times!"

"It's been on from morning till night!"

Now a theater shows "Shaolin Temple" 11 times a day, and each show lasts more than an hour. It really is showing from morning to night!
Even so, it is becoming more and more popular!
By the time two weeks had passed, "Shaolin Temple" had become famous throughout the country.

Moreover, film copies began to be carried to the countryside along with projectionists.

Many people in the city began to ask their friends to queue up to buy tickets. A ticket cost a little over ten cents, and some people even paid more than ten yuan for the tickets!
Basically, you have to queue up to buy tickets even if you don't eat.

Especially in rural areas, the popularity of "Shaolin Temple" can be described as "a raging fire boiling oil" - no matter which village the movie projector passed by, there would be people asking where it was going, and then people from miles around would rush there.

Often, the projector has not been set up yet, but several rows of benches have been placed to reserve seats. Most of the people who arrive last either climb up the walls or trees, and some end up climbing telephone poles.

In addition, many places still have the glorious tradition of "one brick for one movie ticket", which directly led to the village toilets being demolished in a very short time.
Of course, looking back, the biggest winner of this movie is still the Shaolin Temple itself.

This thousand-year-old temple hidden in the dense forest of Shaoshi Mountain in the hinterland of Songshan Mountain was on the verge of collapse, but a movie turned it into a tourism and cultural card for Henan Province and even the whole country!

"Shaolin Temple" even ignited a new craze for learning Chinese Kung Fu across the country and even the world!

This is not an exaggeration!
After the release of Shaolin Temple this year, some people watched it 5 times, or even more than 10 times. So much so that the martial arts trend was strong...

Some children even gave up their studies and went to the Shaolin Temple in Songshan to learn martial arts, including the later famous Wang Baoqiang.
When "Shaolin Temple" was released in Hong Kong, Cheng Long's "Young Master Dragon" and Liu Jialiang's "18 Martial Arts Class" also entered the cinema chain on the same day.

In this year, Yuan Heping also released the kung fu classic - the 82 version of "The Thousand Faces of Dunjia".

As the first mainland Kung Fu film released in Hong Kong, "Shaolin Temple" set an extremely high record of 1616 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong under the complicated environment at the time, ranking fourth on the Hong Kong movie box office list in 82 - breaking the highest box office record in the history of Hong Kong Kung Fu films in one fell swoop.

It has been shown continuously for nearly 4 months and is currently the longest-running new film in Hong Kong.

It was then released in mainland China on February 2st - with the current ticket price of 1 cent, the final box office reached 1 million yuan.

The total population of the country is now 10 billion~
The film copy of "Shaolin Temple" was successfully sold to theaters in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas. It can be regarded as an export!

In addition to HK$1616 million in Hong Kong, the film also set a box office record of 40 billion yen in Japan.

It was released in South Korea in 83, and the number of viewers in Seoul alone reached 55.79, and finally set a box office record of 51 billion won.

In Singapore, the box office record at the time reached 170 million Singapore dollars; and in Poland, the number of viewers reached 1278 million.

"Shaolin Temple" became the first domestic commercial film to make a sensation on the international film scene.

This enthusiasm won’t subside in half a year, let alone a month!
Even with the current speed of information dissemination in mainland China, "Shaolin Temple" may still be very popular in half a year!
Therefore, "Transformation" will inevitably be affected!
Summer: Blanching
(End of this chapter)