Chapter 117: The Top Ten Rankings

“Gambling Saint” and “Supreme Lord” both had their wins and losses when competing against each other. The former was stronger in terms of humor and appeal to the general public, and it was released in two theaters, resulting in box office earnings that were over 20 million higher than the latter. However, the latter received much better reviews from critics, making the two fairly evenly matched.

As expected by Xiao Ran, this led to an influx of gambling-themed movies—films featuring gamblers, gambling lords, and gambling addicts appearing one after another. It’s hard to describe just how popular this trend became, but the box office performance of these movies was quite impressive.

Xiao Ran quietly waited for the initial wave of gambling movies to subside before releasing the prequel to “Gambling God” at the end of 1988. By then, when everyone would have grown tired of gambling movies, he could use this opportunity to establish Mirage Company’s reputation among audiences.

Currently, Xiao Ran was only responsible for setting the company’s development direction and strategies, as well as handling film-related matters. Basically, he was already struggling with choosing movies for the New Year season. The problem wasn’t a lack of suitable options but rather too many choices.

In front of him and Lin Qingxia lay three scripts—three excellent ones. Two of them were written by Mirage Company’s contracted screenwriters, while the third was not. Xiao Ran frowned deeply. All three stories were very good, making it difficult to choose.

Fortunately, none of the writers were anyone he remembered from before, and he had never seen these scripts before. Lin Qingxia glanced through them briefly and whispered with a smile, “These are all great. Look, this one is about a silly gangster! I think it’s really good.”

Xiao Ran shook his head slightly. The scripts were indeed good, with interesting plot points. The issue was that it was hard to decide which one to choose. After some thought, he remembered a market research report from the marketing department. That report categorized audiences into those who frequent cinemas, those who go occasionally, and those who never go at all. Those who never go are mostly over 50, while those over 30 tend to go occasionally. Generally, a movie’s main audience is around 20 years old. If it’s a movie suitable for the whole family, its audience base becomes even wider, as many parents take their children to the cinema.

This meant that movies rated PG had the greatest box office potential, as they were suitable for all ages. Movies rated PG-13 restricted some younger audiences, while R-rated movies were primarily aimed at adults.

Xiao Ran also remembered a professional film book stating that Hollywood’s most profitable movies each year are usually G-rated (suitable for all ages). In fact, the top 20 highest-grossing movies in Hollywood history were mostly G-rated. Therefore, PG-rated movies couldn’t be ignored.

Especially during the New Year season, it was the perfect time for the whole family to go to the cinema together. With that in mind, he chose one of the family comedies. This year, Mirage Company would face tremendous competition in the New Year film market.

You should know that except for last year, the box office champion almost always comes from the New Year’s season. This year, the three giants are going all out—New Art City is determined to retain its title by releasing “Heroic本色 (ben se) -> true colors / one’s true nature / one’s true self 3” during the New Year’s season, aiming firmly for the top spot. Galaxy Entertainment also postponed the release of “Police Story Sequel” and placed the star-studded “Flying Dragon Warriors” in the New Year’s lineup, hoping to reclaim the crown with the box office appeal of Cheng Long and Sammo Hung. Diamond Films released the sequel “Wealth Forces Us Together” this year, trying to get a share of the market as well.

Shadow Company, which is gradually matching the three giants in terms of scale and market influence, has no advantage in the New Year’s market. At first, the three companies thought Xiao Ran would quickly produce “God of Gamblers 2” to fit into the New Year’s season. When they saw he had no such plans, they relaxed a bit. Xiao Ran didn’t want to do it because “God of Gamblers” still had much potential to explore, and he didn’t want to ruin the brand. Besides, who says you can’t compete with them if “God of Gamblers” isn’t released? Just kidding—Xiao Ran has plenty of good ideas, but he doesn’t want to develop laziness, so he hasn’t used many of them yet.

However, for Xiao Ran, it’s not a big problem. With a box office score of 41 million, “God of Gamblers” is almost certainly the annual champion. Unless something major happens, the three giants won’t be able to dethrone it.

“Alright, this one!” Xiao Ran finally chose a family-themed film, somewhat similar to “A Family Celebration.” Lin Qingxia’s gaze wandered from her notebook to Xiao Ran’s face. “The box office statistics from the Film Association will be out soon—this time, the company will really become famous!”

Xiao Ran smiled smugly, a look he usually reserved for a few close friends like Lin Qingxia, Sammo Hung, and Ah Dong. Although the top ten box office lists for this year haven’t been released yet, there’s no way any changes can occur now. “God of Gamblers” firmly holds the first place, while “God of Gambling” is in second place, about 100,000 ahead of “Eight Stars Bring Good Luck.” “Prison Storm” is in fourth, “Brothers in Arms” in fifth, “Plan A Sequel” in sixth, “Wealth Forces Us Together” in seventh, and “Prequel to Heroic本色 (ben se) -> true colors / one’s true nature / one’s true self” in eighth—all of these have box office scores of over 30 million. Ninth is “A Fairy Tale in Autumn,” and tenth is the low-budget “Ghost Police Station,” which was released in November—both have scores over 25 million.

As for the films that were once on the box office list, such as “One House, Two Wives,” “Ghost Bride,” “Oriental Eagle,” and “Romance of the Jianghu,” they’ve all fallen off the list. In these top ten lists, half are works written by Xiao Ran, and all five films released by Shadow Company this year are on the list, dominating the rankings.

Once the decision was made, Xiao Ran felt much more relaxed. This is still the early stage of Shadow Company’s development, and he can’t yet decide which films to produce. Still, he has trained producers like Yu Yuyu, hoping they can help in the future.

After finishing this task, Xiao Ran continued to write the script with his pen, working hard. Lin Qingxia poured him a glass of clear cold water and stood by, quietly watching his back. What Xiao Ran was writing now was not any script from his memory, but one about spies, and it had reached the ending stage.

The spy theme was entirely his own creation, a work solely his own. The story told of a Chinese-American CIA agent who defected back to his country and gradually found his sense of belonging to it (hehe). In fact, Xiao Ran thought it might be better as a TV series, as changing the genre wasn’t easy.

Yet he chose to keep writing. 1989 was approaching, and it was best to show goodwill to the mainland government as soon as possible. After finishing this script, Xiao Ran also planned to use another script to hint at what happened in Beijing that year.

The spy theme itself wasn’t a big problem. Initially, Xiao Ran wanted to turn “Lifetime Career” — which he had seen on Qidian Chinese Station in his dreams — into a script. From any perspective, this spy theme was undoubtedly better than the previous one.

But he didn’t do that because he really wanted to write a script entirely his own. Of course, “Prequel to The True Colors of Heroes” didn’t count, as it was based on the first episode and wasn’t very difficult to write. Most importantly, businesspeople always introduce inferior products first before bringing out the good ones to take advantage of the market — something Xiao Ran understood well.

Xiao Ran wrote this spy script titled “Espionage Conspiracy” in bits and pieces over time, completing three parts in total. Still three parts. However, he hesitated about whether to produce them as prequels or something similar.

With three parts already available, adding another trilogy might easily bore the audience. Moreover, if the series didn’t follow a sequential order, many viewers might not understand it. Thinking this through, he immediately decided to shoot it in the order the script unfolded. He firmly wrote “End” in his notebook, feeling much relieved, then sat down. Seeing this, Lin Qingxia said happily, “Done? Let me see!”

While Xiao Ran rested, Lin Qingxia read the script, her expression growing increasingly serious, especially when she reached the part where one of the spy characters tried to commit suicide; she even cried. She didn’t dare read on. Xiao Ran suppressed a smile, took the script, and sat beside her. “What do you think of it?”

“It’s great! It’ll definitely win an award!” Lin Qingxia wiped away her tears. Xiao Ran gently took out a tissue and wiped her slightly red eyes with tender care. Feeling Xiao Ran’s kindness and thoughtfulness, Lin Qingxia’s heart warmed. “But isn’t it too cruel? The audience might not be able to accept it!”

Xiao Ran shrugged helplessly. The script was inherently cruel. If it weren’t, it wouldn’t have any selling points. Next, he lay on Lin Qingxia’s bed, brainstorming his next work — one that would hint at the major events of 1989. Of course, there couldn’t be any satire in it.

Xiao Ran had a rough idea of the story, but after much thought, he still didn’t dare to start writing it. It involved too many things he didn’t dare to touch upon. Though he only wanted to lay a groundwork so that Hong Kong and the whole world could understand how difficult it is for those in power to make decisions during a nation’s crisis, having to act in the greater good.

In the end, he decided not to handle it himself but to leave it to other writers in the company. Whether out of laziness or unwillingness to get involved, he found a good excuse to avoid it.

The next day, Xiao Ran gathered all the company’s writers in the meeting room—a truly impressive lineup. At that time, Shadow Company had only nine contracted writers; the rest had been dismissed due to poor performance and became freelance writers.

Looking at the ten writers in front of him, including Wei Jiahui, Xiao Ran felt deep resentment. If Jiahe hadn’t poached so many people, there would surely be more talent here. This had happened some time ago. After Tie Long was taken away, Xiao Ran hadn’t taken it seriously.

But after that, he noticed that in many scripts sent to him, whenever he thought one was good, Jiahe would always snatch that writer away before he could. Three writers had already been taken away in this way, leaving Xiao Ran frustrated by Jiahe’s underhanded tactics. Everyone knew such things—speed mattered, and there was nothing he could do about it.

From then on, Xiao Ran became much more cautious. He also remembered that Hollywood wouldn’t dare to casually read others’ scripts like he did, otherwise, if a Shadow Company film resembled a plot from one of those scripts, they might face legal action. Fortunately, that was Hollywood’s rule. But to be on the safe side, Xiao Ran consulted a lawyer and issued a statement stating that if a future Shadow Company film resembled a plot from any script, the company would bear no legal responsibility.

Sure enough, fewer scripts were sent after that. However, those with real talent and confidence still appreciated this path to advancement. Don’t underestimate it—although Shadow Company had only nine contracted writers, seven more were promoted this way, though they weren’t contracted.

Among Shadow Company’s employees, aside from artists, only a few were eligible for contracts. Though many hadn’t released any works yet, they already had a reputation in the industry. At least everyone agreed on one thing: being chosen by Shadow Company meant having abilities surpassing most of their peers.

Of the current nine writers, aside from You Naihai, the rest were all newcomers, one of whom graduated from Baptist University. After reflecting on why Hong Kong lacked good writers—because there had never been opportunities to stand out—Xiao Ran outlined the general story and then asked, “Who among you wants to work on this script?”

After scanning the room and seeing everyone whispering, Xiao Ran smiled and explained further what he wanted to convey: “The theme of this story is simple—it’s about a government or a nation that, when faced with crisis, must prioritize the greater good and make decisions that harm a small portion of the people. What I want is understanding—audiences’ understanding of the moral implications in the film.”

This is clearly a huge challenge for every outstanding screenwriter here. No one dares to accept it, saying they need to think about it first. Xiao Ran smiled slightly, thinking this was exactly right. If they could give a definite answer right away, he wouldn’t believe that Hong Kong already had filmmakers with such a broad vision.

After the meeting, Xiao Ran kept Wei Jiahui and another screenwriter named Gan Xingfan. He needed Wei Jiahui to prove the value of the script for “Spy Conspiracy,” while Gan Xingfan was there to revise the script. This person was good at creating logically structured scripts with great precision.

Xiao Ran first gave the copied script to Gan Xingfan and said seriously, “Afan, do your best to add content based on your abilities, and then research more to include details about weapons and other elements. I’ll send Monkey to assist you later—he’s an expert in weapons.”

Actually, Xiao Ran’s approach was simple: he wrote the story himself. Since it was about spies, it inevitably involved quite specialized content. So, when he didn’t have time to research these details, he left them to other screenwriters.

In fact, Hollywood does the same thing, only they go through countless revisions, dulling the intensity of the plot. After going through more than a dozen screenwriters, even the best scripts get reduced to ordinary ones.

*****
My new book will be officially released at the end of October. It’s almost here—stay tuned…