Zou wenhuai

essential information

Character experience

Chow Man Wai, Raymond, was born in Hong Kong on October 8, 1927. He worked as an intern reporter in Shanghai Shenbao in 1948, and returned to Hong Kong after graduating from the Journalism Department of Shanghai St. John's University in 1949. He worked as a sports reporter in the English newspaper South China Morning Post and the standard. In 1951, he served in the news service of the United States, worked in the voice of America radio station, and presided over the voice of America.

In 1957, he joined Shaw film company as publicity manager. He was promoted to production manager in 1960 and vice general manager and production manager the next year. During his tenure, Zou wenhuai made outstanding achievements and performance in all aspects, made a lot of contributions to Shao, and became Shao's right arm.

In 1970, he served as the chief executive officer of Shaw Brothers, but he left because he was dissatisfied with the company's stingy salary system. He established Jiahe company with he Guanchang and Liang Feng, purchased the former site of Cathay film studio and renamed it Jiahe studio.

In 1971, Zou wenhuai hired Bruce Lee from the United States and invited him to join. "Big brother Tangshan" starring Bruce Lee has set the highest box office record since the opening of Hong Kong.

In 1972, Bruce Lee starred in the second film "JingWuMen" for Jiahe company, which broke the Asian box office record again. Since then, he has successively starred in films such as "dragon crossing the river" and "dragon fighting tiger".

In 1973, Bruce Lee died suddenly, and Jiahe company was in trouble.

In 1974, Xu Guanwen (the Xu brothers) joined in and started shooting ghost horse double stars, creating a new line of comedy. With more than 6 million yuan, he became the best seller of the year, which made Jiahe put off the dilemma.

From 1974 to 1977, John Woo directed the Cantonese Opera "imperial flower". Xu Guanwen brothers created a series of social satirical comedies, including "half weight" and "deed of betrayal". In addition to breaking the box office record of Southeast Asian films, it also successfully entered the Japanese market.

In 1977, Hong Jinbao signed a contract with Jiahe company, creating a precedent for humorous kung fu films, shooting "three virtues monk and Chung Mi six" and "black sheep".

In 1978, John Woo directed the comedy "Fa Qian Han" and the costume film "Da Sha Xing and Xiao Mei tou", and Jiahe became the world's largest Chinese film production company.

In 1979, Jackie Chan joined Jiahe company to fill the vacancy of Bruce Lee. Later, with the help of Jiahe company, Jackie Chan made many action films with personal style, such as "plan a" series, "Police Story" series, and "Hongfan district", and became the second International Kung Fu star after Bruce Lee.

In 1989, Jiahe company cooperated with American studios to release Ninja Turtle in more than 2000 theaters in the United States, with a revenue of HK $1 billion, becoming the third best-selling film in the world at that time, making Zou wenhuai the first Hong Kong producer to become famous internationally.

In 1992, Ruan Lingyu, produced by Jiahe company, made Maggie Cheung the winner of the Berlin International Film Festival. After introducing two Kung Fu stars, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, she cultivated a literary star.

In 1996, sweet honey, starring Maggie Cheung, liming and Zeng Zhiwei, produced by Jiahe company, won nine Hong Kong Golden Awards.

Since the late 1990s, Hong Kong films have been declining, and Jiahe company is also heavily in debt. Most of the films released in Hong Kong have been in vain.

In 2000, Lin Jianyue took over Jiahe company in a hostile way. Zou wenhuai used his contacts to introduce Taiwan Acer to defeat Lin Jianyue, and then Acer transferred its shares to Li Jiacheng

In 2003, Jiahe company did not make any new plays after making the new year's film "Xingyun Superman".

In 2006, Jiahe company issued convertible notes to Chen Guoqiang's Jinxing, and it was rumored that Chen Guoqiang planned to acquire Jiahe.

In 2007, Zou wenhuai sold all the shares of Jiahe company to orange sky entertainment and retired from the film industry.

Personal life

family

Father: Zou minchu, from chayang Town, Dapu County, Guangdong Province

Wife: Yuan Xihua, Wu Shufang

Sons: Zou chongjue, Zou Chongjin

Daughter: Zou chongheng

Zou minchu, the father of Zou wenhuai (1881-1940), was the governor of Guangdong central bank in 1929. He was a famous figure in Guangdong financial circles at that time.

On November 5, 2007, Zou wenhuai and his daughter Zou chongheng officially announced their retirement in Hong Kong. As a former chairman of Jiahe, Zou wenhuai said that retirement mainly came from being too old. After retirement, he will no longer take part in the management plan of orange sky, and his children will no longer take over Jiahe film. However, he will still act as a consultant of Jiahe, and then he will gradually withdraw from the film industry. When I retired, I hoped that Chinese films could compete with Hollywood: "my biggest regret is that the opening of mainland films was a little late. If it were 10 or 15 years earlier, I would have a chance to see Chinese films flourish. I can't see that day when I do it myself. I hope there will be successors who can have this day. "

Death

On November 2, 2018, Zou wenhuai, founder of Jiahe film, died at the age of 91.

On November 12, 2018, orange sky Jiahe entertainment issued a press release, saying that it would hold a memorial meeting at the Kerry hotel in Hong Kong from 2 pm to 5 pm on November 19, so that friends from all walks of life could gather together to remember Mr. Zou wenhuai.

Main contributions

Create Jiahe

Zou wenhuai was at St. John's University in Shanghai (where he also met Wu Jiatang) and served as director of the US information service in Hong Kong after graduation. At that time, Shaw just came to Hong Kong from Southeast Asia to set up Shaw Brothers film production company. Shaw wanted to ask his old friend Wu Jiatang for help, but Wu Jiatang firmly refused to recommend Zou wenhuai as director of publicity department. One of the conditions for Zou wenhuai to take up the post is that his subordinates must be appointed by him personally. After Run Run Shaw agreed, Zou wenhuai also recommended his good friend he Guanchang as the deputy director of the publicity department. In addition, Cai Yongchang and Liang Feng also took up important positions and took charge of the power of Shao's company. This also laid the foundation for Zou wenhuai to leave with he Guanchang, Cai Yongchang, Liang Feng, etc. to establish Jiahe and rise rapidly, because this period is the stage of Hong Kong Film take-off, and they have had close cooperation for ten years.

Zou wenhuai's two most successful things in Shao's period were to help Run Run Run Shaw buy a large open space in clear water bay and set up a studio (later he Guanchang set up four studios by bidding for the abandoned hangar of Kai Tak Airport), and to recruit director Zhang che (at that time, Zhang Che mainly wrote film reviews and scripts. First, he promised his friend song Qi to work in Dianmao for a year Later, he joined Shaw company. Although Zou wenhuai's position in Shao's company is not high, his power is only under Run Run Shaw, and he has to pass Zou wenhuai. However, Shao's company is basically a vertically integrated business model, and Shaw is also used to doing his own business (he only has an employment relationship with his subordinates, not a joint venture relationship). Later, general manager Zhou Duwen resigned and left. Run Run Shaw hired Ling Sicong to take over the position of general manager, and then hired Ms. Fang Yihua to be responsible for "purchasing". But in fact, Fang Yihua is gradually taking over the work of Zou wenhuai.

In April 1970, Zou wenhuai formally left Shao's company and set up Jiahe production company with HK $400000, and took away his former subordinates he Guanchang, Cai Yongchang, Liang Feng, Chen Ziqiang, etc. in Shao's period. At the same time, Jiahe also obtained the management power of Cathay Pacific production company's Yonghua film factory in Fushan Road, niuchiwan, to enhance the strength of film production and try to compete with Shao. But in fact, Jiahe company initially continued the business and production management mode of Shao company. At that time, Wang Yu was invited to cooperate with a Japanese company to shoot "one armed sword vs. blind man", which was sued by Run Run Run Shaw for infringement in court, and Run Shaw adopted the strategy of bringing down Zou wenhuai at that time.

Revitalizing film

Zou wenhuai supervised some of the most important films in Bruce Lee's life, including "brother Tangshan", "JingWuMen", "dragon crossing the river" and "game of death", which successfully helped Bruce Lee enter the international film market. Later, Xu Guanwen brothers were invited to join in and supervised the production of local comedies such as ghost horse double star, half weight eight Liang, genius and idiot, which broke the box office record in Hong Kong. After that, he discovered Hong Jinbao and Jackie Chan, and supervised the production of action films such as "Lin Shirong", "ghost", "younger martial brother", "master long" and "plan a".

Zou wenhuai was also the first Hong Kong Distributor of western films to cooperate with foreign companies, including the Amsterdam kill, the big brawl, the cannonball run, death hunt, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The turning point of Jiahe's film history came from the joining of Bruce Lee, which also promoted the start and development of the independent producer system in Hong Kong film industry. At that time, four-dimensional company, led by Rowe, went to the United States to find Zheng Peipei, who had been married and retired, to return to the film world, but Zheng Pei Pei Pei had no intention to return. As a result, 4D found Bruce Lee by accident. Before that, Bruce Lee returned from the United States to Hong Kong and wanted to cooperate with Shao. However, because he proposed that the film should be paid 10000 yuan, the shooting time should not exceed 60 days, and the script must be agreed by Bruce Lee himself, and Shao Yifu did not agree. Shao Yifu's laziness made Bruce Lee furious. Zou wenhuai seized this golden opportunity and sent people to the United States China invited Bruce Lee and signed a contract with him for $7500. Wen Huai to keep Li Xiao

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