Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 539 Let’s Do It

Liu Zhou didn't know whether his idea and plan would succeed, but he felt that since he had the ability now, he might as well give it a try.

In fact, those superhero movies are also science fiction movies, and science fiction movies generally will not fail as long as the special effects and plot are not bad.

The main reason why science fiction movies have never been popular in mainland China is that these two aspects are not done well. In addition, the investment in science fiction movies is generally not small. Film and television companies have no confidence in being able to recover their costs and dare not touch this type of movie.

This also leads to the fact that there are almost no directors or other behind-the-scenes teams in China who can produce hardcore science fiction films.

So it was not until Guo Fan returned from Hollywood after completing his studies and spent three years calming down and preparing that "The Wandering Earth" came out.

Golden Harvest now has no shortage of production teams. After "The Martian", "Moon" and "Interstellar", Golden Harvest already has a team with rich experience in making science fiction films.

Not to mention the funding. Although there is the film and television base which is a big money-eater, it is basically self-sufficient and will be completed by the year after next at the latest without the need for further investment.

By then, Jiahe’s funds will be very strong.

And there is no need to worry about the special effects. Golden Harvest Special Effects Studio is not only the best in China, but also a second-tier special effects company in the world.

Through cooperation with Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate, coupled with relatively low prices, Golden Harvest Special Effects Studio has already gained some fame in Hollywood.

The only thing to worry about may be the script. If Golden Harvest really launches Liu Zhou's superhero plan, there will be twenty or thirty superhero movies.

This will be a brand new movie, and Liu Zhou's golden finger will be of no use.

He could only rely on his own experience of more than ten years, and gather some well-known domestic screenwriters and even find some well-known online writers with more creative ideas to write the script together.

Liu Zhou does not require every movie to be successful, but as long as there are a few big hits in the early stage, the plan can be considered basically successful.

Because there is no fan base, it takes one movie after another to build this superhero world and attract fans.

Therefore, the early stage is the most difficult, and among them, "God's Will" is the most important. This movie is like the prologue of a novel and the framework for constructing the world view.

If this movie fails, Liu Zhou's subsequent superhero plans will also be stillborn.

Therefore, the movie "God's Will" is also very important. According to his original plan, he wanted to direct the movie himself.

After finishing the movie "Joker", he will officially prepare for the movie and start Golden Harvest's superhero project.

However, I didn't expect that before I took any action, the novel "Heaven's Will" was already targeted by Ning Hao.

And looking at his current state, he must be very interested in her, and he has also put a lot of effort into her, so Liu Zhou couldn't bear to snatch her away.

"Mr. Liu, what do you think?" Ning Hao asked softly when he saw Liu Zhou seemed to be in a daze holding the script after listening to his ideas.

Liu Zhou also realized that he was a little distracted, and then replied with a smile:

"The script is OK, and your idea is also very good. To be honest, I also took a fancy to this novel. I wanted to start it next year after returning from the United States, but I didn't expect you to get there first."

Ning Hao was a little surprised when he heard Liu Zhou's words:
"Really? It seems like great minds think alike. But since I got it first, Mr. Liu can't snatch it away."

Hearing that Liu Zhou also had high hopes for the novel, he now felt more confident about the movie "Tian Yi".

"Don't worry, you've been preparing for this for months. I definitely won't steal someone's love, but have you ever thought about extending your life a little through this movie?"

"Extend life? How to extend life?"

Afterwards, Liu Zhou also briefly told Ning Hao about his thoughts.

When Ning Hao heard this, he was surprised at first, then shocked, and finally calmed down. However, there was a hint of light in his eyes as he looked at Liu Zhou.

"How is it? Do you think there is a workable solution?" Liu Zhou asked after taking a sip of tea.

Ning Hao took a long breath and said:

"Boss Liu, you are worthy of being me. You want to build our Chinese Avengers Alliance."

“Yes, superhero movies in North America have become increasingly popular, and this trend has spread across China. It is inevitable that Marvel movies will become popular.

We may be unable to reach them overseas, but we cannot let them dominate the domestic film industry. At least we cannot let them dominate the domestic film industry.”

"Since you have so many subsequent plans, then "Heaven's Will" is the top priority. The pressure is a bit too great, and I am a little afraid to shoot it."

"Don't, I'm not telling you this to discourage you, but to get you to join me in consulting and perfecting the plan."

Ning Hao calmed down at this time. He was also talented. After thinking for a while, he pointed out the biggest difficulty of the plan:

"Mr. Liu, if you want to create a worldview from scratch and make it influential, it will be difficult. You may need to spend a lot of energy and money in the early stages."

"I understand that not having any fan base is indeed the biggest difficulty, but it is not without its benefits. At least I don't have to worry about others copying my work."

Ning Hao pondered for a while and said:
"If we want to expand the influence of this world view, it should not be limited to movies. TV series, comics, games, dramas, etc. can all be developed together.

Then spend more money on publicity and promotion, and gradually, there should be no problem, but it will take a long time. "

"Yes, your idea is great, and you can also add various peripheral creative products. It doesn't matter if it takes a long time. If it works, I am prepared to spend ten years laying the groundwork and cultivating the audience."

It's no wonder that Ning Hao's words made Liu Zhou suddenly enlightened. He didn't know if it was because he hadn't made any serious plans yet and was only thinking about the movie, and didn't think of this.

Full copyright operation is indeed an important way to quickly increase influence.

And what a coincidence, Liu Zhou has dedicated companies for TV series, comics, games and dramas.

Jiahe Film and Television can handle the TV drama tasks, Zhoushan Literature can handle the comics operations, and Sina Games is also responsible for the games. Finally, Zhoushan Drama Troupe is now the number one private drama team in the country.

We can even add animation to the mix. Zhou Shan Literature also has an animation company under its umbrella. The animations "Zhu Xian" and "Shen Mu" produced by this company are currently being broadcast on Sina Video.

This is the power of omni-channel. The closed-loop entertainment ecosystem that Liu Zhou spent nearly ten years building has finally taken shape.

I thought this entertainment ecosystem would only be useful in a few years, but I didn’t expect it to be used first in building a superhero worldview.

"In that case, Mr. Liu, your plan will definitely succeed. Jiahe, together with Zhoushan Literature and Sina Group, can completely solve these problems.

Oh my god, Mr. Liu, you haven't already started planning this, have you? When domestic copyright protection is fully implemented in a few years, then you can make money from all types of copyrights in any project of the company, right? "

Ning Hao currently doesn’t know what entertainment ecology is, nor does he understand what full copyright operation is, but after counting just now, it seems that Liu Zhou has completed the layout in games, comics, animation, drama, etc.

Coupled with the broadcast channel of Sina Video, it can be said that the closed loop is completely completed. In the past, I thought that Zhoushan Literature, which Liu Zhou founded, was a bit unprofessional. In his opinion, the role of Zhoushan Literature is at most to provide some novels suitable for adaptation into movies.

But to be honest, at this stage, novel copyrights are really cheap, and there is no need to spend so much energy and money to set up a website.

It was not until now that he discovered Liu Zhou's plan, which gave him a terrifying feeling. He deserved to make a fortune and become the richest man in the country.

“You wishful thinking, only the most popular IPs can be operated with full copyrights, but in fact, you don’t have to think that all IPs can be operated with full copyrights. It’s also good for some IPs to be successful in one or two copyright operations.”

"If that's the case, then why hesitate? We at Golden Harvest are not short of money. If we can really build a new world view and create our own superhero, it will definitely go down in film history."

"Who said Jiahe doesn't lack money? Now let's listen to those who are short of money."

"Boss Liu, I'm not one of those retail investors. I'm an important star shareholder of the company. How could I not know whether the company is short of money? I heard that the bank is begging Boss Zhang to lend money."

"Haha, you're right. There's really nothing to hesitate about. If that's the case, then let's do it."

Even if you fail, it won't have much of an impact. At most you'll just lose some money and be ridiculed for being overconfident and having unrealistic ideas.

Qian Jiahe was also in a state of loss, and it wouldn't hurt him much to be criticized, and such news would soon pass.

And if the plan succeeds, then they will make a lot of money, not only in terms of honor, but also in terms of money. There will be twenty or thirty movies centered around the new world view.

Combined with other copyright operations, you can definitely make a lot of money.

"Mr. Liu, what are you going to do?"

"Let's start with your film 'The Will of Heaven'! But you need to change the script a little bit. You can't kill Fuxi right away. Also, you need to leave a hook at the end of the film to lead to the subsequent plot."

"No problem. I'll discuss it with Lao Xing when we get back."

“By the way, it’s better to change the villain’s name a little bit. It’s better not to use the name Fuxi. If the plan succeeds by chance in the end, Fuxi will definitely be infamous.

This would have a very bad influence and could easily lead children or teenagers astray. After all, Fuxi is the ancestor of mankind in Chinese mythology and has an important position and influence in the minds of the Chinese people.

"What's that called?"

"It's better to choose a name related to daily life."

"Godzilla?"

"Godzilla is a giant beast, and the aliens have the head of a snake and the body of a human."

"Then why not call it Yamata no Orochi?"

"This is acceptable."

"Then we can add some more plots to the movie, that is, some kind of connection between the aliens and Yiben, and give them some more spice." Ning Hao said with a smile.

"Yes, we can even add some plots from the Eight Years War."

"Should we give the evil organization created by aliens a name?"

“Of course, I do have some thoughts about this name. There is a conspiracy theory that is very popular on the Internet right now, saying that the Freemasons are controlling the entire world. Besides, the Freemasons don’t have a very good reputation anyway.

Then the name of this evil organization can be called Freemasonry."

"Mr. Liu, Freemasonry is real. You'll easily be sued if you do this."

Liu Zhou wanted to ignore it, as Hollywood had filmed similar movies before. However, when he thought about the membership of the Freemasons in the real world, he gave up the stubborn idea.

There's nothing wrong with you writing conspiracy theories about Freemasonry on the Internet or in novels, but if you plan to put it in a movie and spread it around the world, people will definitely not let it go.

"Then change the name."

"Why not just call it the Black Dragon Society?"

"Haozi, it seems that you really hate your simple life." Liu Zhou said with a smile.

The Black Dragon Society sounds like a society, and it is indeed a society, but it is not a simple society. It was also an intelligence agency during the Republic of China period.

During the war, Doiyuan, an intelligence investor, had been active in China as a member of the Black Dragon Society.

Although most Chinese people may not be clear about the origin of the Black Dragon Society, and even few have heard of this name, people who know this history still know about the Black Dragon Society.

At that time, the Black Dragon Society not only spied on intelligence, but also did many evil things, and was also notorious at the time.

Therefore, it is very appropriate to name the evil organization "Black Dragon Society".

“Who among the Chinese people doesn’t hate them?”

"Okay then, let's call it the Black Dragon Society."

“Boss Liu, since we have decided to go big, I think in addition to The Will of Heaven, we should also start preparing for the subsequent worldview construction and script.

It’s better to first stir up the popularity of the Dragon Team. It doesn’t have to be a movie, but a TV series can also be used to warm up the popularity.”

"It's probably not a good idea for a TV series. It's unlikely to pass the censorship. It's almost impossible for superheroes and other supernatural themes to pass the censorship."

"Then what's the point of planning? If the TV series can't pass the review, then the movie will definitely not pass."

“Although it is somewhat difficult now, it does not mean that it will be so strict in the future. Have you forgotten the ‘Guiding Opinions’ issued by the authorities last year?
It clearly states that we support heavy industrial films, especially science fiction films. Aren’t all the films we are going to make science fiction films?

The review loophole will definitely be opened in two years. Anyway, our film won’t be launched so soon. If it still doesn’t pass by then, I will go and clear it myself.”

There is indeed no rush for the movie, but Liu Zhou feels that the warm-up for the Dragon Group mentioned by Ning Hao can be started at the same time as "The Will of Heaven".

The TV series approach may not work now, but you can try another approach. If TV series don’t work, you can make web series.

There was no such thing as web drama at that time. Even "Mao Pian", which was claimed to be the first web drama in China, had not yet appeared.

But this does not mean that online dramas are not good. You have to know that "Mao Pian" will have a considerable influence in a year or two, which shows that online dramas are still promising.

(End of this chapter)