Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 605 2017 Company Business Review (Part 1)
In its opening week, Kingsman 2 successfully grossed over $3 million worldwide, just one step away from $4 million.

Based on this result, its final box office revenue has increased slightly.

This is mainly due to the fact that there were no strong competitors among the films released at the same time.

Moreover, compared to the original Kingsman 2, which was rated R, Star River Pictures' Kingsman 2 made some compromises in terms of content and was ultimately rated PG, meaning that minors need to watch it under parental guidance.

This undoubtedly expands the audience of "Kingsman 2", which is certainly a positive for the film's performance.

Based on this final result, "Kingsman 2," which only cost a little over 100 million, will definitely make a lot of money.

Therefore, Kingsman 3 was naturally put on the agenda by Starship Pictures' North American division.

Just as Kingsman 2 was being released globally, the Martian crew had also basically completed their location shooting in Dunhuang and returned to Beijing.

Next, they will complete the remaining film shooting at [Oriental Galaxy Cinema].

However, compared to rushing around and working overtime in other places, the "Mars Rescue" crew was undoubtedly much more relaxed at [Oriental Galaxy Cinema].

On the one hand, the supporting facilities of Beijing's Oriental Galaxy Cinema are more comprehensive and advanced, which reduces many troubles for the film crew when shooting.

On the other hand, it's because it's already the end of the year, and Wang Hao, in addition to being the director of "The Martian," is also the chairman of Xinghe Group.

The end of the year is the busiest time of the year for the group company, and at the very least, the year-end summaries of each branch company will be collected on his desk.

He, as chairman, also needs to review and approve some of the work plans for next year.

Under these circumstances, Wang Shihao had no choice but to delegate some of the filming work to his subordinates in the crew, while also shortening the film's shooting time.

Anyway, the movie is tentatively scheduled for release during the Spring Festival of 2019, which is a whole year away, so there's no need to rush.

For example, on this particular day, after filming the scenes inside the spaceship in the bright and clean studio, Wang Hao informed the actors who were exhausted from being suspended by wires:
"Tomorrow is New Year's Day, the crew will have a day off."

The actors all wore satisfied smiles, but they weren't overly happy, since their filming over the past two weeks had been quite easy.

In the past few days, the scenes involving spaceships required simulating weightlessness using wire work, which caused them a little discomfort.

But the thought of having a day off tomorrow makes all the hardship seem insignificant.

After the crew had cleaned up the set, Wang Hao and his wife Jing Tian left the studio. They didn't need to drive; their accommodation was in a residential area not far from Xinghe Cinema, just a short walk away.

When the two returned home, Jing Tian's mother and the nanny that Wang Hao and the others had hired had already prepared dinner.

The family enjoyed a warm dinner together, during which their son, Liangliang, showed off the new words he had learned.

Now that he can speak, he is most eager to open his mouth. According to his mother-in-law, this guy can talk to himself for a long time even when no one is around, probably because he inherited his father's strong creative talent.

As for the little guy's adorable appearance, it must be inherited from his mother, Jing Tian.

The family enjoyed a harmonious and wonderful evening, with happy laughter echoing throughout the villa.

This resulted in Wang Hao having a smile on his face when he went to the company the next day.

"Hi boss!"

Seeing Wang Hao's smiling face, the secretaries felt much more at ease and quickly greeted him, then brought over the documents that needed his review.

"These are summaries of the branch's work performance this year. Please take a look, boss."

A thick stack of documents, containing a lot of information.

After all, Galaxy Group is now a top-tier cultural and entertainment company in China and even globally renowned. Its six departments and five business groups cover a wide range of industries.

However, Wang Hao only glanced at the first few pages of the document, which were prepared in advance by the secretaries. They contained general information about the various departments of the group. If Wang Hao was interested in any particular department, he could then pull out the specific department information to examine.

Of all this information, Wang Hao only glanced at the data for the [Asset Management Business Group] out of the five major business groups.

Now that 2017 is over, Xinghe Group has sold off almost all of its real estate holdings, except for those used by itself.

Therefore, the business group currently only includes Xinghe Property Management Company, Xinghe Cinema Industrial Park, Xinghe Residential Community, and Xinghe Cinema.

In 2017, Xinghe Cinema's main tasks were to maintain staff stability, ensure the normal operation of some acquired cinemas, upgrade and update the equipment of these cinemas in batches, and eliminate some cinemas that had little value.

Therefore, Galaxy Cinemas will have to wait until next year to expand, as there is not much work to be done in the [Asset Management Business Group] at present.

In contrast, the group's other four business groups—Consumer Products, Film & Television Production, Media Distribution, and Content & Culture—will undoubtedly be much busier in 2017.

Wang Hao first looked at the [Content and Culture Business Group], which is located at the very upstream of the group's industrial chain. The Xingtu Culture Copyright Company, Xinghe Universe Network, Jin Gu Chuanqi Magazine, Xingcai Comics, Xingyue Novel Network, and Xingxing Music Network under this business group have all achieved certain results this year.

For example, Xingyue Novel Network's average monthly active users have jumped from third to second place across the entire network this year, and is closely following Tencent's Qidian.com.

There's also Xingcai Comics, whose Chinese-style comic "Under One Person," which they discovered in 2015, has finally become a viral sensation this year, becoming a phenomenon that has broken out of its niche.

When this comic was first released on Xingcai Comics website, it didn't initially gain much popularity. However, thanks to its unique combination of traditional Chinese cultural elements and a modern urban background, it immediately caught the attention of the website's management.

Influenced by Galaxy Group's inherent "cultural innovation" DNA, and with the success of Galaxy Cinematic Universe as a precedent, the entire group attaches great importance to the combination of innovative culture and traditional culture, as well as cultural works with film and television adaptation value.

This is different from other film and television companies in China. Other film and television companies acquire copyrights mainly with the mindset of taking a chance, or not wanting to let other companies profit from them.

As for whether the copyright is suitable for adaptation, and whether they can adapt it, that's not within the scope of consideration.

Galaxy Group is different; they truly have the capability to adapt such works!
The "such works" here refer to works like "Under One Person," "Ghost Blows Out the Light," and even "Covering the Sky," which have overly grand scenes or surreal themes and require too many special effects.

Currently, Galaxy Group is perhaps the only company in the world most suitable for adapting these works.

Other companies, especially those in China, lack the capability, the complete and mature film industrialization system, and the level of special effects technology.

Foreign special effects are good enough, but they don't understand Chinese culture, and they may not even appreciate it.

Given these conditions, many creators are more willing to hand over their works to Galaxy Group, hoping that a good company can adapt them into good works, rather than burying their hard work.

Mi Er, the author of "Under One Person," also had the same idea, which is why he chose to publish his work on Xingcai Comics, a website of Xinghe Group.

And Xinghe Group did not disappoint him. In 2015, after the editor of the comic website saw the work, it was submitted to the company's internal leaders because of its unique value.

Then, the website's internal leadership reported it to the vice president of the Content and Culture Business Group, and it entered the Galaxy Group's pool of key works to begin feasibility assessments for the project's animation and film adaptations.

After several discussions, Mi Er, the author of "Under One Person," received a notification that the animation project for the work had been successfully approved within the group company, and he was invited to participate in the animation project.

In 2016, the first season of the animated series "Under One Person" aired on July 8th and received further promotion from various platforms under the Galaxy Group.

Thus, a novel world of supernatural beings began to slowly unfold before the public. The animation incorporated a large number of traditional Chinese cultural elements, such as "Qi" and "Xiangxi corpse driving", as well as Sichuan dialect dialogues and folk songs, which impressed the audience and further expanded the influence of the work "Under One Person".

With the excellent foundation laid earlier, the second season of "Under One Person" easily surpassed 100 million views across the internet within 12 hours of its release on October 27, 2017, setting a record for the shortest time for a Chinese animation to reach 100 million views.

When the second episode was released, its viewership quickly surpassed 200 million.

Furthermore, the popularity of the anime also boosted the manga's viewership. In the second week after the anime's release, the manga's weekly viewership increased by 380 million, setting a new record for weekly viewership across the entire network, and the work received over 10,000 monthly votes in a single week.

At the same time, it also brought fame and fortune to Mi Er, the author of "Under One Person".

According to calculations by netizens based on the creator benefits terms published by Xingcai Comics, Mi Er's revenue share from subscriptions and copyrights for "Under One Person" is at least over 300 million yuan.

And judging from the popularity of this work, as long as the plot doesn't fall apart, it's not impossible for him to earn tens of millions or even hundreds of millions from a single work.

After all, this is only an adaptation into an animation; there are still TV series, movies, games, and merchandise revenue sharing waiting for him.

The success of Mi Er and "Under One Person" has undoubtedly prompted more creators to flock to Xinghe Group.

After all, the benefits offered by the various creative platforms under Galaxy Group are, if not the best on the entire internet, certainly among the top.

Moreover, only Galaxy Group's comprehensive work incubation industry chain and strong production capabilities can achieve a win-win situation with creators.

Countless cartoonists, online writers, and long and short video bloggers are well aware of this.

People like Mi Er are not just exceptions.

For example, the novel "Sword Comes" by Feng Huo Xi Zhu Hou, a well-known contracted author of Xingyue Novel Network, was first published on the platform in June 2017, and its animation and TV series adaptations entered the project approval stage in October.

If you're talking about a well-known veteran author whose works are valuable for adaptation, then the epic fantasy web novel "Release That Witch" by Ermu, a new author on Xingyue Novel Network, has already completed its first season of animation adaptation, and the market response has been very good.

The story tells of a modern man named Cheng Yan who accidentally travels to a seemingly real but actually medieval European world. He thought he could enjoy the glory of a prince, but he finds that witches are prevalent here and all of them have special abilities.

Faced with this fantastical setting, he chose an unconventional path—becoming a farming expert among witches, integrating modern agricultural knowledge into the magical world, and embarking on a unique witch farming journey.

The novel was first published on Xingyue Novel Network in 2016, and its performance data rose rapidly. Even in the niche genre of Western fantasy, it quickly stood out.

Even the film and television department of Xinghe Group has taken notice of this work and plans to adapt it into a film or television series.

As for the claim that "Release That Witch" is a Western fantasy work and seems unsuitable for the Chinese market?

Galaxy Group has a considerable number of overseas businesses and channels, including short video platforms and streaming media platforms, and also has connections with other channels.

Therefore, for works like "Release That Witch," selling overseas is not a problem at all. The key is whether the work is good enough and whether it can win the favor of overseas audiences.

Similar examples include Qi Cheng's urban novel "Great Power Heavy Industry" and Shuxia Yehou's Eastern fantasy novel "The Search for Gods".

The former mainly tells the story of Feng Xiaochen, the director of the National Major Equipment Office, who travels back to 1980 and possesses the body of a temporary worker in the Metallurgical Bureau. He then uses the wisdom of his future life to work with his contemporaries to build a great nation's heavy industry with sweat and wisdom.

Because it is a realistic subject matter and involves positive content such as the country's industrial development, the adaptation of this novel into a film or television series has also been put on the agenda.

As for the latter, it is the first book in the "Wilderness Trilogy" series created by the author, Shuxia Yehou.

Set against the backdrop of the ancient primordial era during the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, the novel tells the story of how, after the death of the Great Emperor Shennong, various tribes fought each other. Entrusted by the deceased Shennong, the young Tuoba Ye went to the Mirage City to quell the war and met characters such as Chi You and Yu Shi Qie, thus embarking on a legendary adventure.

"In Search of the Supernatural" integrates elements from traditional Chinese mythological classics such as "Classic of Mountains and Seas," constructing a vast fantasy world that includes mythological figures such as Shennong, Huangdi, Chiyou, and Xi Wangmu. It is hailed as a "founding masterpiece of Chinese new fantasy."

Such works naturally meet the aesthetic requirements of Xinghe Group's creative department, so the relevant TV series has already entered the project approval stage.

These adapted works alone demonstrate the breadth of cultural themes covered by Galaxy Group and its boldness in exploring new content, far surpassing its domestic and international counterparts.

(End of this chapter)