Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 645 2019 Spring Festival Film Season
The plot of Mechanic 2 is only average in the StarCraft cinematic universe.

However, as a commercial action blockbuster aimed at overseas markets, it doesn't need any mind-bending plots or stories; pure action and excitement are all that's needed.

Therefore, this film showcases Arthur's meticulous thinking and extreme action skills as a "mechanic" through three "textbook-level" assassination operations, making this the core highlight of the film.

Furthermore, Mechanic 2 incorporates various commercial elements such as fighting, stealth, and explosions into its action scenes.

Furthermore, the sci-fi elements of biomechanical implantation displayed by Clayne become the biggest highlight of the film.

With all these factors combined, "Mechanic 2" achieved remarkable box office results both domestically and overseas, almost on par with, or even slightly surpassing, DC's "Aquaman" released in the same period.

After all, Warner Bros.' DC Extended Universe was indeed poorly planned, with some films being designed too hastily and rushed, clearly an attempt to catch up with their old rival Marvel.

In addition to Warner Bros.' own internal management problems, the box office of individual films in the entire DCEU is not high.

Even the highest-grossing film is the currently showing "Aquaman," which is also the only film in the DC Extended Universe to have grossed over $10 billion worldwide.

It grossed more than films released before it, such as Batman v Superman, Wonder Woman, and Justice League.

However, Galaxy Group's business focus is not on "Mechanic 2".

On the one hand, the Spring Festival is approaching, and Xinghe Group has many important things to do at the end of the year.

Year-end work summaries and reports, employee year-end bonuses and benefits, next year's work plans, employee promotions and transfers, year-end party activities, and so on...

Of course, another reason is that Xinghe Group's current focus in publicity and distribution is still on Chairman Wang Hao's new film, "The Martian".

Less than a week after the release of "Mechanic 2", the official three-minute trailer for the movie "The Martian" was released on major film and television platforms and media outlets.

The trailer features narration by Liu Ye, who plays Zhang Beihai, outlining the plot of the film in chronological order.

From the initial Mars research plan, to Zhang Beihai being presumed dead due to a Martian storm, to Zhang Beihai's arduous struggle to survive alone on Mars, and finally his rescue.

The story has a linear structure, but the tight atmosphere and high-quality production of the entire trailer alone are already very appealing.

Especially a few lines from the trailer:

"On Earth, we always say 'It's hard to leave one's homeland'."

But when I dug out the first handful of sand on Mars with a shovel, I suddenly understood.

The Chinese people's 'homeland' has never been a border confined by geography.

It is the strength to make crops grow in the desert when you hold a seed in your hand; it is the ability to recognize which star should be the root of our direction when you look up at the starry sky.

We have never been a nation that can be bound!

"The Chinese call the Milky Way in the sky the Yinhan, and their own ethnic group the Han ethnicity. So we have been the descendants of the Milky Way since ancient times, and the Chinese nation has always been a nation that looks up at the stars."

"Beihai, you are not alone on Mars. 1.4 billion people are behind you, and tens of millions of aerospace workers are the Beidou system guiding you home."

"Beihai, you need to think more!"

……

These lines, just by seeing and hearing them, are enough to stir the hearts of Chinese audiences.

Although the trailer didn't show whether Zhang Beihai successfully returned to Earth, the concluding line, "The rescue is only 225 million kilometers away, but home is just around the corner," still inspired countless viewers who saw the trailer to want to see "The Martian" during the Chinese New Year, adding it to their schedules.

Moreover, after the trailer for "The Martian" was released on major media and video platforms...

Galaxy Group's publicity department has also begun to exert its efforts.

[The best Chinese space sci-fi film since Gravity!]

[Another masterpiece of domestically produced space science fiction films!]

[Rescue efforts are underway 225 million kilometers away!]

……

Similar advertising slogans began to appear in subway and building elevator advertisements across the country. Behind the striking slogans were often the vast, bright red background of Mars, or Liu Ye's lonely black silhouette, or the mirror of a space helmet reflecting the image of Earth.

In January, more trailers and promotional materials for "The Martian" were released.

The movie channel specially broadcast a special report on "The Martian," releasing some interview footage from when the film was being made.

The aerospace sector also coordinated with the film's promotion by airing news about China's Mars exploration program on CCTV-1.

In addition, Dunhuang and Xinghe Paradise have already opened related tourism projects in advance to generate buzz.

However, this plan was not very effective, since it was already close to the Spring Festival holiday, which is not a good time to travel.

Of course, the movie "The Martian" has not been released yet, but related merchandise is already in the pre-sale stage.

Products include Mars rovers featured in movies, small Mars exploration robots, figurines of characters, and various co-branded milk tea and snacks.

Even in the gaming sector, Galaxy Entertainment has developed a sandbox simulation game about building a Mars base and a relatively simple Mars survival mobile game based on the original game of the same name, "Terrain Gravity".

There's also the science fiction writing contest on space themes launched by Xingyue Chinese website. Anyway, as Wang Hao's new work, "The Martian" has received the strongest and most comprehensive support from Xinghe Group.

Such a massive hype made other films that chose to be released in the same period as "The Martian" somewhat apprehensive.

As for which daring films would dare to compete with Wang Hao's "The Martian" during this Spring Festival season? There are quite a few.

Besides Wang Hao's *The Martian*, six other films chose to be released during the 2019 Spring Festival. They are:
"Pegasus," a racing film co-produced by Bona Film Group and Alibaba Pictures, starring renowned comedian Shen Teng, and directed by Han Han, a dark horse director of last year's Spring Festival season.

The film tells the passionate story of a washed-up racing legend's comeback, blending Han Han's witty remarks with Shen Teng's comedic style. It is said that the investment alone reached 500 million yuan, and the actual rally racing scenes are enough to make people's adrenaline explode.

However, the racing genre and art-house film style limited the film's appeal, resulting in a much smaller market response compared to "Crazy Alien," which also starred Shen Teng.

Also a comedy film released during the Spring Festival, "Crazy Alien" was co-invested by Enlight Media and Bad Monkey, directed by renowned middle-aged director Ning Hao, and starred the comedy powerhouse duo Huang Bo and Shen Teng.

The film was advertised as "adapted from Liu Cixin's novel 'The Rural Teacher'" in Wang Hao's previous life, but its content has nothing to do with "The Rural Teacher," which caused some backlash in its reputation.

However, in this era, the film and television rights to Liu Cixin's novels are almost all in the hands of Xinghe Group, so "Crazy Alien" did not use a similar slogan again, but this did not prevent it from continuing to use the same script.

Crazy Alien continues the absurd gene of the "Crazy" series, while also trendily localizing science fiction elements into a street farce, attempting to ride the wave of The Martian's popularity and forge a new path for science fiction comedy.

The film tells the story of the United States making contact with an alien civilization, but the aliens unexpectedly crash into a small Chinese town. They are forcibly taken in by a monkey trainer played by Huang Bo, who sees them as a "rare breed." Shen Teng plays a cunning businessman who, after discovering this, plans to sell the aliens for a fortune, thus triggering a farcical and hilarious situation.

In the movie trailer, scenes such as "the aliens are drunk" and "let's destroy the Earth, hurry up" accurately hit the funny bone of audiences in third- and fourth-tier cities.

It can be said that Ning Hao's dark humor, combined with the comedic elements of Shen Teng and Huang Bo, perfectly matches the family-friendly tone of the Spring Festival film season.

The only question is whether the sci-fi elements promoted in the film will meet the audience's expectations.

Moreover, compared to "The Martian," it's probably hard to compete with its hardcore aerospace feel.

However, regardless of the circumstances, Crazy Alien remains a strong contender for The Martian.

After all, during the Spring Festival film season, comedies, especially family-friendly comedies, have a certain advantage in terms of subject matter.

So, in addition to "Crazy Alien" and "Pegasus," another comedy director also chose to release his new work during this period.

The director is none other than the famous "King of Comedy" Stephen Chow. His work is a remake of his classic film "King of Comedy," titled "The New King of Comedy."

This anthology film, produced by 13 institutions, is a reboot of Stephen Chow's classic IP, featuring an inspirational comedy about "the underdog's rise to success".

The film continues the core of "King of Comedy", but the protagonist is changed from Yin Tianchou to a female extra (played by E Jingwen), and focuses on the group of extras in Hengdian. It also specially invited Wang Baoqiang, a well-known figure who rose from the ranks of extras, to participate in the film.

However, despite his resounding reputation, Stephen Chow's overall creative output has been declining since "Kung Fu Hustle".

This film, "The New King of Comedy," was made simply to fulfill a task.

Moreover, the so-called "Stephen Chow sentiment" had already been exhausted in previous projects such as "The Mermaid" and "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons".

Therefore, even before its release, the reputation and response to "The New King of Comedy" had already plummeted in the market, and it could not pose any threat to other films released in the same period.

Another well-known actor, Jackie Chan, received the same treatment as Stephen Chow.

He brought us a period fantasy film, "The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang," during this Spring Festival season.

The film stars 62-year-old kung fu superstar Jackie Chan as "the demon-hunting scholar Pu Songling," alongside young idols such as Ethan Juan and Zhong Chuxi, in a heart-wrenching love story between a human and a demon.

However, Jackie Chan's current film reputation is even worse than Stephen Chow's. If it weren't for his role as the elderly Hu Bayi in the "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" and his recovery in the entertainment industry with "The Foreigner", his online reputation would probably be even worse now.

Even after recovering some of its losses, Jackie Chan's "The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang" is still sitting at the same table as "The New King of Comedy".

In comparison, "Integrity" is somewhat better than "Integrity Storm," which is also a Hong Kong film.

This anti-corruption crime film, directed by Alan Mak and starring Lau Ching-wan and Nick Cheung, ostensibly features "high-IQ investigation + two award-winning actors showcasing their acting skills," but in reality, it follows the old-fashioned Hong Kong film formula of "ICAC investigation."

Similar Hong Kong films have been made countless times before, which only shows that the Hong Kong film industry is now stagnant and showing signs of fatigue.

Besides the aforementioned films, the other two films released in the same period are the children's animated film "Peppa Pig Celebrates Chinese New Year" and "Boonie Bears," a regular participant in the annual Spring Festival film season.

These works together constituted the 2019 Spring Festival film season.

Some of them are just slackers, while others have some ideas.

However, regardless of their quality or advertising, it doesn't change the fact that there's a huge mountain pressing down on them.

In response, some film production teams that had already given up completely abandoned distribution, intending only to hitch a ride on the coattails of others.

However, some film distributors have resorted to dishonest tactics, ostensibly promoting advance "sneak screenings" while actually having already conducted large-scale "sneak screenings" ahead of schedule.

Galaxy Pictures, however, remained unfazed. In their view, all tricks and schemes are just paper tigers in the face of absolute strength.

Time passed by little by little, and after New Year's Day, 2019 officially arrived.

Internationally, China and the United States have yet to reach an agreement on trade disputes, and the tense atmosphere is quite similar to the situation between the two sides in the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe].

This has led many Cinematic Universe fans to exclaim that Wang Hao's film is the real science fiction movie, because his film foresaw the instability in relations between the two countries years ago.

Although this statement is just a joke on the internet, it does not stop Xinghe Group's online marketing department from amplifying and publicizing it.

Regardless of the current economic turmoil, it's already the Lunar New Year, and most Chinese people are choosing to put the unpleasant things behind them.

Whether you're rich or poor, you still have to go home for the Chinese New Year.

However, employees of Xinghe Group don't need to worry about their bonuses this year. As the largest film, television, culture, media and technology company in China, they all received generous bonuses and various benefits at the end of the year.

The various New Year's goods that the company's logistics department purchased from Xinghe Shopping Plaza alone were enough to fill the trunks of the employees' cars on their way home.

When the employees of Xinghe Group begin to return home, it also signifies the start of the Spring Festival, the most important festival in China.

(End of this chapter)