Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 671: The film "The Witch" is released, and New Year's Day arrives.
"Honey, Joey's movie is about to be released, and she still comes to visit me every day."

At night, on the second floor of the villa, Jing Tian, ​​who was removing her makeup, wiped her face with a cotton towel while smiling and saying.

"But thanks to her today, otherwise I would have been exhausted taking care of Junjun in the amusement park by myself. Your amusement park is too big."

Wang Hao had just finished showering and was walking out of the bathroom in his bathrobe, drying his hair. Hearing this, he smiled and said:

"You know, they've already arranged for her to be the lead actress in her movie promotion because of you, and you're still trying to influence her through your pillow."

"No, I just think Joey is really cute and kind."

After removing her makeup, Jing Tian presented her fair and radiant face to Wang Hao and spoke in a slightly coquettish tone.

Cute? Kind?
Wang Hao was speechless, never expecting his wife to give Song Zuer such an evaluation.

Ever since that girl signed with Xinghe Group, she's become quite cunning at such a young age, always trying to stir up trouble and racking her brains to get close to Wang Hao.

In her words, older men give people a special sense of security.

However, Wang Hao wasn't interested in the young girl because of her young age, so she resorted to a roundabout approach and started to deliberately try to please the proprietress, Jing Tian.

Compared to Wang Hao, Jing Tian was undoubtedly much simpler. With Song Zuer's deliberate flattery, the two quickly became as close as sisters.

With the upcoming release of "The Witch 2," several new female characters have appeared in addition to the previous witch, Song Zu'e, setting off alarm bells in Song Zu'e's mind.

She had witnessed how Bai Jingting, a colleague from the same company, had his role in the "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" reduced because he was disobedient and had connections with other companies, resulting in Liu Haoran, who played Qin Fu in "Detective Chinatown 1900," becoming a competitor.

Therefore, during the film's promotion, she and two other actresses of the same age in the same production, Minami Hamabe and Jingyi Zhang, were particularly fierce in their competition for billing order. The three groups' fans also attacked each other online, causing quite a bit of trouble even before the film was released.

Galaxy Pictures issued a stern warning to the three women through their agents.

However, while Zhang Jingyi and Hamabe Minami managed to appease their fans, Song Zuer was not so well-behaved. She approached Jing Tian, ​​whom she could curry favor with and try to build a relationship with, hoping she could put in a good word for her.

"That's not how you whisper sweet nothings in someone's ear."

After tidying up and lying on the bed, Wang Hao looked at Jing Tian, ​​who was still about to speak up for Song Zu'e, and suddenly said something meaningful.

Jing Tian rolled her eyes at him, but her eyes were filled with tenderness and affection as she lowered her head skillfully.

After a while, Song Zu'e, who was sleeping in a guest room on the first floor, also couldn't help but toss and turn and couldn't fall asleep.

The following day, Song Zu'e ultimately did not receive any special treatment in the promotion of "The Witch 2" because of Jing Tian's pillow talk.

However, she did get the opportunity to shoot a fashion magazine cover with Jing Tian.

This can be considered a form of indirect publicity, and it certainly made Song Zuer happy for quite some time.

Of course, the matter of promoting "The Witch 2" was just a small matter for Wang Hao, a subsidiary of the group, and he didn't even care about it.

Lately, he's been more concerned about something else.

It is now November 2019, and a certain unspeakable day is getting closer and closer. Even though he had already prepared himself mentally, Wang Hao couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

After all, he had personally experienced that dangerous period in his previous life, so he knew how dangerous it was and how significant its impact was.

It can be said that this incident pushed the already struggling film industry further downhill.

Wang Hao had no good solutions to this, so he could only do what he could to ensure that Xinghe Shopping Plaza filled its warehouse with supplies in advance, and at the same time, he tried to keep his employees from going out before the incident by having them work overtime, so that they stayed in Beijing and the vicinity of the company.

While Wang Hao and Xinghe Group were secretly busy preparing for things a few months later, in mid-November, Song Zuer's "The Witch 2," to which she had devoted a great deal of effort, was finally released.

This film was shot and produced by the same team behind "The Witch 1", and its timeline continues from the previously released "Train to Busan 2".

In Train to Busan 2, Zhao Xiumei (played by Song Zuer) escorts her sister Zhao Hailun (played by Xiuxian) to Busan, South Korea, to help resolve the zombie crisis.

The problem was solved; the zombie virus was developed, and the crisis was brought under control and stopped spreading.

Originally, Zhao Xiumei was supposed to send her sister back to China, but a piece of news changed her plans.

Affected by the increasingly serious sea monster attacks around the world, the United Government finally decided to take action against Dr. Chen, the culprit behind the incidents.

They have discovered that Dr. Chen's secret base is located deep in Antarctica, so they are preparing to send a group of powerful soldiers there.

Even if we don't necessarily capture this mysterious Dr. Chen, we should at least destroy his base and interrupt his research on genetic monsters.

As a powerful "witch," Zhao Xiumei naturally became a member of the special team of the United Government. In addition to her, other countries also assigned equally capable characters.

At this point, Witch No. 2, Koizumi Yoshiko (Hamabe Minami), makes her appearance.

She is a superhuman discovered by the US government from among the company's experimental subjects after the Brilliant Group's North American branch was seized. She possesses abilities and strengths similar to Zhao Xiumei.

Two witches and other superhuman warriors drawn from various countries met on an island near Antarctica, then landed on the Antarctic continent and headed towards its interior.

During this process, Dr. Chen's side naturally wouldn't sit idly by and also arranged for superhumans to snipe this team.

And so, in the icy wilderness of Antarctica, a great battle between superhumans began.

Compared to the first film, the plot of "The Witch 2" is actually simpler, which is a battle between superhumans.

The highlight of the movie is no longer the plot, but the stunning visuals that combine special effects and action.

Especially in the icy wilderness of Antarctica, superpowered individuals like Xiu Mei can kick up large swaths of snow and shatter countless ancient glaciers with a single punch or kick.

In addition, among these superpowered individuals are those with psychic abilities, who can control the snowstorm with a mere thought, creating countless wind blades and snow arrows, or even transforming them into giant ice hands and ice walls.

That's how "The Witch 2" captivated audiences in theaters with its intense and thrilling battle scenes from beginning to end.

While some criticized this purely commercial action-packed film for being too monotonous, the thrill of intense battles and the simple, straightforward plot still garnered considerable praise for "The Witch" in third- and fourth-tier markets. This translates to "The Witch 2" significantly outperforming "The Witch" at the global box office.

The film grossed over 2 million yuan on its opening day in China, and its subsequent performance has been very stable, which is quite an impressive achievement during this off-season for film and television.

Ultimately, "The Witch 2" grossed 23 billion yuan in China and 5 million US dollars overseas, for a total of 8 million US dollars worldwide, making a huge profit and satisfying both Galaxy Pictures and CJ Entertainment.

However, as the lead actress in this film, Song Zuer's mood was not so pleasant.

On the one hand, although her fame increased due to the explosive popularity of "The Witch 2", the other new actors in the film also diluted the fame she gained from this movie.

On the other hand, according to information obtained by her agent from Galaxy Pictures, the "Witch 3" project is currently on hold.

While it's said to be shelved, in reality, it means that Galaxy Pictures didn't have high hopes for the sequel, "The Witch 3," and the series has come to an end.

Song Zuer didn't believe it at first, after all, "The Witch 2" was quite successful, how could a film company give up such a profitable movie series?

However, the information she gleaned from Jing Tian indicated that Galaxy Pictures was indeed not very interested in "The Witch 3".

The main issue is that the potential of this series has already been largely explored in the two films. It's essentially a popcorn commercial film that relies on unique action elements and special effects to attract audiences.

Now that "The Witch 2" has been released, if "The Witch 3" is to continue the success of "The Witch 2", then the presentation of the battles must be upgraded, and the battle scenes must be more exaggerated.

That would undoubtedly clash even more with the style of the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] itself.

Furthermore, overemphasizing the combat power of mutants could lead to an imbalance in the power system of the entire cinematic universe.

Their exceptional individual combat capabilities pose a significant threat to human society, which could lead to plot holes in the narrative logic of many subsequent phone calls.

Therefore, in the Galaxy Cinematic Universe, Galaxy Pictures focuses more on the mutated monsters in "Operation Red Sea" and "Rampage" to represent the power of biological genes.

After all, the monsters mainly operate in the sea, and there are heavy mechs to fight against them.

That being said, the shelving of "The Witch 3" is ultimately a blow to Song Zuer's film career.

Fortunately, Jing Tian comforted her, saying that although the "Witch" series was suspended, the character Zhao Xiumei would still have some roles in other movies in the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe], and the character wouldn't be written out of the story so soon. This made Song Zuer feel a little better.

And once "The Witch 2" is out of theaters, the New Year's Day holiday will be just around the corner.

As the end of the year approaches, everyone at Xinghe Group is getting busier and busier.

However, Wang Hao, the company's big boss, had a rare chance to relax for a while. He took his family and a few friends to Xiaotangshan Hot Spring in the CP area during the New Year's Day holiday.

We've been married for so many years, but he's always busy, taking care of the company, managing the cinematic universe project, and maintaining good relationships with his superiors. Over the years, he has indeed neglected his family.

Jing Tian is good-natured, humble and composed, truly demonstrating what a good and virtuous wife should be like.

So whenever he has time, he should spend more time with his wife.

And that matter is coming soon. After this trip, I might have to stay at their villa for a long time. I can only cherish this rare opportunity.

Meanwhile, while Wang Hao and his friends were happily soaking in the hot springs, the highly anticipated sci-fi blockbuster "Sky Ladder," part of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe, finally premiered during the New Year's holiday season, taking over the time slot from "The Witch 2."

There weren't any big-budget films released at the same time. After learning that "Sky Ladder" was being released earlier for the New Year's Day holiday, those big productions invested in by major companies all postponed their release to the Spring Festival.

As for Xinghe Pictures' "Ne Zha 2: The Demon Child Conquers the Dragon King" which will be released during the Spring Festival, it is an animated film after all, and its target audience is different from that of live-action films.

Because other films avoided the spotlight, "Sky Ladder" stood out during the New Year's holiday season, becoming the focus of attention.

On New Year's Day, all the universities in Beijing are naturally closed for the holiday.

Ni Jingjing, Guo Xiaotian, Shao Qing, and other freshmen at the Beijing Film Academy naturally chose to go to the cinema to watch the science fiction film "Sky Ladder," which had just been released not long ago.

As a sci-fi blockbuster, "Sky Ladder" is shorter than other films in the StarCraft Cinematic Universe series, which are often two hours long. The plot is also more compact.

The film opens with a small-scale military conflict, where Liu Peiqiang (played by Wu Jing), the protagonist, appears with a team of soldiers from the Earth United Government to capture and disperse the armed men who came to cause trouble.

Then comes a background introduction.

After the "cosmic flicker" event, the existence of the Trisolaran civilization could no longer be concealed, and the Trisolaran crisis was brought to the forefront.

The Earth United Government was established in response to the crisis of future alien invasion, and humanity began to try every possible means.

Even the famous "Wallfacer Project" is just one part of the human effort process.

The same applies to the "Sky Ladder" project.

After Dr. Zhao Hailun developed the nano-flying blade and demonstrated its excellent performance on the Panama Canal, a super project that originally only existed in science fiction was naturally proposed by China: to build a "space elevator" in Southeast Asia near the Earth's equator.

With this, humanity can use more convenient and energy-efficient methods to provide stronger support for the construction of space stations, space docks, space fleets, and lunar defense bases.

However, while the plan was good, the implementation of the space elevator project has exacerbated the impact on the interests of all parties around the world due to the construction difficulties and high costs of this mega-project.

Furthermore, not all humans on Earth harbor a negative attitude towards the Trisolaran civilization.

The remnants of the ETO organization remain hidden in the shadows, attempting to undermine humanity's will to resist through various means of public opinion.

In this context, opposition groups against the "Sky Ladder" project naturally emerged.

As the "Sky Ladder" project progressed, doubts, opposition, and conflicts escalated.

Armed riots and attacks frequently occur around the "Sky Ladder" project site.

Although the project was protected by troops arranged by the United Government, a dark cloud still hung over the "Sky Ladder" base.

(End of this chapter)