Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 676 Thawing
"Okay, I understand." Wang Hao hung up the phone.

The theater representatives failed.

It's actually quite easy to understand. In China, economic interests must give way to social stability and security. Moreover, from the perspective of the authorities, whether your cinemas lose money or go bankrupt, at most it just means their data looks a little worse.

However, if the cinema causes any major news or trouble, the department responsible for managing the cinema will be in serious trouble.

So the meaning above is quite clear: offline entertainment like movies can be put on hold for now.

At first glance, the film market's predicament is unlikely to ease for at least several more months.

Fortunately, Xinghe Group is large enough and had made preparations well in advance.

On the one hand, prior to this, Galaxy Pictures had not invested in or filmed many film and television projects. Most of them were only in the project initiation and pre-production stages, so there were no particularly big films in a hurry to be released, except for "Ne Zha 2".

On the other hand, Xinghe Group still has a considerable amount of reserve funds in its accounts, which Wang Hao specially prepared for the group.

In particular, Xinghe Cinemas and Xinghe Amusement Park have extremely abundant funds, prepared to sustain operations for two years.

Moreover, it wasn't just Xinghe Group that made the financial preparations; their superiors also provided strong support.

Before cinemas across the country suspended operations and [Galaxy Park] stopped receiving visitors, relevant leaders from TZ District and BJ City specifically called Wang Hao and his team.

Given the current size of Galaxy Group, especially the scale of Galaxy Cinema and Galaxy Theme Park, it is too big to fail and serves as a cultural calling card for China to the world.

Therefore, low-interest or even interest-free loans are delivered directly to Xinghe Group without them having to apply for them.

Rather than letting certain funds circulate idly, it's better to lend them to Xinghe Group to pay employee salaries.

Therefore, with ample funds, after overcoming the initial chaos and tension, the group quickly began to set its sights on other struggling film and television companies, preparing to take action.

For such counter-cyclical development, the group company naturally has specialized talents and teams to handle it, and Wang Hao only needs to grasp a general direction.

In addition, he is currently focusing some of his energy on the post-production of his new film.

Due to the impact of the flu pandemic, Wang Hao's new film "Game Era" was originally scheduled for release during the summer of 2020.

Judging from this, the movie's release date will definitely have to be postponed.

As for when it will be moved, it's really hard to say, but the post-production time for "Game Era" will definitely be very ample.

As a result, Wang Hao raised the post-production quality of this film to a whole new level.

Galaxy Pictures has plenty of money, and Starry Sky Culture's special effects technology is also quite good. They are fully capable of making even better movies.

Moreover, the film "Game Era" is significantly different from the films Wang Hao has made in the past.

The film is adapted from the science fiction novel of the same name by writer Fang Baiyu, and its story contains two completely different elements: modern and ancient.

These two elements need to be organically integrated into a work, ensuring that the audience is not distracted by background changes while also being able to clearly distinguish between them without confusion.

What comes to mind when you see this?
Yes, it's Jackie Chan's movie "The Myth".

Therefore, the difficulty of this movie is twofold: firstly, like "The Myth," it is necessary to make the transition between two different backgrounds natural and seamless; secondly, although the two backgrounds are different on the surface, they also need to be connected by the same underlying theme.

In this regard, the line that Wang Hao chose for this storyline is history.

Only the unique five-thousand-year history, exclusive to China, can transcend time and space, remaining true to its essence despite external changes.

Of course, there are also certain techniques involved in filmmaking.

For example, lighting. Different backgrounds require different lighting choices. Ancient natural light tends to be warm, while modern artificial light tends to be cool.

Of course, there are many more details to pay attention to in a film, but the more details you pay attention to, the more natural and seamless the film will feel to the audience.

In this respect, Galaxy Pictures' team is undoubtedly the most professional in China.

While Wang Hao focused some of his attention on his new project, and Xinghe Group concentrated on mitigating risks and sharpening its knives, time flew by.

January... February... March... April...

In this rapidly passing time, although the real environment remains somewhat tense and the chill of the film and television industry is still lingering, quite a few things are still happening.

For example, due to the impact of the flu pandemic, some celebrities suddenly disappeared without saying goodbye.

Some of them were old, some were young; some died from the torment of illness, and some chose to end their own lives because they could not bear the burden.

Regardless of the circumstances, they have left an indelible visual memory and a beautiful, enduring personal charm for a generation.

However, the most regrettable thing about this was that it was an accident.

On January 26, local time in the United States, renowned basketball star Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were tragically killed in a helicopter crash.

The news shocked the world. People never expected that the legend would become a memory forever, especially in the way that people least wanted to see.

Even many Chinese people expressed regret and condolences for the sudden passing of this Black Mamba.

Of course, besides these sad things, the reduction in film and television productions during this special period has made the gossip and entertainment in the entertainment industry even more eye-catching.

In the first half of this year alone, not only were there constant scandals involving popular young actors and actresses, but also frequent scandals involving members of singing and dancing groups. In addition, many veteran artists were exposed for their true colors, with their secrets revealed by those close to them. It can be said that all sorts of strange things have emerged one after another.

What happens when a rapidly rising male idol suddenly falls from grace? What happens when an "older heartthrob" suddenly announces his marriage, sparking controversy? What happens when a male celebrity is exposed by his ex-girlfriend...?

In any case, the first half of 2020 was full of scandals, which entertained the general public and also led to a spontaneous reshuffling of the entertainment industry.

After all, in this era of internet traffic, idol stars without any real works are replaced very quickly. Once they are confirmed to have fallen from grace, their comeback will be extremely difficult and almost impossible.

These gossips in the entertainment industry are mostly related to relationships. People in the industry get together because of relationships, and then break up and have a huge fight.

As it turns out, Yang Mi's "It's just like that" statement is becoming increasingly meaningful, which just goes to show that celebrity marriages are often anything but dignified. Fortunately, Wang Hao and Jing Tian's relationship is still going strong. Just earlier this year, considering that their child is now old enough, and to acknowledge his wife's commitment, he even acquired a high-end European luxury brand in Jing Tian's name.

However, as June arrived, the previously tense external environment finally relaxed considerably, and the flu situation eased somewhat as temperatures gradually rose.

On the streets, more shops have resumed normal business, and people have returned to their normal work and life. However, the offline entertainment industry is still somewhat sluggish.

The film industry, in particular, seems to be stuck in a deep winter, not feeling the heat of summer, which is causing some concern among the stars in the industry.

With the summer movie season fast approaching and over a thousand film and television companies deregistered in the first half of the year, the relevant authorities have no choice but to take action.

Therefore, the relevant higher authorities first conducted an assessment of cinema chains to ensure that opening up cinema chains at this time would not lead to large-scale incidents, and then issued a notice stating that major cinemas could resume operations in an orderly manner in June.

Of course, simply lifting restrictions and reopening cinemas isn't enough; you have to get audiences into the cinemas.

In this regard, the film production companies need to step in and allow some new movies to be released in theaters.

Huayi Brothers was the first to take the plunge in this matter.

Perhaps the six-month shutdown caused the Wang brothers' cash flow to become unsustainable. In any case, Huayi Brothers took the initiative to "volunteer" with the State Film Administration, planning to release "The Eight Hundred" as the first film to be released when cinemas reopened on June 10.

After careful consideration, the Film Bureau agreed to this.

Thus, the first blockbuster of the 2020 summer season, "The Eight Hundred," kicked off the competition for release slots.

Judging from its performance, the day before its release, "The Eight Hundred" had already grossed over 200 million yuan in preview screenings, attracting more than 5 million viewers, becoming the first film to break 200 million yuan at the box office since cinemas reopened.

With the success of "The Eight Hundred," and seeing that the film market still had hope, more and more film projects soon began to set release dates, aiming for this summer.

Galaxy Pictures, of course, did not back down, and the sci-fi film "Whale Song," belonging to the Galaxy Cinematic Universe, was finally scheduled for release in August.

The film is adapted from Liu Cixin's novel of the same name and has also been incorporated into the cinematic universe.

Because of the sensitive subject matter, which involves environmental protection, the company was not optimistic about the film's domestic release and opted for an overseas route, co-producing it with a Hollywood film company.

But at least the movie was made, so there's no harm in making it; at least it can attract some viewers by leveraging the name of the "Galaxy Cinematic Universe".

Moreover, the film's story and production quality are indeed quite good, on par with regular commercial films, so releasing it now is not a big problem.

As for the box office performance of "Whale Song", it can only be described as mediocre in China.

The story of "Whale Song" is mainly about the same period when "Operation Red Sea" took place. The danger on the high seas was greatly increased due to the appearance of sea monsters, and long-distance trade became a high-risk and high-profit business.

At this time, Dr. Hopkins, a scientist, discovered that the sea monsters evolved from intelligent mammals like whales possessed intelligence far exceeding that of ordinary sea monsters.

Furthermore, these whale-sea monsters can be tamed after being controlled with drugs and special equipment.

The capital firms that supported Dr. Hopkins were undoubtedly delighted upon learning this news, as it meant they had access to a lower-risk, cheaper mode of maritime transport: converting whales and sea monsters into biological transport ships.

This modification isn't about strapping a cargo bay onto a whale's back; it involves hollowing out a portion of the whale-sea monster's body, then performing semi-mechanical modifications, and finally loading cargo inside the whale-sea monster.

While sea monsters do attack their own kind, the frequency is far less than when they attack ships on the sea.

However, the company's behavior was discovered by members of several animal rights associations in the United States. These animal rights members realized that there were still such animal abuses in the world. Yes, in their eyes, sea monsters are also animals.

So these animal rights activists prepared to rescue the enslaved sea monsters, but unfortunately the company was too wealthy and powerful, and the local laws did not protect the sea monster species. In fact, they were extremely disgusted by these sea monsters that frequently attacked coastal cities.

So, after finding that conventional methods were ineffective, the animal protection organization prepared to implement a backup plan, which was to rescue the whales and sea monsters and release them back into the ocean.

The members of this organization thus infiltrated the company, and by a series of coincidences, they actually managed to get on board the modified whale submarine.

The gruesome transformation of those whales and sea monsters was truly shocking. The members of the organization witnessed all of this, which strengthened their resolve to rescue the whales and sea monsters.

However, because they did not yet know the specifics of how Dr. Hopkins controlled the whale-sea monster, these people dared not act rashly.

But as the story unfolds, they finally find their opportunity.

It turns out that although this company was ostensibly engaged in ocean trade and transportation, it was actually involved in smuggling.

As for what is being smuggled?
Today, with the establishment of a united government, certain things that affect human endeavors and erode morale are naturally being banned by many countries, resulting in astonishing profits.

However, this illegal behavior was definitely kept secret from most people in the company, and even Dr. Hopkins was unaware of it.

After all, the doctor himself is a conservative and deeply abhors this kind of thing, especially since one of his children was ruined because of it.

Animal rights activists used this to persuade Dr. Hopkins to repent and return to the right path.

In the end, Dr. Hopkins and members of the animal rights organization rescued the whale monsters and released them back into the ocean.

At this point, the audience realizes that what they actually used to control the whale monster was the song of a baby whale.

It can only be said that even when they become sea monsters, whales still retain their mammalian instinct to protect their young.

The story of the movie "Whale Song" is a very old-fashioned environmental theme and a story of bad guys who have turned over a new leaf.

However, such a story has a considerable market in today's European and American markets due to political correctness.

So, even though the market environment in Europe and the United States was also somewhat sluggish upon its release, it still couldn't stop the overseas box office of "Whale Song" from quickly exceeding 8 million US dollars in one day.

For a medium-budget science fiction film, achieving such results during this special time is already quite remarkable.

The Hollywood films released at the same time did not perform as well at the box office.

However, compared to its popularity abroad, the film's box office performance in China was quite mediocre.

(End of this chapter)