The world is in trouble

Chapter 282 Record Broken! Back to the Peak!
At Zhou Cheng's home, the family of four was having dinner.

At this time, Zhou Cheng's father was no longer the county magistrate, but the party secretary.

Zhou Cheng's job is still in Kecheng, and he has been promoted to the rank of section chief. He got married three years ago. His wife's father works in the provincial science and technology department. At the time of their marriage, he was a division chief, and now he is a deputy director.

The girl's name was Zhu Qin. She was pretty, with a small face and gold-rimmed glasses that took up almost half of her face.

Her voice is a bit sweet, she was spoiled since childhood, a little cute and a little arrogant.

Even after having children, she still acts like a child.

Zhou Cheng's mother has retired and is no longer with the union.

“Let’s find some time to go to Daye Village,” Secretary Zhou suddenly said.

Zhou Cheng: "Okay, should we go to the nursing home first and then to Daye Village, or go directly to Daye Village?"

Secretary Zhou: "Go directly to Daye Village."

There's a certain etiquette to this. Going to the nursing home first and then to Daye Village makes it look much better; it can only be considered an inspection tour.

Going specifically to Daye Village would come across as too obsequious. How could a high-ranking official like you go to a village to fawn over a farmer?
Zhou Cheng: "Okay, let me know when you need to go, and I'll drive."

Secretary Zhou: "Hmm."

Then Secretary Zhou asked his wife, "Did you and Li Fangfang play mahjong the other day?"

Mrs. Zhou: "The fight didn't happen. She spends all day with her precious granddaughter."

Secretary Zhou said, "Then let's find another opportunity. If we meet on the road, we can chat and practice Tai Chi together in the morning."

Mrs. Zhou: "Understood."

At this point, neither Zhou Cheng nor Madam Zhou had any resistance whatsoever.

In the past two or three years, Zhou Cheng and his father have visited Lin Xiao's father and grandfather in Daye Village more than six times in total.

Of course, previously it was all done under the guise of inspecting nursing homes.

This time, I'll just go directly, even if it might cause gossip, I don't care.

Because he will be retiring from his position in two years, his most important concern now is his son Zhou Cheng's future. The key issue is that the Zhou family had some past disagreements with Lin Xiao, but of course, so many years have passed, and that minor conflict has long since faded away.

Moreover, the Zhou family was still considered respectable at the time and had not crossed the line.

However, in Lao Zhou's view, his son Zhou Cheng's future prospects will likely face obstacles.

He sees the power of Lin Xiao's faction very clearly, though others may not be able to see it clearly.

This year, in particular, the situation has become completely clear.

So the Zhou family has been trying to make up for it, visiting Lin Xiao's grandfather and father in Daye Village from time to time.

Each time, I don't send expensive gifts; I just visit, chat, and play chess.

Even in Zhou Cheng's view, there was no swallowing of anger or resentment.

In his view, Lin Xiao had already been very magnanimous and had no intention of holding a grudge about the previous minor conflict.

"By the way, there's something that's not exactly a secret, and I should be able to tell you," Zhou Cheng's wife, Zhu Qin, suddenly said. "Dr. Tsai from TSMC is going to visit Quantum Technology, and my father might accompany him."

Secretary Zhou: "Dr. Cai?"

Zhu Qin: "It's the president, they all like to talk about academic qualifications."

Zhou Cheng: "TSMC is such a giant, and even its president has to come and visit Quantum Technology?"

Zhu Qin: "My father said that TSMC is now very actively promoting advanced process chips, and the order volume from Quantum Technology and Texas Instruments is very large. He said that this amount of money may not be a lot, but it is of great significance."

..........................................

Kecheng City now has a movie theater, but basically none of the counties below it have one.

Linshan is an exception.

It has a dedicated cinema with very advanced facilities.

The name is Bubble Cinema.

And that place, which resembles a Disney castle, has finally been officially opened.

Bubble Library.

Now, both places have become popular destinations for children from Linshan.

Because it contains many books, many toys, and many amusement facilities.

There's even a kindergarten inside, and it's of extremely high standard.

After dinner, Zhou Cheng and his wife happily went out and walked to the Bubble Cinema.

After leaving the house, she even stuck out her tongue and breathed a sigh of relief.

Because she felt the atmosphere at Zhou Cheng's house was a bit too serious.

The two chatted as they took a walk.

Suddenly, Zhu Qin's eyes lit up, and her feet, clad in high heels, moved quickly.

"Baby……"

"all……"

She went straight to the stroller and reached out her hands to the baby inside, who was dressed in rosy cheeks.

At this moment, Li Fangfang and Xiao Momo were taking their baby out for a walk.

At this time, little Lin Yiyi was already two years old.

"Wow, you're so beautiful and cute..."

"Why don't you come home with your aunt for a few days? The baby your aunt gave birth to is getting uglier and uglier, and I'm not really going to want it anymore."

Xiao Momo asked, "Are you out for a walk?"

Zhu Qin: "Watching a movie."

Then, she said to Zhou Cheng, "You can leave now. I'm not watching with you anymore. It's time for our besties. Get lost, get lost..."

Then, Zhou Cheng smiled awkwardly and said to Li Fangfang, "Aunt Li, I'll go home now."

Next, Li Fangfang took the baby home.

Zhu Qin and Xiao Momo walked into the movie theater together.

"Bubble, I'm so jealous!" Zhu Qin said, "There was no movie theater in Linshan, but because of you, we have the best movie theater, the best library, the best amusement park, and the best kindergarten."

"It's a promise, right? When your kindergarten recruits students in the future, you must admit our Ugly Girl."

Xiao Momo: "Don't talk nonsense, where is your baby ugly?"

Zhu Qin: "Our daughter isn't ugly on her own, but when she's placed next to your Yi Yi, she looks ugly."

"Me too, me too."

Then, she pulled Xiao Momo to the front of the large glass window and said, "Look, I look like an ugly duckling standing next to you. I need to stay away from you."

Then, she took Xiao Momo's arm and entered the movie theater.

Bubble didn't know why she had become good friends with Zhu Qin out of nowhere. It was because Zhu Qin was so outgoing, enthusiastic, and innocently romantic that it was hard to resist.

Not only her, but her mother and her father are now in high demand.

How arrogant and condescending was Zhou Cheng's mother in the past?

Now they come to see Lin Yiyi's baby repeatedly, bringing gifts each time. And countless times they've tried to organize a game of mahjong with Li Fangfang.

This attitude cannot even be described as merely attentive.

....................................

Hours after the premiere!
Reviews of "Kung Fu Panda" are flying everywhere.

Judging solely from the film reviews, opinions are mixed.

In fact, most viewers would find it difficult to understand the film industry standards presented in the film.

Although they could also see that the hairs inside were so fine and so real?
How come the movements are so smooth?

But for many people, movies like "Curse of the Golden Flower," "Hero," and "The Last Day" are the true blockbusters.

Of course, the original version of Kung Fu Panda didn't have many grand scenes, but Lin Xiao added many magnificent scenes to cater to the Chinese market.

The scene of thousands of troops has been added.

Therefore, this film is much more exciting and powerful than the original in terms of momentum and emotion.

But in the eyes of professional filmmakers, it's a completely different story.

As a professional filmmaker, Cheng Qingsong conducted extensive research on relevant data beforehand.

It was later learned that not only the script, but also the character designs and background design for this film were all done in China.

Even the entire animation production was completed in the country, with about 70% of it done domestically.

This is really terrifying.

They truly built an animated film system from scratch.

No wonder the production cost alone was two hundred million US dollars.

Moreover, seeing the news that the film was completely remade last year made him worried. Because such a remake can be a news gimmick, but if a film is remade not because of policy reasons, it is not good news at all, and to a large extent it means that it is a bad film.

Moreover, it's for comparison, and for a deeper understanding.

Before going to the cinema to see "Kung Fu Panda", he watched "Shrek 3" at home, as well as "The Incredibles", "Ratatouille", and "Ice Age 2".

These films represent the highest level of animated films in the world today, and all of them are from the last year or two.

DreamWorks, Pixar Animation Studios, Blue Sky Studios.

This is currently the world's top animation film studio.

Once inside the movie theater, he could almost immediately tell that, in terms of pure technical skill, "Kung Fu Panda" was in no way inferior to these top-tier productions.

Depend on!
Awesome!
Animated films are the most difficult and also the most challenging for the film industry.

The best animated film in Chinese cinema over the years was "Lotus Lantern" from many years ago.

In recent years, no one has dared to venture into the animated film industry, so we are falling further and further behind.

Even professional filmmakers dare not even imagine how big this gap is.

Because this is the real film technology industry.

As a result... the gap was wiped out in an instant.

Although many of the core elements of this animated film were poached from Pixar, Blue Sky Studios, and DreamWorks.

Even the entire production line was built in the United States.

However, at least a large portion of this production line has already flowed into China and into the Lightning Group.

During the rework, Sony Columbia also discovered that the people in China worked incredibly hard and offered lower prices, making it far more cost-effective than their American counterparts.

So... there's nothing wrong with transferring a significant portion of the animation industry to China.

Anyway, Sony Pictures Entertainment also holds a large stake in Oriental Fantasy Studio.

He wanted to set aside technological productivity and focus on the plot and the movie.

But I still couldn't help but look at the details.

I couldn't help but be amazed.

This level of skill is truly world-class.

Is the power of capital really that strong? It can instantly transform a country that was years behind into a world leader?
It took me quite a while to fully concentrate on the plot.

Without a doubt, the storyline of Kung Fu Panda is excellent.

It has an 8.3 rating on Douban and a 7.6 rating on IMDb.

This version also has some added points in terms of emotion and grand scale.

In other words, emotions got the better of them at the most crucial moment.

The original version was somewhat restrained, while this version is much louder.

At that time, WALL-E had not yet been released, so Kung Fu Panda was the world's top film, on par with Shrek, Monsters, Inc., and the Ice Age series.

It can even rise a little higher because of its unique Chinese background.

........................

After watching the video and returning home, Teacher Cheng immediately went home and wrote a blog post.

If Kung Fu Panda fails at the box office, it will be a tragedy for the entire film industry!
"I had heard Er Gou say before that Kung Fu Panda was a love letter from Chinese cinema to the world. I didn't feel anything at the time, but after watching the movie, those words have become unforgettable."

"I can't even imagine what kind of subject matter, what kind of Chinese story, could completely conquer the world."

"Don't assume that the nation is the world; in most cases, that's not true."

“Traditional Chinese stories, like Investiture of the Gods, can only exist domestically and cannot go abroad. Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West can barely reach Japan.”

"Since the decline of Hong Kong cinema, Chinese stories have been unable to reach even Southeast Asia."

"Kung Fu Panda has almost perfectly answered the question of how to make the whole world understand Chinese stories and even Chinese philosophy."

"Going global with culture is a huge topic."

"In my view, the bigger theme is the upgrading of the film industry."

"This year's Transformers brought an unprecedented psychological impact and visual storm to Chinese audiences, making everyone clearly feel the huge gap between the Chinese and American film industries, as if they were worlds apart."

"But I can tell you that the technical difficulty of Kung Fu Panda is higher than that of Transformers, and the cost of every second of Kung Fu Panda is more than twice that of Transformers."

“You read that right. Kung Fu Panda cost $36,000 per second, while Transformers cost $10,000 per second.”

"Now, Oriental Fantasy has more than 300 people. This film has built an animation film industry system for China from scratch, and it is directly at the world's leading level."

"From what I understand, Sony invested $1.5 million in the promotion of this film, while Flash Entertainment also invested 1.5 million RMB in promotion in the Chinese market."

"So whether in the global market or the Chinese market, they probably don't intend to make money."

"You could say that this movie is a gift from China to movie fans all over the world, and whether it makes money or not is not important."

"If you're going to say that Master Er Gou doesn't represent China? Then I concede!" "Master Er Gou, good luck!"

..........................................

Kung Fu Panda was released in North America on December 14.

The Christmas season is the most important and most competitive period in North America.

The film "The Last Days" from a few years ago didn't dare to release during this period, but instead postponed it.

This time, Kung Fu Panda is making a strong push into this release window.

Its competitors at the same time included Nicole Kidman's "His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass", Will Smith's "I Am Legend", Nicolas Cage's "National Treasure 2", and Johnny Depp's "Sweeney Todd".

It's truly a place teeming with powerful individuals!
Sony Pictures has gone all out this time, both in terms of promotion and scheduling, making it far more aggressive than any previous "Kung Fu Panda" release.

next day!

North American opening day box office results are in.

"I Am Legend" grossed $1800 million on its opening day, roughly in line with historical figures.

Kung Fu Panda grossed $2900 million on its opening day, surpassing historical records by a significant margin.

Of course, this opening day performance cannot be compared with "The Hunger Games," which is on a phenomenal level, setting film history records, and its North American box office accounted for about 60% of its global box office, which is also quite unusual.

Sony Pictures' target for "Kung Fu Panda" is $2.5 million in North American box office and $7 million worldwide.

Of course, even if the box office reaches that level, it will only break even, with little profit.

But once it reaches $7 million globally, the IP is considered complete, and for Sony Columbia, the animated film empire will be fully established.

So when the opening day box office of $2900 million came out, Sony Pictures cheered.

However, it was a Saturday, so the stock market was closed; otherwise, Sony's stock would probably have risen even more.

....................................

12 month 15 day.

TSMC President Dr. Tsai formally visited Quantum Technology.

Because the 45-nanometer process is not yet mature, whoever adopts it first will have to bear the high costs resulting from low yield.

Of course, this cost is shared by TSMC, Quantum Technology, and Texas Instruments.

Globally, quantum technology is the most radical and has received the first large-scale contract manufacturing orders; Apple's A4 will be much later.

To this day, the SoC required for quantum phones cannot be mass-produced.

The original plan was to release the first generation of Quantum phones about six months after the release of the first generation iPhone.

But now it seems that even after the release of the second-generation iPhone, a quantum phone may not be able to be released.

Qualcomm's upcoming QSD8250 chip also uses a conservative 65-nanometer process.

Because at that time, the competition in this area was not very fierce. It wasn't until a few years later that everyone started to compete fiercely and desperately try to acquire advanced process production lines from contract manufacturers.

Therefore, the price of a high-end mobile phone SoC also jumped from $30 to $180.

It was precisely because of the radical nature of quantum technology that the president of TSMC personally came to visit.

"Mr. Lin, I'm very sorry, but it will take some time for the foundry capacity of this chip to ramp up."

"This may delay the release of your quantum phone once again."

Lin Xiao asked, "Will HTC's G1 be released ahead of schedule?"

This phone was originally released in September 2008, and it was quite adept at handling the market because it was the first smartphone in the Android camp.

Now, in order to gain control of the operating system, Google may force HTC to release this phone ahead of schedule.

This is also one of the consequences of Lin Xiao's radical ideas.

If they had simply used TSMC's mature process technology to design this chip, the phone would have been released long ago.

Dr. Cai simply smiled awkwardly and did not answer.

Moreover, betting on TSMC's latest process technology could lead to consequences such as chip instability.

The good news is that the 45-nanometer process is almost one of TSMC's most outstanding milestones.

Finally, Dr. Cai laughed and said, "Good things come to those who wait, don't they?"

................................................

Immediately afterwards, the North American box office figures for December 15th were released.

I Am Legend earned $2600 million.

Kung Fu Panda grossed $3900 million.

This time, Sony Pictures was not just surprised, but ecstatic.

This Christmas season, "Kung Fu Panda" is undoubtedly going to be the strongest film, and it will be able to achieve a win-win situation by joining forces with "I Am Legend".

And the high-budget film "His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass" has essentially been ruled out.

This film, also adapted from a well-known children's literature IP, had an investment of over $180 million, but it was a complete flop in North America, with the final box office likely only around $60 million.

Sony Pictures was thrilled with the result.

Our Hunger Games only cost $7000 million to make, but it grossed a whopping $7.3 million worldwide.

Warner Bros. is destined to lose a lot of money on the Dark Matter IP.

The key point is that the second IP, "Kung Fu Panda," is now on the verge of success.

At this rate, Sony Pictures will soon be able to surpass the powerful Warner Bros.

On Monday, the North American box office figures for December 16th were released.

I Am Legend earned $2300 million.

Kung Fu Panda grossed $3550 million.

The box office figures for the first weekend are now available.

"I Am Legend" grossed $6700 million in its opening weekend, slightly lower than historical records.

Kung Fu Panda grossed $1.035 million in its opening weekend in North America!
Although its opening weekend box office was significantly lower than that of "The Hunger Games," its box office curve was more stable.

According to box office experts, Kung Fu Panda is likely to gross over $3 million at the North American box office.

This is already significantly higher than in history.

When Howard Stringer of Sony Corporation was interviewed by the media, he said directly: "I want to correct one thing. We are not allies with Er Gou Jiaozhu. We are completely interdependent. The cross-shareholdings have reached an astonishing number."

“I can tell you that we have signed contracts for three or four installments of IPs such as Kung Fu Panda, The Hunger Games, and even The Graveyard Book.”

"Sony Pictures Entertainment will have a continuous stream of powerful IPs to develop over the next decade or so."

"In addition, we will soon begin negotiations regarding Sony's investment in Lightning Technology."

"Eastern Fantasy has already started production on its second animated film, which is adapted from Er Gou's 'The Graveyard Book'."

"As for which year it will meet the audience? I don't know either. I can only hope that Er Gou will not make it back and start over this time."

Then on that day, Sony Group's shares rose again, by more than 5%.

So it's no wonder they look down on the profits from box office revenue.

When the box office results for "Kung Fu Panda" came out for its opening weekend, coupled with the statement from the chairman of Sony, the company's market value immediately increased by several billion.

In subsequent interviews, Kazuo Hirai and Amy Pascal repeatedly used the word "return to the drawing board".

Moreover, it was written in Chinese.

Then, countless people came to know this word.

I also learned the historical anecdote about how Er Gou, the leader of the cult, was forced to start over.

After acquiring the rights to Fallout 3, they shelved the game, which was already 8% complete, and sent it back for a complete overhaul.

After completing the first version of "Zhu Xian", he was not satisfied and sent it back for a complete rework.

The Witcher fared even worse. It had already been scrapped and remade once, and then the producer approached Er Gou, the founder of Journey to the West, for investment. Er Gou readily provided the funds, but made one request: to scrap it and remake it.

One game was made three times.

Kung Fu Panda was completed last year at a cost of $1.3 million, but after he reviewed it, he rejected it and ordered a complete remake.

Historically, a classic example of Chinese invading English is the word "ka le".

There seems to be a trend towards reverting to a previous version and starting over.

The people at CD Projekt Red, who were engrossed in developing The Witcher, suddenly realized that their game had become a hit even before it was released.

It has appeared many times in various media outlets and among countless players.

It has been mentioned at least five times in interviews with Sony Electronic Entertainment.

They all had one thought: "We've finally hooked up with a rich family."

Originally, this game was released in October 2007.

But now... it's still a long way off.

Moreover, they've already asked Lin Xiao for more money twice.

The development cost has soared from the previously claimed several million dollars to more than 20 million dollars.

And now we're in the final, decisive stage.

Suddenly, CDPR received a lot of external support, including Epic Games, which provided game engine technology support, and Sony Electronic Entertainment, which provided system platform optimization.

There's also Ergou Studio, which just finished developing Fallout 3.

Meanwhile, Obsidian Entertainment also directly transferred 70% of its staff to work with Ergou Studio on the development of Fallout: New Vegas.

A family that had gone their separate ways inexplicably came together again.

The main team at Ergou Studios has temporarily put Fallout 4 on hold and is instead developing a brand new project, The Last of Us.

This time, a goal was set very clearly.

In terms of image quality and productivity, we must be number one in the entire industry.

To achieve this goal, we spared no effort in mobilizing people from all industrial clusters to come and help.

EPIC even upgraded its game engine again for this game.

................................................

The opening weekend box office figures in North America were certainly encouraging.

But for Lightning Group and for Lin Xiao, the most important thing is still the domestic box office.

Because it is a weather vane.

Lin Xiao has yet to regain his reputation.

Let's see how many silent majority support him.
There's even a voice within Lightning Group and Quantum Technology suggesting that if Er Gou (the founder of Quantum Phone) can't regain his reputation in China, then the launch event for the quantum phone should be held in the United States.

Then we won't play the ethnic card.

We are single-mindedly focused on building global brand value.

To date, the record for the highest opening weekend box office in China is held by "The Last Days," which grossed a whopping 1.39 million RMB.

The total box office has exceeded 4 million RMB, which remains the highest box office record to date.

However, that happened three years ago.

The huge success of the movie "The Last Days" increased the size of the entire film market by about 15%, and since then, the total box office in the Chinese market has been nearly 20% higher each year than in the past.

A blockbuster movie has a positive impact on cinema construction and screen expansion, and it is also significant in cultivating a movie-going audience.

Manager Liu of Pacific Securities remains an authoritative source of box office figures.

Everyone is still waiting for her data.

"If this movie fails, then it's not very interesting."

"The next big hit is anyone's guess, and it will most likely be dominated by Hollywood blockbusters."

"So those people online are still cursing and cursing, wishing they could shut up. A bunch of idiots. If this movie becomes a hit, all filmmakers in China will make money in the future."

"Only when the market is big can everyone make money."

She was grumbling and cursing as she tallied up the box office figures.

People throughout the film industry, even those in Beijing and Hong Kong, have mixed feelings.

From a personal emotional standpoint, they are incredibly hoping that "Kung Fu Panda" will flop, that Er Gou (the creator of Kung Fu Panda) will completely flop, and that Lightning Entertainment will flop.

Those in the same industry are often rivals.

However, if this movie really does significantly increase the market size, it will benefit everyone's livelihood.

Besides, only Er Gou could afford to spend so much money on this.

Who can afford to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in such projects? Who would actually do it?

12 Month 18 Day!
The debate surrounding "Kung Fu Panda" continues.

The debate surrounding "Master Er Gou" continues to escalate.

Then, the box office figures for "Kung Fu Panda" in China for its first week were released.

2.95 million RMB!

It completely broke the box office record of 1.39 million held by "The Last Days".

Moreover, it doubled its value, which means that Flash Entertainment has once again returned to its peak!
After the box office figures were released, Flash Entertainment immediately posted a message.

A new movie, "2012," has been launched with an investment of 10 billion RMB, aiming to let China save the world!

This demonstrates Lightning Entertainment's determination to everyone, and once again represents Chinese filmmakers in breaking through the market ceiling for Chinese films.

Once again, it represents Chinese cinema, conquering the world.

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Note: This is the last day of double monthly tickets, please don't waste them, benefactor! I bow in gratitude!
(End of this chapter)