Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 437: Rapid Chase
By April, the news about Legendary Entertainment's IPO had subsided.

That's how the entertainment industry is; it changes very quickly, and a hot news story will gradually calm down after a period of fermentation.

The same applies to the Legendary IPO.

At the beginning, it caused a sensation across the entire internet.

No one expected that Wu Zhuokai's company would be going public so soon, which has generated a lot of discussion.

However, as time went by, people began to accept the news. Apart from the shareholders who were looking forward to Legend going public as soon as possible, others stopped caring much about it.

Of course, the fact that the public doesn't care doesn't mean it can't be listed on the stock exchange.

On the contrary, more than two months later, the listing of Legend is still proceeding in an orderly manner.

Meanwhile, Wu Zhuo was keeping an eye on the listing process while continuing his concert tour.

Speaking of which, Wu Zhuo's global tour this year has been quite a big deal.

His concert tour has grossed a total of $13 billion worldwide.

It became the highest-grossing concert in the past three years.

His concerts cause a huge sensation wherever he goes.

In fact, it has become, to some extent, an important activity to stimulate the economy.

Each of the 56 concerts this year generated hundreds of millions in revenue for the local area.

This made Wu Zhuo's concert a hot commodity.

Even before this round of concerts has ended, countries and regions have already approached Wu Zhuo to make reservations for his next concert in their area.

Wu Zhuo's team noted down all these reservations, planning to consider them when the next round of concerts begins.

At the same time, due to the unprecedented success of this round of concerts, and the fact that a large number of fans are complaining on social media about not being able to get tickets.

After discussing with Wu Zhuo, Sony plans to expand the scale of the next round of global tours.

However, that's all for next year or the year after.

After finishing his global tour this year, Wu Zhuo rushed back to China.

He's going to start preparing for "John Wick".

This film has been in the works for a long time and is a project in collaboration with Warner Bros.

Its significance goes beyond just Wu Zhuo's foray into Hollywood in film.

It also relates to the legendary listing.

At this juncture, Legend is facing an IPO and needs to give shareholders confidence.

Therefore, Legends must make some noise this year.

There's no need to elaborate on "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," and even for "Wolf Warrior," Legendary has invested heavily in promotional resources to ensure its box office success.

Then, as the legendary top figure and also the boss, he would inevitably have to come up with another product that would reassure investors to buy legendary stocks.

The John Wick project was already announced by Legendary.

This will be a key project for the company in the next few years.

In publicly available information, Legendary has confirmed that this project will be developed into a series and a new cinematic universe.

In fact, compared to Hollywood movies, which often make three or four films and directly build cinematic universes, this is a different story.

In China, however, there are very few projects that directly announce the formation of a cinematic universe.

Even in later generations, the most well-known cinematic universe projects in China are the Detective Chinatown series and Enlight Media's Fengshen animation series.

Other series, such as the "Lost in Thailand" series and the "Wolf Warrior" series, are actually just using the same name, but the actual plots are completely different stories.

What is a cinematic universe?

That's like Marvel and DC, developing different film projects based on a single background.

This is called a cinematic universe.

Developing cinematic universes is nothing new in Hollywood.

Hollywood film studios have explored every possible avenue to maximize profits from a project.

As soon as a project succeeds, the company will immediately find a large number of screenwriters to develop a cinematic universe based on the background of the project.

There are simply too many well-known cinematic universes in Hollywood right now.

Marvel, DC, Fast & Furious, Resident Evil, The Expendables, G.I. Joe, and so on.

It was the success of these numerous cinematic universes that led to Hollywood's golden age at that time.

On the Chinese side, there was neither experience nor anyone who had tried it.

Now, Wu Zhuo has publicly stated that he wants to create a cinematic universe, which has caused a huge uproar online.

There was no questioning.

To be honest, Wu Zhuo has now passed the stage of being questioned.

Wu Zhuo is currently at the peak of his career.

His records sold extremely well worldwide, placing him among the world's most famous superstar singers. Time magazine called him the most commercially valuable superstar of the new century.

In film, Wu Zhuo has achieved repeated successes in China, ranking among the top actors in terms of total box office revenue, and is one of the most influential actors in the country.

Even in the global market, he has a strong appeal.

Especially in Asia.

In recent years, Wu Zhuo's films have consistently achieved great success in other Asian countries as well, whenever they are box office hits in China.

All these factors have directly led to Wu Zhuo becoming one of the most anticipated actors in China today.

Even Jackie Chan couldn't compare to him in this regard during this period.

Therefore, when Wu Zhuo announced his plan to create a cinematic universe, Chinese netizens not only did not question him, but also did not think he was exaggerating.

On the contrary, everyone still has high expectations.

"Although I'm worried that Wu Zhuo will mess it up, I will still support him. His movies have always been very good, and I'm really looking forward to this 'John Wick'."

"Just from the title, you can tell that this will be an action and gunfight movie. Wu Zhuo has never acted in this type of movie before. I can already imagine how handsome Wu Zhuo will be."

"I heard this project involves a huge investment, as much as 1.5 million."

"Wu Zhuo's movies have never disappointed. I'm really looking forward to it! I hope it gets made soon."

Amidst heated discussions among netizens, it was revealed that Wu Zhuo immediately began assembling the production team for "Extreme Chase" after returning to China.

When it came to choosing a director, Wu Zhuo selected Benny Chan.

This guy is one of the few gunfight masters in China since John Woo.

Johnnie To could also have done it, but the other party didn't sign a contract with Legendary.

Moreover, Johnnie To is too fond of playing the artistic card. Since the late 1990s, he has been deeply obsessed with creating his own artistic image.

His films have depth and good visuals, but how should I put it, for Wu Zhuo, he doesn't need art.

His films are not made for a small group of artsy young people.

His audience has always been the general public.

John Wick is a thrilling, action-packed movie that's non-stop action from beginning to end.

Wu Zhuo was very afraid that Johnnie To would ruin this kind of film.

Unlike him, Benny Chan also enjoys playing with art and literature.

But they know when to be artistic and when to be commercial.

Moreover, Benny Chan listened to the investors.

Wu Zhuo has spoken with Johnnie To.

From a director's perspective, he is a good director who is willing to stay true to himself and pursue art.

But from the perspective of Wu Zhuo, the investor.

The art of farting, your art requires me to pay for it.

What I want is for you to make money for me; I want box office success, not some worthless award.

Simply put, Johnnie To is very arrogant. He thinks he is a great director and that he should make his own decisions about his own films, while the investors are just responsible for putting in the money.

Then, the result of his behavior might be that he gains a good reputation, but the investors lose money.

There are a few directors like him in Hong Kong, Wang Jiawei is one, and Chen Kexin is another. Both of them are now on the blacklist of mainland investors.

Wong Kar-wai is slightly better off. Although he takes his time making films and is a typical director who wants to delve into artistic aspects, he is very well-known. His films have a certain market in Europe and America, and some European and American film distributors, especially those in Europe, specifically buy the rights to his films for release there.

Overall, as long as you don't foolishly invest too much in Wong Kar-wai's films and keep your budget within a certain range, you can recoup your costs.

Well, it's pretty much just breaking even; there's basically no chance of making much more.

Compared to Wong Kar-wai, Chen Kexin is a typical scumbag.

He is the typical person who doesn't have Wong Kar-wai's skills but wants to be like Wong Kar-wai.

When I was talking to the investors, we agreed that I would make a commercial film that would guarantee profits.

As a result, after filming began, he started to indulge in his own artistic pursuits.

But that's not even the worst thing about him.

What disgusts investors the most about him is that this guy is a fraudster.

It's a real scam.

He particularly likes to find investors who don't understand the industry but want to get into it.

Then, for a movie that could be made with just ten million, he asks for thirty million.

It's one thing to invest a lot, but what's worse, after he got the 30 million, he only used 10 million to make the final cut.

Where did the remaining 20 million go? Those who know, know.

The production crew had all sorts of expenses, and when you factored it all in, even an investor who didn't understand the business couldn't do anything about it.

Back to the topic.

After the director confirmed Benny Chan, Ng Cheuk invited the Jackie Chan Stunt Team to serve as the martial arts choreography team.

In fact, many people say that Sammo Hung's stunt team made many people famous, but Jackie Chan's stunt team did not.

Rumors, pure rumors.

As someone in the industry, Wu Zhuo is very aware of this.

Don't be fooled by the fact that there are very few big stars in Jackie Chan's stunt team.

But in reality, Jackie Chan's stunt team is no weaker than Sammo Hung's stunt team.

In some respects, the members of Jackie Chan's stunt team are actually doing much better than the members of Sammo Hung's stunt team now.

Now, after 12 years of development, the Jackie Chan Stunt Team has grown to over a hundred members.

Many of these people have become indispensable figures in the industry.

Currently, the Jackie Chan Stunt Team has already made its way into Hollywood.

Not as an actor like Jackie Chan.

Instead, he works behind the scenes as a martial arts instructor.

Many Hollywood movies now use Jackie Chan's stunt team for their martial arts choreography.

Many Marvel, DC, and other movies have Jackie Chan's stunt team as their behind-the-scenes martial arts choreography team.

The team now has members all over the world, and many of them have become leading behind-the-scenes personnel.

Therefore, the claim that Jackie Chan has failed to cultivate any talent is completely unfounded.

After the action choreography team confirmed the casting, Wu Zhuo also participated in the selection of actors for the film.

This is a male-dominated drama, so the cast is almost entirely male.

In terms of the cast, Wu Zhuo did not choose all foreigners for supporting roles; he also included some Asian faces.

Unfortunately, Wu Zhuo himself was also worried about the box office performance.

Although they are very confident in their public image.

They say this project is going to be developed into a cinematic universe.

But who can predict box office figures?

Therefore, for the sake of the film's box office performance.

The film's primary target audience is still Asian.

Western audiences and Asian audiences have different cultures, which leads to different aesthetic preferences.

Wu Zhuo can only consider Europe and America if he first satisfies the Asian audience.

Jackie Chan is still an example.

His films primarily target Asian audiences.

This is the foundation. While satisfying needs here, expanding into the European and American markets is the essential element for a project's success.

Otherwise, they could start with all foreign supporting characters and only one Asian protagonist.

This may not be popular in the European and American markets.

Even Wu Zhuo had to consider the issue of racial discrimination.

This is something Wu Zhuo cannot change.

If he wants to achieve high box office returns, he must first, like Jackie Chan, stabilize his base in Asia before he can have the opportunity to expand into the European and American markets.

Only in this way can the box office in Europe and America recover if the box office is not good.

Therefore, in the first installment of "John Wick," Wu Zhuo still set the story in the United States.

However, he chose many Asian faces when selecting actors.

Of course, this is due to the story's background.

Even among the supporting characters, such as the main villain in the mob, he still used white actors.

Then, considering that if they didn't use Black people, these idiots would definitely cause trouble again, saying that the production team discriminated against Black people.

Therefore, some Black people were also included in the supporting cast.

In fact, despite the considerable investment, Wu Zhuo did not invite any Hollywood stars to join the cast.

Unfortunately, if we invite another Hollywood star to join the team, the investment budget won't be enough.

However, the project wasn't entirely made up of unknown faces.

For example, Tony Jaa.

Wu Zhuo had previously spoken with Tony Jaa about collaborating.

So, after the project started, Wu Zhuo invited him to play a cameo role.

He makes a cameo appearance as a bodyguard for a triad boss, and will have a fierce fight with Wu Zhuo in the film.

It's worth mentioning that the plot of Wu Zhuo's version of "John Wick" differs from the previous versions.

Of course, the general development pattern of the story remains the same.

Both stories revolve around a retired assassin who is targeted by thugs because of an antique car. The thugs break into his house at night, kill his dog, and steal his car.

They even pointed a gun at the protagonist and insulted him.

Then, the protagonist begins his revenge.

During this time, the settings such as the Kingdom Hotel remain unchanged, and the gang leader still hires his former friend, an assassin, to kill him.

Overall, the storyline remains the same, only some minor plot points will change.

For example, the character Tony Jaa was not present in the original storyline.

Now that he's joined...

Tony Jaa is, after all, a respected actor.

Wu Zhuo couldn't possibly let him die in a single encounter.

Naturally, a fight ensued.

Considering that Tony Jaa is best known for his Muay Thai.

This part will primarily focus on the action scenes.

……

(End of this chapter)