I really don't want to make bad movies!

A week later, Xia Ming received a call from the post-production studio.

He came to the color grading studio from Tiangong Visual Effects.

The entire film employs no artistic editing techniques, contains zero montage shots, and lacks rhythmic narration, yet the studio still spent a week editing it.

Ultimately, it's because the editing process was too grueling.

They spent a whole week watching over ten hours of garbage footage, and every time they dragged the progress bar, they had to listen to Wang Yuan sing the song again.

I have to go out for a couple of cigarettes and a chat every hour I work, otherwise I'll have mental problems.

Xia Ming was worried about getting injured while editing, and he was also busy making special effects shots, so he found a studio to help with the editing.

I never imagined it would hurt them so much.

Looking at the source file labeled "Atlantic Rim 2", Xia Ming thought for a moment, then put on his headphones and silently clicked play.

……

An hour later.

Xia Ming pressed pause, took off his headphones, and took a few deep breaths while pressing his chest.

It has a strong aftereffect!

Whether it was Wang Yuan's extremely destructive voice or Ju Jingyi's mummy-like performance, coupled with the rudimentary and meager props, both caused great damage to Xia Ming's eyes.

Furthermore, a blur effect with extremely low sharpness has been added.

The Wuling cockpit was forcibly transformed into a spaceship, but the traces of Wuling were not eliminated at all. A discerning person can even see the Wuling logo faintly floating in space.

Wang Yuan's mecha was a modified and reused material from the giant wasp, and in terms of special effects, it was a good match for Ju Jingyi's spaceship.

Xia Ming called in the special effects artists from the post-production studio to insert several models of Wawa into the film. They found a few empty shots to insert, regardless of whether it was reasonable or not, as long as Wawa could show her face.

Finally, he had the special effects artists reduce the resolution of the mecha model created by Tiangong Visual Effects and insert it into the video as a background in the human base.

The scenes that appear in the promotional video all appear in the original film.

This avoids advertising fraud.

With a tense expression, Xia Ming watched the last forty minutes of the film, confirming that it was edited entirely according to the script, before settling his wages with the studio.

"Boss, please don't hire us for this kind of work again! It's too grueling!"

The studio staff took the money with tears in their eyes and fled the color grading studio without looking back.

With the finished footage in hand, Xia Ming found Wang Hui.

Wang Hui frowned, holding a copy disc in his hand: "What do you mean by 'filming is finished'?"

"It means the filming is finished and it's ready for theatrical release."

"No, I mean, what did you film? You finished filming in just two weeks? And you even finished post-production?"

"Filming is finished. The original 'Enter the Dragon' only took seven days to film, so mine took a long time."

Wang Hui placed the copy on the table and sighed helplessly: "Oh well, it's already quite an achievement that you managed to finish filming the movie, considering how ridiculous our own senior executives have made such a fool of themselves."

When are you planning to release it in theaters? What's the title of the film?

Xia Ming handed him the report and said seriously, "The release date is very important. You must follow the instructions in this report."

Wang Hui opened the document and saw that it clearly stated: "Title: Atlantic Rim 2: Thunderclap, Release Date: February 14, Primarily Targeted at First-Tier Coastal Cities."

"Are you serious about this movie title and release date?"

February 14th was exactly three days before the release of "Pacific Rim 2", and it also coincided with Valentine's Day.

"Isn't this blatant piggybacking on Pacific Rim 2? Aren't they going to get sued?"

"Don't worry, boss, even if they make a color palette, they can't sue us. The title is just a geographical reference and won't constitute trademark infringement at all."

"From the design and naming of the mecha, the movie's dialogue, the script, the character relationships, the music, and the camera composition, we didn't copy anything from them."

"Besides, we released our film before them, so they should be the ones copying us."

Wang Hui was dumbfounded; it sounded somewhat reasonable.

After some thought, he accepted the copy.

Filming is already complete, and distribution channels have been negotiated beforehand. It would be such a waste to give up on the release.

Kiwifruit did participate in a small share of the profits, earning whatever little they could.

"Is there anything else?"

After discussing the film's release, and seeing that Xia Ming was still there, Wang Hui wasn't in a hurry to deal with official business.

Xia Ming smiled and took a document out of his bag, placing it in front of Wang Hui.

"After the movie is released, the word-of-mouth and public opinion will probably be crazy. I suggest that iQiyi should not participate in any discussions at that time."

"I will release a short film on iQiyi, which will be a director's cut of 'Atlantic Rim 2', to address the public opinion storm."

Wang Hui glanced at the document, then frowned slightly: "Director's cut?"

"You already have complete control over the production team, why bother with a director's cut?"

Xia Ming shook his head with a smile: "If I were to combine the special effects with those two actors, that would truly be a disaster. It would be neither good enough nor bad enough, pleasing neither side."

"In short, there should be a significant surge in traffic at that time. Whether or not Kiwi wants to capitalize on this traffic is up to you."

After saying that, Xia Ming got up and left.

Wang Hui looked at the documents in his hand, rubbed his temples, and fell into thought.

He recalled the "Big Hornet" incident that Huang Xuke had reported to him.

This time, Xia Ming presented him with the opportunity to have "Atlantic Rim 2" released on streaming platforms, leaving the decision to him.

Why does Xia Ming keep stuffing these movies, whose titles sound like garbage, into our Kiwi Fruit? ...Can they really make money from them?

……

At the end of January, it was snowing heavily in Jinghai.

With only three days left until the Spring Festival, there were very few pedestrians on the streets.

Xia Ming gave Tiangong Visual Effects a short break, telling everyone to come back after the New Year.

He also happened to be going home for the Chinese New Year.

After returning to school and packing my luggage, I saw the drama troupe from the performing arts department had just finished their performance and were gradually disbanding to go home.

Xia Ming saw a familiar figure wearing a white scarf waiting for a car on the street.

"Are you going to the East Station too?"

Xia Ming stood next to Jiang Xixi. It was hard to get a taxi now, so he wanted to hitch a ride.

Hearing the familiar voice, Jiang Xixi blinked her eyelashes, turned her head, and nodded slightly: "Let's go home."

"Has filming wrapped up?"

Xia Ming nodded: "Filming is basically finished, only post-production remains."

Jiang Xixi couldn't smile unless she was in character. She really wanted to congratulate Xia Ming with a smile, but when she put two fingers to her lips, she felt it was a bit perfunctory.

Finally, she chose to pinch one end of the scarf and cover her face with the embroidered polar bear smiling face on it.

"Congratulations!"

Xia Ming smiled, picked up his polar bear scarf, and gently patted her scarf: "Thanks for your kind words!"

The car wheels, wading through the snow, stopped at the school gate. Xia Ming managed to hitch a ride and catch the high-speed train home for the New Year.

……

After the New Year, Xia Ming returned to Tiangong Visual Effects.

The entire studio gradually became active again and re-engaged in the special effects production of Atlantic Rim 2.

Valentine's Day is just two weeks away.

During this period, netizens experienced the Spring Festival film season, during which two shockingly bad movies were criticized and trended on social media.

One is Guo Jingming's "L.O.R.D. 2" and the other is Wong Jing's "Sun Wukong vs. the Spider Cave". Just hearing the names is very strange.

After the Spring Festival film season ended, many slots suddenly became available, and Wang Hui took the opportunity to talk about the 10% screening rate on the first day.

During this period, Wang Yuan and Ju Jingyi's supertopics were already poised to launch, with fans eagerly anticipating when they could see their idols' new movie.

Xia Ming seized the opportunity and began to slowly roll out the trailer for his new movie within the two fan groups.

The release date, promotional posters, and the title "Thunder Arrives" were announced.

Xia Ming played a trick here, only spreading the premiere promotion within a small circle of fan groups.

This will lead to a situation where the majority of people flocking to the theaters on the opening day are fans from the fandom, resulting in a very high attendance rate without triggering a large-scale decline in public opinion or reputation.

Once the screening rate increases as a result, the promotion scale will be expanded to the entire internet, bringing all the casual viewers attracted by the second creation competition and previous publicity and marketing into the cinema.

Finally, there are also unsuspecting Pacific Rim 2 moviegoers who might accidentally buy tickets for the film due to a slip of the hand or a misreading.

With everything in place and the subsequent publicity plan ready to be launched, February 14th finally arrived.

A movie called "Atlantic Rim 2: Thunder" has quietly hit theaters.