Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 994 Always Trying to Get a Ball
If one person's success is an isolated case, and two people's success is a coincidence, then the success of three people must indicate a certain pattern.

Feng Ji, the producer of "Black Myth: Wukong", graduated from the School of Life Sciences of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, majoring in biomedical engineering.
Jiaozi, the director of "Ne Zha", graduated from the West China School of Pharmacy of Sichuan University, majoring in pharmacy;
Guo Fan, the director of "The Wandering Earth", graduated from the School of Law of Hainan University, majoring in law.

This resume reminded netizens of Lu Xun's decision to "abandon medicine for literature," prompting many to jokingly remark, "Studying medicine can't save the Chinese people"—now it seems, "Studying film can't save the box office either."

Behind the joke lies a reality that cannot be ignored:

In the past, the film and television industry was deeply rooted in a "circle" culture. The Beijing circle and the Shanghai circle each occupied their own territory, and later a "Meng circle" emerged.

The directors are also divided into fourth, fifth, and sixth generations, with a strict hierarchy resembling that of the Beggars' Sect.

In this system, resources and discourse power are highly concentrated, and the ironclad rule of the industry used to be "whoever is promoted becomes famous, and whoever is destroyed dies".

But times have changed.

With the rise of Beyond Pictures, a series of high-quality films have been released. The box office success of 10 billion yuan has not only shattered the unspoken rules that have been followed for many years, but also completely torn away the fig leaf of the traditional entertainment industry.

Countless viewers suddenly realized:

It turns out that what they were eating before was actually chocolate-flavored excrement packaged by capital and traffic.
It turns out they deserved and were fully entitled to enjoy a delicious, unprepared meal filled with the warmth of home cooking.

Some netizens even joked that,

"Feng Ji's Monkey King Sun Wukong openly rebels, while Erlang Shen Yang Jian secretly rebels."
The three jars of dumplings are made by the great god Nezha, who will rebel at any time if he is unhappy.

Even more ruthless is Guo Fan, the "Space Wolf Warrior" who carries the ball and dares to bomb even Jupiter.

"When capital acts unethically, the other side will step forward and show them what it means to be punished for evil!"

The investors behind all of this are Beyond, and Chen Mo's past spirit of breaking the system seems to overlap with the core of these products, leaving people with a great deal of room for imagination and interpretation.

Therefore, the three creators were dubbed the "Three Illusory Gods of the Other Shore" by netizens.

What the three legendary gods have in common is the disruptive thinking brought about by cross-disciplinary collaboration.

They had never received systematic art, film, or game production education at the undergraduate level, and after becoming "self-taught," they reconstructed their creative logic with systematic thinking.

This cross-disciplinary ability and methodology allowed them to escape the "experience trap" of those formally trained in arts and literature.

Traditional directors often cannot escape industry experience and inertia, relying on personal artistic or visual intuition. However, after accepting investment from the other side, they adopt a "take-what-you-need" approach, not only accepting funds and technology, but also adapting and implementing the commercially successful methodologies of the other side.

Establish a standardized process encompassing market research, project management, data analysis, and industrialization, transforming creation into a quantifiable and replicable systematic project.

In addition, they are staunch long-term thinkers, harboring grand dreams while adhering to daily, down-to-earth efforts.

This is highly similar to the model on the other side, which is why it has achieved its current success.

It's worth mentioning that there's another "gatekeeper" that can't be ignored in this year's Spring Festival film season: "Boonie Bears: Blast into the Past," co-produced by Beyond Pictures and Fantawild Holdings.

Amidst fierce market competition, it has consistently ranked fourth in box office revenue, with its cumulative box office revenue now exceeding 5 million yuan and expected to reach 10 billion yuan, once again demonstrating the commercial value of "stable output".

There's a saying circulating among movie fans these days: "Don't know what to watch during the Spring Festival? You can't go wrong with 'Boonie Bears'."

When "The Wandering Earth" crashed into the Chinese film market like a giant meteorite, it also hit Teng Huatao's heart.

He sat in the center of the IMAX theater, and when ten thousand planetary engines ignited their blue light, propelling the Earth into flight, he felt a breathtaking shock.

He ignored the gasps and exclamations of "Holy crap!" from the surrounding audience.

As the end credits rolled, the lights came on, and applause erupted, he remained seated as if nailed to his seat, his entire body as cold as the Oriental Pearl Tower frozen in the film.

After returning from the movie, he went back to his studio, closed the door, and looked out at the myriad lights of Beijing. His mind was in turmoil, unable to calm down for a long time.

"Wrong, completely wrong! So this is what a domestic sci-fi film should be, or rather, a sci-fi blockbuster that Chinese people like to watch. What am I making now?"

After watching "The Wandering Earth," it felt like the cannons of Beijing had directly shattered "Shanghai Fortress," a work he had meticulously constructed over the past few years.

He recalled the science fiction film he had made—a future battlefield, an alien invasion, and the sinking of Shanghai.
At this moment, it seems so naive, like a child compared to a giant.

As a fellow filmmaker, he could actually see the core of "The Wandering Earth's" success: a solid script that had been meticulously crafted, investments that were used wisely, a weighty "heavy industrial feel," and a "homeland complex" of fleeing with one's home.

That solid, almost clumsy sense of weight is overwhelming, something he cannot resist with his narratives of love and idol aesthetics.

A chill ran up my spine and straight to the top of my head.

He realized that he might have been wrong from the very beginning. When "Shanghai Fortress" was first launched two years ago, the market was still talking about the universal formula of "big IP + traffic stars". He thought that by combining science fiction war with a tragic love story and adding top traffic stars, he would be invincible.

He even secretly compared his project with other films released around the same time and felt that his project, with Lu Han and Shu Qi, had a greater advantage in terms of "star power" by appealing to both new and old fans.

Who knew that in just two years, the winds of change would suddenly shift dramatically.

At this moment, all hope was shattered.

If the release of "Wolf Warrior 2" last year and "Ne Zha" last month gave him a bad feeling, then "The Wandering Earth" this year established a new, almost harsh, industry standard, making him even feel what despair is.

Just like how he diligently prepared for the civil service exam for two years, only to find out that this year's interview required running a marathon.
Now that audiences are cheering for "taking the Earth on a journey", will they still buy into his story of "fighting aliens and falling in love in Shanghai"?
He opened Douban, where "The Wandering Earth" had a stable rating of 9.0, and the short reviews were full of praise such as "the first year of Chinese science fiction" and "not inferior to Hollywood".

I can almost imagine the brutal comparisons and ridicule I'll face when my game, "Shanghai Fortress," appears in this market, which has been elevated by "The Wandering Earth," in its current form.

Teng Huatao seemed to already hear the sharp criticisms that followed the film's release:

"China's first domestically produced science fiction film about a love triangle."

"The Wandering Earth: Opening a New Chapter in Chinese Science Fiction; Shanghai Fortress: Flip the book, you son of a bitch, close it now!"

"Is this really not a real-person WeChat airplane shooting game?"

That would not be an ordinary failure; he and the entire project team would be forever shamed.

Why is the person on the other side of the internet messing around instead of getting involved in the film and television industry? They're corrupting the atmosphere here.

Wherever he goes, the environment is turned upside down. He's practically a monster that destroys the environment!
At this moment, fueled by his emotions, Teng Huatao conceived an even more insane and painful idea:
"Is it too late to stop now and reshoot?"

That urge to tear everything down and start over was as fierce as a tsunami, but it also receded very quickly.

Once the adrenaline rush from the thought of "rebooting" subsided, the chill of reality quickly seeped into Teng Huatao's very being.

He slumped into his chair and began calculating the despairing costs—the hundreds of millions already invested, the intricate capital-based investment agreements, and the tight contracts signed with the lead actors' team.
Even as a director, this is not a decision he could make on a whim.

He lacked the do-or-die spirit and luck of the "Wandering Earth" project, and he also lacked the power granted by investors as favorable as those on the other side.

After despair, a more practical and slicker idea began to take over.

He sat up abruptly, turned the computer screen back on, and kept thinking about the plot and box office data of "The Wandering Earth." His eyes gradually changed from initial shock and despair to a more complex expression.

The complexity lies in the fact that he clearly knows what the right choice is, but is forced by reality to make another choice.

In the end, Teng Huatao's gaze settled into a shrewd calculation.

"There's no other way. We might as well try to get some benefit from it. Screw your professional ethics!"

After abandoning his moral bottom line, his mind suddenly opened up.

A clear thought process belonging to a mature commercial director quickly took shape: rebooting is a pipe dream, but "paying homage" and "borrowing" are feasible.

For example, replace the weapon light effects on the Shanghai fortress with the blue light effects of an engine propelling the Earth.

For example, the script cannot be changed too much, but some lines such as "protecting our home" and "not letting the earth wander" can be added to highlight the tragic sense of sharing life and death with our home.

For example, the promotional message must be changed immediately. Previously, the emphasis was on "science fiction, war, and romance," but now the focus should be on the concept of "we are also hardcore science fiction," giving the audience the illusion that "since we didn't get enough of 'The Wandering Earth,' this should be good too."

Thinking about this, he was almost grateful for the huge opportunity created by "The Wandering Earth".

This wave of science fiction fever and public anticipation is itself a huge pool of traffic.

He keenly realized that, if handled properly, even if his work only bore a slight resemblance to "The Wandering Earth," he could still ride this wave and reap considerable box office success.

He knew even better that in the early stages of the market's most frenzied period, when standards were not yet fully solidified, there would always be a group of viewers who would go to the cinema because of the title "domestic science fiction".

What he needs to do is precisely target this group of people and make money at the box office before the word-of-mouth backlash.

Just like a hit online novel, as long as it's well-written in the early stages, it doesn't matter if it falls apart later, since the money is already in your pocket.

Ultimately, that remaining artistic pursuit and professional sense of shame were completely extinguished in the face of immense commercial pressure and speculative temptations.

He picked up the phone and dialed the producer.
(End of this chapter)