Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

The story of the Yellow Emperor and his son, both in and out of the film, has deeply moved audiences.

Race, civilization, sacrifice, continuation—many things are embodied in this moment, which is the core of the story in the film "Kunlun," perhaps only Chinese people can understand.

Because we truly have a five-thousand-year history of civilization, and for this five-thousand-year civilization, the Chinese nation has indeed had countless national heroes like "Hengwo" who sacrificed and dedicated themselves, and countless heroic fathers like "Huangdi".

At the end of the movie "Kunlun", after Huang Ji finished telling the story of "Hengwo flying to the moon", they also guessed that Hengwo must have left something in the alien base on the moon that could help Emperor Zhuanxu sever the connection between heaven and earth.

"So our next step is to go up to the moon and take a look."

With Shi Qiang's words, the camera travels across mountains and rivers to the "Sky Ladder" project base, where Wang Zhi, Cheng Xin, and others receive a notification from the special affairs department. Then the camera zooms out, giving a panoramic close-up of the space elevator, and the movie ends there.

After "Kunlun" ends, there's naturally the usual post-credits scene from the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe].

In the first Easter egg, the remnants of the ETO and members of the Illuminati gather in a secret underground meeting room.

"The operation at Kunlun Ruins has failed."

The man in black at the head of the table spoke in a low voice.

"The Chinese government is gradually uncovering the truth, and we need to take action."

"A message came from the Lord: we must stop humans from landing on the moon."

"Given our current strength, it's difficult for us to contend with the Earth United Government, and the Lord can't offer any assistance either."

"Perhaps...we can try contacting Dr. Chen Ang."

He might be interested in the remains of extraterrestrial civilizations on the moon.

"No, Chen Ang is a madman, too dangerous. If he gets further access to alien technology, he might become the biggest threat to the host."

"But……"

"Hehe, I think I just heard someone mention me."

"Chen Ang! How did you get in? Ah~"

"Alright, now we can sit down and have a proper talk. What's on the moon? There can't really be a Chang'e there, can there?"

The screen went black, ending the first post-credits scene of "Kunlun," followed immediately by the second.

In this Easter egg, the camera no longer focuses on a single person, but rather on important characters from several previous series, both domestic and international, such as the witch Zhao Xiumei, Qin Feng from Detective Chinatown, and the male protagonists of "Speed ​​Chase" and "The Mechanic," all of whom receive a mysterious phone call.

This Easter egg undoubtedly signifies that the third phase of the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] is about to usher in a grand gathering and a final battle between good and evil.

After the film "Kunlun" ended completely, including the two post-credits scenes, the audience members who left the theater were still unable to calm down for a long time.

On the one hand, the film features just as many large-scale scenes as other sci-fi movies; just watching the special effects and battle scenes is worthwhile.

Not to mention the ancient secret stories Huang Ji told in the movie, they never thought that the legend of Chang'e flying to the moon was actually a rumor. There was no such person as Chang'e, and she was not Hou Yi's wife.

In addition, the explicit hint at a moon landing in the next film at the end of the movie led to extremely heated discussions after the film ended, with most of the online discussions revolving around the "Hengwo Benyue" story and the Yellow Emperor.

This is reflected in the film's box office performance, which remained at a relatively high level even after the seven-day Spring Festival holiday.

Throughout the entire Spring Festival film season, "Kunlun" truly stood out from the crowd, overshadowing all others.

The soaring box office revenue also made the employees of Galaxy Pictures extremely happy.

Although most of them had to be on standby at any time due to the Spring Festival season, the excellent box office performance of "Kunlun" meant that each of them would receive a substantial performance bonus after the film's run ended.

The staff of [Galaxy Paradise] also experienced both joy and pain during this Spring Festival, just like Galaxy Pictures.

Over the past year or two, due to certain special reasons, the daily visitor flow of [Galaxy Amusement Park] has always been kept within a controllable range.

This restriction was finally lifted during the Spring Festival holiday this year.

During the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, Xinghe Amusement Park also experienced a surge in visitor traffic. The park's staff worked at full capacity almost every day, but even so, it was still difficult to perfectly serve the tourists from all over the country who came specifically to visit.

Even Xinghe Paradise had to quickly report to the group company and temporarily transfer a group of cleaning, security, cooks, and labor service personnel from its sister units.

By the way, the performers in the park are also under a lot of pressure. Fortunately, Galaxy Group is not worried about this. They directly found some veteran extras who are still in Beijing to help out with cameo appearances on the Good Producers website.

Fortunately, after the Spring Festival holiday, this tourist surge gradually subsided, eventually dropping to a normal level that park employees could accept.

After the Spring Festival holiday, projects of various companies under the Xinghe Group gradually started to resume.

In this new year, almost every company has new and ambitious plans.

Galaxy Pictures' focus this year is on Wang Hao's new film, which is also the final installment of the third phase of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe, the Dark Forest – The Three-Body Problem 2: The Dark Forest.

The film is currently scheduled for release during the summer of 2022. As "Kunlun" was nearing the end of its theatrical run, pre-release promotion began, with related character posters being released on various platforms.

Besides this final installment of the third phase, another key focus of Galaxy Pictures is the planning and design of the fourth phase of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe.

Regarding this, Galaxy Pictures has also hinted that a fourth phase of promotional press conference will be held after the celebration party for "The Three-Body Problem 2".

Anyway, the focus is still on "The Three-Body Problem 2".

If this film performs well enough, then the fourth phase of the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] will undoubtedly be a good omen.

If this movie performs poorly, then... the fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe might end up like the fourth phase of the Galactic Universe.

In fact, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, both domestically and internationally, are quite concerned about this matter. The decline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now almost visibly evident.

Since defeating Thanos in Phase Three, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been declining from its peak. Several films released in Phase Four, such as last year's "Black Widow," "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," and "Eternals," have all been box office and critical failures.

It's only because Marvel has several movies this year, including "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," "Thor: Love and Thunder," and "Black Panther 2," that fans' expectations have been somewhat dampened.

Even so, most people admit that without Iron Man and Captain America as the two key characters, coupled with the increasingly bloated Marvel Cinematic Universe, everyone has entered a period of aesthetic fatigue with superhero movies.

Therefore, many people are waiting for the end of the third phase and the beginning of the fourth phase of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe to see if Wang Hao, the father of the cinematic universe, will bring a new and different experience to this model.

Besides Galaxy Pictures having ambitious plans, the group's other subsidiaries are not lagging behind.

In addition to continuing its expansion in China, increasing its installation base and daily active users, Douyin has also penetrated dozens of countries overseas, even reaching some poor small countries in Africa and South America.

With the help of this convenient platform, Galaxy Group is gradually exporting its culture in its own way.

In this regard, the government has also taken note of the role of Douyin, and higher authorities have made it a model, praising and rewarding it in many activities.

However, this has also caused some obstacles for Xinghe Group's Douyin (TikTok) development in America.

In addition, Xinghe Paradise and Xinghe Group's new equipment development department also encountered similar obstacles.

This year alone, many Hollywood film crews that had originally arranged to film at [Galaxy Park] have chosen to terminate their contracts and no longer come to China to shoot movies.

Similarly, the new high-precision film shooting equipment developed by Xinghe Group in recent years has also been rejected by Hollywood.

Even in Japan and South Korea, many film and television companies that have cooperated with Xinghe Group have begun to act ambivalently.

In response, relevant departments of Xinghe Group reported the matter to their superiors, and senior leaders, including Wang Hao, held several meetings.

But how to put it? Neither Wang Hao nor Xinghe Group had any good solutions to this kind of situation.

After all, sometimes, soft power like culture still needs to rely on hard power.

What can you do if someone doesn't want to do business with you anymore?

The only positive thing is that Wang Hao, with his experience of being reborn, had anticipated this situation and therefore had given instructions in advance for any projects involving overseas.

Therefore, in the past year or two, Xinghe Group has gradually shifted the focus of its overseas business from Europe, America, Japan and South Korea to Southeast Asia, Africa and South America, while turning all its cultural export industries into one-off, asset-light businesses.

For example, some film and television works directly license their copyrights to local enterprises in one go, without expecting any long-term revenue from those local businesses.

This strategic contraction allows Galaxy Group to proceed with its overseas operations at a more relaxed pace, preventing it from scrambling and struggling due to sudden changes in the international situation.

In addition, the profits generated by Xinghe Group's domestic business expansion in recent years are actually enough to offset the losses from the contraction of their overseas business.

Putting aside everything else, in the film and television culture industry alone, Xinghe Group is undoubtedly the number one in China, with a commanding lead that leaves other film and television production companies far behind.

Moreover, this leadership is comprehensive. In fact, it is not only in the film and television culture industry, but also in the game industry, music industry, online novel industry, and film and television peripheral industry, where Xinghe Group is among the top in the industry.

Even Alibaba and Baidu, which have ventured into the cultural industry, and Tencent, which also bases its business on the entertainment industry, are no match for Galaxy Group.

The key point is that the cultural industry is only a part of the Galaxy Group.

Companies like DJI, OPPO, and BYD (in the new energy industry), in which their company has invested, are all industry leaders. The market value of those shares alone has increased many times over the years.

Given Xinghe Group's current financial situation, as long as it doesn't expand blindly or go against national policies, it can basically continue to operate steadily for another ten years or so.

Furthermore, thanks to Wang Hao's foresight, Xinghe Group has also invested in the AI ​​and robotics sectors, meaning that Wang Hao basically doesn't need to worry about the company's operations.

This information became widely known to the public with the release of the first-quarter financial reports of several listed companies under the Xinghe Group, making entertainment companies still suffering from the film and television industry grit their teeth in envy.

Why is it that during the same film and television industry downturn, they are having such a miserable time, with most of their invested film and television works becoming flops, while Xinghe Group's film and television works are all blockbusters?

Instead of reflecting on whether they truly put the audience first in their creative process, they go a step further and focus on publicity and marketing.

Xinghe Group wouldn't remind them of this, and these guys might not even know that Xinghe Group's short drama industry, driven by Douyin and its own film and television industry, is digging into the foundation of the traditional film and television culture industry.

The future has never belonged to those old-timers in the film and television industry. The Beijing and Hong Kong circles, the descendants of the Eight Banners—they will all be swept into the dustbin of history.

The new era and the new China need new and more confident and self-reliant cultural practitioners like Wang Hao, Guo Fan, and Li Kui.

"Chairman, the Directors Guild has sent a notice saying that there is a plenary meeting next Tuesday regarding the leadership transition, and you are required to attend."

"Mr. Wang, we hope to invite you to be a judge at this year's College Student Film Festival."

"Chairman Wang, DJI has invited you to attend their new product launch event."

"Chairman Wang..."

"Okay, I understand. I won't be going to DJI. You can contact the organizing committee about the College Student Film Festival and make the arrangements."

As for the Directors Guild, take a look at my schedule for next Tuesday; I'll be going then.

In his office on the top floor of the Xinghe Building, Wang Hao was busy with his work for the day, dealing with some issues that required his attention.

The post-production work for "The Three-Body Problem 2" has been completed long ago, and the first trailer will premiere on all platforms today. He finally has some time now. Once he finishes his work at the company, he will probably have time to rest for a while.

As for the next phase of the cinematic universe, after so many years of being busy, it's time for him to enjoy life. He will probably put less effort into filmmaking then, which would give more opportunities to young newcomers.

After finishing his work, it was noon. On Wang Hao's computer screen, the first trailer for "The Three-Body Problem 2" finally appeared on Starry Sky Video Network, meeting the eagerly awaiting fans. (End of Chapter)