1990My Entertainment System

Chapter 14: Fantasy Comics Studio, "Home Alone" is a big hit!
After the Time magazine interview, Xia and Pilo continued to recruit.

What we are going to set up this time is a small company, or to be more precise, a "small comics studio"!
The total number of staff is probably around 10 to 20, including painters.

The most troublesome thing is to examine the skills of the applicant painter.

Xia Tian's comics have some American characteristics, but they tend to be more Japanese. They are completely different from the weird and cheesy style of American comics.

This is also the reason why he has only drawn a few comics in the United States, but is still sought after by many fans - his style is very unique and can be recognized at a glance.

The idea of ​​setting up a comics studio came to him after the concert when he and Peggy were visiting secondhand and antique shops in New York.

At that time, Xia Tian found a copy of "Newly Published and Added Collection of One Hundred and One Prescriptions of Shizhai" in a store called "Laotie Antique Shop" in Chinatown.

This is a printed medical book from the early Qing Dynasty. The book consists of twenty volumes and is divided into thirty-one chapters.

It starts with: elixir, heart qi, heart wind; ends with: mosquito repellent, candle watering, and Beijing soup recipe.

Its content introduces the treatment prescriptions for various diseases and symptoms, with a total of more than one thousand complete and single prescriptions selected. The title of the book "Bai Yi" expresses the excellent selection of prescriptions.

Hmm! There is such a good thing?
I continued searching and found out there is actually a copy of "Bu Ju Mi Sui" - a Ming Dynasty edition printed by Ye Guijinshan Book House in Jianyang, Jinling!

This year it’s even longer!

Xia Tian immediately paid for it. The owner of the antique shop was a Chinese man in his early fifties. He was said to have fled here with his family during the war when he was a teenager. His ancestral home was Hujian.

When he saw that Xia Tian was Chinese and interested in ancient books, he couldn't help but chat with Xia Tian.

Xia Tian also thought that this old man was interesting. He had a righteous temperament and stood at the counter of the antique shop with a bit of mystery!
I'm inspired to write my own novel~
Moreover, Uncle Tie knows a lot. He collected these ancient books specially. He is not an antique dealer.

At the end of the conversation, Uncle Tie sighed, "All our ancestors' things have been wasted!"

Maybe they got along well, or maybe Xia Tian was really willing to spend money, Uncle Tie even used his connections to help Xia Tian find two more good things that interested him!

"Zhouyi Wuzhen Pian Illustrated Notes", an ancient painting about spiritual practice.

There is also a set of picture books from the early Qing Dynasty - Volumes 21/32/69 of "Qing Dynasty Color Paintings: Complete Illustrations of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio".

This set of "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" is a series of colorful comic strips depicting the stories of "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio". The complete set consists of about ninety volumes, but they have been scattered around the world.

Seventeen volumes are known to be held in the Austrian National Library, and the 28th volume is now in the Martin Bodmer Foundation Library in Geneva, Switzerland.

后来18年纽约苏富比秋季拍卖会，第 24、39、67册以 7.5万美元拍出，其中第 24、39两册衬页上贴有“缘木得鱼斋藏”字样的签条。

Volume 55 was sold at the Nagel Auction Company in Germany in 19 years; another volume with an unknown number was sold at Bonhams in New York for US$13 in 2. Judging from the contents on the inside pages, it should be one of the last few volumes.

The painting style of this thing is very unique! It is very beautiful!
Xia Tian: Ancient books, paintings, and texts—this really ticks my box! Buy it!

However, it is impossible to collect all the volumes of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.

Indeed, all our ancestors’ things have been wasted.

After leaving the antique shop, Xia Tian looked back at the small shop that looked to be 20 or 30 years old, thinking about the face of the owner, Uncle Tie.

Huh? Why did I suddenly think of Dad? Go away, all those monsters!
Oh my! Inspiration strikes!
Wouldn’t it be great if I published a comic book called “The Adventures of Big Nose Dragon” and took the opportunity to promote Chinese culture?
At most, we can make some compromises and add some Western elements, so that it can be considered at the popular science level.

Zodiac talisman?

The image of the father can refer to Lin Jiu’s Taoist appearance, sometimes mysterious, sometimes righteous, with very long eyebrows that are almost connected.

Well, you can wear a pair of frameless round glasses, that’s a compromise!

The spell could be a little more:
Monsters, go away!
Prajnaparamita~
The Supreme Lord Laojun is as urgent as the law~
Only magic can defeat magic.

Not for making money, just to occupy a spot!
However, it seems too early to tell now. We have to wait until the giant dragon has some fame in Hollywood.

Well, the 95 film "Rumble in the Bronx" was an opportunity!

Why not come up with the character design and story outline first? Once the Proboscis becomes a Hollywood sensation, go straight to the market!
Of course, I have to tell him.

This is easy to handle. Although he was a love rival, Big Nose Dragon is still a very open-minded person.

……

The Adventures of Big Nose Dragon is a.

Another time was when I was shopping with Peggy in the mall in the summer and saw a starfish lying on a sponge in the aquatic area.

Then Xia Tian thought of "SpongeBob, let's go catch jellyfish~"

That’s right! SpongeBob SquarePants!
If "The Adventures of Sauropod" still has to worry about whether it can be accepted by the American market, then "SpongeBob SquarePants" will definitely have no problem!

In addition, when I was in China last summer, I had thought about getting a spot for "Resident Evil" in advance.

There is really a strong demand!

It is definitely impossible to draw it yourself. Besides, how can a capitalist draw it himself?

Can't I just pay someone to draw it for me?

So he decided to set up a comics studio.

Now it’s almost done. The tool painters first found three people, and then they went to find assistants.

The subject matter, outline, style, and character design were all decided upon by me. Xia Tian even drew a few chapters himself and defined the painting style.

The rest will be left to Xiao Palo to recruit people gradually.

All works are signed by Charlotte and Fantasy Radiance.

For now, these three projects are enough to keep this new comics studio busy!

……

On January 1, Xia Tian was completely free. All that was left was to wait for the release of "Home Alone" in two days and see how the box office performed.

These two days, Xiatian had nothing to do, so he told stories to Peggy, little Palo and Mike.

It's about the Three Kingdoms~
Because he was going to play Sun Ce, he brought a copy of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" with him, which was ready-made.

As a result, he told the story very quickly, from Liu Bei selling straw sandals to crossing the river in white clothes.

Then Guan Erye was defeated and fled to Maicheng, but he refused to surrender and was beheaded by the Eastern Wu...

The three of them were furious at that time!
"Impossible!" Mike jumped up with a scream!

"Yunchang Guan can't just die like this! What will happen to Prince Xuande's destiny to unify the world?"

Mike was pulling his hair and was about to cry. He looked at Xia Tian in disbelief, wanting Xia Tian to give an explanation, such as whether "Mage Merlin Kong Ming" could resurrect Guan Erye?
Xiatian felt a little regretful - in order to make it easier for them to understand and remember, I did some "translation".

Little Pi Luo also murmured to himself: "No way! The most powerful warrior Yun Chang Guan died in a despicable sneak attack?! Are all the people in Dongwu British?"

"No!" Michael retorted. "The Eastern Wu must be French! Just like they backstabbed Joan of Arc!"

Xia Tian: This...you all have a point! Britain and France are not good people!
In the minds of these two people, in the story of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei's counterpart is King Arthur, who has the mission of unifying the country.

As a result, the most powerful warrior died?
Xia Tian is now a little worried about how these two people will react when he talks about the star falling at Wuzhangyuan and the death of "Master Merlin Kongming"!

He glanced at Peggy secretly. The little girl was fine. She was not immersed in the story at all, and she had already seen through this epic story with a bit of tragedy.

Paige noticed Summer looking at him and gave him a pursed smile.

She likes this man so much!
But he will soon be going back to the Eastern country, what should he do?

……

In the evening, Xia Tian called Yan Jing and learned that a new stock, Wanke A, with the code 000002, was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange during the day, becoming the first real estate stock.

The IPO price was RMB 1. The opening price on the day of listing was RMB 14.57 and the closing price was RMB 14.58.

The assets increased 14 times in one day!
Zhang Li was speaking excitedly on the other end of the phone, with a sense of what a real man should do.

While Xia Tian was listening to her, he was thinking about Wan Ke. It was said that if he held the stocks for a long time, the increase would be hundreds to a thousand times!

But everything has its cycle.

On the eve of his rebirth, Hengda had already collapsed, more than 2 trillion yuan~
Wanda is about to fail, Biguiyuan is not doing well either, and I guess Wanke is also in trouble.

However, there is still at least nearly thirty years of bonus period!
……

On Saturday, February 2st, "Home Alone" was released.

The ticket price is $4.32. Xia Tian, ​​Paige, and Little Palo plan to buy tickets secretly to see the audience's reaction.

As a result, I was late due to negligence - I didn’t buy a ticket!
"There are only tickets for the 10:30 show left?" Xia Tian was a little surprised, but at the same time ecstatic.

The three of them looked at each other and found that each other's eyes were full of cheers.

Although I didn’t buy the ticket, this shows that it sold well!

Finally, at noon the next day, the first day box office of "Home Alone" was counted - 63.5 US dollars!

The number of moviegoers on the first day reached 14.7!

120 screens, 7 shows a day, a small hall with 200 seats, and an attendance rate of over 87%!

Every show is filled with laughter, with dense jokes, a cheerful rhythm, and no boring moments, which makes the audience unable to stop watching!

The laughter that erupted from the audience was so loud that it made the fire hydrant warning sign buzz!
When the show was over, everyone was describing the scenes in the movie with smiles on their faces...

Thanks to newspaper stories and soft ads, vigorous promotion of Michael's concerts, several radio late-night talk shows and an interview with Time magazine, the movie was finally a success!

It was a huge hit! The seats were packed!

(I have tried my best to find information, but I am not a relevant practitioner and I don’t know if there are any major loopholes in this data. If you think it is inappropriate, please leave a message and I will modify it.)
After receiving the data feedback the next day, 20th Century Fox immediately adjusted the screening schedule and tripled it to 400 screens!
The next day was Sunday, and the box office was 183.4 million!
On the third day, 20th Century Fox increased the number of screenings, bringing the number of screens directly to 1200, and the single-day box office exceeded 511 million!
This kind of family-friendly comedy movie really tickles Americans' funny bones!
Originally considered to be cannon fodder in a slow-moving schedule, "Home Alone" turned out to be a dark horse, crushing all the other films!

That's it!

There was nothing I could do about the rest, so I left it to little Palo.

I have to go back...

(End of this chapter)