Chapter 384: Tiangong Got Blown Up

Those two brothers don't blame the Principal, they blame Xu Laoguai.

That's perfectly normal — the Principal has always been fighting them, they were enemies to begin with, and the film Xu Laoguai made was genuinely trash, it felt like he was screwing them over.

The internet was full of cursing, and on top of that, the media mocked him.

Whether those curses were real or rival fans trying to set the tone, they could tell.

So blaming Xu Laoguai is perfectly normal.

Xu Laoguai certainly felt it too — later, when filming "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy," he went off to cooperate with Bona and Wanda, no longer working with Huayi.

Those two brothers are just like that — they treat everyone else as fools. When there's money to be made, everyone's best friends; when there isn't, their faces change.

Earlier they even had a falling out with Xing Ye over a profit-sharing dispute, and afterward Xing Ye went off to cooperate with Enlight.

This is the current state of the entertainment circle — the director still holds the power of the narrative. If you're unhappy with me, at worst I just won't work with you on a film.

That's also why Fang Hong has never worked with a big director — because you can't control them.

His current model allows him to control the director to a certain extent, because the story is his, the screenwriting team is his, and the behind-the-scenes creative team is his too.

The director just needs to pick up the megaphone and shoot the work he wants.

Huayi's stock is still falling nonstop — this isn't just a Huayi problem, it's a problem of the broader environment.

Every National Day holiday, there's a wave pushing the stock price up; once the holiday passes, the stock price slides down accordingly.

It's like this this year, and it'll be like this next year too.

Fang Hong doesn't play A-shares, so he pays no attention to this — he only manages the Jade Rabbit leadership, prohibiting them from buying rival stocks.

Once you buy that stock, when the fight starts, it's essentially letting water out.

It's just like two countries at war — the battle is raging fiercely, and the great general's money is actually sitting in the enemy country. How could he possibly save his nation?

Right now "Lucky Key" is still holding steady at tens of millions at the box office, occasionally breaking twenty million, with no real drop-off — the current total is 270 million.

The Wangyi reviews have also come in.

"So damn funny! It's been ages since I laughed this loud in a movie theater!"

"Super good, plenty of laughs, the most worth-the-ticket-price movie I've seen this year!"

"Both funny and inspiring: when the hitman tidies up his dog-kennel of a room and sits at a small desk sorting out his assets, I could already tell — this guy has the gene for success;

when the extras lie on the couch sleeping and drooling, surrounded by piles of snack bags and all kinds of junk, you suddenly realize what's the use of being handsome, what's the use of being a fresh-faced idol — a mature, steady, reliable middle-aged uncle is the one you can entrust yourself to!"

These few comments were absolutely posted by female viewers.

"Down to earth, lots of laughs, but the plot has plenty of hard flaws too — the flaws don't obscure the jade."

"The ending feels a bit rushed, too few post-credits scenes, didn't get enough of it, can't understand why so many people are hating on it."

"A light comedy you can't watch with your brain — the first half is interesting, the middle and later parts drag a bit, but both actors' performances are on point."

"."

Now "Shen Du Long Wang" has run its course, with only a few million at the box office daily — breaking ten million feels very hard.

Plus the National Day holiday is already over, so Huayi has also stopped relentlessly pursuing "Lucky Key."

The media reported on the film one after another, and news from South Korea also appeared before mainstream media and the public.

According to a report by Movie Network:

""Lucky Key" held onto the top spot of the South Korean weekend box office for the second consecutive week, with weekend attendance of 1,461,931 — an 11% drop from the previous week, still a fairly stable performance. Cumulative attendance has reached 4,341,378, which counts as a very good box office result for a comedy."

"Comedy film "Lucky Key" claims the South Korean box office crown again, cumulative attendance surpasses 4 million in 11 days of release!" — Today's Headlines.

"South Korean box office: "Lucky Key" takes the crown, setting a new record for comedy genre films!" — Sina Entertainment.

""Lucky Key" director demonstrates the correct way to shoot film and television!"

"."

Guo Fan also became hugely famous — after all, a director who can pull in big box office overseas can become an honored guest anywhere.

At this moment he was doing an exclusive interview on Movie Channel, facing questions from host Lan Yu.

Lan Yu is quite pretty, with a kind of intellectual and elegant air. She asked: ""Lucky Key" is a huge hit — is there anything you'd like to say?"

"Within reason, beyond expectation," Guo Fan said.

"How so?" Lan Yu asked.

"The script concept for this film is quite good — the body-swap is a pretty fresh subject. It's just that I'm not really good at shooting comedies," Guo Fan said.

"Then how did you end up making a film like this?" Lan Yu asked.

"When the script was handed to me, the Principal said I was excellent, that I definitely could shoot it well, and even if I couldn't, it didn't matter — just treat it as challenging myself. I was really moved when I heard that," Guo Fan said.

"And then?" Lan Yu asked.

"Later I found out the Principal had originally prepared it for Chen Sicheng, but Chen Sicheng was busy with his "Love Story" and had no time, so he gave it to me." Guo Fan looked a bit troubled as he said this.

Lan Yu covered her mouth and chuckled "hehe," then said: "So it was only when there was no one else that they came to you."

"At the time I was preparing a film for the Principal — I can only say I happened to be free, I was the most idle one," Guo Fan explained.

"What film were you preparing for the Principal?" Lan Yu was very interested — another big scoop.

"I won't talk about that, it's temporarily confidential," Guo Fan said with a smile, waving his hand.

What was being prepared was "Gravity." Lan Yu also changed the subject: "Then how would you evaluate the two actors, Xiao Yang and Yu Hewei?"

"Both are very good actors, especially Xiao Yang. If it weren't for this collaboration, I'd have still thought he was a singer — the one who sang "Little Apple." I never expected he was also a director, and during filming he gave me a lot of suggestions — he has real potential."

"."

Guo Fan was still quite witty and humorous during the interview.

Xiao Yang and Yu Hewei had already returned to China, and the two were again invited to various Satellite TV stations to participate in shows and do interviews.

That's not something to worry about — it's the business of the talent agency, it has nothing to do with the film itself. The after-sales service for "Lucky Key" has already been completed.

At this moment Fang Hong was receiving Zhang Hongsen — Zhang Hongsen had come on his own. The reason was, someone had reported to him that the Principal's new film was going to blow up the Tiangong.

Even though it's just a movie, it still has to be taken seriously.

Our aerospace endeavor is sacred and must not be slandered in any way.

Liu Tianxian was also there. She poured Zhang Hongsen a cup of tea, set it on the coffee table in the middle, and gestured, saying, "Director Zhang, please."

Then she sat down together with Fang Hong.

"Tianxian, you're not only beautiful but also so capable." Zhang Hongsen took a sip of tea, making small talk.

"Hehe, Director, you're too kind. I'm just an ordinary person." Liu Tianxian tucked the hair by her temple behind her ear.

Zhang Hongsen glanced at the two of them and smiled. "When are you two getting your happy news? You must let me know!"

"Definitely, definitely." Liu Tianxian nodded, glanced at the man beside her, and appeared very poised, not avoiding the topic at all.

She really was different from other women. Other women, when spoken to like that, would blush and seem embarrassed, but she didn't—she was completely at ease.

Zhang Hongsen took another sip of tea and looked at Fang Hong. "In your new film, you absolutely have to blow up Tiangong?"

"The plot calls for it. If you say we can't blow it up, then we won't. We can fabricate a fictional space station instead—it just won't align with reality."

Fang Hong said it lightly, then added, "This film of mine is going to break into the International Market, so it has to fit our national conditions."

The earlier parts were fine, but hearing "won't align with reality" and "going to break into the International Market" gave Zhang Hongsen pause.

This is a film meant to showcase our nation's culture to the world, and also our nation's aerospace technology.

As for that line about fitting national conditions—that's total nonsense!

"It's not that we can't blow it up."

Zhang Hongsen deliberated, then said, "There's no plot in here that smears our aerospace program, is there?"

"I don't know if it counts as smearing. Have you read the script?" Fang Hong countered.

He also didn't know whether it counted as smearing, and didn't explain why Tiangong was shattered by space debris first while the International Space Station was fine, and so on.

"No, your people didn't show it to me. They just gave me a rough rundown." Zhang Hongsen said.

Fang Hong looked at Liu Tianxian beside him and said, "Did you bring the script? Let Director Zhang take a look."

"I did." Liu Tianxian took the script out of her bag, handed it over, and said, "There are a lot of densely packed small notes inside—those are my annotations. Just focus on the plot."

"Alright."

Zhang Hongsen took it and buried himself in reading.

The plot was very simple: a survival story in space. Two astronauts aboard a spacecraft, on a spacewalk to repair a space telescope, are hit by space debris.

The space debris destroyed the spacecraft, killing all the astronauts inside, and also destroyed the space telescope.

Only the two astronauts out on the spacewalk survived.

The two astronauts had no choice but to head for the Tiangong space station, planning to escape in a craft docked there. But they collided with the station's Solar Panel and lost control. To save the female lead, her teammate had no choice but to sacrifice himself.

After enduring countless hardships, the female pilot flew a Shenzhou spacecraft toward the International Space Station, because the craft didn't have enough fuel to get her back to Earth.

And here lies a problem.

"The space station gets destroyed by space debris, and then she seeks help from the International Space Station—that's a problem."

Zhang Hongsen looked up and said, "Why does ours get blown up but theirs doesn't? Why not contact the ground, reach out to the country for help, and go to the International Space Station? When you run into trouble, you turn to your country for help—doesn't that perfectly showcase the powerful strength of our nation's aerospace technology?"

He fired off several questions in a row.

"It's all for the plot. She can't contact the ground—the communications are down. Besides, there's no time. Could the ground launch a spacecraft on the spot?"

Fang Hong countered, pointing out it was obviously unrealistic and illogical.

He explained again, "So the protagonist has to figure out how to survive. If everything's blown up, how does the protagonist get back to Earth?"

"Then why not blow up the International Space Station and have Tiangong do the rescuing?" Zhang Hongsen had plenty of questions.

"This is a domestic film. The starting point, of course, is to center on our country facing the disaster. If we blow up theirs first, the protagonist's background has to change. Do you think that works?" Fang Hong countered again.

Zhang Hongsen looked at the script again. Everything else was fine, except that after the protagonist ran into trouble, the rescue came from her own efforts rather than the nation's.

And it was with the help of the International Space Station, riding in their craft. This didn't reflect the strength of our country.

What it reflected was internationalism.

(End of Chapter)