Chapter 565: Love Turns to Familial Affection

Liu Tianxian had truly seen it now — why this man could toy with those people like quails. He had brains, and he was shameless enough to match.

Although she had known Fang Hong was this shameless before, she had never been personally involved. It was always Fang Hong doing it while she watched from the sidelines, so the specific details were unclear.

After the two of them got together, Fang Hong had honestly and openly kept a low profile for several years.

But this time she was personally involved. This man told her every single detail of every plan, and personally showed her how it was done, so she gained a very deep impression.

No wonder Fatty Yu felt a chill the moment he saw her man — facing someone like this must give a sense of helplessness, the feeling that you simply cannot think of any way to respond.

Sure enough, every person's success is no accident.

Of course she did not disapprove of Fang Hong's methods either; as long as no one gets hurt, she approves of all of it.

A film is itself a product, and a product must be marketed. No matter how high-end you are or how wide your channels are, you still need marketing — Disney is no exception.

Because whether to market or not is up to you, but whether to watch or not is up to the audience. If you want the audience to watch your film, you must make them develop the interest and desire to watch it.

The initiative is in the audience's hands. It is not the case that the more capable and powerful you are, the less you need marketing.

If not marketing meant that your channels could represent everything, then Wanda would simply be invincible — the world's number-one theater chain operator, able to screen whatever film it wants.

That's not how it works. If the audience has no interest in watching, your screening is a waste, a money-losing operation.

What theaters love most are those high-heat, blockbuster films. Foot traffic is heavy, and snacks and drinks alone can earn a tidy sum.

"The Principal said Xiao Wang and Fatty Yu are monsters and demons!"

"He also said Xiao Wang and Fatty Yu are rumor-mongers!"

News like this instantly made the front pages of all the major media. In the age of mobile self-media, information really does travel fast.

Whether the reporters believed it or not was unimportant. What mattered was the two sides trading blows, giving every major outlet something to report, giving them a hot talking point.

Seeing the Principal turn the tables from afar and accuse them of spreading rumors about him, Xiao Wang could not even catch his breath properly.

"Damn it, how can there be people like this? Am I so bored that I'd make up rumors about him and give him free publicity?"

"What's there to be angry about? Isn't this just how business is — you suppress me, I suppress you. Besides, we're meeting on a narrow road." Big Wang gestured for him to take it easy.

The Spring Festival Slot has its own special nature. Unlike the summer slot or the New Year Slot, where release dates can be staggered, every film in this slot opens on the same day.

It is a complete zero-sum competitive game.

"What do we do now?" Xiao Wang asked.

It was not only him asking this question. Yaolai's General Manager Qi, who had also invested in Fang Long's Dragon Blade, called over to ask the same thing.

Just Fang Long's salary alone for this film was over a hundred million, plus the fees for two Hollywood actors and one South Korean actor.

One could say that just the acting fees for this film came to about 250 to 300 million, with very heavy expenditure, and a total cost of 400 million.

Unlike Gravity, where the highest actor's fee was settled for under ten million, and the highest was still Liu Tianxian's, at just a few million.

Guo Jinfei's male lead was settled for a few hundred thousand, and there were no other actors — just extras who showed a dead man's face. The equivalent of 99% of the budget went entirely into Best Special Effects.

It was not only them asking what to do; even Fatty Yu was asking what to do. Although his From Vegas to Macau 2 investment was not as outrageous as Dragon Blade's,

it was still between 150 and 200 million, meaning it would take around 600 million to break even, since all big-name actors were used.

Yet the star power of their films was not like Fang Long's, with international influence. Any film starring Fang Long would still find a market for overseas distribution.

The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea and other places would all bring it in for release — that is the brilliance of Fang Long, something other stars cannot match.

It is also the reason his fee is so high, and the reason Jet Li's fee is so high — international influence, recognized by overseas distributors.

Of course, how the box office actually performs is another matter entirely.

Wolf Totem was invested in by a state-owned enterprise, which hired a foreign director to shoot it. Co-productions are common in this era, and state-owned enterprises can bear the cost — leave that one alone.

Enlight Media is fine; that company only bought a small share of Zhong Kui: Exorcist, so even if the box office fails, it won't lose much.

The main controlling party of this film is Dadi International Media. The boss of this company is An Xiaofen, a very formidable figure.

She used to be President and Chairman of Stellar and Times Classic, and later struck out on her own to found Dadi International Media.

Stellar is China Film Stellar Cinemas — the two are separate entities, but being able to partner with China Film Group to establish a branded cinema chain shows the strength behind her cannot be underestimated.

It is worth mentioning that Summer Nineteen-Year-Old Portrait was led by An Xiaofen from script to production to casting — she was in charge of everything.

Online rumors that Chen Jinfei invested in this film are pure nonsense. He did not invest at all; Heizi is just forcibly tying it to Liu Tianxian.

A small-investment film controlling costs and using lesser actors is perfectly normal. Where do all these conspiracy theories come from, saying these are resources provided by Chen Jinfei?

A film with a total investment of less than ten million — could it really afford to hire big stars? You'd have to be able to pay them first.

Yang Caiyu could even land the second female lead in Feng Kuzi's Youth. Could she not carry the female lead of a small film?

After all, she has another title: Feng Nu Lang!

Just as the various parties were reacting differently to Fang Hong's words to the media, the "Watch Gravity with Liu Tianxian" event was underway.

After the reporters asked Liu Tianxian and Guo Fan some harmless questions, the fans, one by one under the arrangement of the on-site staff, entered the IMAX 3D theater.

This theater was very large, with a giant screen and 1,200 seats — just enough to seat all the arranged attendees.

The media also had a dedicated area for filming and gathering material. Of course, they could not point their cameras at the giant screen; they could only film the audience's reactions on-site, or the stars' interaction after the film ended.

Fang Hong, Liu Tianxian, and Guo Fan sat in the front row, leaving the good seats for the other audience members. The lights went out, and the film quickly opened on the big screen — still the "Chang'e Holding Rabbit" opening animation.

Only this opening animation was a little different from before. It had become more delicate and richer in color, and the facial contours of "Chang'e" had become more refined and three-dimensional, looking more and more like Liu Tianxian.

Clearly this had been re-processed and redesigned, no longer as rough as before.

"Isn't that Liu Tianxian?" someone whispered.

"It is, it really looks like her!"

"Looks like the Principal truly loves Liu Tianxian." A female fan pressed her palms together in front of her mouth, quite envious.

If only she could find a man like that too, and have her face put at the beginning of a film.

Liu Tianxian also noticed the difference in the opening animation. She said nothing, but turned her head to look at the man beside her, gave a charming smile, and raised her hand toward him.

Fang Hong glanced at it, then took it firmly in his.

The two held hands tightly, just as they had years ago — except back then their feelings had just been settled, and it was Fang Hong who had reached out his hand to her.

The latest novel is first published at ⊥⊥⊥!

And this time, it was Liu Tianxian who reached out her hand!

Although the one who took the initiative had changed, their relationship had also changed — from before marriage to after marriage, and their feelings had shifted from romance toward familial affection.

"Let's watch a movie." Liu Tianxian looked at him.

Fang Hong nodded in response, his hand held tightly by a soft, slender hand.

It felt like a lifetime ago. In the blink of an eye, five or six years had passed, yet the two were still watching movies together, still chatting about the plot together, their original intention never changing.

The two turned their gaze to the big screen. The film opened on a dark, vast, lonely universe, and because it was in low-Earth orbit, a long take displayed the azure-blue Earth.

Because it was a 3D movie, the audience marveled alongside the actors at the magnificence of that azure Earth, as if they could reach out and touch it right before their eyes — utterly breathtaking, stirring the heart.

Marveling that our country's Best Special Effects technology had become this awesome? Able to rival Hollywood.

They didn't stop to think that this was Fang Hong's five years of preparation, just to produce this one film capable of showing his strength.

The long take on the big screen also showed two astronauts in space repairing a space telescope.

And in the female lead's walkie-talkie, besides the occasional mission commands, there was also the male lead's endless chattering chat, while the surrounding environment was eerily quiet.

Space has no sound medium, no air either, so all you can hear is the characters' dialogue through the walkie-talkies.

The female lead played by Liu Tianxian was a mission Expert, currently repairing the space telescope, a little clumsy and unpracticed on her first time in space.

The male lead played by Guo Jinfei was a veteran; aside from talking a lot, he kept watching the female lead's work and guided her accordingly.

In this film, apart from the actors, the backgrounds were all rendered with Best Special Effects — no real locations, even the spaceship was entirely rendered with Best Special Effects.

When the two actors filmed, there were no real props.

Soon, danger Arrived — countless pieces of space debris attacked the area. Although there was no sound, only the two actors' shouts through the walkie-talkies, the grand background music still made the audience feel the thrilling excitement.

In a theater like this, it was a dual feast for both the eyes and the ears.

Right from the opening, a thrilling and exciting grand scene was on display.

"Whoosh—!"

When they saw the female lead played by Liu Tianxian, having failed to control her direction, get flung outward, tumbling ceaselessly through space as countless debris whisked past her body—

Some audience members couldn't help but tense up; a few nearly sat up to rescue her, then realized they were watching a movie and sat back down. The 3D sense of immersion was just too strong.

Fortunately, the female lead was saved by the male lead, and only then did the audience breathe a sigh of relief.

Liu Tianxian was also a bit nervous watching it. When she had acted it, she hadn't known what she was doing — she just listened to the director explaining how to act and how to express the emotion.

And some of those tumbling shots were done by a stunt double; she only had to convey the nervousness and that sense of urgency.

Acting in an adventure film like this especially tested one's acting skills. Although the filming basically had no scene changes — all shot in one place — and there were stunt doubles to help act, Liu Tianxian still spent quite a bit of time polishing it back then.

Polishing it again and again; as long as it didn't break immersion when watched, the requirements weren't high.

The male lead Guo Jinfei had no issues with his acting.

This film's plot could be divided into four segments. The first segment was: repairing the space telescope and encountering danger.

The second segment was: docking with International Space Station Alliance 2.

Now they had reached the second segment of the plot. When the two flew back to the space station, they discovered that their station had already been smashed to pieces.

The original version used slightly graphic shots to depict those astronauts who had already perished — here, they were simply dead, not so graphic, to avoid making children uncomfortable.

This made clear that all the other astronauts had perished, leaving only the two of them as survivors.

Having also lost contact with ground control, the two could only head for the International Space Station, where Alliance One and Two were located.

Here there was a segment where the male lead, tethered by a rope to the female lead, saw a small dot on the way to the space station — it looked very close, but in reality they had to traverse the entire width of China.

This was a long-distance shot, letting one feel that void-like quality of space — being able to see everything, yet unable to make anything out clearly, an awed dread.

(End of this chapter)