Chapter 339

League of Legends is truly a money‑making game—how exaggerated is it?

It is said that Penguin Company spent $231 million in 2011 to acquire a stake in the American game developer Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends (LOL).

Afterwards, the Chinese server version of League of Legends launched and quickly became Penguin Company's money‑making machine.

By 2012, League of Legends' revenue within Penguin Company's gaming business reached an astounding 14.71 billion yuan, accounting for 63.6% of its gaming revenue.

In the following ten‑plus years, League of Legends continued to generate extremely high annual revenue for Penguin Company.

Wang Zhonglei – Wang Zhonglei

In this world, the one envied, jealous, and hated is Jiang Heng! To be honest, Wang Zhonglei is a bit rattled; he and his brother have always been determined to make Huayi the country's top private film and television company.

Not even matching Aiuteng is one thing, but we can't even compare to their side business! "Misleading the younger generation!"

Wang Zhonglei said angrily, then downed his tea in one gulp.

He immediately added, "I don't know whether his film is still slated for the summer season; if so, we'll definitely have to avoid it!"

"It's hard to say; with such a huge investment, the production cycle might be longer. But avoidance is definitely necessary—given Jiang Heng's caliber, the visual effects will certainly be fine, at most the story…!"

Chen Guofu initially wanted to say the story was hard to understand, but the issue is that Jiang Heng has never had the pretentiousness of a big‑time director and never deliberately includes incomprehensible elements.

As for whether the spinning top falls at the end of Inception, that question seems more like a marketing gimmick deliberately created for the film.

If you look at it that way, the risk of Jiang Heng's new film isn't great; even if it loses some money, it won't severely damage his vitality.

"Director Jiang this time, should be famous all over the world!" Chen Guofu said with a smile.

Wang Zhonglei nodded slightly, his expression growing worse.

He thought, five hundred million US dollars—probably even Americans would be shocked! I don't know how Jiang Heng will spend all that money, maybe hire a top Haolaiwu star?

Then he thought of something: the film's male lead must be Chinese; I wonder who will be lucky enough to get the role.

As for Huang Xiaoming, he was filming elsewhere; upon hearing the news, he immediately asked the crew for leave and quietly returned to Jingcheng.

He first contacted Liu Yifei, after all they had worked together many times and their relationship had always been decent.

Liu Yifei naturally didn't dare leak the message recklessly, so she went to ask Jiang Heng.

"Just say you don't really know, aside from knowing the original work it's adapted from!"

"Oh!" Liu Yifei responded, then immediately said: "You, aren't planning to use him?"

Jiang Heng nodded slightly; the male lead Tang Long in *Little Soldier Legend* is a high school student, while Huang Xiaoming is already in his thirties, so his age is indeed a bit too old.

Moreover, he's been fond of playing overbearing CEO roles lately, giving audiences an increasingly greasy impression, so Jiang Heng naturally won't use him again.

"Just act like you don't know anything; no need to say so much!"

"I know, I won't blab!" Liu Yifei said, then laughed, looking somewhat cute.

After all, to her, Jiang Heng is the most important; friends, well, if she can't help, there's nothing she can do! But this is just a beginning, after all, the lead role in Jiang Heng's big film is already a top-tier industry resource.

Now that word of a five-hundred-million-US-dollar investment has spread, it can be said that in the entertainment industry, every young, somewhat handsome male actor is eyeing it.

Many of them dare not contact Jiang Heng directly, so they ask people close to him for help; besides Liu Yifei, Jing Tian, Yang Mi, Tang Yan, etc., all have received calls from friends.

Of course, these few are also eyeing the role in Jiang Heng's new film.

"Brother, you're really generous—investing that much!" Da Tian Tian suddenly ran over.

Liu Yifei happened to be out attending a business event, which coincidentally made Jiang Heng suspect that the two must have been in private contact.

"Not bad, I just want to shoot a super shocking film for everyone to see!" Jing Tian said with a grin: "No need to shoot—just the fact that you really have that much money has already shocked everyone; everyone knows you can make a good film, I'm actually looking forward to seeing what it will turn out like!"

Jiang Heng chuckled and asked her if she wanted to participate in the acting.

Da Tian Tian gave Jiang Heng a sideways glance: "Definitely! So, are you going to act or not?"

Jiang Heng waved his hand: "This time we need to find a slightly younger male lead; I definitely can't act in it!"

Da Tian Tian pouted: "You could play an older second or third male lead! With such a huge investment, if you acted, the box office would be even higher!"

Jiang Heng stared for a moment, then affectionately rubbed Da Tian Tian's head, messing up her hair a bit, and laughed: "Really, don't say that—you're getting smarter and smarter!"

Da Tian Tian huffed: "I've always been clever, okay!!"

Jiang Heng laughed even more happily: "Right, you really are a little clever sprite!"

Because I hadn't seen Jing Tian in a while, at noon I took her out for a big meal.

The young lady asked how *White Snake: Origins* was coming along; Jiang Heng said it was still in post-production, this time likely missing the New Year slot, probably postponed to the 2010 Spring Festival.

Jing Tian was shocked to hear that, after all, Jiang Heng's films over the past few years have mostly been released in summer and the New Year period, giving audiences the impression that the timing is very fixed.

"Can't it be finished earlier?"

Jiang Heng shook his head slightly: "Hard to say!"

But actually, the main reason for postponing the release this time is to avoid competing with *Avatar* in the same slot.

Even though many viewers criticize *Avatar*'s story as mediocre, its visual effects are ultimately pushed to the extreme.

Even with the 3D version of *Havoc in Heaven* preceding it, *Avatar*'s box office won't be too bad; over two billion is certain.

Jiang Heng doesn't need to go head-to-head with *White Snake: Origins* against it; since *Avatar* is set for December 18, Jiang Heng choosing the Spring Festival is fine.

Coincidentally, the Spring Festival slot is getting hotter and hotter; sooner or later it will have to move to the Spring Festival anyway!

Jing Tian didn't know these things; she still thought it was because she had too many NG takes while filming, delaying progress, and her expression grew more sorrowful.

"What are you thinking about?"

Jing Tian voiced her doubts, and Jiang Heng laughed heartily, giving her nose a little tweak: "Don't overthink it—whether you NG or not has nothing to do with it!"

"Oh! I thought I had delayed things, hehe!"

Jing Tian started eating happily, then asked Jiang Heng whether he had any more favorable candidates for the male lead.

"Not yet; I plan to hold a large-scale audition after a while, for male actors aged 18 and up to 25, with acting experience, who can come try out."

"Oh, that should draw a lot of people, right? This is basically an open call!"

"Hmm, I guess so!"

But actually, Jiang Heng already has a few candidates he favors in mind.

The first one is Zhang Ruoyun; he was born in 1988, now only 21 years old, he also looks relatively young, and in terms of age he's relatively suitable.

Besides, his acting is good, and he has portrayed soldiers many times.

For instance, his Zhang Xianzong in *Wu Xin: The Monster Killer* still looks fairly handsome.

But after he played Tang Long in *The Legend of the Little Soldier*, that version of Zhang Xianzong is gone.

(End of chapter)