Chapter 524: Thirty Billion US Dollars

Jiang Heng was directing the shoot of the "Hello, Mr. Billionaire" production team; his new film is currently hot in the global movie market and achieving one impressive result after another.

In the mainland market, after the film's public release it consecutively broke records for opening‑day box office, single‑day box office, fastest to 1 billion, fastest to 2 billion, fastest to 3 billion, and many other box‑office milestones.

By the time a full month had passed since the film's release, the mainland box office had reached 3.89 billion RMB.

To push past the 4 billion mark, the film's key was postponed by a month, and the box‑office numbers kept climbing.

In Hong Kong, this Western‑style sci‑fi theme is already popular, and being Jiang Heng's special‑effects blockbuster, the result naturally exploded, pulling in 130 million HKD on the day of release.

In Taiwan, the film's performance also exceeded that of Jiang Heng's myth‑genre movies.

In Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia, the box‑office results all set new historical records for Jiang Heng‑directed films in those regions.

How to put it, the sci‑fi theme and the special‑effects scenes are one side of it.

The main point is that it features "hyper‑space traversal" technology, using advanced science to plunder alien civilizations—a story that, for most peoples on Earth, is inherently a pretty thrilling tale.

Although the film only shows "exploration" and "verification" and does not develop the story further, audiences can imagine! Especially some self‑perceived "militarily strong" small nations sincerely think that using "hyper‑space traversal" to break out of Earth and seize a planet with a firearms or cold‑weapon civilization is quite "feasible".

Therefore this movie sold explosively in South Asia, the Middle East and the like, something that was previously impossible.

In Europe and North America, it even sparked a viewing frenzy.

Ultimately it comes down to the fact that in recent decades the world's nations have begun to solidify into strata, and society as a whole lacks upward mobility.

Though the story of "Alien Detour" is fictional, it reads like a feel‑good novel, making the audience feel pleasant and giving them a little yearning.

In the North American market, the film finally reported 649 million USD, surpassing the 12‑year‑old "Avengers", but lower than the 2009 "Avatar" (7.6 billion USD) and also lower than the 1997 "Titanic" (6.58 billion USD).

Even so, such a result still shocked the entire Hollywood.

Because based on the box‑office numbers released so far, the film's global box office has already exceeded 30 billion USD.

It's only that many countries have not yet reported, so the final total can't be confirmed, but the overall picture is already set.

Hollywood's many media outlets and newspapers rushed out articles; some praised Jiang Heng's new film for its pioneering spirit, or suggested building a cinematic universe comparable to the "Avengers".

Others blasted it, saying it's only that the original novel of "Alien Detour" had a good setting and the special effects are outstanding.

As for the story itself, the script is actually not that great.

The simplest problem is: how big is the area of Panda Nation on Earth, how large are the territories and control zones of Beautiful Nation, and why would aliens descend upon Panda Nation? If they land in Europe, Japan, South America and other regions, wouldn't Beautiful Nation's army handle it? Moreover, when dealing with aliens, Beautiful Nation has more experience; after all, how many times have films shown wars with them?

……

When such reports came out, they really reminded Hollywood's film‑industry giants.

"We could remake it, write a story about a Rock‑Saurian landing in North America, Europe or somewhere in Japan, and finally Beautiful Nation's troops capture them, then master the 'hyper‑space jump' technology and strike an alien planet."

Jiang Heng's film is very restrained, it didn't shoot interstellar colonization scenes, but we can, maybe the audience would love it more!

The only regret is that the film‑and‑TV adaptation rights of "Alien Detour" were bought out by Jiang Heng for a huge sum.

The only way for them to obtain a remake license is to pay Jiang Heng, or simply infringe and later sue.

Another option is to borrow the "hyper‑space jump" setting and craft an entirely new story. The heads and executives of Hollywood's major studios are truly envious, eyes red with jealousy; who wouldn't covet a 30‑plus‑billion‑USD box office?

The current situation is that the Eight Immortals cross the sea, each showing their divine powers.

Columbia Pictures acted first; CEO Samford Panich flew directly to the capital, and met Jiang Heng for a face‑to‑face talk.

"Hey, old friend, congratulations—you've become the world's first single‑film director whose global box office broke 30 billion USD!"

Samford Panich appeared very enthusiastic; upon seeing Jiang Heng he opened his arms and gave him a hug.

"Thanks, I guess it's luck, too!"

Jiang Heng smiled politely, then invited Samford Panich to sit down and asked his purpose.

"Old friend, I think this story premise has huge potential in the future, and I'd like to develop it together with you!"

"Develop together?"

"Yes, to be precise, remake, just like the original remake of 'Infernal Affairs' back then!"

"You mean, make a film where alien commanders are in Beautiful Nation, and then…!"

"In a flawless version!"

"Yes, I think it's very necessary to make such a film, because as far as I know, Hua Na, Global, Disney, etc., are all gathering script teams to 'follow the trend' of this film!"

Samford Panich spoke in imperfect Chinese, thought for a moment and added, "Exactly, just follow the trend, like your once‑glorious Hong Kong movies—a hit film, and immediately a bunch of copycats appear!"

Jiang Heng frowned at the words "follow the trend"; that's really a bit of a hassle!

After all, those big companies have professional screenwriter teams, and they will inevitably minimize risk in the script.

Jiang Heng thought that suing later wouldn't be easy either.

And North American legal teams are also famously pricey.

One lawsuit would leave both plaintiff and defendant losing, while the lawyers get fat—there's just too much of that.

Thinking of this, Jiang Heng suddenly mused, "Since North American producers can see this, other countries…!"

Some other countries even say that, at least "Third Brother's" films have decent special effects.

Sue them? Better drop it….

Jiang Heng hadn't really considered these before; after all his is a special‑effects blockbuster, copying costs are high, risk is big, and weaker companies simply wouldn't dare think of such a thing.

It's the 30‑plus‑billion‑USD global box office that truly made Hollywood's giants turn red‑eyed; otherwise they wouldn't have caused this fuss.

Jiang Heng thought for a moment and finally said, "Um, I'll think about it and give you an answer tomorrow."

Samford Panich didn't expect that a simple "yes" would sway Jiang Heng; he smiled and said he'd wait for good news tomorrow, then headed straight to Columbia Pictures' mainland headquarters.

Jiang Heng, meanwhile, summoned Du Huan, Li Xiaoping and the company's senior executives to discuss the matter together.

Being chased by a bunch of Hollywood giants to "follow the trend" was truly something he'd never encountered! (End of chapter)