Chapter 534

Hua Yi Company, inside the chairman's office.

The Wang brothers and Feng Xiaogang sat around the tea table, chatting about rumors concerning Jiang Heng.

"Old Feng, you attended The Round Table with him recently—didn't you notice anything?" Da Wang Zong asked while pouring tea.

Feng Xiaogang seemed lost in thought, recalling Jiang Heng's performance on the show set.

"If you put it that way, you really could notice something!"

"What situation?" Wang Zhonglei asked.

"Depressed!"

Feng Xiaogang said seriously, "If it were us, with domestic box office over four billion and global over three billion, we'd be overjoyed, but Jiang Heng's whole performance was just bland. When talking about the film's results, he sounded like he was discussing someone else's affair!"

Wang Zhonglei said, "When I watched the show, I also felt his performance was too bland. Honestly, as onlookers, hearing those box office numbers got us a bit excited!"

Da Wang Zong said, "Who says no? Thirty billion US dollars—how much would he earn? Just the revenue from this film alone would be enough for many people to enjoy a lifetime!"

The Wang brothers are genuine rich heirs, yet their style leans more toward the second generation—more indulgent, and they envy Jiang Heng's movie-making profits to no end.

They also tried a few times to jump on the special-effects blockbuster bandwagon, but the results were mediocre and didn't make much money.

Feng Xiaogang, meanwhile, felt somewhat depressed after the box office failure of his earlier film "1942" and the poor reputation of "If You Are the One."

Upon hearing Jiang Heng might retire, the few of them felt a thrill, believing that if Jiang Heng stepped back, they would become the dominant force in the future Chinese-language film market.

Though they didn't quite grasp where this logic came from, the three of them vaguely sensed it.

Feng Xiaogang continued analyzing, "Back then I didn't think much of it, still feeling that our realms and scopes differed—such high box office results, spoken of lightly! Now it seems he might have exhausted his talent, hit a bottleneck."

Wang Zhonglei said, "It's been nearly twenty years before any sign of decline appeared—his talent is still considerable!"

Da Wang Zong sighed, "He's a great talent!"

Immediately turning to Feng Xiaogang, he said, "Domestic film companies, aside from Outstanding Rising Film Company, are just so-so. Once Jiang Heng retires, the industry leader will almost certainly fall to us—Old Feng, you can't idle!"

Feng Xiaogang heard this and gave a wry smile; he didn't know if Jiang Heng had truly exhausted his talent, but he really felt he had little talent left.

His biggest feeling was, "I don't know what to film anymore!"

Of course, such timid words couldn't be said to outsiders.

He lifted his tea cup, took a sip, and said with a smile, "No problem—later we'll gather more scripts, pick a good one, and make a blockbuster!"

Da Wang Zong heard this, his hand holding the tea cup trembled slightly.

"A blockbuster?" He instantly thought of "1942."

"Comedy is so hot now—why not do another?" Wang Zhonglei suddenly said.

Feng Xiaogang heard this, his face turning somewhat grim.

"Comedy?"

... Industry, bosses, directors, artists of various film and TV companies, all chatted online about the recent hot topic of Jiang Heng possibly retiring.

But among viewers, discussion focused more on "When did you start knowing Director Jiang?"

On this day, an app named Douyin went live.

Wu Yanzu, Li Meiqi, Yuan De, and others hurriedly opened Douyin accounts, posting an edited short video recalling bits and pieces from filming "The Matrix."

Because Yin Fu Technology Company invested massive advertising fees, Douyin's launch ads appeared on Baidu, Sogou, Douban, Weibo, and many other internet products.

Users flocked to download the product, first watching Wu Yanzu, Li Meiqi, etc.'s "nostalgia kill," then browsing other content in the app, finding the video content excellent and fun, the more they swiped, the more enjoyable.

The next day, the cast who had participated in "One Hundred Million Years BC" released related nostalgic videos. The specific content was produced by Yin Fu Technology Company staff; performers like Ge You only needed to directly post on their own accounts.

By the third day, the main crew of "The Lion's Ridge" collectively joined Douyin, posting related short videos, and things got lively.

Among them were Wu Jing playing Sun Wukong, Lin Zhichong playing Zhu Bajie, Zang Jinsheng playing Sha Seng, Ding Haifeng playing Tang Seng, Zhao Wenzhuo playing Golden-Winged Great Peng, Chen Zihui playing White Lion Jing, Hong Jinbao playing White Elephant Jing, and Jiao Yanjiang playing Erlang Shen.

Wu Jing was the most active—first posting a short video made by Yin Fu Technology for him, then posting several stills from his "Lion's Ridge" filming in video form.

Seeing the audience's enthusiastic response, he posted several more, sharing some behind-the-scenes anecdotes from filming back then.

In one look, no mistaken version!

Ding Haifeng, as the actor who played the historically toughest Tang Seng, besides posting a custom video, also posted a video thanking Jiang Heng.

The rest of the main crew also all opened accounts and posted videos as required by Outstanding Rising Film Company.

Logically, after so many years since filming, these people have no obligation to cooperate.

But who let Jiang Heng be at his peak right now? So it's just a matter of a sentence.

Yet it made countless movie fans excited, looking back at Jiang Heng's filming career over the years—after "Pacific Rim," it was Jiang Heng's self-directed, self-performed "Mountain-Splitting to Save Mother"!

That film had so many stars and big-name cameos—wouldn't they all want to join Douyin for a wave of "nostalgia kill"?

That's obviously impossible—back then many cameos were free, unlike Ding Haifeng, Zhao Wenzhuo, etc., who got paid.

After so many years, if we merely invited someone because they once cameoed for free to join Douyin and help post promotional videos, that would be quite demanding; Jiang Heng certainly couldn't do that.

But on this day, he opened a Douyin account, not only posting a custom "nostalgia kill" video, but also several daily videos, instantly gaining countless likes, follows, and collections.

Jiang Heng's Douyin account gained ten million followers in one day, leaving industry peers staring in disbelief.

Note that it's only 2014 now—short video as a new internet track isn't as hot as it will be ten years later, and Douyin has just launched!

In one day, ten million fans—simply unimaginable! Even more alarming, Jiang Heng's follower count keeps rising!

The first to feel pressure was the short video app Miaopai, which relied on Weibo and celebrity traffic diversion to develop.

Because Weibo belongs to Jiang Heng, celebrities flock to Douyin there, being more numerous and bigger names—how can we compete! Meanwhile, Kuaishou, Meipai, and other short video companies also felt shocked by Douyin's rapid development.

Over these past ten-odd years, Jiang Heng has filmed over thirty movies; if we did a "nostalgia kill" activity at a rate of one per day, that would be over a month!

With so many stars involved, they really have taken over all the hot topics! (End of chapter)