Chapter 76

Gao Yuanyuan was initially a bit dazed, but then reacted, covering her mouth lightly with both hands and bowing, saying: "Thank you, director, thank you, director!"

She then followed the staff's instructions, exited through the side door, and went to a small room to wait.

On Jiang Heng's side, the audition proceeded as usual; regardless of the mindset and performance of the actresses behind, the required procedure still had to be completed.

It was not until after three in the afternoon, when the event ended, that he ordered someone to call Gao Yuanyuan back.

Senior executives from China Film and representatives from Columbia Company were also present, and they were equally curious about Jiang Heng's choice.

But upon looking at Gao Yuanyuan's appearance, figure, and demeanor again, it no longer seemed surprising!

Although this girl currently has little fame, she is clearly the type blessed by heaven to eat well, exuding a goddess aura.

After discussing the salary and contract schedule, they then let her leave.

Only after returning home did this national goddess still feel a bit dazed, unable to believe she had easily obtained a role that drove countless Chinese-language actresses crazy.

On Jiang Heng's side, he continued the preparatory work for the Pacific Rim project.

In terms of investment, the original 2013 version cost a total of 190 million US dollars; taking into account inflation over ten years, actor salaries, and other factors, Jiang Heng's preliminary budget was 100 million US dollars.

Of this, China Film could contribute very little—only 20 million US dollars—and even that required great effort to get approval.

Columbia Company was financially strong, but since it could not lead the film, it dared not put in too much money, investing 30 million.

The remaining 50 million US dollars was naturally made up by Jiang Heng.

In terms of casting, the male lead is Wu Yanzu, the female lead Gao Yuanyuan, with Xie Tingfeng selected for a cameo as the male lead's brother, and old partner Gao Xiong, who plays the Chinese general in the film.

The remaining roles are filled by third-tier artists recommended by Columbia Company.

According to Jiang Heng's idea, using third-tier talent is somewhat wasteful, given that the film's biggest selling point is the mecha battling monsters.

As for human characters, only the leads can draw the audience's attention.

Supporting roles, well, they might as well be ignored.

But Columbia Company pointed out that both the male and female leads are of Chinese appearance, which is an inherent disadvantage for promotion in Europe and America.

Although Wu Yanzu has some fame from The Matrix and One Million Years B. C., he still does not seem as approachable as a white face.

Invite one or two Hollywood third-tier stars; at least during promotion they can still be used to hype things up.

Having come to this point, Jiang Heng could not easily refuse, so he had to let them have their way.

Next came the script; the main storyline written by Jiang Heng basically follows the 2013 original version, overall being fairly smooth, a solid commercial plot.

In history, Pacific Rim 2 turned out to be a major flop, largely because the plot lacked smoothness and was mixed with too much extraneous nonsense.

The mecha also lacked heft, looking like Ultraman in a mecha skin fighting monsters, leading to both critical and box‑office failure.

Speaking of box office, Pacific Rim 1 wasn't that great either, with a production cost of 190 million and a global box office of only 411 million US dollars.

The reason for this situation largely lies in Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures parting ways; prior to that, they had cooperated for eight years, being one of Hollywood's most successful partnerships, jointly producing box‑office hits such as The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Hangover, among others.

When Pacific Rim was being produced, Legendary Entertainment bore 75% of the costs while distributor Warner bore only 25%. Moreover, around two weeks before the North American release, when Warner should have been aggressively promoting the film, 70% of its promotion budget remained unspent.

With weak distribution, achieving big box‑office sales is nearly impossible unless a miracle occurs.

As for why these two companies, which had been cooperating well, suddenly split up, it is said that Legendary's CEO Thomas Tull was dissatisfied with Warner, but in reality both sides privately complained that the other was taking credit for themselves.

Partners harboring ulterior motives, undermining each other, it would be strange if the box‑office results turned out well.

As for a second reason, Jiang Heng feels it is the timing of the release.

When mentioning the renowned mecha image, the first thing that comes to mind for audiences is inevitably Transformers, a media franchise derived from toy products.

The animated series appeared even earlier, as far back as 1984, produced and released by Hasbro.

To speak of this film's influence, it is greater among children.

The live‑action adaptation did not arrive until 2007, when DreamWorks and Paramount jointly produced, with Michael Bay directing, Transformers.

When the mighty Autobots descended like gods from heaven and underwent various transformations, the audience was thrilled.

Looking at other mecha designs, one always feels they lack something; this shows the importance of first impressions.

Speaking of visual effects, Avatar 2 is not inferior to the first, but in terms of influence they cannot be compared on the same day.

Jiang Heng's early release of Pacific Rim was precisely to cut off Transformers.

As the first mecha‑type effects blockbuster in film history, the Pacific Rim slated for release in 2001 would deliver a visual shock absolutely surpassing the historical original.

Its reputation and box office are surely not bad; without saying how much it would earn, at least there would be no "paper loss."

As for the film's production, besides funding, actors, and script, even more important is the design of the mecha and monster images in the film.

Jiang Heng early on produced a large number of character concept drawings and storyboard panels.

It is precisely because of these solid preparations that China Film and Columbia Company dared to invest heavily!

At least in their view, Jiang Heng's effects‑heavy films since his debut are undoubtedly not masterpieces, so they expect this one's quality will not be poor either.

Moreover, releasing a live‑action mecha film before Transformers still promises very broad box‑office prospects.

In early October, the Pacific Rim crew officially commenced filming in Xianggang.

They first shot the Xianggang defense storyline, then went to San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, and other locations for outdoor scenes, finally returning to the China Film digital soundstage in Jingcheng for filming, followed by post‑production.

When the news came out, it caused a sensation everywhere.

Especially in Hollywood, several companies had previously contacted Jiang Heng hoping to collaborate on film projects, only to find that Columbia Company had already seized the initiative.

The person who could not accept this most was the famous producer Don Murphy; it can be said that without him there would be no Transformers.

Originally, producer Don Murphy had intended to film a movie called Special Forces after the Iraq War broke out, but in the end he negotiated with Hasbro for the adaptation rights to Transformers, enlisted many people to jointly write the script, and even Steven Spielberg once gave his opinion on the Transformers script.

However, when Don Murphy pitched the Transformers concept to major film companies and assured investors with a pat on the chest that this subject would surely sell big, initially no one showed interest.

But after enduring several weeks of nobody biting, DreamWorks, New Line, Paramount, and four other film companies (total five) almost simultaneously came knocking.

It turned out that the investors Don Murphy initially contacted were all relatively old‑fashioned in thought and did not find mecha or Autobots appealing.

But when they returned to their companies and brought up the idea at internal meetings, the younger managers displayed strong interest.

As for the film's director Michael Bay, he actually thought it was merely a "stupid toy movie."

Fortunately, he also declined the invitation, studied the origins and development of the Transformers series in detail, and then agreed to direct in 2005, thereby making the Transformers films that brought him great fame.

Haolaiwu, chubby Tang·Mofei went to Hasbro Company, hurriedly secured the adaptation rights for 'Transformers'.

No time to write a script, he first put together a story outline and began pitching it to major film and television companies in Haolaiwu.

"Esteemed sir, you must have heard as well, that Eastern director is collaborating with Columbia Company, currently filming a mecha-type movie!"

The older man sitting across from Tang·Mofei was a producer at Paramount Company named Luo Bo Te, indeed belonging to the old-fashioned sort, his market sense not so sharp either.

"I've heard, a kid who relies on a little talent and squanders it recklessly—in my view, he'll soon come a cropper! He's already made several types of films—sci-fi, monster movies, and even their country's mythological tales? Well, 'Evil Land' (Lion Camel Ridge) is somewhat interesting, but what of it? Maybe this one will lose big!"

Tang·Mofei blinked, thinking, 'I didn't come to you to talk about this!'

"Well, actually I want to say, director Jiang Heng still has good vision; sci-fi is Hollywood's flagship genre—if not for using 'The Matrix' as a stepping stone, his later works would hardly get a wide release in Beimei."

'One Hundred Million Years BC' obviously followed the Jurassic Park series; although its reception was merely average, thanks to decent special effects it still made money.

It was precisely the accumulated audience base from these two blockbusters that allowed 'Evil Land' to have a box-office explosion in Beimei.

Luo Bo Te also blinked, thinking, 'You came to me just to praise an Eastern director?'

"I admit his films are indeed well made, but as for his vision, that's still hard to say!"

"What do you mean?"

"I think mecha-type films are very likely to be the next big box-office genre; I hold the film and television adaptation rights to 'Transformers' right now, we can completely join forces to release a live-action movie—if we could beat Jiang Heng to the premiere, that would be perfect!"

Luo Bo Te listened, still somewhat bewildered—he was old and had never watched the 'Transformers' cartoon, so he had no idea what Tang·Mofei was talking about!

"Will it work?" he asked in a doubtful tone.

Tang·Mofei was beside himself with urgency, only regretting that he hadn't launched the 'Transformers' filming plan earlier.

Of course, limited by the era's technology, even though the 'Transformers' cartoon had been out for years, everyone was still stuck in the old mindset of thinking it couldn't be made, without carefully considering its feasibility.

Jiang Heng's filming of 'Pacific Rim' amounted to giving these people a wake-up call.

"Certainly! Mr. Luo Bo Te, could you help me apply to the company?"

Seeing Tang·Mofei's anxious expression, Luo Bo Te grew even more uncertain, afraid that talking longer would expose his inadequacy; he tactically took a sip of water and then said, 'This way, you leave the materials with me, and later I'll bring up your idea at the company's regular meeting for everyone to discuss.'

Tang·Mofei naturally agreed, handing over the prepared materials; as he rose to say goodbye, he suddenly added, 'A new blockbuster that sells on visual effects often sees its first installment reap the biggest profits—do you still remember how 'Jurassic Park 1' premiered in '93, with worldwide box office nearing a billion dollars? It really made a killing!'

"But looking back today, is it still that awe‑inspiring? All the dinosaur screen time adds up to only fifteen minutes, yet relying on those fifteen minutes of somewhat crude special‑effects shots, the company earned hundreds of millions of dollars—that's the first‑installment profit!"

Luo Bo Te hearing this couldn't help but feel moved, 'If you put it that way, I understand—it really is the case. However, Pacific Rim has already started production; your Transformers, no matter how you chase, will probably still struggle to beat it to the theaters.'

Tang·Mofei said, "That's true, but you've forgotten one thing: the film Jiang Heng shot is supposedly an original story with no source material, whereas the Transformers cartoon has been airing for years. Many of the kids who watched that cartoon back then have now grown up."

"You say, if a live‑action version appeared now, wouldn't those kids from back then buy tickets and go to the cinema?"

"Hiss!"

Luo Bo Te hearing this couldn't help but inhale—indeed, that makes sense.

"If that's the case, the feasibility of filming this movie is still quite high."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely report to the CEO when I get back!"

Seeing that the persuasion was working, Tang·Mofei secretly gloated, "Even better—since I've also lined up meetings with other studios' producers, if Paramount drags its feet, I'll just team up with another company."

Luo Bo Te hearing this thought, 'Hey, you're putting pressure on me!'

However, seeing that the project seemed promising, he didn't bother to hold a grudge.

He took the materials and left, not mentioning the report to the company's higher-ups.

However, Tang·Mofei proceeded to meet with several other producers in succession, explaining the point each time, and received fairly good feedback.

The several major players in Haolaiwu, already curious about Jiang Heng and Columbia Company's new mecha film, suddenly realized they had an even better project in their own backyard, and instantly racked their brains!

For a time, DreamWorks, New Line, Paramount, Universal, and Hua Na companies all sent senior executives to negotiate with Tang·Mofei, and the eventual outcome followed historical inertia, ultimately being jointly secured by DreamWorks and Paramount.

Moreover, to expand publicity impact, the two companies directly tried to ride on the coattails of Jiang Heng and Columbia Company, claiming that their forthcoming Transformers film would be the best mecha movie in cinematic history.

No matter how you calculate it, they couldn't premiere before Jiang Heng's film, so they simply dropped the 'first' label and went straight for the 'best' title.

For a time, major Beimei media outlets repeatedly reported on the terms 'Pacific Rim' and 'Transformers', creating a pre‑release buzz.

(End of chapter)