Chapter 259: Investing in *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons*

Zhou Xingxing shoots films slowly, especially his own invested and directed works, probably because the shadow left by the box-office failure of *A Chinese Odyssey* is too deep.

In the late 1990s it was still fine; he basically had a work every year.

After 2000, he released a work only every few years.

In original history, *CJ7* was released in 2008.

It was Jiang Heng's investment and promotion that allowed this film to be born two years early.

Now that the film is released, his feelings for his father have been placed in it.

He also wants to make another film to express his regrets in love.

Many viewers think that Zhou Xingxing's lines in *A Chinese Odyssey* were addressed to Zhu Yin.

However, judging from the content of *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons*, Luo Hui Juan is his true lifelong love.

When they first got together, Luo was already the female lead, while Zhou Xingxing could only run errands as an extra.

As time passed, Luo Hui Juan began to yearn to enter the hall of marriage, marry and have children, and have a happy, fulfilling family.

But at that time Zhou Xingxing's career had just begun, exactly when he should be expanding his ambitions.

He once asked Liu Zhenwei about his desire to marry.

Liu's advice was not to rush the decision, but to wait a bit longer.

Because at that time social mores were relatively conservative; once an idol star married, their popularity would plummet, and in serious cases it was almost tantamount to retiring from the industry.

Zhou Xingxing spent ten years as an extra before becoming famous; how could he sacrifice his prospects for love?

When Luo first mentioned marriage, Zhou Xingxing gave an explanation.

When she brought it up a second time, Zhou only said, "You're crazy."

So in *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons*, Miss Duan rambled on about wanting to marry and start a family, and Xuanzang's reply was——"You're crazy."

Later, in an interview with Chai Jing, Zhou Xingxing said: I think it's bad luck; if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't be so busy!

But actually, Zhou Xingxing had a girlfriend those years—Yu Wenfeng—and they broke up in 2010.

Perhaps it was this breakup that made Zhou suddenly realize that after half a lifetime of struggle he had amassed several billion in wealth, yet remained alone, without even a happy family.

Looking back, he realized that the girl who truly wanted to build a family with him, marry and have children, was his true lifelong love.

Thus, *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons* was greenlit in 2010, began filming in 2011, released in 2013, grossed 12.47 billion in mainland China, and refreshed the Chinese-language box office record.

Zhou Xingxing, indeed, is a person who creates myths!

But at this moment, his feeling of making up for regrets is not yet that strong.

He simply feels that, with the current market favorable and his relationship with Jiang Heng good, he should shoot a few more big-budget special-effects films to earn more money.

He merely never deconstructs love in his films, but still adds moving romantic elements.

"Surely we need it—not just investment, but also your help in planning; otherwise I'm afraid it would take two or three years to get one out!" Zhou Xingxing laughed.

Jiang Heng leaned back slightly in his chair and said, "No problem, how much are you planning to invest?"

Zhou Xingxing hesitated; the production cost of *Kung Fu Hustle* was 140 million, *CJ7* over 100 million, and the original historical production cost of *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons* was also just over 100 million.

But the *Journey to the West* series films that Jiang Heng had made—such as *Lion Camel Ridge* a few years ago—had already reached an investment of 40 million USD, over 300 million RMB.

With such high benchmarks, spending just over 100 million would probably make it hard to shoot a film that satisfies audiences.

But if he really had to invest over 300 million to make a film, he'd have no confidence, fearing poor box-office results and heavy losses.

After thinking it over, he finally said after a long while, "Well, let's go with 200 million!"

Jiang Heng then asked, "How much are you prepared to invest?"

Zhou Xingxing hesitated again, paused for several seconds, then said: "!"

Jiang Heng asked again, "Should we leave a share for others?"

Films produced by Outstanding Rising Film Company and directed by Zhou Xingxing currently look like sure profits; leaving a certain investment share for other companies is also considered a favor.

Nevertheless, Zhou Xingxing has been mixed in the Xianggang entertainment circle for years and simply does not consider these things.

"I'm not considering it on my end; do you really want to keep it?"

Jiang Heng said, "Then we won't leave any; I'll put up the 140 million investment!"

Although Zhou Xingxing knew this would be the result, he still felt a bit envious.

He had also once spent lavishly, not wanting to lose horribly, and instantly changed his style, never daring to play like that again.

All one can say is that people teach people, but it can't be taught.

Experience teaches; once is enough!

He truly does envy Jiang Heng's boldness, but unfortunately he could never achieve that.

"Director Jiang is magnanimous; the matter is settled as such—I'll go work on the script first, and we'll discuss any progress later!"

"No problem, shall we eat before leaving?"

"Forget it, you're terribly busy; I'll just go out and eat a bowl of noodles myself!" Having said that, he really left.

Jiang Heng saw his stooped back, his hair turning white, and a line suddenly sprang to mind: "Heroes emerge in each generation, each leading the trend for hundreds of years!"

Xingye, he's really gotten old!

Although *CJ7* has some box-office draw, because its film type differs, its impact on the box office of *Slaying the Immortal* is not significant.

*Slaying the Immortal* has been on release for many days, still holding the daily box-office champion, with mainland gross exceeding 800 million; whether it can break 900 million is truly uncertain.

Because *Kung Fu Panda*, produced by Outstanding Rising Film Company, has landed in theaters.

To be frank, in recent years the mainland market has tended to look down on animated films.

The reason is also simple; domestic production hasn't turned out an excellent animated film in years.

But audiences are very much looking forward to it, because the pre-show ads for *Slaying the Immortal* already featured *Kung Fu Panda*.

At this moment, mainland audiences—who have never seen an animated film with such exquisite picture quality and such intense fight scenes—have long been hoping for it.

On August 11th, domestic theaters were again packed to capacity, with young couples and families of three, enthusiastically talking about this summer.

The 2006 Neidi film summer slate was absolutely the strongest summer slate in the history of Chinese-language cinema.

Four blockbusters were released in succession; aside from the first part of Red Cliff being a bit awkward in plot, Zhu Zion and CJ7 were both decent, but I have no idea how Kung Fu Panda turned out.

Nearby, a fashionably dressed woman wearing sunglasses sat quietly, listening to the idle chatter of the people beside her—none other than Yang Mi, who had not shown up for a long time.

She knows she has no backing or resources in the industry, so she has been working hard these past few years.

After moving from Rongxinda to Ai You Teng, she gained a few more TV drama resources, but unfortunately she still couldn't land any substantial film roles.

What especially frustrates her is that Liu Yifei starred in Pacific Rim 2, while Tang Yan and Jing Tian starred in Zhu Zion; the former two have seen their fame and star power continuously rise thanks to the movies' box‑office success.

Jing Tian is even more exaggerated—she became a half‑sky sensation because of the role of Bi Yao, wildly popular.

Some TV drama roles she wants are freely selectable for Jing Tian, which infuriates her!

She, who was once full of fighting spirit, has lately become quite lax.

She suddenly realizes that personal effort seems no match for connections.

Previously, Jing Tian always hovered around Jiang Heng, and she had once sneered at it in secret.

She thought the girl's mind was muddled, you have no acting skill, and even if you snag a role, you'd probably be unable to handle it—what's the point!

She never could have imagined that someone without acting skill would actually become famous—there's no way to reason with that!

(End of chapter)