Chapter 262

"Director Wang, what do you think of Xu Ke? His supervised animated film 'Xiao Qian' even borrowed from the Japanese classic 'Spirited Away'!" Liu Weiqiang suddenly proposed.

Wang Zhonglei was taken aback upon hearing this; Xu Ke used to be very capable, indeed a representative figure among Xianggang directors.

It's just that, affected by the box-office failure of 'The Legend of the Swordsmen of Shu Mountain', he has remained obscure these years.

During that period he produced a film called 'The Seven Swords', but the market response remained poor, and he got fewer and fewer chances to shoot.

In the original timeline, it wasn't until ten years later, with 'Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame', that Old Xu finally made a comeback.

And this film was produced by Huayi Company.

Perhaps it was fate, but Wang Zhonglei genuinely became interested in this proposal.

He knew that 'Spirited Away' was the pinnacle of Japanese animated films, but he didn't know what connection this film had with the Hong Kong animated film 'Xiao Qian'.

He couldn't help but say: "There's such a thing?"

Liu Weiqiang, upon hearing this, hurriedly explained: "It's true, because the art team of 'Xiao Qian' included people like Tetsuya Endo, Yoshiki Komatsubara, and Takashi Nakamura, who had all participated in the creation of Hayao Miyazaki's renowned works 'My Neighbor Totoro' and 'Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind', and this can be seen in the art style of 'Xiao Qian'."

Wang Zhonglei heard this and gave a slight nod.

As for art style, he naturally wouldn't pay attention to it.

But it's still easy to find out who participated in a film's behind-the-scenes team, so he probably wouldn't be fooled.

He immediately said: "If that's the case, Old Xu does have some insight when it comes to animated films!"

"That's only natural; Old Xu is generally reliable!"

Liu Weiqiang gave a strong recommendation; after all, they are all Xianggang directors who came north to make a living, so they naturally stick together.

Among them, some genuinely make good works, while others see that mainland investors don't understand the industry, so they band together to swindle the boss's money.

For example, they boast about how strong the cast is, but in reality they just round up a few Hong Kong stars for cameos and slap together a movie.

Naturally, the investors end up losing badly, while the core team walks away with pockets full.

But such tricks only work on clueless coal bosses; trying to fool the Wang brothers is hopeless.

Liu Weiqiang didn't have that motive either; he simply saw his old friend being cast aside by "capital" and wanted to help him get an opportunity.

But don't look at the Wang brothers' later decline; in their early years they were also prominent figures in the Chinese-language film world, and once that momentum faded, they thought making animated films wasn't a good idea.

At this point, everyone knows the investment cost and production schedule of 'Kung Fu Panda' that have been publicized; in short, it involves huge investment, a long cycle, and the box-office prospects are still uncertain.

Although Wang Zhonglei is arrogant, he also knows that not just anyone who makes an animated film can reap huge profits.

If anyone dares to pat his chest and claim they can make an animated film as profitable as 'Kung Fu Panda', he would spit in their face.

After thinking it over, he still feels live-action films are more reliable, at least he won't be deceived.

"What is Old Xu busy with these days?"

"He's probably writing a script!" Liu Weiqiang said ambiguously.

Wang Zhonglei laughed; writing a script means he has nothing to do!

"Tell him to come to Huayi when he's free; I'd like to have a chat with him!"

Liu Weiqiang first blinked, then quickly nodded and said okay, while thinking to himself: "Old Xu, Old Xu, I've secured the opportunity for you; whether you can seize it is entirely up to you!"

At the same time, his favorability toward Wang Zhonglei greatly increased; among the bosses of the domestic entertainment industry, aside from the extraordinary Jiang Heng, the Wang brothers are the only ones with some grit.

Meanwhile, after receiving the notice, Old Xu rushed to the capital to meet with Wang Zhonglei for detailed talks—no need to elaborate.

On Jiang Heng's side, a visitor also arrived—namely, Ding Lei, the boss of NetEase.

The purpose of visiting Jiang Heng was simple: he wanted to develop the 'Zhu Zion' online game.

Ding Lei is a very pragmatic person and quite capable; he took NetEase public at age 29 and became China's richest person at age 32.

But Jiang Heng doesn't like him; he generally doesn't like the bosses of most domestic internet companies, and he doesn't associate much with them.

How to put it? Perhaps it's because this industry is overly competitive, so he always feels that people in internet companies lead especially exhausting lives.

Of course, under heaven, who isn't tired besides those in the internet industry!

So Jiang Heng was very direct, clearly telling Ding Lei that the game adaptation rights to 'Zhu Zion' are not for sale!

Ding Lei was stunned; he hadn't expected Jiang Heng's answer to be so blunt.

In fact, as soon as 'Zhu Zion' was first published, he had this idea, but when he heard that peers who went to buy the rights were turned away, he dropped it.

It was a straightforward rejection—no price was even discussed.

Assuming Jiang Heng had his own development plans, Ding Lei then didn't pursue this idea.

But before he knew it, a few years had passed; the film version of 'Zhu Zion' had come out, yet the so-called online game still hadn't been produced, and Ding Lei began to feel anxious.

If it weren't for their rather ordinary relationship, he would really want to grab Jiang Heng by the collar and ask, "Don't you know how profitable games are? Such a great IP, why waste it?"

That's why he boldly showed up at the door to propose buying the game adaptation rights.

After being refused, Ding Lei said: "Director Jiang, are you planning to develop it yourself? The novel has been published for so many years, yet a same-named online game still hasn't been launched; it must be that your side lacks a suitable development team. I have an idea: why don't we jointly register a game company and co-develop it?"

Jiang Heng laughed: "Before, I was indeed busy with films and neglected game development, but from now on I will prioritize it."

Upon hearing this, Ding Lei didn't say anything further.

By this point, Jiang Heng is no longer a potential partner but a future rival!

After exchanging a few pleasantries and leaving—no need to mention that—on Jiang Heng's side, he fell into deep thought.

Nothing else—game companies make too much money, internet companies make too much money.

A few years ago they were still 'little brothers', but in just a few years they turned into tycoons, wielding capital to sweep through the entertainment industry.

By then, could he still keep to himself? Could he remain unaffected by capital?

Impossible!

At the moment, big films are few and far between, so no one is competing with him for release slots.

But once several big films cluster together in the Spring Festival season, the situation will no longer be like this.

The solution is simple: he could also start an internet company and become a capital tycoon himself.

The good news is that it's now 2006; there's still time, and the funds are relatively ample.

However, Jiang Heng's greatest reliance is the 'Super Microcomputer'; with this tool's help, he is confident he can compress the development cycle of a large-scale game to about a year.

It's not that he couldn't do it faster; mainly, any shorter time would be too outrageous.

After some thought, Jiang Heng called Du Huan and asked him to come to the set.

But this startled him, and he wondered what had happened!

After making a phone call to inquire, he learned that Ding Lei had come by, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Actually, he had mentioned the game idea two years prior, but seeing Jiang Heng's lack of enthusiasm at the time, he didn't bring it up again.

After all, he didn't really understand it; he had only heard that games could be more profitable.

He rushed to the set of Havoc in Heaven in a hurry, and only approached Jiang Heng when he saw him idle.

"Director Jiang, are you looking for me?"

"Well, that's the plan: I'm preparing to set up a game company, develop two large-scale games—one is Slay Immortal, the other is a real-time battle-type game; I need many people, so I'll spend money to poach talent!"

(End of chapter)