Chapter 279

On Douban, the rating for Investiture of the Gods is 6.9.

- Entities: Douban website - "Douban" is a proper noun (website). Should we translate? It's a brand/app, but rule says exclude real-world brands/apps/celebrities, internet slang. So we should exclude Douban? It says exclude real-world brands/apps. So we should not include Douban in glossary. "Investiture of the Gods" is a title of a work (Fengshen Bang). It's a named work; should we include? It's a named entity (title of a film). It's a coined term? Probably include as "Fengshen Bang"? But rule: Cultivation terms must be translated by meaning. However, "Investiture of the Gods" is a title; it's not a cultivation term; it's a proper noun of a work. Should we translate? Usually we keep original Chinese title in pinyin? The rule says for person names use pinyin; for place names that are bare surname/meaningless proper noun use pinyin. For works, not specified. Usually we translate meaning? But many translations keep original title. However, the instruction: "List every NAMED entity / coined term in these lines: characters (incl. the protagonist & minor ones), places, sects/clans/factions/peoples, official & sect ranks/titles, techniques, cultivation realms/pills/treasures, named beasts/items, fan-fiction names." It does not explicitly mention works like movies. But they are named entities. I'd include them, translating meaning? "Investiture of the Gods" means "Investiture of the Gods" or "Gods' Ranking". Usually translated as "Investiture of the Gods". Since it's a known title, we could translate. However, the glossary provided does not include it. We need to decide. The instruction: "Reuse the EXACT English from the glossary above for terms already listed. If none found: 【】". So for terms not in glossary, we need to provide our own English translation. For works, we could translate meaning. But we need to be consistent: The rule says for cultivation terms translate by meaning; for other named entities, we should translate by meaning unless it's a person name. So "Investiture of the Gods" is not a person name, so we translate meaning: "Investiture of the Gods". Similarly, "Daughter Country" is provided as Daughter Country.

Compared to Liu Weiqiang's earlier special-effects blockbuster, Wind and Cloud: Hegemony Over All Under Heaven.

- Entities: Liu Weiqiang person name -> pinyin Liu Weiqiang. Wind and Cloud: Hegemony Over All Under Heaven is a movie title; translate meaning? "Wind and Cloud: Hegemony Over All Under Heaven"? Actually "Wind and Cloud: Hegemony Over All Under Heaven" literal: "Wind and Cloud, Hero Overwhelms the World". Could translate as "Wind and Cloud: Hegemony Over All Under Heaven". But maybe keep as pinyin? Since it's a title, we could translate meaning. We'll translate meaning. Also special-effects blockbuster is generic.

Many movie fans also praise this film from various angles, saying Liu Weiqiang's skill remains undiminished.

- Entities: Liu Weiqiang again.

Chinese Hero.

- Title: "Chinese Hero". Could translate meaning.

Wang Zhonglei.

- Person name: Wang Zhonglei (provided glossary).

The total investment is claimed to be 100 million US dollars.

- No named entity.

They naturally wouldn't dare to actually invest that much, but they still have five or six million US dollars.

If the box office performance is too poor.

- No.

Fortunately, the first-day box office results were still strong, actually over 41 million. If the subsequent trend doesn't drop too absurdly, a Neidi market box office of five or six hundred million is still possible.

Thinking of this, all the senior executives of Huayi felt excited.

In the current mainland market, regarding the box office performance of a single film, apart from Jiang Heng's films, no work has yet surpassed 500 million.

If *Fengshen Bang* could achieve that, it would be of great significance.

Huayi Company, conference room.

Upon hearing that the cumulative box office had already exceeded 200 million, everyone's faces showed delight.

One executive said: "It's a pity that Jiang Heng came out with *Daughter Country*; if *Fengshen Bang* had the summer season to itself, it might have managed 700 or 800 million in box office."

Everyone who heard it deeply agreed.

Because until last November, they had thought that in the summer of 2007, only *Fengshen Bang* was a big-effects film.

Who would have thought? Jiang Heng hastily produced *Daughter Country*, which not only made it into the summer release schedule, but its mainland box office actually surpassed 900 million, reaching an astonishing 915 million.

Although the film has left theaters, its box office growth has already become very slow; it is expected not to reach the 1-billion mark.

The problem is, in everyone's view, *Daughter Country* is far inferior in quality to Jiang Heng's previous works, yet its mainland box office is the highest ever.

One can only say that even a bad film can have high box office—how absurd!

Wang Zhonglei felt very envious of this, but unfortunately *Fengshen Bang* cannot achieve such an accomplishment.

He currently hopes that the mainland box office could be a bit higher, and the box office in Japan and Korea could also be higher.

Considering that this film is more popular in the Asian market, for the overseas distribution of *Fengshen Bang*, the rights in North America, South America, Europe, and Australia were sold outright to the respective local territories.

In order to recoup costs as much as possible, Huayi was willing to accept any buyer—no matter how small the country or how low the licensing fee, even a few tens of thousands of dollars was acceptable.

However, for the important box-office markets of Japan and Korea, they signed profit-sharing agreements instead.

Judging from the current box office performance, it's still passable.

Adding the licensing fees from other Southeast Asian countries, *Fengshen Bang* can still break even.

Subsequently releasing DVDs and selling video-on-demand rights can also bring the company a steady stream of continuous income.

Unfortunately, the film's investment was mainly from Huayi, Shanghai Film, and Ningxia Film & Television, with a few small investors as well.

Once divided among the parties, there isn't much left.

Compared to Jiang Heng's kind of film that can earn hundreds of millions of dollars each, they simply cannot compare.

But it's not entirely in vain; as long as the first installment doesn't lose money, they can develop a second one, and perhaps the next will bring huge profits.

It's a pity that things turned out otherwise; as the film's rating on Douban kept falling, plus criticism from all quarters of reviewers, *Fengshen Bang*'s box office trend clearly lacked momentum, and its daily box office dropped sharply.

In just a few days, the film's estimated mainland box office fell from the original 500–600 million down to over 400 million.

The Wang brothers were furious; if it kept falling like this, they feared they wouldn't even break even and would end up losing money just to make noise.

Shanghai Film and Ningxia Film & Television also felt quite regretful; they had been preparing to hold a victory celebration, but instead got this result.

"It's all Jiang Heng's fault; if he hadn't produced *Daughter Country*, our *Fengshen Bang* would surely have made at least another 100 million!" an executive from Shanghai Film said angrily.

"Hey, saying that, the summer season isn't anyone's exclusive territory; it's all about ability!" said the leader of Ningxia Film & Television.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means nothing; I just feel there are so many subjects, there's no need to insist on making *Fengshen Bang* or *Journey to the West*!"

Wang Zhonglei said: "Chairman Yang, do you have any ideas?"

Yang Hongtao gave a hehe laugh; he indeed had some ideas.

Recently, he has been wondering why *Fengshen Bang*'s box office can't explode like Jiang Heng's films.

First, naturally, the quality is indeed inferior.

Especially in special effects, the difference is not just a little bit.

Furthermore, Yang Hongtao believes that the subject matter is too similar, causing viewers to subconsciously compare it, comparing *Fengshen Bang* with works like *Saving Mother by Splitting the Mountain*, *Lion Camel Ridge*, and *Flat Top Mountain*.

It's like during the golden age of Xianggang cinema, when Xu Ke and Li Lianjie's *Wong Fei-hung* series were already very successful; if you got someone else to make Li Lianjie-series films, who else would flop but you?

To succeed, one must blaze a new trail.

His idea is to change the subject matter, such as *Painted Skin* or *Nie Xiaoqian* from *Liao Zhai*, which would be great. Moreover, creating some myths that blend Eastern and Western cultures would also work!

Not long ago, he just reached an agreement with Xianggang director Chen Jiashang to prepare filming *Painted Skin*; the script is basically done.

Regarding *Fengshen Bang*'s "losing money but making noise," however you look at it, it's displeasing.

"Nothing much, just preparing to invest in filming *Painted Skin* from *Liao Zhai*; the script is basically done, and we've filed with the Bureau of Film. If anyone wants to invest, I'm most welcome!"

The rest of the people present, upon hearing this, were all taken aback.

Painted Skin?

The original story is quite scary; according to current domestic policy, can it pass approval?

However, in terms of story content, if it could be shown with excellent special effects, it would still be quite worth watching.

"Chairman Yang, how much total investment does this film need, and how much more is still lacking?" an investor asked.

Yang Hongtao gave a hehe laugh: "This film won't require too much investment; the provisional budget is set at one hundred million!"

Upon hearing that, Wang Zhonglei's face became very displeased; this gathering was meant to discuss the preparations for a sequel to *Fengshen Bang*.

Yang Hongtao, however, brought up the preparations for Painted Skin, obviously stealing his thunder!

Unfortunately, Ningxia Film & TV is a state-owned enterprise; even though he was furious inside, he couldn't mess up his hair, so he could only angrily end the meeting.

Afterwards, he had Chen Guofu called to his office and asked for his opinion.

"Well, Chairman Yang's words also make some sense. In the special-effects blockbuster field, Jiang Heng stands out uniquely. If the subject matter is too similar, the audience will naturally have thoughts of comparison. Especially in special effects, he indeed cannot compare to him."

Besides that, Jiang Heng owns a special-effects company with low prices and good quality. The Japanese and Korean special-effects companies we hired cost a lot more!

Wang Zhonglei heard this, furrowed his brows slightly; what Chen Guofu said was indeed true.

The problem is, having chosen the "Investiture of the Gods" theme, they dare not outsource the special-effects shots to Jiang Heng's company.

"Then what do you think would be better?"

"Or maybe we should change the theme!"

(End of chapter)