Chapter 30: Reputation Is Not Easy

If other Chinese-language filmmakers encountered an overture from Columbia Pictures, a Hollywood film giant, eight or nine times out of ten they would not refuse.

The so-called fine wine beautifies the face, wealth moves the heart, and the temptation of a world-class title is truly great.

Jiang Heng, however, after being reborn, thought: first, having endless money to spend; second, not wanting to work too hard; third, hoping to stay close to home.

Were it not for legal and moral constraints, he would have long used the "Super Microcomputer" to make money elsewhere.

Returning to his old profession of making films, he would only shoot high‑box‑office "special‑effect blockbusters," and would certainly not go overseas for a little empty fame to be a pioneer.

The reason he sat down to chat casually with Pasikaer was merely to give some face during their cooperation.

Upon hearing her say that, a thought suddenly flashed in his mind.

"Ms. Pasikaer, what you say is nothing but wanting to strengthen our cooperation. In that case, I can give you a guarantee: if our cooperation proceeds smoothly, the North and South American distribution rights for *The Matrix* 2 and 3 can be handed over to your company!"

"Only distribution rights? We can also provide funding and actors for the shoot, you know—many series' first installments reap both critical acclaim and box‑office success, yet sequels often face the risk of losing money or even losing money!"

Jiang Heng laughed and shook his head; doing special effects costs him nothing, so he would never lose money no matter what.

"As for investment, we don't need it for now. Moreover, I will often shoot special‑effect blockbusters in the future; if your company is interested, you can act as the distributor!"

Pasikaer was somewhat displeased; as the promising vice president of Columbia Pictures, she had come all this way just for the distribution rights of a few non‑Hollywood films? Any manager could talk about that!

"Oh, I don't know what film Director Jiang plans to shoot this time; if it's a mythological tale from your country, forget it—this audience really can't understand it!"

Jiang Heng heard the mockery in her tone, but he wasn't angry; he chuckled: "Of course I know these things—it's not a mythological story, it's a monster blockbuster!"

"A monster—you wouldn't also be making a dinosaur movie, would you?"

"Exactly, I'm going to make a dinosaur movie!"

Pasikaer laughed so hard she couldn't straighten her waist: "It won't be something like *Jurassic Park*, will it?"

"Exactly, this time I'm shooting Jurassic‑era dinosaurs!"

"Ha, Chinese people making monster movies? You guys have no experience, it'll be very risky!" Pasikaer laughed until her mouth hurt.

"Before I made *The Matrix*, I also lacked similar experience, but judging from current market response, it's not bad. I want to give the monster‑movie genre a try!"

Pasikaer sat up straight, stopped laughing, because she was really getting angry!

The Eastern man before her, though handsome and talented, was truly arrogant!

Arrogant people tend to be overconfident and hard to persuade.

Though they easily achieve success, they also easily suffer major failures.

Such a person in a team is fine as long as they're under control; once they break free, they often bring huge disaster to the company.

She had already given up on recruiting Jiang Heng; if it weren't for still caring about the sequel cooperation of *The Matrix*, she wouldn't even bother with pleasantries.

"Oh, then I'm actually looking forward to it—when Director Jiang's film is done, I'll definitely remember to have him show it to me!"

"Of course, I'm also thinking about worldwide release—how many box‑office points will we score?"

Pasikaer gave a cold smile, thinking to herself: "I'd like to see what kind of freak you can shoot!"

Actually, making monster movies isn't easy.

Because the true protagonists of the film aren't humans, but those lifelike monsters that seem to have truly existed.

Yet you can't just have monsters fighting monsters all the time—otherwise it becomes *Animal World*!

Moreover, the special‑effects costs are also unaffordable!

According to unofficial data, in *Jurassic Park* 1 the dinosaurs appear for only fifteen minutes; the rest of the lengthy runtime is spent on the male and female leads and other human characters.

And the real highlight of the film is the realistic, shocking dinosaur images, plus the oppressive chase‑and‑escape scenes that make you breathless.

So we need to solve a problem: how to place the nominal human protagonists in a dangerous environment.

This can be due to supporting characters, but the protagonists themselves don't seem that smart either—only thus can we create a tense, suffocating atmosphere.

Like in *Jurassic Park* 1, when the Tyrannosaurus rex appears, the little girl in the car frantically looks for a flashlight and waves it wildly at the rex.

Also, the scene crossing the high‑voltage grid: the heroine pushes each switch in the control room, the high‑voltage grid has already sounded an alarm, then the hero lets the little boy jump down, but the boy refuses to jump.

Then the heroine electrifies the grid, the little boy gets knocked down by the high‑voltage grid—and yet he can still be revived, which is really absurd.

Overall, however, the plot design of *Jurassic Park* 1 has no major flaws; as the world's first dinosaur special‑effects blockbuster, it gave countless teenagers a huge shock, so its reputation is still good, Douban rating 8.3.

But by the second part, still directed by Spielberg, still written by the first film's screenwriter, the rating dropped sharply to 7.6.

Global box office fell from $9.12 billion to $6.18 billion—just a small profit.

In the third part they changed directors; the rating was still passable, but global box‑office plummeted to $3.69 billion, causing Universal Pictures to lose a lot of money and forcing them to shelve the IP temporarily.

Besides the Jurassic series, like 2017's *Kong: Skull Island*, Douban rating only 6.5; 2021's *Godzilla vs. Kong* only 6.3.

As for the "shark‑survival" type films favored by female audiences, most Douban ratings hover around 5; reaching 7 counts as a quality work.

The reason is simple: a heroine who encounters sharks at the beach must be a bit abnormal.

It's clear that monster movies wanting both box‑office and critical acclaim truly face countless difficulties.

Jiang Heng doesn't expect his new film's reputation to be great; as long as it makes some money in name, that's enough.

After seeing off the angry Pasikaer, Jiang Heng rested another day before flying back to Jingcheng.

Upon landing, someone from Beiying Factory came to pick him up and took him to the hotel before leaving.

"Hey, Director Jiang, did you gain a lot from this US trip?"

Not long after he returned to the hotel room, Han Sanping's call came in.

Jiang Heng had been leisurely in the States, while this person back home was anxious beyond words, also unaware of how the script had been changed.

There's also a time difference, so it's not convenient to call every day.

Jiang Heng hung up his clothes, walked to the bedside and said: "Not bad, not bad—I grabbed the weekend box‑office champion, at least I didn't lose face for the Chinese!"

Han Sanping said: "Next time we should release simultaneously in both regions; the US box‑office is so good, a little promotion will boost the domestic market. This news came back, and we here have all gone offline—people want to support but have nowhere to go!"

(End of Chapter)