Chapter 33: with translation of chapter title

April 1998, the Chinese-language entertainment circle saw three major events: first, Titanic premiered on April 3 in Neidi, sparking an even hotter movie-watching craze, far surpassing that of The Matrix.

After all, what most resonates with boys and girls is eternal love.

And yet this love story was still brought to life with a budget as high as two hundred million US dollars.

A film that simultaneously possesses stunning visual effects and moving romance easily reaps both tears and box‑office success.

But when it first opened in Beimei, it was actually not well regarded; even one of its producers, Fox, openly declared that its box‑office prospects would be 'a disaster no less than the sinking of Titanic itself'.

And when Titanic premiered at the Tokyo Film Festival, the media schadenfreude‑fully described it as 'a sparse audience, the gate could catch sparrows'.

By December 19, when the film was released, although The New York Times called it 'the only masterpiece in years worthy of comparison with Gone with the Wind,' most media outlets led by the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post were not convinced, and they unanimously asked: 'Is this movie really worth two hundred million?'

Even worse, the film's opening‑week box office was 27.6 million, a figure so low relative to its production cost as to be hair‑raising.

Fox's executives were reportedly wondering which death would be more dignified—jumping from a building or being shot.

Then they waited for a miracle.

In its second week it grossed over sixty million, in the third week over seventy million, and the film continued to play in Beimei for 281 days, setting a record for the longest theatrical run there.

And its box‑office performance was even more astonishing: 659 million in Beimei and 1.8 billion worldwide, leaving filmmakers everywhere envious.

As for Jiang Heng's The Matrix, it has so far earned only over 300 million, making it unlikely to reach the original's worldwide gross of 460 million US dollars.

After all, it didn't use European‑American actors, and its global distribution was far inferior to that of Huaxia Company, so a lower box office is normal.

But for the Chinese‑language entertainment circle, a film with a worldwide gross of over 300 million US dollars converts to over two billion RMB—roughly twice the annual total box office of the Neidi film market—and is therefore an astonishing presence.

And for such a director to shoot a new film is definitely major news of the year.

Jingcheng, Beiying Factory.

The nation's major entertainment media gathered to attend the press conference for Jiang Heng's new film, One Hundred Million Years BC.

Regarding the title, the Beiying Factory people wanted to ride the heat of Jurassic Park and suggested calling it 'Return to Jurassic,' but Jiang Heng directly rejected it.

Return?

What, in the film's ending the male lead wakes up in a mental asylum, discovers the female lead is the little nurse who coaxes him to take his medicine every day, and the Tyrannosaurus rex is just an orderly bullying him!

Following that line of thought, the reputation could drop to two or three points.

After all, he's an internationally renowned director—he can't afford to lose face!

One Hundred Million Years BC naturally draws inspiration from Huaxia Company's 2008 sci‑fi film One Hundred Thousand Years BC, which roughly lets the audience know what the movie is about.

Anyway, before release there were many name changes during the scheduling process—just like Titanic, which was renamed several times before its premiere and finally settled on this title.

To his surprise, the media as a whole actually looked forward to this title.

"Director Jiang Heng, hello, I'm a reporter from the Film Channel. Seeing your film's title, One Hundred Million Years BC, that must be the Jurassic period, right? Is this a movie about dinosaurs?"

Jiang Heng smiled and said, "Not bad—the Jurassic period spanned roughly from 199.6 million to 145.5 million years BC, and Earth's rulers then were precisely the dinosaurs that later went extinct."

Wow!

The reporters exclaimed in surprise, somewhat disbelieving that the Chinese‑language film market could produce a high‑quality film about Jurassic dinosaurs.

"Director Jiang, hello, I'm a reporter from the magazine Film Works. I'd like to ask, what is this film's budget? If the investment is too small, it will probably be hard to shoot perfect Jurassic scenes."

Jiang Heng glanced at Han Sanping beside him, smiled and said, "Factory Chief Han, you're also one of their old leaders—you answer this question."

Han Sanping once served as deputy factory chief of the Emei Film Production Factory, and the Emei Film Production Factory oversaw a magazine, namely Film Works.

However, in 1998 the magazine was still niche; by 1999 it merged with other companies and was renamed Look at Film, gradually becoming the domestic film periodical with the largest circulation and influence.

But at this moment the magazine was still weak and still needed the patronage of Factory Chief Han.

Han Sanping then raised a finger and declared imposingly, "This film is jointly funded by Beiying Factory and Faction: Outstanding Rising Film Company with one hundred million RMB, solely to create China's best monster‑type film…"

Han Sanping spoke passionately, still unaware of the truth and mistakenly thinking that Beiying Factory was the film's main investor.

Then Wu Yanzu and Li Meiqi took the stage, immediately killing a pile of film reels.

The reporters kept asking questions, unwilling to let these two leave.

Afterwards came Hung Jin‑bao and Yuan De, who were also very popular.

When Grandpa Ge appeared, his witty remarks came in rapid succession, provoking bursts of laughter.

As for Wu Jing, because his fame was still low, he appeared together with Yuan Hua and Hong Tianming, and hardly any reporters bothered to ask him.

Jiang Heng had originally wanted to cast Xiao Yanzi and Jin Suo, after all, once My Fair Princess aired at the end of April on Treasure Island, its ratings soared; and when it was broadcast nationwide at year‑end, it became famous across the land overnight.

However, considering what the two later did, he abandoned that idea.

After the opening ceremony, the entire crew drove to the border town of Jia Yin to prepare for shooting the modern archaeological and gun‑fight scenes.

The mercenary squad sent by international antiquarians then hired a group of foreign extras, aiming to keep costs low with cheap pay.

The crew's arrival caused a huge stir in this border town.

Jiang Heng is not good at dealing with locals, so all such matters are handled by Beiying Factory personnel.

The next day, filming officially began, and Jiang Heng first sent people to the nearby hills to find a suitable 'fossil pit' location and set up the relevant props.

He then led the cast and crew to finish shooting the scenes of the characters set in the county town first.

Such everyday scenes are not difficult for anyone with some acting experience, and they were completed in less than a week.

On the other hand, excavating the fossil pit and staging the battle in the woods present certain filming difficulties.

Fortunately, the crew had action directors Hung Jin‑bao and Yuan De, who managed to pull it off without a hitch.

The real difficulty was returning to the Beiying Factory audiovisual base, where a digital soundstage was under construction and required them to perform in front of a green screen.

This was comparatively difficult for actors who had never experienced such filming before.

Jiang Heng took this into account, beforehand ordering the props department to create some realistic dinosaur models to be combined with CG effects in order to showcase the fantastical world of one hundred million years BC.

(End of chapter)