Chapter 43: The Big‑Film Producer

Ai Mei·Pa Si Ka Er was stunned after watching "Prehistoric One Hundred Million Years" in the company's small screening room, never having imagined that Jiang Heng would make the film like this.

How to put it? The beginning and end are too disjointed.

The first part is just a low‑budget tomb‑raiding, adventure, gunfight film, with all the actors looking Chinese, which would have almost no market in Beimei.

But the plot that sends these people, via the gravitational pull of the "Nine-Star Alignment" celestial phenomenon, into the Jurassic era is absolutely tense, thrilling, and spectacular.

How to describe it? It's like a soccer match where the same team is limp in the first half and then plays at World‑Cup‑winning level in the second half—the contrast is huge.

The highlights are plenty; the most appealing part of the Jurassic Park series is, of course, the hyper‑realistic dinosaurs and the breath‑taking chase‑and‑escape scenes.

In this film there are countless seemingly fantastical ancient plants, animals, and insects.

But what Ai Mei·Pa Si Ka Er likes most is the wilderness‑survival storyline of these people in the Jurassic, trying to fill their stomachs and find safe habitats.

She is a woman, but extremely independent; she usually has short hair and enjoys mountaineering, rock climbing, and outdoor sports.

She has never tried wilderness‑survival activities, yet she has always liked that genre.

As for what is shown in "Prehistoric One Hundred Million Years", it can only be described as twice the excitement.

Besides Ai Mei·Pa Si Ka Er, there were other senior executives in the screening room.

After watching the film, their first reactions were all a bit bewildered.

"Which bastard told him to make the film like that?" a fairly old white man, knowledgeable about Chinese culture, shouted.

"He never attended a film academy; he taught himself!"

"The way he shot this film is just too stingy! It's even more miserly than Ge Lang Tai!" the old man said, blowing his beard and glaring.

He truly liked the second half, so he grew to despise the first half even more.

It's not that modern scenes are forbidden, but since the title is "Prehistoric One Hundred Million Years", the modern portion should only be a few minutes to let the audience know who the male and female leads are and understand the story's background.

Then sending these people to the Jurassic, the audience will naturally worry about the characters' lives and deaths.

As the plot develops, emotions rise and fall, and the film's rating will be much higher.

Jiang Heng, on the other hand, made the first half both smelly and long, making you think it was a big money‑grabbing trash movie.

When you have already silently crafted your words in your mind, planning how to write a scathing review after leaving the theater, he then throws the content you wanted to see, super‑amplified, right before your eyes!

The intensity of the second half completely outshines Jurassic Park!

But recalling the earlier "terrible" performance, the executives of Ge Lun Bi Ya Company began to agonize over filing a report.

"How much funding was used to make this film?" someone asked.

Dao Ge La Si·Wei Ke replied, "External promotion cost one hundred million RMB, but the actual budget was certainly less, probably around ten million dollars."

"Only ten million?"

"Ten million!"

Voices erupted instantly in the small screening room; Jurassic Park 2's production cost was 73 million dollars, yet its visual effects still couldn't compare to "Prehistoric One Hundred Million Years".

After this film is released, as long as the word‑of‑mouth doesn't plummet, a box office of seventy to eighty million isn't a problem.

If all the actors were replaced with Western faces and the original English audio were used, achieving over a hundred million in box office would be possible.

At times like this, Ai Mei·Pa Si Ka Er envies China's low actor fees and production costs.

"If he's willing to come to Haolaiwu, I would definitely sign him. He just needs a better producer; we can't let him act so willfully."

Ai Mei·Pa Si Ka Er sighed inwardly, then immediately gathered everyone to discuss the film's promotion and distribution.

The group reached a unanimous conclusion: for the film to sell big at the box office, media relations must be handled well.

Cursing is fine, but the film's selling points must be articulated; that way readers will still consider your review objective.

And audiences who like those selling points will naturally go watch the movie.

Ai Mei·Pa Si Ka Er and the others discussed for a while, becoming more and more excited, increasingly looking forward to the film's box‑office performance.

Xianggang—Jiang Heng walked out of the airport and took a taxi home alone.

He mulled it over, thinking perhaps he should assemble his own team.

One "The Matrix" made him roll in money, giving him the finances to set up a security and service team.

Moreover, running around alone like this isn't very safe.

Even though those people have been more settled these past two years, there's always the fear of someone taking reckless risks!

Tung Lo Wan—his own residence.

Jiang Heng took off his shoes, leaned on the sofa, and pondered the film's scheduled release in Xianggang.

In the 1999 Spring Festival season of Xianggang's film scene, only Cheng Long's "Glass Bottle" and Zhou Xingxing's "King of Comedy" were box‑office contenders.

Limited by the broader environment, both films failed to reach thirty million at the box office.

This was unimaginable a few years earlier.

And after "Prehistoric One Hundred Million Years" entered the fray, the two films' box‑office results are likely to be even lower.

"Hey, big brother, I'm back!"

Jiang Heng, having rested enough, dialed Hong Jinbao's number.

The latter was quite delighted, "Just got off the plane?"

"Already home!"

Hong Jinbao "complained", "Why didn't you say something? I could have gone to pick you up!"

Jiang Heng laughed, "Hey, between brothers we don't need to be so formal!"

During the film's shooting, the two deliberately befriended each other, and their relationship grew closer.

Hong Jinbao's stance toward him was even closer than that of the "Seven Little Fortunes" brothers.

The reason is simple: he can no longer gauge the pulse of Xianggang's film market, so there's no need to think about directors or producers.

As for actors, there's no major breakthrough, and they can't venture into Haolaiwu like Cheng Long.

Besides deliberately befriending directors like Jiang Heng and Xu Ke who can handle big productions, what other options are there?

We can't just retire and live off our savings!

Moreover, he still has to pave the way for his son!

"Like this, I'll book a restaurant right away, call everyone out, and give you a welcome feast!" Having said that, he hung up the phone.

Jiang Heng chuckled and said nothing more.

Half an hour later, Hong Jinbao called again, giving the restaurant name and the gathering time.

After Jiang Heng had rested enough, he tidied up and drove over.

Upon entering the private room, besides the few who usually gathered in Xianggang, there were also several actresses, leaving him stunned.

Hong Jinbao laughed and explained, "They usually admire your talent, want a chance to work with you, begged to come, and I couldn't stop them!"

"Director Jiang, I really like your film The Matrix; could you give me an autograph?"

But a fresh-faced actress stepped forward, pulling out a notebook.

Jiang Heng naturally wouldn't refuse, smiling as he took the pen and signed his name.

Unexpectedly, another one came over, actually making Jiang Heng write his name on her clothing.

(End of chapter)