Chapter 46

After "One Hundred Million Years BC" premiered in Xianggang, it quickly sparked a viewing craze, and media reviews were also good.

Mainly because Xianggang's entertainment industry is developed, all kinds of novel settings and ideas keep emerging, and audiences have long been used to it.

As for time travel, that's all stuff others have already used up.

In the 1991 film "God of Gamblers 2: Shanghai Gambling Saint", Zhou Xingxing travels to 1930s Shanghai Beach and can even use a mobile phone to call Xianggang. At the end, Long Wu even brings a squad of Flying Tigers, wielding submachine guns to rat-tat-tat the little Japanese devils of 1937.

Speaking of time-travel logic, God of Gamblers 2 is also quite far-fetched—just a few qigong masters emitting energy together can traverse time and space; what does that show?

The end of science is mysticism, and they're even developing a chicken-feather time machine!

It's just for fun!

Audiences watched with an entertainment-first mindset, so some logical flaws in "One Hundred Million Years BC" weren't so obvious; plus, the latter half resembles Pandora's jungle—skies filled with flying pterosaurs, mighty Tyrannosaurus rex—making Xianggang audiences shout in delight.

Even though it premiered a week early, the box office of "One Hundred Million Years BC" remained very strong.

Apart from "The Glass Bottle" and "King of Comedy" ranking third on their opening days, thereafter it continued to be the daily box office champion.

Traditional Xianggang films are truly outdated!

Numerous Xianggang production companies and filmmakers flocked to congratulate Jiang Heng and seek his advice, hosting countless banquets for a time.

Even Xiang Huaqiang of China Star was considering whether to collaborate with Jiang Heng on filming "The Legend of Shu Mountain".

After communicating with Xu Ke, Xiang Huaqiang directly called Jiang Heng, inviting him out for a chat.

Jiang Heng answered the phone, which wasn't surprising.

He had recently met too many film industry bigwigs, drunk too much, knowing Xiang Huaqiang was preparing "The Legend of Shu Mountain", him seeking him out wasn't surprising; it was just that cooperating would be a hassle.

The Xiang family's money isn't easy to get.

Old Monster Xu's filmmaking is too overbearing.

If we insist on collaborating on a film, we'd either end up as puppets on strings or split after one shoot—pointless, but we still have to give face.

That day, Jiang Heng set out in his tiger-headed vehicle, heading straight to the private dining room Xiang Huaqiang had booked at the restaurant.

Upon entering, only the Xiang couple and Xu Ke were present.

By the way, Madame Xiang was stunning in her youth, rivaling today's top female stars; one can only say that weight gain is a woman's arch-nemesis!

Xiang Huaqiang has an overbearing personality but remains polite on the surface; he first praised the box office and reputation of "The Matrix", then congratulated the film on its Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

The ever-proud Xu Ke couldn't help but reveal an envious look when looking at the young Jiang Heng.

In the eyes of our people, the Oscar carries great weight; those who get nominated are basically the artistic films directed by Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and others.

For Jiang Heng, a commercial blockbuster being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film is definitely a double gain of fame and profit.

Speaking of "One Hundred Million Years BC", which is currently showing, Xu Ke suddenly said, "Director Jiang, the Jurassic-era visual style you designed is fantastically marvelous, with a hint of immortal hero flavor!"

Jiang Heng chuckled, thinking, "You know how much I copied from Avatar? All that's missing is making the mountains float and letting people ride pterosaurs!"

Upon second thought, it seems I could just copy Avatar's plot outline and make a knockoff!

Forget it, better not ruin the classic!

Jiang Heng had myriad thoughts; in reality he just fell silent for a few seconds, then chuckled and said, "I just felt that relying too much on historical material made it not shocking enough, so I wanted to make the scenes bigger!"

Xu Ke nodded slightly, "Indeed, an immortal hero blockbuster needs to be shocking and grand to look good!"

Jiang Heng blinked, thinking, "Did I just mention immortal hero?"

Seems not!

Xiang Huaqiang said, "Mr. Jiang, are you interested in immortal hero films?"

"Yes, I quite like reading immortal hero novels!"

Xu Ke exclaimed in surprise, "You've also read The Legend of the Shu Mountain Swordsmen!"

Jiang Heng stared, then realized, "The immortal hero novels they're talking about aren't the same thing!"

"Um, I've read a few!" Jiang Heng said somewhat reluctantly.

Xu Ke asked, "What do you think of this book?"

Seeing all three staring at him, Jiang Heng took a sip of his beer, chuckled, and said, "How to put it? It's too grand. There are too many characters; by the time I got to the later parts, I'd forgotten the earlier ones!"

Xu Ke said, "The book of the Lord of the Huan Zhu Pavilion is magnificent, encompassing heaven and earth, all-encompassing, truly the number one extraordinary book under heaven!"

Jiang Heng chuckled, declining to comment.

Seeing Jiang Heng seem doubtful, Xu Ke asked, "Director Jiang, do you think my assessment is inaccurate?"

Jiang Heng quickly waved his hand, laughing, "No, I just feel this book is too grandiose; adapting it into a film would be too difficult!"

Madame Xiang rarely spoke up, saying, "Even Director Jiang thinks the script is hard to write?"

Jiang Heng nodded, "Too many main characters will scatter the audience's attention, further impairing their immersion; without immersion, anything from destroying heaven and earth to saving the masses is just an itch through a boot to the audience!"

Xu Ke heard it, his face instantly turned ugly.

He has already almost finished revising the script of The Legend of Shu Mountain, which proves what Jiang Heng said—that there are too many main characters.

Speaking of this drama, you say Zheng Yijian's portrayal of the Profound Heaven Sect is the lead, yet his screen time isn't that much.

Bai Mei, Gu Yue, Li Yingqi, Dan Chenzi, and others also have substantial screen time.

Even in the original, Wu Jing's portrayal of Lian Xing seems quite important.

This is fatal; the audience had just gotten emotionally invested in the Profound Heaven Sect character, yet then various characters take turns appearing, and the Profound Heaven Sect isn't particularly striking, leaving the audience feeling nothing after watching.

Of course, Jiang Heng would never say that outright.

Xu Ke was somewhat displeased, coldly saying: "Then what kind of xianxia film does Director Jiang have in mind?"

Jiang Heng froze for a moment, murmuring: "Xianxia—if you're asking what my ideal xianxia film is like, I don't have a concept right now. But I do have some ideas about xianxia novels!"

Xiang Tai wondered: "Director Jiang, are you preparing to write a novel?"

Jiang Heng hesitated a moment, then nodded: "Well, constantly filming movies gets a bit tiresome; writing a xianxia novel isn't bad either!"

Xu Ke said: "Oh, then I can look forward to Director Jiang's masterpiece!"

Jiang Heng laughed: "Don't worry, it will definitely be published within a year!"

Nobody doubted these words; given Jiang Heng's current fame, if he announced he wanted to write a novel, publishers would immediately be willing to cooperate.

He wouldn't even need to write it himself; just providing a story outline, the publishers could help find a ghostwriter.

A novel written by a hotshot director would definitely sell well to newcomers!

As for the novel's content, Jiang Heng had already decided on it: it would be Accursed Sword, which in its early years was ranked alongside Drifting Illusory Journey and Legend of the Little Soldier as one of the 'Three Great Odd Books of the Internet', and also hailed as the 'Post‑Jin Yong Martial Arts Bible'.

(End of chapter)