Chapter 461

The Legend of the Heroic Soldiers (work title), Angel Yan (character)

The so-called 'North of the Galaxy, my Yan is the most beautiful' shows how much fans love this character.

Although this world has no 'original fans' of The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Jiang Heng, having read the original manga, would not be able to accept it if the actors' makeup and styling fell short of the comic's standard.

So after thinking it over, he prepared to introduce some innovation in this film.

That is, not using real actors, but using 'virtual characters' to play the roles of Angel Yan, Kesha, and Hexi, etc.

The advantage is that these characters can be made 'absolutely beautiful', while the disadvantage is naturally that it is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and the budget balloons.

Fortunately he has a 'Super Microcomputer', so the problem is not too big.

But Cheng Long and Zhou Xingxing could hardly think of these, and still assumed Jiang Heng was about to hold another large-scale audition.

'You're this, again preparing to expand the beauties team of Aiyoute!' Cheng Long took a sip of wine, laughing somewhat strangely.

When he was young he was very popular with women, and now Jiang Heng is even more in the limelight than he was back then, so it's hard to believe Jiang Heng would be so honest.

As for Zhou Xingxing, although he has never married, giving outsiders a rather 'deeply affectionate' impression, he has actually always had a girlfriend.

'The prettiest few girls in the Chinese-language entertainment circle are all under Director Jiang!' Zhou Xingxing also said in an envious tone.

Jiang Heng said: 'I'm not planning to hold auditions; this time I intend to use some new technology!'

: (none)

Cheng Long and Zhou Xingxing were somewhat surprised, because the last thing that could be called a 'new technology' was the '3D' viewing mode, whose visual effect was indeed revolutionary.

So far, several films have already appeared with global box office exceeding two billion dollars.

Jiang Heng said: 'Well, I plan to launch a few digital virtual actors!'

If just now was surprise, then at this moment Cheng Long and Zhou Xingxing can only be described as astonished.

Digital virtual actor—each character is understandable, the general meaning can be grasped, yet it gives a dazed feeling.

Because the entertainment industry has plenty of handsome men and beautiful women, while top stars indeed command high salaries, hiring a new beautiful actress really doesn't cost much.

'What's the point of suddenly wanting to do this?' Cheng Long, being blunt, asked directly.

Jiang Heng said: 'How to put it? I want to create a few characters in this film that will make almost every man who sees them feel they are beautiful to the utmost!'

'Oh, that seems to require using virtual 【characters】!' Zhou Xingxing sighed.

After all, in his youth he worked with too many top female entertainers; perhaps because he has seen too many, he really doesn't feel any of them are beautiful enough to be captivating.

Cheng Long then said with some regret: 'No matter how beautiful her virtual version is, it's still fake!'

Jiang Heng laughed and said: 'Real or fake, to me it makes no difference!'

Cheng Long laughed: 'Indeed, anyway we're never short of them.'

Jiang Heng laughed heartily and did not follow up on that topic.

: (none)

He stayed in Xianggang for a week, during which he attended the Hong Kong press conference for the new film *Mermaid*.

Because there was still some time before the New Year, this press conference could only be considered a warm-up promotion.

It was just a matter of finding some main creators, inviting a bunch of reporters, having everyone chat about the stories from filming, and then releasing a few very short video clips.

Yet even with only this much content, the media already had a rough evaluation of *Mermaid*: a mid-to-upper tier work! Because the film is influenced by mainland language and culture, its protagonists and locations are all mainland, so it can be said to have lost all Hong Kong flavor. Although there are some 'nonsensical' segments, they can to some extent retain Hong Kong film style. But looking at the promotional content, it seems not as good as Zhou Xingxing's peak-period works. As for visual effects, they are also not as good as Jiang Heng's effects-heavy blockbusters, being somewhat awkward.

Fortunately, the film's box office main battlefield is not in Xianggang; it early on targeted the mainland market with broader prospects.

Zhou Xingxing went early to discuss the publicity details with Yu Dong.

Jiang Heng, on the other hand, stayed another two days before returning.

Not many days later, he received an invitation from Huayi Pictures to attend the premiere of *1942*.

In the office, Jiang Heng held the invitation in his hand, laughing and crying at once.

Jing Tian, sitting on the sofa, wondered: 'What expression is that?!'

Director Jiang laughed and said: 'Nothing much, just feel that this world really is a huge makeshift troupe!'

Jing Tian, hearing this, became even more dazed, not knowing why Jiang Heng said this or what he meant to express.

: (none)

'Then let me ask you: if you were watching a New Year's film with friends, would you want to see the very tragic story of *1942*, or a funny comedy film?'

Upon hearing this, Jing Tian somewhat understood: 'I think I would probably choose a comedy film!'

: (none)

'Seeing that the New Year is coming, of course we should be happy and joyful!'

'So I say this world is a huge makeshift troupe! Huayi is considered a big company, yet no one thought of this!'

In his previous life, *1942* was released on November 29, 2012, with mainland box office of only 3.7 billion.

Based on a production cost of 200 million, the loss was roughly over ninety million.

An important reason is the wrong slot selection, because this film can no longer be called a tragedy; strictly speaking, it is a tragedy.

Moreover, for many viewers, getting through the year is not easy; who during the big New Year doesn't want to be happy and joyful?

Thus, this heavily invested film, well regarded by the media, upon release showed extremely irrational box office performance.

The originally scheduled December 21 release of *Lost in Thailand* was moved forward to the 12th, reaping a box office of twelve billion.

In this timeline, *Lost in Thailand* had already been released long ago.

But there are still other companies' New Year comedy films; the box office prospects of *1942* remain not promising.

Jiang Heng, Huayi (exclude), President Wang (referring to Wang Zhonglei), Feng Xiaogang

Because this winter is Huayi's breakout year, with several films released consecutively, the New Year slot has *1942* and the Spring Festival slot has *Detective Dee: The Dragon King of the Divine Capital*.

Combined, the two blockbusters surely bring in at least fifteen billion, if not twenty billion; once both films make money, then investing in even larger productions, Huayi could also produce genuine effects blockbusters! Wang Zhonglei thought optimistically.

Feng Xiaogang also wore a beaming smile, talking to the media at length, saying how many years he had prepared for this film, how many years he had spent in preparation.

And when media reporters asked Jiang Heng, he also openly said that this is a very good film, China needs to have such a film, so that future generations do not forget that history.

At the banquet after the premiere, both Boss Wang and Director Feng expressed thanks, feeling that Jiang Heng's remarks also counted as a strong recommendation to the audience, and the box office would surely go up some!

Jiang Heng, meanwhile, silently thought to himself: "What kind of lousy release slot did they pick?!" (End of chapter)