Chapter 473

Hollywood, major media have already reported that Jiang Heng purchased the film and television adaptation rights to the science‑fiction short story 'Alien Divergence' by Harry Totterdav.

So, Jiang Heng's next project to be filmed is very likely a sci‑fi blockbuster adapted from this novel.

Americans are still quite shocked, first because this is Jiang Heng's first purchase of film and TV adaptation rights to a Western sci‑fi novel.

Moreover, the stories and content Jiang Heng has filmed before—such as the Western‑style classics *The Matrix* and *Inception*—are all original works.

Second, they wonder why no Hollywood director has picked up this seemingly decent sci‑fi novel to film—why? George Lucas announced his retirement in 2012, and James Cameron is busy building his 'Avatar universe', with the second, third, and fourth installments still in the planning stage.

Christopher Nolan is currently directing the sci‑fi film *Interstellar*, written by his brother Jonathan Nolan, and simply has no time for anything else.

In short, those who have the ability to film it haven't been able to do so for various reasons.

And those who like the story and want to film it may not necessarily earn the trust of film and TV companies.

The result is that a highly creative sci‑fi story has been 'pocketed' by Jiang Heng.

An article in the *Los Angeles Times* says that Jiang Heng will adapt an American‑written sci‑fi novel into a film that will again win the global yearly box‑office crown and the all‑time global box‑office crown, which would be a tragedy for all of Hollywood....

An article in the *New York Times* lamented that sci‑fi films are to Hollywood what martial‑arts films are to Chinese‑language cinema. Nowadays, Chinese‑made sci‑fi blockbusters are getting better and better, earning ever higher box‑office returns in the North American market, while Hollywood films' performance in the mainland Chinese market has been less than satisfactory.

Even because China Film Group deliberately protects domestic films, our excellent pictures cannot enter the hottest summer slot (the domestic‑film protection month), which is extremely unfair....

The media reports are sharp‑tongued, and inside Hollywood's major film and TV companies, when discussing the 'missed opportunity', they also feel very regretful.

Usually few people notice this sci‑fi short story published in 1985, but when Jiang Heng prepares to film it, many Hollywood filmmakers suddenly think the script is actually quite good.

Imagine a group of aliens piloting wooden spaceships, wielding firearms to conquer Earth, only to be captured; humanity acquires their space‑faring technology and eventually begins to conquer the whole universe—just thinking about that scene is thrilling, it's basically a sci‑fi 'feel‑good' story!

Several settings in the novel are also interesting: first, humans have taken the wrong turn on the tech tree—actually interstellar travel is quite simple; even a Bronze Age civilization could build ships capable of interstellar travel.

Second, the universe is teeming with civilizations that are constantly at war.

Third, aside from Earth, the most powerful civilization is one that has just invented firearms.

Thus the novel's strength lies in its setting: whether it's the 'universe's strongest civilization' that has just invented firearms, or a primitive tribal civilization that wields bows and arrows while riding birds—the 'Na'vi‑like' civilization—all can be incorporated into the movie universe derived from this novel.

Of course, out of copyright considerations, Jiang Heng will certainly not 'copy' *Avatar*, but creating something similar is not difficult at all.

Domestically, a well‑informed netizen reposted Hollywood's public‑opinion news about Jiang Heng, instantly sparking heated discussion.

Many people are hearing this kind of 'concept' for the first time—'Bronze Age civilization with wooden spaceships can achieve interstellar travel', 'humans have taken the wrong turn on the tech tree', 'eight billion rabid dogs charging out of Earth'—just imagining the picture feels quite exciting!

As a result, under the official Weibo of Faction: Outstanding Rising Film Company, the latest post's comments quickly exceeded 100,000, all of them similar to 'I want to watch'.

This matter also quickly rose to the hot‑search list, arousing envy among numerous film‑company bosses and renowned directors.

At Huayi Pictures, Wang Zhonglei couldn't help saying during a meeting with senior executives: 'That... *Alien Divergence* seems to be quite popular!' An executive replied: 'Indeed, mainly because the imaginative scope is large, and Director Jiang's films always have top‑tier special effects worldwide, so audiences are looking forward to it.'

Participating Feng Xiaogang said in a low voice: 'Director Jiang is truly unmatched in making effects‑heavy blockbusters; it looks like he's about to break another record!'

Wang Zhonglei, hearing this, felt his eyes gleam with desire and couldn't help asking: 'Can we borrow this wind and make something similar?'

Everyone at the meeting fell silent; even if we talk about Huayi Pictures, or expand to the entire Chinese‑language entertainment circle, few dare claim they can make a good sci‑fi effects blockbuster. Feng Xiaogang is a big director, but he truly isn't skilled at the sci‑fi genre.

Xu Ke, who collaborates with Huayi, excels at wuxia, but the sci‑fi genre seems to be a weakness for him as well.

After a while, one executive said: 'Back when Director Jiang made *Little Soldier Legend* it sold big at the box office, and Wang Jing's *Little Soldier Chasing Girls* also made a tidy profit—why not do something similar?'

Wang Zhonglei's eyes lit up: 'Sure! I'll get in touch with Director Wang Jing later—this can definitely be filmed!'

After the meeting adjourned, Wang Zhonglei personally called Wang Jing to invite him out for tea.

He didn't refuse either; he currently works more with Faction: Outstanding Rising Film Company and Broad Sodium Film Industry, but he isn't a contracted director, and he doesn't reject cooperation with other film companies.

As long as the compensation is right, there's no problem.

But when Wang Zhonglei said he wanted him to 'draw inspiration' from Jiang Heng's upcoming new film and then make another 'Chasing Girls' film, Wang Jing hesitated.

The earlier *Little Soldier Chasing Girls* was produced by Broad Sodium with Jiang Heng's consent.

Wang Zhonglei's plan, however, was: anyway, we know the outline of *Alien Divergence*, and we can roughly guess the plot of the film Jiang Heng will adapt from it.

Rather than lag behind, we should rush to film and release it first—just like the North American specialty company 'Sanctuary Films'—we would surely make a killing.

Wang Jing thought to himself: 'You know that's America; if I did that, I'd seriously offend Jiang Heng. If he decided to blacklist me completely, I wouldn't be able to stay in the mainland market at all!'

Thus, after the conversation ended, Wang Jing directly called Jiang Heng to arrange a meeting, saying he had something important to discuss.

Jiang Heng was taken aback for a moment, then immediately agreed.

After all, 'Fatty' Wang is reliable—he wouldn't say something like this unless it were truly important.

Moreover, both of them came north from Xianggang to develop in the mainland, so they ought to give each other some face.

Meeting in a private room of a teahouse, Wang Jing poured out Wang Zhonglei's plan like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.

Jiang Heng listened and snorted coldly: 'They really have too much idle time, actually wanting to rush ahead of me to release first?'

Wang Jing nodded slightly: 'Indeed, it's greedy—if we just waited for your film to come out and then had a sip of soup afterward, that would be fine; how could we even think of rushing ahead to premiere first?' (End of chapter)