Chapter 84

Jiang Heng is tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a loose padded-shoulder suit, which makes him look even more spirited and radiant.

When greeting Xu Ke and Zhang Weiping, Zhang Yimou also came over.

"Congratulations, Director Jiang, this premiere of yours should be the biggest event in this year's Chinese-language film circle!"

Zhang Yimou simply speaks little and is unwilling to talk, not that he cannot.

But if he does speak, the effect would actually be better than that of people who are accustomed to boasting.

Jiang Heng was very pleased, yet he had to feign modesty: "Director Zhang, you overpraise me, you overpraise me!"

Zhang Yimou, however, said: "Hey, you are the leading figure of Chinese-language commercial cinema, you can bear it, you can bear it!"

Jiang Heng smiled, exchanged a few humble pleasantries, and arranged for staff to escort the three to their seats.

Suddenly hearing fluent English, Jiang Heng looked up, only to see a short, round-faced American.

Jiang Heng replied: "Mr. Tom Murphy, I never expected you to come all the way from afar, welcome, welcome!"

Tom Murphy thought to himself, "If it weren't to see what kind of mecha you filmed, to take back as a reference, would I really have come all the way from across the ocean?"

Yet he said: "The premiere of 'Pacific Rim' is a grand event in the global film market; I've loved mecha since childhood, so I'm eager to see it early!"

The two had no prior contact; the invitation was obtained through inter-company liaison, and after a few words there was nothing more to say, so they were seated early.

That afternoon, Jiang Heng greeted nearly a hundred guests at the temporary theater's guest entrance, which was indeed quite taxing.

And for the premiere as a whole, being able to draw film professionals from Neidi, Xianggang, Treasure Island, and even Haolaiwu could be called unprecedented in scale.

The venue held over a thousand film crew members, guests, media reporters, and ordinary spectators; once everyone was seated, it was packed to the rafters, and everyone present felt thrilled.

Especially the staff of IMAX, for this premiere event was the company's commercial debut.

To secure the cooperation, IMAX spared no expense, offering a price below cost to come all the way across the ocean to erect this temporary big screen.

Moreover, they agreed to charge cost price to remodel five IMAX theaters for China Film's Chuhong chain.

In short, IMAX invested heavily in this event; if successful, they'd reap huge profits and pop champagne together.

If the response is poor, it won't just be a matter of losing money; the company's commercial prospects will also be affected.

Consequently, before the premiere began, the company's vice president who led the team had the project manager repeatedly inspect everything, allowing no oversight.

At six o'clock in the evening, the global premiere of 'Pacific Rim' officially began, and the beautiful host of CCTV's movie channel, Yao Miao, took the stage.

After delivering a few simple opening remarks, she invited Jiang Heng onto the stage.

"Wow, I never expected that the domestic director with the highest cumulative box office for commercial films would be this handsome!"

Jiang Heng smiled, slightly embarrassed, "You're also very beautiful!"

"Really?" Yao Miao feigned shyness, "As beautiful as your girlfriend?"

"Uh, I don't have a girlfriend yet!"

"Waaah!"

It was clearly audible that the female audience members were letting out soft sighs, and they were genuinely shocked.

No one outside really knows just how much personal wealth Jiang Heng has.

Yet on forums like MaoPu and Tianya, movie fans constantly discuss and analyze the earnings he has gained from several of his films.

One relatively accepted figure is that Jiang Heng's personal assets have probably already surpassed the three-hundred-million-dollar mark.

Converted to renminbi, that's over twenty billion!

And that's twenty-plus billion in 2001, making him an outright super-rich tycoon, naturally possessing the charm of "relying on wealth to draw people close."

She doesn't know what the female audience members feel, but Yao Miao herself felt her face flush, her heart race, and a sensation of almost fainting.

After saying a few lines, by the time she stepped down, she couldn't recall what she had last said.

Just as she was about to recall, the theater lights dimmed, the big screen lit up, after the dragon logo came the opening animations of China Film, iQiyi, and Columbia Pictures, and then the main feature began.

"When I was a child, whenever I felt insignificant or lonely, I would gaze at the night sky, wondering if there might also be life there..."

The male lead's voice suddenly sounded, while the big screen showed deep, dark space.

The camera swiftly pushed forward, flashing past several planets in succession while showcasing each one's unique appearance.

These planets respectively drew inspiration from "Asgard," "the Void," "Wormir" in the Avengers, and "Pandora" from Avatar.

Although each planet's appearance on screen was very brief, it gave the audience a tremendous shock.

"My goodness, these planets are too cool!"

"Is it really mecha versus monsters? Filming Star Wars would also look great!"

"I'm already looking forward to Director Jiang's next film!"

As the audience gasped, the camera had already advanced to the monsters' planet, whose dominant hues were dark and dusky red, with occasional bursts of blue lightning, as if foreshadowing the bloodshed and ugliness there.

The male lead's lines quickly explained the background: these monsters invaded Earth through spacetime wormholes from the deep ocean.

Immediately after, we see the male lead at age fifteen, when the monsters invaded San Francisco and destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge.

Although only a dozen seconds were filmed, the on-screen effect was incredibly realistic.

Especially some Japanese working in Beijing couldn't help but softly shout, "Skgye!"

On screen, the plot continued to advance swiftly, recounting the grim scene of the battle for San Francisco.

Next came the monsters' attack on Tokyo Bay; this segment was somewhat longer, the destruction effects extremely harrowing, leaving the audience feeling heavy-hearted.

After recounting several monster attack incidents, it then explained how humanity joined forces to build mecha, linking control via neurons, and that a single person cannot bear the load, requiring dual-pilot operation.

One could say that the opening brief three to five minutes conveyed a surprisingly vast amount of information.

Fortunately, every frame was so realistic that it could still convince the audience.

Then came the appearance of the drivers of the 'Wanderer' played by Wu Yan Zu and Xie Tingfeng; their handsome faces and sturdy muscles elicited soft exclamations from the female audience.

But what made the male audience scream was the Wanderer mecha itself, which looked massive, truly realistic, and immensely tall.

"The pilot suits they wear look really cool!"

"So full of texture!"

Too real, did you notice the wear on the helmet? This is what they've been through many times!

Just one word, handsome!

When the male lead's large cockpit rapidly descended and connected with the equipment below, the audience realized that the airdrop was actually a mecha's head.

Holy shit, this is the true head-butt overlord!

Fucking awesome, fucking awesome, fucking awesome! A guy with a full head of hair, resembling Yin Zheng from Flying Life, couldn't help but slap the seat and exclaim.

On the silver screen, the camera shot from low to high, showing wide and close-up views of the Wanderer's might, making the audience's hearts surge.

When Wu Yan Zu and Xie Tingfeng, playing the mecha pilots, waved their arms, causing the enormous Wanderer to perform a fist salute, the entire audience was stunned.

This move was so cool it could only be described as explosive.

This is the true fist salute, buddy!

(End of chapter)