Chapter 115 - 111 Alms-gathering_1

After communicating with the people from Hua Ying, Lin Ju slowly understood their intentions.

Hard science fiction has always been a genre that domestic film festivals yearned to break through in, especially after a certain unknown electrical engineer named Liu became famous for sci-fi novels like Three Body, the script issue was also resolved.

Since Three Body had already been purchased by someone else, Hua Ying could only buy The Wandering Earth, pondering how to make it into a good sci-fi movie.

This year they officially decided on Guo Fan as the director, who, while organizing the script revisions and establishing the worldview, was also thinking about how to make a good sci-fi movie with domestic basic conditions.

Why does Hollywood have so many sci-fi blockbusters? Mainly because the special effects and props companies have developed into a complete industry chain; they have mature designs ready to use immediately, while in China, in this respect, it can only be said to be nearly zero.

As for space movies, it’s not that China doesn’t have any; "Feitian" was released in 2011, telling the story of astronauts, but the film primarily conformed to the main theme, and there wasn’t much achievement in the realm of science fiction.

Could it be that for one movie, they must prepare an entire sci-fi props, special effects, and design industry chain themselves? After taking on the role of director, Guo Fan thought hard and then saw the moon landing plan announced by New Yuan Aeronautics.

H1 and H2 space shuttles, giant rockets, spacecraft, and so on; not to mention the CG alone was quite impressive, let alone the fact that they had already sent so many astronauts into space.

If there was a genuine aerospace company willing to invest in the production crew, not only would the scientific guidance be secured, and the props, but also perhaps the funding issues could be solved...

So, they came to seek help from Lin Ju, hoping to get comprehensive support, or at least the props and scientific guidance.

"Well..." Lin Ju stroked his chin. He was actually quite willing to support sci-fi movies, and although The Wandering Earth had its fair share of problems, it was still a legitimate sci-fi movie, so it wouldn’t be an issue to support it.

Even the investment was a minor matter; the entire movie’s final investment was less than 600 million yuan—how much could it be to support it?

Moreover, wouldn’t this be considered as a part of expanding the influence of aerospace?

"New Yuan Aeronautics can provide funding, scientific guidance, and prop assistance, but I also have a few requirements," Lin Ju said.

"Please tell me," responded Guo Fan.

"First, as a commercial operation, New Yuan Aeronautics must be featured in the film and be positively represented," Lin Ju stated.

Guo Fan nodded, "That’s only fair, but the specifics of the feature will have to be determined based on the amount of investment."

New Yuan was a space company, and it would not be out of place in a sci-fi movie; Guo Fan didn’t think there would be any difficulty with that requirement.

"Second, and this is very important, do not add any romantic plotlines. This is my non-negotiable condition for investing."

"What?" Guo Fan was somewhat stunned, but Lin Ju’s expression was serious, obviously not joking.

He didn’t quite understand the reason, and after exchanging glances with his colleagues and thinking carefully for a while, he replied:

"That’s not a big deal; romance usually has a very small proportion in sci-fi movies anyway, but may I know the reason?"

Lin Ju said, "Because once the elements of romance are added, the script will uncontrollably gain a romantic tag, disrupting the rigor of science. There are too many domestic romance movies, with love stories in every genre; The Wandering Earth can do without it."

Guo Fan replied, "Alright."

Lin Ju continued, "Lastly, New Yuan demands that its share of the investment should not be less than 30%."

At this moment, the representatives from Hua Ying shook their heads:

"Mr. Lin, that is too much for us. For a film, the production crew gets a share, the cinema chains get a share, the distributors get a share; squeezing out 15 to 20 percent is already the limit," they said.

Lin Ju looked at Guo Fan, "My engineers are all extremely busy; offering their time to help with film shooting is purely out of support for science fiction films. Moreover, I can provide chips that no one else can offer you."

Guo Fan and the Hua Ying Shares people looked at each other in confusion, not understanding what Lin Ju meant.

"The production team can have a chance to shoot in space, no more than 6 people, staying in the space station for no more than 10 days."

Guo Fan: !

Hua Ying Shares: !

Guo Fan was incoherent for a good while, until finally, someone from Hua Ying Shares regained composure:

"Heavens... Mr. Lin, I have seen your quotations for commercial spaceflights. The cost alone is already several times higher than what we had planned to invest in the crew. To be frank, right now we are only prepared to raise 200 to 300 million in funding.

This...this, this."

Lin Ju: "Then just convert that number into US dollars, start with an investment of 1 billion RMB, excluding the space shooting that I mentioned."

Guo Fan was stunned by the statement "Start with a preliminary investment of 1 billion, space shooting not included", feeling his scalp tingle at the thought of shooting a real science fiction movie in space, his heart seemed ready to leap out of his chest.

If it wasn’t for Hua Ying Shares being there, with the rights in their hands, Guo Fan would have wished to acknowledge Lin Ju as his adoptive father.

A casual remark of "Start with 1 billion investment" – if those investors had the courage, what good movies couldn’t be made?

The people from Hua Ying Shares felt almost faint, holding their foreheads for a long time before squeezing out:

"Sorry, Mr. Lin, we must go back and discuss this thoroughly."

Lin Ju nodded and pointed at Guo Fan, "If it doesn’t work out, defect to us. I’ll decide to buy ’Three Body’, and we can shoot ’Three Body’ instead. For the trilogy, I guarantee a minimum of 1.5 billion for each film, focusing on films by the Chinese People."

Guo Fan could no longer contain himself, he approached and firmly grasped Lin Ju’s hands disregarding Hua Ying’s presence:

"Shoot! Let’s do ’The Wandering Earth’ as you said. I’ve drifted aimlessly for half my life, lamenting not meeting a discerning leader until today. Now that I have met you, I wish I could prostrate myself on the ground and offer you my utmost respect!"

Lin Ju comforted him, patting Guo Fan’s hands, "I’m just an ordinary person, providing a little help for domestic science fiction, the main effort still lies with cultural workers like you."

Hua Ying’s side could no longer bear to watch the scene of a perfect match between a talented man and a great employer, and they too knelt before Lin Ju’s financial onslaught:

"Mr. Lin, based on your support alone, New Yuan will take the lead in investment, Hua Ying will follow your lead!"

...

On October 11th, donating to ’The Wandering Earth’ production team earned a merit of +10, obtaining a great patron, accelerating the development of domestic science fiction movies, a great deed indeed.

Although the box office of ’The Wandering Earth’ was quite good, Lin Ju did not need to rely on movie earnings, for how much could that earn him? Could it compare to one space launch mission? Moreover, the latter was quicker and with less risk.

A few days later, Hua Ying agreed to New Yuan’s decision to increase the investment to 1 billion, but the final total investment was not 1 billion, but 2 billion, with the space shooting valued at 1 billion, which the crew would absolutely not give up on.

An investment of over 300 million US dollars is considered a huge investment in the entire world, comparable only to a few epic blockbusters that disregard costs.

Once backed with substantial funding, many of the problems the crew had originally encountered became insignificant before this money. They could even start from scratch to train numerous professional teams. They immediately decided to start shooting after the Spring Festival in March 2016, aiming to release it in mid-2017.

Almost two years ahead of schedule, Boss Lin was barely satisfied.