Chapter 395: The Great Sage and Capital Expansion

Chapter 395: The Great Sage and Capital Expansion

Chapter 395: The Great Sage and Capital Expansion

The emergence of "The Return of the Great Sage" happened to remind Wang Hao, which gave him more ideas.

If you want to do animation, you can't just do 3D animation.

Computer special effects, 3D animation, triple-A game masterpieces... The technical correlation between these projects is still very high, and "Journey to the West", as one of the four great masterpieces of China, has a special place in the hearts of Chinese people.

Especially in recent years, from "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" to "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back", from "Journey to the West: Havoc in Heaven" to "Journey to the West: Part Three Strikes the White Bone Demon", it is enough to show everyone's love for the "Journey to the West" IP.

In this case, we already have "The Return of the Great Sage", a Journey to the West animation that is bound to be a big hit in the future. If we don't develop it in depth, it would be a waste of resources.

"I remember that Tencent Games is planning to launch an online game on the theme of Journey to the West in the next two years. Judging from the trailer, the reputation is pretty good. It's called "God of War".

Wang Hao looked at the secretary beside him and said:
"You guys go check the information about this "God of War" and see what the current status of this game is like? Also, what is the situation of its production team.

In addition, we should contact Star Game Entertainment and ask them to secretly contact the production team of "Douluo Dalu" and the 3D Journey to the West animation team just mentioned, to see if there is any opportunity for a film and game linkage, and strive to develop a domestic 3A stand-alone game masterpiece based on the Journey to the West theme.

This project can be taken as a key project of our new entertainment.”

The 3A stand-alone game with the Journey to the West theme that Wang Hao mentioned is naturally the famous "Black Myth: Wukong" in later generations.

When talking about "Black Myth: Wukong", we have to mention "God of War", and when talking about "God of War", we have to mention "The Legend of Wukong".

In 2000, Zeng Yu, who had just graduated from Xiamen University, began to serialize "The Legend of Sun Wukong" on Sina.com's Jin Yong Inn under the pen name "Jin Hezai".

He was 23 years old that year. At such a young age, he had no idea what he would write. He just sat in front of the computer, thinking and writing. Then, he created "The Legend of Sun Wukong", which is regarded as the ancestor of online novels and one of the earliest works to deconstruct "Journey to the West".

Later, the world view of "The Legend of Wukong" was extended to the game "Douluo Dalu".

This is an MMO online game that Tencent will launch next year. Although it has not yet been fully launched in public beta, the released CG animation alone has already excited a large number of game fans. It is highly anticipated and will be the most popular Journey to the West-themed game for some time to come.

It’s a pity that the game’s main creative team, including Feng Ji, Yang Qi and others, left at the beginning of the game’s release. The specific reason is unknown to the public, but there are rumors that they did not conform to the management philosophy of Tencent Games.

Anyway, without the main creative team, "Douluo Dalu" ended badly after the White Bone Demon chapter. After Feng Ji, Yang Qi and others left Tencent, they founded a small company called Game Science. Because they valued the explosion of the mobile game market at that time, they launched two mobile games in succession.

After that, Game Science began to develop stand-alone games, focusing on the Journey to the West theme, which led to the future famous and best-selling "Black Myth: Wukong".

According to what the creative team said later, they could not let everyone down again, so at the end of the first promotional video they wrote: After the bones, we return to the journey to the west.

Wang Hao still admires the lofty ideals of Feng Ji, Yang Qi and others.

So in order to prevent Feng Ji, Yang Qi and others from taking detours, Wang Hao didn't mind helping them.

And since we are talking about "The Return of the Great Sage", a work that has left a significant mark in the history of domestic animation, we naturally have to mention "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World", which is also very famous in the history of Chinese animation.

Coupled with the "Fengshen" animated film universe introduced by "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World", Wang Hao directly came up with an idea.

Perhaps they can open up a new anime movie universe besides the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe].

[Fengshen Animation Universe] is indeed a good idea and is far more suitable than the Journey to the West Universe.

"Journey to the West" is actually not suitable for adaptation into a movie universe because its team of protagonists is too monotonous: just a monkey, a pig, a monk, a curtain-pulling general and a horse.

Moreover, the core of the whole story is the journey to the West, which is a linear story. The audience is very familiar with it, so it is totally unsuitable for adaptation. The development of the story is too monotonous.

In comparison, "The Investiture of the Gods" is different. Its main character team includes many people, including Nezha, Erlang Shen, Lei Zhenzi, Ji Fa, and Jiang Ziya, and each of them has a good branch plot.

And the key is that the Galaxy Group cannot rely solely on the [Galaxy Movie Universe] project. As the group company expands, it must always look for new profit growth points. The [Fengshen Animation Universe] will be a good choice.

Of course, there is no rush for this project, as it will take a few more years for the domestic animation market to mature.

Wang Hao was thinking secretly in his mind. The secretary over there had already written down what he had instructed and was ready to contact the various departments when the time came.

In the following days, Wang Hao continued to devote his energy to various major projects of Galaxy Group, such as the early preparations for "Detective Chinatown 2" and the auditions for "Cold War".

Yes, "Cold War", a future masterpiece of Hong Kong films, has also been stitched into the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] by Wang Hao. Anyway, if he gets one of these good movies, there will be one less movie for Hong Kong entertainment. Why wouldn't he do something that would harm others and benefit himself?
The only problem is the casting of "Cold War". There are many Hong Kong actors in the original movie, and some of them conflict with previous movies in the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe].

For example, Aaron Kwok, who had previously played the male lead Li Wen in "Wushuang", and then played Liu Jiehui in "Cold War", which is a bit inappropriate.

And considering the current relationship between Galaxy Group and the Hong Kong circle, if you want to star in "Cold War", you have to take sides in terms of words, actions and mentality.

Of course, such trivial matters are mainly considered by the film's creative team. As the chairman, Wang Hao only needs to give opinions on the general direction, and he does not need to worry about specific matters.

During this period, the news that "Inception" won an Oscar finally spread on the Chinese Internet.

It’s not that this news has not been reported back to China before, but China in 2013 is no longer the same as it was in the past. Such things as Chinese films winning awards overseas are no longer enough to attract much attention from the public.

In addition, Wang Hao and the Galaxy Group did not publicize the matter. The reason why the news spread was that Li An’s movie was widely promoted after winning the Oscar, and Wang Hao’s "Inception" was also promoted at the same time.

Perhaps in the eyes of people in Taiwan's entertainment circle, Li An's great harvest at the Oscars overshadowed Wang Hao, which could somewhat suppress Wang Hao. There are also many voices on the Internet that are dragging him down, mainly saying that Wang Hao's films did not win many awards and honors, and were not as artistic as Li An's.

Wang Hao naturally doesn't care about these dying cries. "Life of Pi" is just Li An's last gasp. Instead of caring about such trivial matters, Wang Hao might as well care about his new pet.

Guli Nizha had just returned from abroad not long ago. As soon as she returned, the little girl found Wang Hao and wanted to throw herself into his arms, but Jing Tian happened to be in Beijing at the moment. Of course, Wang Hao couldn't take her home directly. Fortunately, he had a lot of real estate in Beijing, so he arranged for her to stay in a high-end apartment he bought, which was like raising a canary.

Time passed and it was March. Wang Hao had finally sorted out the company's affairs. After more than a month of release in mainland China, the movie "Gravity" finally had its own celebration party with a total box office of 3 billion.

On the day of the celebration banquet, in addition to the management of Galaxy Pictures and the crew members of the film, there were also many news media reporters and several leaders from the cultural and aerospace departments.

Everyone is very satisfied with the film's achievements. The total box office of 16.3 billion has surpassed Wang Hao's previous film "Inception" and has become the number one in the domestic box office rankings.

This is a huge publicity achievement for both the cultural and aerospace sectors, and just by looking at the post-credits Easter eggs in Wang Hao's movies, we can tell that gravity is just the beginning.

In the future, Wang Hao's [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] will definitely shoot more movies and TV series related to the aerospace industry.

Not to mention anything else, the "Jianmu Project" in the post-credits easter egg alone leaves a lot of room for imagination.

Under such circumstances, the aerospace department was naturally reluctant to give up Wang Hao, such a popular talent. At the celebration banquet, they praised Wang Hao highly in front of a group of media.

After the celebration party, the leaders of the aerospace department repeatedly told Wang Hao that they would strongly support Wang Hao and the Galaxy Group's project.

Wang Hao was naturally very happy about this. The domestic aerospace industry is still mainly based on national strength.

[Galaxy Cinematic Universe] has currently reached the middle of its second phase, and the story of cosmic rays has only just begun to reveal a few clues.

With the development of the movie universe, to the third stage, the dark forest, and the fourth stage, the braking era, there will be more and more cosmic rays related to aerospace.

By then, the strong support and cooperation of the aerospace department will naturally be indispensable.

Compared to the smiling crew of "Gravity", the crew of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" which was released at the same time as them could not smile at all.

Unlike Gravity, which ranked first in the mainland box office with 16.3 billion yuan, the total mainland box office of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons has just reached 6 million yuan. This figure is definitely a profit considering its own production cost.

However, if we take into account the time cost and the fame effect of Zhou Xingchi, this number will not be so ideal.

The most crucial thing is that with Zhou Xingchi's defeat in the clash with Wang Hao, the Hong Kong film and television circles have fully realized the strength and power of the Galaxy Group.

You have to know that Stephen Chow himself is now the most box office-appealing commercial film director in Hong Kong. Now that even he can't beat Wang Hao, who else in his own camp can compete with him?
Moreover, the Hong Kong film market itself is currently in a period of transition, and there are very few new directors who can emerge.

In comparison, Wang Hao is only 30 years old now, in the prime of his life, and he has several young commercial film directors under him.

It is almost certain that the mainland film and television industry will overwhelm the Hong Kong film and television industry in the future, and it is visible to the naked eye.

Under such circumstances, it does not seem so wise to continue to compete with the mainland film and television circles such as Wang Hao.

The Hong Kong film and television industry went north to seek wealth. Isn't it good for everyone to make money together? Why do they have to fight with each other and benefit those Hollywood outsiders?

With this idea in mind, some smarter Hong Kong artists who are already inclined towards the mainland took the lead in standing up and, intentionally or unintentionally, expressed the view that they should unite rather than fight in certain public occasions.

They said that the Hong Kong film and television industry is also part of the Chinese film industry, and we are also patriotic.

In response to this, Han Sanye of Huaying Group also made a special phone call to Wang Hao, saying that he also had connections in the Hong Kong entertainment circle. Someone passed the message to the higher-ups, and the higher-ups also spoke.

"What are the leader's instructions?" Wang Hao asked Mr. Han Sanye on the other end of the phone.

Mr. Han laughed on the phone:
"The leader said that this is the era of marketization. You must comply with the law and regulations in your company's business competition and not use crooked means."

"Okay, we will definitely follow the leader's instructions." Wang Hao nodded in response, but after hanging up the phone, he sneered.

These guys in Hong Kong still don't understand the situation. Do they really think it's like 10 years ago now?
But it’s okay. Since the leader said so, he can let go and “compete” with those guys.

After "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", Zhou Xingchi also has "The Mermaid" and "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back".

In addition to these, there is also next year's "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons". Oh, and next year's John Woo's "The Crossing". These rotten fish and shrimps should be regarded as the last dying struggle of the Hong Kong circle.

Wang Hao was thinking this in his mind and had already sentenced the Hong Kong entertainment industry to death.

Of course, the declining Hong Kong entertainment industry is not worth Wang Hao's excessive concern. He just needs to concentrate on developing his own career.

For example, in March, Tao Piaopiao’s Series B financing will begin.

Thanks to the ticket subsidy war during this year's Spring Festival, Taopiao.com's market share directly increased by 17.8%.

This result directly surpassed the emerging ticketing websites that have just emerged, such as Meituan’s Maoyan, to the point where they can’t even see the tail gas.

With the largest national market share, those capital groups may still have the confidence to compete.

However, the combination of high-quality content and exclusive licensing has made those ticketing companies despair. Even Zhou Xingchi was defeated by Wang Hao. Where can they find directors like Wang Hao and projects like "Galaxy Cinematic Universe" to deeply integrate with their own ticketing systems?

Without good content, people can't buy the movie tickets they want to watch using their ticketing system. Then, no matter how much subsidies the ticketing software provides or how low the ticket price is, it will be useless. The fundamental purpose of audiences using ticketing software is to buy tickets to watch movies.

(End of this chapter)