Chapter 466: The aborted [Jinyiwei Universe]

Wang Hao and Xu Ke stayed in the office for the entire morning. The teacups on the table were empty and full, full and empty again.

The bright sunlight at noon shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto the two of them, reflecting their focused expressions. Even when it was time to eat, Wang Hao simply asked his secretary to deliver the meal to the office, and the two continued their discussion while eating.

"Director Xu, the main theme of the [Shushan Cinematic Universe] must have the profoundness of Chinese culture and history."

Wang Hao put down his chopsticks and spoke in a firm tone.

"We can't give up the hidden advantage of Chinese history like those fictional ancient idol dramas, and many stories in the original work of "Swordsman of Shu Mountain" have a specific historical background, which we must also retain."

Xu Ke nodded in agreement, took a bite of food and put it in his mouth. After chewing for a while, he said:

“Mr. Wang is right, the historical background not only adds to the authenticity of the story, but also provides more room for the characters to grow.

Their growth must be reflected in the story, so that the audience can see their transformation from ordinary people to sword masters and practitioners."

He has a point.

Many fairy-heroes and ancient idol dramas of later generations have a fundamental sense of being out of touch with the masses. The male and female protagonists are either the sons or daughters of the emperor, or the reincarnation of the gods in heaven, the most beautiful woman in the world, or the last god in the world. They exude a stench of decay from the very beginning.

Not to mention Wang Hao, even Tsui Hark, who made the "Once Upon a Time in China" series, would not accept such a setting. Although he is a more commercial director, he also came from that era and worked his way up from a small figure. He still has a fighting spirit in his bones.

Wang Hao looked at him and smiled, with a hint of approval in his eyes:
“Yes, the struggle, learning and growth of the character are very important.”

Xu Ke put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and continued:

“Regarding the historical background, I suggest setting it in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. That era was chaotic enough, the society was turbulent, and the conflict between good and evil was even more intense.

And when I filmed The Legend of Zu before, the story was also set in this era, so I have some experience.”

Wang Hao pondered for a moment and shook his head:

“The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was indeed quite chaotic, but it is not well-known enough. Unless domestic audiences are history enthusiasts, they generally only know the name of that era but have no specific knowledge of it.

In contrast, if we put it in the context of a more well-known era, it might be more resonant.”

Xu Ke frowned slightly and asked tentatively: "What does Mr. Wang mean?"

Wang Hao said in a calm tone:

“Let’s set it in the early Ming Dynasty, as this era has both a heavy sense of history and enough dramatic tension.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang expelled the Mongols and established the Ming Dynasty. Society moved from turmoil to stability, but the conflicts between the rivers and lakes, the cultivation world, and the court remained fierce.

This background can not only reflect the confrontation between good and evil, but also provide rich space for the characters to grow.”

Xu Ke's eyes sparkled, and he was obviously moved by Wang Hao's proposal:
“The early Ming Dynasty… is indeed a good choice. The rise of Zhu Yuanzhang, the rise and fall of spiritual sects, and the confrontation between good and evil forces can all be incorporated into the story.”

Wang Hao nodded and added:
“In addition, the audience is more familiar with Ming history, and we can also enhance the sense of immersion through costumes, architecture, and cultural details, allowing the audience to feel the authenticity and depth of this world.

And the subsequent stories are also better developed, such as the succession of Jianwen after Hongwu, the Jingnan Campaign, the Yongle Reign, and Zheng He's voyages to the West. These can all be combined with mythological elements and reinterpreted in conjunction with "Shushan". "

Upon hearing this, Tsui Hark patted the table excitedly:
"Boss Wang, this is a great idea! With the reign of several emperors in the early Ming Dynasty as the historical background, we can at least have a time span of one or two hundred years to film.

And the fairy-tale version of Zheng He's voyages to the West...this is a good idea, just like China's "Pirates of the Caribbean".

To be honest, I actually planned to shoot a second part of the previous film "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame" called "The Dragon King of the Divine Capital", which has a similar style to this one, but I always felt it was boring. Mr. Wang, the addition of the fairy-tale elements you mentioned gives me a different feeling. "

Wang Hao smiled, with a firm tone in his voice:

"Director Xu, now that the background has been decided, let's hurry up and perfect the script and world view settings.

The historical background of the early Ming Dynasty is just the beginning. We want to make [Shushan Cinematic Universe] a film series that has both cultural heritage and visual shock."

Xu Ke nodded solemnly, with a determined light in his eyes:
"Don't worry, Mr. Wang. I will definitely go all out to make this project the best it can be."

Wang Hao nodded slightly and continued:
“In addition, the roles will also need to be significantly changed.

There are many characters in the original novel, and the main and secondary characters are not clear. My initial plan is to focus on the "Three Heroes and Two Clouds" and weaken the "Seven Dwarfs of Emei".

This allows us to focus our attention, making the main characters more vivid and the story line clearer.”

Tsui Hark nodded in agreement:

“That’s fine! ‘Three Heroes and Two Clouds’ are the core characters in the original novel. Developing the story around them will indeed make it easier for the audience to empathize.”

Wang Hao looked at Xu Ke at this time, with a thoughtful tone in his voice:

“However, in the original novel, ‘Three Heroes and Two Clouds’ consists of four women and one man, so the gender ratio is a bit unbalanced.

Although our [Shushan Cinematic Universe] is mainly about Xianxia culture, it is inclined towards traditional Taoist and Buddhist spirits and does not engage in love affairs, but we still have to take care of all aspects of the audience and not have more females than males. After all, Xianxia-themed movies are still mainly for male audiences.”

Xu Ke frowned and asked tentatively: "Mr. Wang, do you mean... to adjust the gender ratio?"

Wang Hao nodded:

“Yes, we need to change it!
In "Three Heroes and Two Yuns", the "three heroes" refer to Li Yingqiong, Yu Yingnan, and Yan Renying, and the "two clouds" refer to Qi Lingyun and Zhou Qingyun.

Among them, Yan Renying is the only male. I think we can change one of the female characters in "Three Yings and Two Yuns" to a male. In this way, there will be three females and two males, and the gender ratio will be more balanced, which can also attract more male audiences. "

Xu Ke thought for a moment, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes:
"Mr. Wang, your suggestion is very good. We can change Zhou Qingyun in 'Eryun' to a male character. This character was originally the daughter of an ordinary martial arts hero Zhou Chun, with no background. Changing her gender will not have a big impact on the subsequent work.

This not only balances the gender ratio, but also adds more dramatic conflicts and character interactions.”

Wang Hao smiled, with some approval in his tone:

“Director Xu, your idea is good. Adapting Zhou Qingyun into a male character can not only balance the gender ratio, but also inject new vitality into the story.

The specific setting of the characters is left to you, Director Xu. There is also the social background, general framework, aesthetic style, and special effects requirements of the entire film universe. These tasks are very heavy.”

When Xu Ke heard this, he saw Wang Hao glance at the clock next to him. He knew that although it was still early, the other party obviously had something else to do, so he didn't pull him to continue the deep conversation.

Anyway, judging from Wang Hao's tone, this project is most likely to be handed over to him. "Okay, Mr. Wang, rest assured, I will fully understand your intentions and run this project according to your requirements, ensuring that the story of [Shushan Movie Universe] is consistent with the essence of the original work and can meet the aesthetic needs of modern audiences. I will do my best to make this project the best it can be."

"That's fine."

Wang Hao stood up, adjusted his suit cuffs, and spoke with a relaxed tone, as if he was about to see the guest off. Tsui Hark also quickly stood up.

"Next, I will arrange for the special effects team of Starlight Fantasy and the company's screenwriter team to connect with you. In addition, together with the logistics department and the person in charge of Galaxy Pictures, we will form a [Shushan Movie Universe] project team.

You can communicate with them about the specific details first, talk about the settings, style, ideas, etc., and then join the discussion after I finish the things at hand.

Xu Ke quickly stood up, bowed slightly, and said with some gratitude in his tone: "Don't worry, Mr. Wang, I will definitely live up to your trust."

Wang Hao smiled and patted Xu Ke on the shoulder:

"Director Xu, you don't have to be so polite. We are all trying to make the Shushan Cinematic Universe a success and promote the traditional Chinese classical culture.

Anyway, the early stages of the project will definitely not be too difficult, and the movie universe will not have big scenes and big actions from the beginning. It is better to focus on the "origin" movie first, introduce the world view and main characters of Shushan, and then gradually expand it to introduce more characters and story lines.

So don't feel too stressed, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Okay, I have something else to do this afternoon, you go ahead and do your work."

Xu Ke nodded in agreement, and as Wang Hao watched him leave, he backed out of the office of the chairman of Galaxy Group.

After taking the elevator down to the first floor and walking out of the door of the Galaxy Building, Tsui Hark, standing in the sun, breathed a sigh of relief and a smile of relief appeared on his face.

He looked up at the towering building behind him and felt that this was not a company headquarters at all, but clearly a Feng Shui treasure land containing countless treasures.

And now, he had finally entered this Feng Shui treasure land and successfully obtained some of the treasures within it.

Sure enough, this guy still needs to keep his eyes open and stand in line early.

He can't even have a hot meal after all this, but at least with a project like "Shushan Movie Universe", his retirement life is taken care of, and his future reputation will not be as bad as some other Hong Kong directors.

When he thought of this, Tsui Hark's heart was filled with energy. He seemed to be a dozen years younger and even walked with the wind.

On the top floor of the Galaxy Building, Wang Hao looked through the floor-to-ceiling window at Tsui Hark's receding back and smiled slightly.

With Tsui Hark and the "Shushan Movie Universe" as a good example, the future of the Hong Kong entertainment industry will not be a problem at all.

Of course, he told Tsui Hark that he had something else to do in the afternoon, and it was not a lie.

After seeing Tsui Hark off, the secretary assistant quickly knocked on the door and came in, informing him that everyone in the conference room had arrived.

Wang Hao came to the conference room. Sitting in the room were Lu Yang and the main behind-the-scenes members of his film team.

These people just completed the filming of the movie "The Blade of the Assassin" not long ago, and the work has now entered the post-production stage.

The content of the meeting was also very simple. It was nothing more than some current situations of "The Blade of the Assassin" and some gains and summaries of Lu Yang's young team during the filming process.

In addition, there is also the broadcast of existing materials of "The Blade of the Assassin" and the choice of direction for the subsequent editing and production of this film.

Even though Wang Hao was the chairman of the Galaxy Group, he did not intervene too much in these matters. He just let Lu Yang speak and expressed his agreement.

However, at the end of the meeting, Wang Hao said something that shocked Lu Yang and his friends, that is, the original Jinyiwei trilogy series plan has now encountered new twists and turns.

"My company and I have come to the conclusion that this project will be completely over after the release of Blade of the Assassin."

Hearing this, Lu Yang immediately stood up excitedly.

"Boss Wang, is there any problem with our film "The Blade of the Assassin"? "

Lu Yang looked very anxious. At this time last year, the project of "Knife of the Assassin" had just been launched not long ago. At that time, he heard the news that "Knife of the Assassin" would have a prequel and a sequel, with a total of three films, forming a "Jinyiwei" series.

But now only a year has passed, how come the situation has changed?

He was afraid that there was something wrong with his directing skills and Wang Hao was not satisfied with "The Blade of the Assassin".

However, he didn't expect that Wang Hao's next words would make his heart, which had sunk to the bottom of the valley, suddenly soar into the sky like a rocket.

“There is nothing wrong with The Blade of the Assassin. I just watched it. It was filmed well. The post-production went according to the original plan. The finished film should be good and will be well received by the audience.

However, the company now has a new project, and the story background of this project happens to coincide with your "The Blade of the Assassin".

In addition, your "Jin Yi Wei" series is based on conventional history, which has insufficient potential and low content scalability, making it difficult to develop a movie universe.

So I discussed with several heads of the creative department and decided that it would be better to use your project team as the basis to form the team for the new movie universe."

Lu Yang, who was originally extremely worried, was stunned for a moment, and then looked at each other with his friends.

A new cinematic universe project?!
Wang Hao did not give them the opportunity to continue asking questions and directly told them what he had discussed with Tsui Hark last night.

"The company is planning to develop a [Shushan Movie Universe] with Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, and the historical background of the story will also be set in the early Ming Dynasty."

Wang Hao's words instantly turned Lu Yang and his team from disappointment to excitement.

They originally thought that the "Assassin's Blade" series would be completely abandoned, but they didn't expect that the company actually had bigger plans and would incorporate their team into the big project of "Shushan Movie Universe".

Although there was talk within the company before that he wanted to expand his "Knife of the Assassin" series into a "Jin Yiwei Movie Universe", after actually directing and filming "Knife of the Assassin", Lu Yang knew that this hope was slim.

After all, the tone of "Knife of the Assassin" was too low when the project was launched. It is a low-key costume action film with a serious and political struggle theme. In terms of visual effects, it is not even as good as some traditional martial arts movies. The only thing worth watching is the political struggle, but this cannot support the main line of a movie universe.

Coupled with the decline of martial arts movies, which have low market acceptance and audience popularity, the crew of "The Blade of the Assassin" is actually not very optimistic about the "Jin Yi Wei Movie Universe". They would be satisfied if they could make the trilogy of the series well and get a suitable box office result.

And now, the [Shushan Movie Universe] that Wang Hao is talking about, just the name sounds more impressive than the [Jinyiwei Movie Universe], and its feasibility is naturally much higher.

After that, no one had the time to pay attention to "The Blade of the Assassin" and the "Jin Yi Wei Movie Universe". All their attention was focused on what Wang Hao called the "Shu Mountain Movie Universe".

(End of this chapter)

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