Chapter 758 The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong!

It is normal for Li Xiaoping not to be optimistic about "The Wandering Earth".

This cannot be blamed on her "lack of vision". In fact, the current domestic science fiction movies are indeed not very good.

Although Wu Yuan’s talents are at the forefront, as mentioned before, making Chinese science fiction movies now is still a thankless task.

Especially if you want to make a sci-fi special effects blockbuster that competes with Hollywood, it is extremely risky.

A cost of at least US$150 million must be prepared, which means that the box office will require 3 billion yuan to recover the cost!

In the absence of overseas markets, relying solely on the mainland film market, a 3 billion return line is undoubtedly extremely outrageous.

Except for international-level directors like Wu Yuan, any other domestic director who makes a science fiction blockbuster is unlikely to reach Hollywood standards and can only reduce investment.

So even after Wu Yuan shot "Gravity", domestic film companies have been making science fiction films, but 99% of them are romance films, comedy films, etc. under the banner of science fiction films.

Even if it is a real "sci-fi blockbuster", it is a low-cost version, not shoddy, but there is indeed a gap between it and a real sci-fi blockbuster.

Mainland movie fans, who have been whetted by Hollywood blockbusters and Wu Yuan's movies, are of course dissatisfied with such sci-fi movies, and most of them have been rated as bad.

Under such circumstances, Li Xiaoping would naturally not be interested in science fiction movies prepared by other companies or directors.

Not to mention that Guo Fan is still a director with a very light resume. The last film he directed was a low-budget youth romance film.

Do you think a director who makes youth romance movies can make an excellent science fiction blockbuster with special effects?

Who can believe this kind of thing?

Because of this, even if Guo Fan tried his best to beg for money and cheat people everywhere, the financial preparations for "The Wandering Earth" have never been smooth. It took several years of stumbling to raise almost enough funds to start filming.

And if nothing else goes wrong, the financial chain will be broken during the shooting. Simply put, the money prepared is not enough, and there will be no money halfway through the shooting.

Wu Jing, who was still a guest star for 31 days, continued to act and became the leading actor. Seeing that the filming funds were a bit tight, he later added 60 million in funds as a producer.

This is a normal situation when shooting movies.

Most movies will go through multiple capital injections such as pre-shooting, mid-shooting, and post-shooting injections. It is not necessary to prepare all the money before shooting. Additional investment is very common.

It is also because of this that Wu Yuan feels that there is still a chance to take a bite in the era of light and shadow.

The box office of "The Wandering Earth" is 4.6 billion!

He didn't have the chance to take the photo himself, but he couldn't watch the cake flow away from his mouth!

"In short, I am very optimistic about the project "The Wandering Earth". The country needs more excellent science fiction blockbusters to emerge, and it also needs to prove to the market that the mainland film market alone can produce excellent science fiction blockbusters!"

"Now the film market in Mainland China is not much worse than that in North America. Back then, Hollywood could rely on North America alone to support its own science fiction blockbusters, and so can we!"

Wu Yuan knocked on the desk with one hand and said confidently.

Li Xiaoping didn't know why he was so optimistic about "The Wandering Earth" and the director Guo Fan, but her trust in Wu Yuan had already reached its highest level, and she believed whatever Wu Yuan said.

There was no way, Wu Yuan had done too many things that left her stunned but in the end it proved that he was right.

So when Wu Yuan was so sure, Li Xiaoping had no choice but to nod and said: "I understand. I will send someone to contact the crew of "The Wandering Earth". I hope they will accept additional investment now."

"Don't worry, I will definitely accept it." Wu Yuan stood up and patted Li Xiaoping on the shoulder with a smile: "I know these directors who make science fiction films very well. Even if the crew is not short of money for the time being, someone comes to ask for investment. No one will be refused.”

"Making science fiction movies is a bottomless pit. If you want to strive for excellence, there is no upper limit on investment. Even if you spend three to five billion US dollars, you can do it. Look at Cameron, he has been working on "Avatar 2" for how many years. Continuous additional investment has put investors under great pressure.”

"Guo Fan must be short of money too."

"Then let's settle it for now." Li Xiaoping nodded, casually recorded the matter in the to-do list, and brought the topic back: "What about you?"

"What about your new movie? Is it also going to be a science fiction movie?"

"Well?" Wu Yuan scratched his head, he was really distressed.

In the next two years, none of the mainland's top-grossing movies will be suitable for him. Almost all of Hollywood's top-grossing movies are IP sequels and animated films, with no original and high-grossing movies at all.

If he really had to choose, he seemed to have no choice but to make the script himself!

After thinking about it, Wu Yuan sighed and sat back on the chair: "Sister Xiaoping, how is the company's Xianxia movie universe doing?"

"How about I take part in one too?"

"There really aren't any good commercial film ideas recently."

"How about I make a movie about "The Great Sage"?"

"Great Sage?" Li Xiaoping frowned: "Sun Wukong?"

"Are you planning to introduce the myth of Sun Wukong into our Xianxia universe?"

"I have this idea." Wu Yuan nodded: "Look, Marvel also has characters such as Thor and Loki from the Norse mythology system. We can also borrow some characters from Chinese historical legends."

"The Monkey King Sun Wukong can be said to be the most famous and favorite mythological hero in the minds of Chinese people. It is a timeless classic IP."

"Last year's "The Return of the Great Sage" has become a representative work of the rise of Chinese comics, breaking the box office of domestic animated films, and it is still based on the IP of the Monkey King."

"There is no need to count the movies before. Almost every two or three years, there will be a movie related to the Monkey King-Sun Wukong."

"Our company can also use this IP."

"However, I don't plan to use the Monkey King Sun Wukong as the protagonist directly, but want to tell a story about modern people inheriting the will of the Monkey King-Sun Wukong."

"Inheritance?" Li Xiaoping was a little puzzled.

"It's about a modern young man who was chosen by Sun Wukong when the earth crisis came. After undergoing various trials, he obtained his chainmail golden armor, phoenix-wing purple gold crown, lotus silk cloud shoes and the most important Ruyi Jingu Bang, becoming a new superhero who inherited the full set of equipment and will of the Monkey King, and then saved the world."

"Too many movies about the Monkey King - Sun Wukong have been made, and his story has been filmed over and over again. It's hard to come up with something new. It's better to make a bold innovation!"

"Let's cultivate a modern version of the new Monkey King!" (End of this chapter)