Chapter 279 - Unexpected Box Office

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Everyone was stunned. This time, they’d truly realized what was real kungfu!

The audience present was completely awed. Someone praised, “This is called kungfu, this is our Heavenly State’s kungfu!”

The famous movie critic, Zhang Wen, sat at a corner in the hall as he furiously wrote down: “This is called kungfu, it’s real kungfu. After watching ‘The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber: Pugilistic World,’ I only feel that those wuxia films that I’ve previously watched are just a bunch of kids fighting. It’s fine as long as the special effects are good? What does it mean by good special effects? If I’m going to film a movie, then I’m going to film real kungfu! Really! Dear film lovers, from now own, you can address me as Young Master Hong Dali’s loyal follower.”

The movie continued, and the audience watched in mesmerization. At this point, as the mysterious expert was very satisfied after eating the beggar’s chicken, he taught a move from the Nine Suns Dragon Taming Palm to the male lead. The male lead was especially talented, and he actually knew how to inculcate it into his practice and eventually cultivate and create the “Nine Suns Dragon Taming Palm”!

Zhang Wen watched in awe. He could definitely see that that “Dragon Taming Palm” move was real kungfu!

By then, it was naturally time for the antagonist to appear. As expected, the exceedingly handsome antagonist, Mu Zixiao, made a grand appearance!

The audience gasped in wonder. The martial arts scene between the two handsome men was something that they had never thought of previously. Now, they were actually fighting furiously with both attack and defense from both parties, and the whole hall was left with no other noise apart from that of the sound of fighting.

Unexpectedly, as Lin Hao had to take care of the positive public images of the male and female leads, he’d arranged for Mu Zixiao to stir up trouble once he appeared, which made the avid film lovers dissatisfied. Quite a number of people scolded. “This director really doesn’t have any keen sight. Such a handsome person is actually made to act as the antagonist!” Fortunately, Lin Hao didn’t hear that, or else that fellow would definitely vomit blood to death.

The storyline afterward could be said to have climaxes one after another, wave after wave.

The protagonist Duan Wuji went up the Songshan mountain to save the beauty. At the bottom of the Heartless Valley, the six major sects cornered Bright Peak, battling at Shaolin Temple, with its storyline arranged till it was extremely thrilling as it gave the audience a huge visual impact.

Everyone present held their breaths. This movie was totally earth-shattering, as the storylines were closely linked with consecutive climaxes. Every storyline was enough to make the audience deeply hooked, unable to relieve themselves from it.

When it was the final sword-fighting at Huashan, everyone unanimously gave a thunderous and explosive round of applause, and the film lovers at the premiere started to wildly shout out “Young Master.”

By now, the characters in the movie had been slowly forgotten by everyone. In their hearts, no matter how outstanding the performances of the actors were, it was due to the setup of the plot by Young Master Hong Dali. Without the storyline, they wouldn’t excel in any character they portrayed.

The premiere came to a satisfying end. Lao Deming sat in the conference room, listening to the report from the secretary.

“Director Lao,” The secretary stared at the form in his hand, and his voice was serious and solemn. “At present, there is positive reception from the audience that has watched ‘The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber: Pugilistic World.’ However, the current box office is not very optimistic…”

“How much is the current box office earnings?” Lao Deming said with a heavy voice. “Is there at least 5 million?”

The box office earnings from the premiere were extremely important. Normally, it would decide the future box office results. Thus, he could not help but worry.

“N… no…” Cold sweat trickled down the secretary’s forehead. “The current total box office earnings is… 1.15 million.”

“What?!” Lao Deming almost fell from his chair. “How is it possible that it’s so little?!”

“It’s… It’s because,” The secretary said with difficulty. “Everyone went to watch the Hollywood blockbuster war film, ‘Air-Raid of the Trump Cards.’ After watching, most of them returned to rest. Thus, there weren’t many people who stayed to watch our movie. Director, do you think in the future… will a miracle happen? After all, Hollywood’s side will have a blockbuster horror film screening soon at the prime nighttime…”

“This…” Lao Deming thought for a while, then fiercely slammed the table. “No matter what, believe in Young Master’s ability! Help me inform the reporters not to go so soon. Tomorrow at 8:00 PM, I’m going to announce two big news!”

Chenhui Building, level four, Lin Chuyin’s laboratory.

“This effect is quite good!” Hong Dali was completely unconcerned about the box office of the Pugilistic World. Currently, he was grinning and staring at the computer screen in front of him. “In that case, won’t it be much easier for CG animation to be created?”

It turned out that, on the screen in front of Hong Dali’s eyes, there were two people fighting fiercely with each other. Needless to say, the people who were able to execute such real kungfu were none other than Mu Zixiao and Geezer Wang.

“En, now all the joints and movements of the character’s body are displayed on the computer screen.” The person-in-charge, Le Anxuan, smiled and said, “Now we can even see how the fingers move, haha. As expected, Young Master’s idea is still the best!”

Lin Chuyin said plainly, “Uh, currently, it looks like everything is normal and there are no problems left. Once the skin texture is added to the character, it can be seen as exactly the same as CG animation.”

Tang Anqi, who had followed Mu Zixiao and the rest here, watched in bewilderment. This was the first time she got to know that CG animation could actually be created this way! The movements of the blue and white characters in the computer were exactly like that of a real human. If it was really like what that blue-haired pretty teenage girl with a pair of ponytails had said, then, as long as skin texture was added, this portion of CG animation with no flaws at all would be considered a success!

“Alright, alright.” Hong Dali smiled as he said to Mu Zixiao and Geezer Wang who were still fighting. “Rest for a while, seems like there aren’t any problems for now. Haha, this is really good!”

“Dali,” Mu Zixiao, who was dressed like an alien, came over smiling and said, “This outfit doesn’t feel too bad when I put it on—it doesn’t affect me much. It’s just that it’s a little inconvenient because my whole face is blocked.”

Mu Zixiao was currently wearing a tight-fitting Node Projection Suit on the inside. On the outside, he wore a simple and basic nodal projection holy garment, and behind him was a wireless signal receiver. Even while dressed in these, all his movements looked extremely natural when they were projected to the computer, without any amateurish feeling.

“Young Master Mu,” Le Anxuan was in charge of this project, thus, he asked very seriously. “Are there any areas for improvement?”

“None for now.” Mu Zixiao shook his head. “Currently, it’s very good without any problems.”

“That’s good.” Hong Dali smiled and said, “Go change your clothes, looks like this set of technology can very quickly be put to use.” After he finished speaking, he curiously turned around and looked at Tang Anqi, who had been standing at the side, as he curiously asked, “Oh right, who are you?”

Tang Anqi was very despondent. Seems like there was still room for improvement on her level of presence. She hurriedly replied, “Hello, Young Master Dali. I’m Tang Anqi, a reporter from Star Entertainment Magazine.”

“Oh, a reporter?” Hong Dali asked strangely, “You have something to say to me?”

“Yes… there is something,” Tang Anqi said. “I just felt that since you didn’t go even for your movie premiere, there must be something big that you need to do. So I decided to be thick-skinned and come over here to take a look as well. You won’t drive me out, will you?”

“This,” Hong Dali shook his head. “I won’t. There’s nothing much to see here anyway… Oh right, regarding our technology, please keep it a secret.”

“Sure, sure.” Tang Anqi raised her hands and made a turn. “I didn’t bring any devices capable of visual or audio recording. You can rest assured, Young Master Dali.”

“En, OK,” Hong Dali shrugged his shoulders. “If you had brought them… I reckon that you’d have been in the hospital by now.” As he spoke, Hong Dali casually threw a phone towards the door. There was an instant flash of blue light, and immediately, a terrifying light produced by electricity struck… And that phone was directly burnt…

Tang Anqi stared till chills went down her spine. “Young Master Dali, this is…”

“Chuyin’s defense system.” Hong Dali smiled and said, “Those who leak secrets will receive this treatment.”

Le Anxuan said, “Young Master, that’s my phone…”

“I’ll get you a better one next time.” Hong Dali disdainfully pouted. “I say, Anqi, you didn’t come just because of curiosity, right? Did you want to interview me?”

“En, I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare!” Tang Anqi was frightened till her heart beat rapidly. “I just wanted to come and take a look, take a look—Young Master Dali, you’re making this to… film a movie?” Eventually, her work ethics still triumphed over…

“Yes,” Hong Dali sniffled. “I’m planning to film a 50 million yuan animation film to squander…”

“50 million?!” Tang Anqi instantly collapsed as she exclaimed loudly. “You’re actually investing 50 million in an animated film?!”

Once she said this, she regretted. Everyone around looked at her as if they were looking at a fool. Their expressions had quite an obvious meaning… Little kid, you came from a village, right? Look at how much of a fuss you’re making. Is 50 million a lot for Young Master to make a movie?

Lin Chuyin said expressionlessly, “It’s only 50 million, don’t be noisy. It’ll be troublesome if the data turns out to be wrong.”

50 million! And it can’t compare to that so-called data of yours?!

Hong Dali asked strangely, “That’s right, 50 million to film an animated film is already very little, alright?”

Ling Yi: “Is this your first time hearing about Big Bro Dali’s amount of spending?”

Du Xinzhen: “I simply made a prediction… Brother Dali, you’re saying that you want to invest 50 million into an animated film?!” This child had just reacted to it…

Tang Muxin face-palmed. “Gosh, the reaction speed of the two of you is too…”

On the other side of the big ocean, Merika, Hollywood.

The third Round Table Conference continued.

“James, how much box office earning has been attained by ‘The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World’?” One person asked. For the attack this time on the box office of the Pugilistic World, Hollywood had conducted three round table conferences. Thus, what they were most concerned about now was the amount of box office earnings from that movie.

James stared at his laptop and roared with laughter. “Currently, the box office earnings is just a million, and it’s increasing at a relatively slow speed. I reckon that the box office earnings throughout today will only be at most 1.5 million! Haha, the investment was close to 20 million, and it only earned a box office of 1.5 million on the first day. This time they have really suffered a loss with no returns! Let’s see whether they still dare to behave so arrogantly and challenge us next time. By then, they’d probably bawl their eyes out and kneel in front of us, begging for us for our guidance, hahahahaha!”