Chapter 737: Chapter 728: Riding the Hype

The last time he heard this name was at the beginning of the year, when Wandering Earth just became a hit, even before it was taken off the shelves. He went to the capital to discuss investment matters with Director Wang and met Director Teng Hua, who was recommended by Tang Nan.

He distinctly remembered that the script for "Demon Capital Fortress" was a bottomless pit, so how did it suddenly become related to him again?

Moreover, seeing that the other party had even released trailers and offline interviews, it seemed the film was almost complete. It was produced so quickly? How long has it been?

He couldn’t believe someone dared to invest in that script. He thought the project would be scrapped. Did the investors not have any sense?

Is that huge investment really worth it for that script? Could it be that they just saw it was a sci-fi theme and transferred money directly?

Seeing his disbelief, Sun Mumu quickly opened her phone and found the promo of "Demon Capital Fortress" as well as offline interview videos of the director, production team, and actors.

"Our ’Demon Capital Fortress’ investment exceeds Wandering Earth’s total investment, reaching 450 million. We’ve prepared six years for this film, with three years spent just polishing the script. Like Wandering Earth, it’s adapted from a novel of the same name, and we hired the best scriptwriters. The staff are all experienced professionals, not to mention the special effects.

Moreover, I even had Director Wang Fan of Wandering Earth review the script, and even President Su, who invested in Wandering Earth, also reviewed it. There’s absolutely no issue; it’s set for a May 1st release.

I believe that ’Demon Capital Fortress’ can redefine the doors of domestic sci-fi films, providing a fresh perspective for the world and raising domestic sci-fi films to a new level..."

In the video, Director Teng, whom Su Qing had met once, confidently answered reporters’ questions. Beside him were the assistant director, the scriptwriter, and two leading domestic artists who played the film’s main roles.

In any case, when Director Teng faced the interview, he couldn’t finish three sentences without mentioning Wandering Earth. Although he didn’t say it directly, his implication was that his "Demon Capital Fortress" was better than Wandering Earth.

The main aspects were that "Demon Capital Fortress" had a larger investment than Wandering Earth, hired more popular actors than Wandering Earth’s cast, and the script had been meticulously polished for three years. With money, more popular actors, and recent hot sci-fi films, wouldn’t it surpass Wandering Earth?

The most crucial part was that Teng Hua subtly misled the audience by saying the script had been shown to Director Wang Fan of Wandering Earth and his investor. The implication was obvious.

Most crucially, he didn’t mention what their evaluations were, but by speaking like this, everyone would assume that both he and Wang Fan were optimistic about the script.

In simple terms, it was riding the coattails of popularity, and quite blatantly at that.

If he and Wang Fan denied it on the spot, held a press conference, or made a video denying it, it would tear their relationship apart, and crucially, the other party could still deny it. After all, he didn’t actually say that both were optimistic about the script.

In short, even if Su Qing and Wang Fan knew he was riding on their popularity, they wouldn’t publicly tear into it, after all, Wang Fan is also part of the directing circle, and encountering each other is inevitable. Teng Hua is still a senior, and it wouldn’t be worth stirring up trouble.

Moreover, the promo for "Demon Capital Fortress" was indeed good; enormous alien ships, tall exoskeleton mechas, and sci-fi-looking fighter jets made the viewer’s blood boil, full of sci-fi elements.

The most important factor was that the lead roles had a massive number of fans, were quite the topic, and were indeed more popular with the youth compared to the cast of Wandering Earth.

After all, aside from the lead roles, Jing Ge and Da Shu, the rest of the Wandering Earth cast seemed unfamiliar, and some were even newcomers; there was simply no comparison.

Thinking of this, Su Qing’s expression became somewhat grim. Upon seeing the comments below, sure enough, the narrative was already set.

"Goodness, I’m a Shànghǎi native. Whatever happens, I will definitely watch this movie; it’s so immersive!"

"I’m also from Shànghǎi; let’s go together!"

"With Director Wang’s approval, I think even if this film isn’t as good as Wandering Earth, it would still be worth watching."

"Goodness, Da Qing won’t invest again, will he? This guy turned from an internet celebrity into a non-professional by investing in movies. He earned big last time; how much will he earn this time?"

"What? Da Qing invested? Then are you going to watch it?"

"Of course watch it"

"Who says Da Qing is non-professional? He’s been working so hard recently, making videos and earning money, investing in movies!"

"Goodness, I was wondering why he was so productive recently. Turns out he ran out of money investing in movies. Well, I must support him!"

The well-produced trailer, along with Teng’s blatant riding on Wandering Earth’s popularity while subtly mentioning himself and Wang Fan, made the online community imagine a lot of scenarios on their own.

"What’s wrong, Qingzi? Is it your investment?" Wang Xing asked from the side, noticing Su Qing’s discontented expression.

In response, Su Qing shook his head: "No!"

"Ah? You didn’t invest? No way! Didn’t the director say you saw the script..." Before finishing, Sun Mumu’s eyes widened: "Is he lying?"

Su Qing shook his head: "I did see the script, and he wanted me to invest, but after reviewing it, I found the script really wasn’t that great and directly refused. I’m investing in films to make money, not to lose it. Plus, the cast had issues. Not to mention, romance in a sci-fi film is inherently quite sci-fi, right?"

Hearing this, Wang Xing and the other two looked at the perpetually boasting Director Teng on the screen, unable to believe he could lie so blatantly. If Su Qing weren’t right in front of them, they would have been misled like the netizens.

"This... isn’t this just deceiving?" Lin Miaomiao grumbled, her face red with frustration, her little strand of hair standing up like an angry chick.

"Not really, they just mentioned the script was shown to me and Director Wang. The fact is, we did see it; he didn’t lie, but his phrasing was misleading," Su Qing explained.

As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Mumu slammed the table: "That’s fraud! No, we can’t suffer this injustice, Su Qing. Let’s make a video to clarify, hit them back! Expose them!"

Upon hearing this, Su Qing rolled his eyes at her and chuckled: "No need. Even if I clarify now, though it might clear things up, he never claimed I invested or approved their script. If he’s daring enough to say it, they must be prepared.

Besides, if I step out to clarify, they could still explain, maybe even apologize, and due to the controversy, they could gain a big increase in traffic."

"How is that possible?" Sun Mumu didn’t believe it.

"I can’t mess with these two lead actors’ fans; there are way too many of them."

Wang Xing: "You mean..."

"What else? Why else do you think they were chosen as leads? Even if there’s some backlash, the fan effect could reverse public opinion, and ultimately they would just gain more attention, reaping a wave of traffic," Su Qing explained, omitting details about Director Wang’s situation since they wouldn’t necessarily understand it. Every circle has its own rules.

"So we’re just going to suffer this silent mistreatment?"

Su Qing smiled: "No rush, it’s not certain who’s going to end up losing!"

...

If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.