Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 690 Full Bloom

"He's going to participate in the sports meet? That's so unfair!"

On the big screen, Davis pointed at George, who was having a water fight with a mutated whale not far away, with an incredulous look on his face.

George also noticed Davis's action and gave him the middle finger from a distance.

The military personnel responsible for notifying them shook their heads.

"No, it has to be a mascot."

The man sighed as he spoke.

"You may have seen the news online about Secretary Taylor's suicide because of the Wallfacers. Now that America has lost the Wallfacers, we need to find a way to boost domestic morale."

The image finally freezes on the moment when the two are looking at George.

As the first film in the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] series after the start of the year, "Rampage 2" grossed more than 3 million RMB on its opening day.

This is quite an achievement for a Hollywood film, and it's also thanks to Galaxy Pictures' strong promotion in China.

Overseas, "Rampage 2" also performed quite well at the box office. Many viewers compared it with "Godzilla vs. Kong" and found that "Rampage 2" had a stronger daily box office performance than "Godzilla vs. Kong".

Meanwhile, during the break between the release of "Rampage," Galaxy Pictures also began promoting and generating buzz for their next film, "The Hunger Games."

Compared to the currently showing "Rampage 2", this movie didn't make much of a splash in China, but it received a huge response abroad.

Because the movie "The Hunger Games" is adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name, and the original novel has a significant influence overseas, especially in North America.

The book was published in North America by Scholastic in 2008 and is the first book in Susan Collins' "Hunger Games" trilogy.

Its success in the North American market is phenomenal, with sales showing explosive growth from the early stages of publication and consistently ranking high on the charts, making it one of the best-selling young adult novels in North American publishing history.

As of March 2021, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire had sold over 18 million copies in North America. If the trilogy is included, the entire series has sold over 50 million copies in North America, making it the third best-selling teen IP after Harry Potter and Twilight.

At the same time, the value of "The Hunger Games" goes far beyond its "good sales." With its core of "dystopian + realistic metaphor," it broke the limitations of themes in young adult literature and triggered a series of chain reactions at the cultural and social levels.

Before The Hunger Games, the mainstream of North American young adult literature was the "fantasy romance" style of Twilight, with a focus on lighthearted and romantic themes.

The Hunger Games, with its core theme of "survival games under totalitarian rule," incorporates profound themes such as class conflict, media manipulation, wealth inequality, and the trauma of war, completely changing this landscape.

From "romantic fantasy" to "hardcore realistic metaphor," The Hunger Games: Catching Fire sparked a wave of "dystopian young adult literature," directly leading to the creation of subsequent dystopian IPs such as Divergent and Maze Runner, forming the "Golden Age of Dystopian Literature" in North American young adult literature from 2010 to 2015.

The novel's themes of "the conflict between survival and morality" and "the alienation of humanity by media spectacle" resonate with the current state of mobile internet development, attracting a large number of adult readers aged 25-40 and breaking the prejudice that teen novels are "for younger audiences."

Furthermore, the metaphorical nature of "The Hunger Games" has made it a "starting point" for discussions in North American society, and it has been used by many scholars and media outlets to interpret real-world issues.

The stark contrast between the rich and poor depicted in the novel is often used by media outlets such as The New York Times to draw parallels with North America.

The novel's portrayal of the "Hunger Games" as an entertainment livestream sparked criticism of the "overabundance of reality TV" in North America and the "media sacrificing ethics for traffic."

As for the reshaping of female characters in "The Hunger Games," it aligns even more closely with the current North American preference for feminism.

The female lead, Katniss, is not a traditional "princess" character, but rather a "calm, resilient, and survival-struggling" woman, which has made her a favorite among many young women in Europe and America.

It can be said that The Hunger Games not only broke publishing sales records, but also profoundly reshaped the thematic landscape of young adult literature, and even permeated multiple levels such as popular culture and social discussion.

This work, which was brought to the big screen by Galaxy Pictures and Sony Pictures, did not make much of a splash in China, but it caused quite a stir in North America, attracting a lot of attention from book fans who expressed their anticipation for the film's release.

Of course, no matter how much they look forward to it, they will have to wait until May for the film to be released worldwide.

Back in China, after finishing up the company's arrangements for the year in March, Wang Hao gradually shifted his focus from company affairs to his new film project in April.

Compared to his previous film projects, Wang Hao will undoubtedly devote more time and energy to this new project.

The new movie is titled "The Three-Body Problem 2," and it is also the final installment of the third phase of the StarCraft cinematic universe, "The Dark Forest."

In fact, before the release of this new movie "The Three-Body Problem 2", Wang Hao had another new movie about to be released, namely "Game Era 2".

After all, when he filmed "Game Era" last time, he shot two parts back-to-back.

When Game Age 1 was released last year, Game Age 2 was still in post-production.

This summer, "Game Era 2" will be the grand finale of the StarCraft cinematic universe during this period.

In fact, the selection process for "Game Era 2" had already begun long ago, with related posters, movie release dates, various trailers, and actors appearing on various variety shows.

As everyone knows from these promotional materials, the scale of Game Age 2 is undoubtedly much larger than that of the previous Game Age 1.

In the first part, the so-called grand scenes were nothing more than the ghost town in the desert, the tense and exciting gladiators in Western Xia, and the final escape from Dadu, the capital of Jin.

The second part will involve the war scenes of Emperor Wanyan Liang of the Jin Dynasty leading his army south to attack the Song Dynasty.

This great battle was described in great detail in the original novel.

Sea-going boats, gunpowder weapons, and melee combat, with smoke billowing everywhere—the trailer for "Game Era 2" is incredibly captivating.

Moreover, taking advantage of this favorable trend, Galaxy Group's game company also launched a single-player game called "Game Era".

This single-player game's gameplay is inspired by the movie "Game Era".

Players control a character living in the "real world," starting as a blank slate. The gameplay is similar to The Sims, where players can learn skills, make friends, work, and earn money.

After earning money, characters can also enter various virtual game worlds through the "Real Illusion" company within the game, experiencing different "dungeons." "Game Era" itself offers a certain number of virtual game dungeons, but they are not difficult and are limited in number, mainly for players to experience and familiarize themselves with the game controls.

However, the game development team also provides several expansion packs on the platform for players to download.

For example, it referenced the chaotic Three Kingdoms period of the Southern Song Dynasty from the movie "Game Era".

Or perhaps it was inspired by the Han Dynasty's campaign against the Xiongnu in the movie "The Great Wall".

There's also a development team working hard on an expansion pack for the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period.

In these expansion packs, players will start with various identities and experience different lives in the sandbox world.

Of course, if that were all, this game would be no different from any other historical role-playing game.

But when the game includes both the "real world" and the "virtual world," the difference becomes apparent.

Because players can control characters, learn knowledge and skills in the "real world," and then bring those skills into the game world.

Don't underestimate this point; it greatly increases the game's replayability.

For example, if a player learns the knowledge and techniques of making gunpowder pellets in the "real world," then in the Song Dynasty of the "virtual world," they can use this knowledge to advance the gunpowder technology of that time by several hundred years.

For example, if players learn the knowledge and technology of steam engine manufacturing in the "real world," they can also start the Industrial Revolution in the Han Dynasty.

Players can even find cheat codes for the "virtual world" in the "real world" through various means, thus enabling them to enter the era of martial arts, magic, or even the era of immortals and mythology in the "virtual world".

It can be said that "Game Era" opens up a variety of gameplay options through the two worlds of "real" and "virtual", allowing players to have different gaming experiences and fun every time.

As a result, as soon as the game was launched, its sales were close to those of "Black Myth: Nezha" and "Black Myth: Wukong", making other game companies green with envy.

But what can they do?

The explosive popularity of the game "Game Era" is not just due to its unique gameplay.

The film industrialization system that Galaxy Group has been vigorously developing over the years has also provided considerable assistance to the development of their game industry.

Special effects technologies like starlight and iridescent effects, whether in rendering, modeling, or motion capture, can be used not only in movies, TV series, and animations, but also in games.

A top-notch art team, a top-notch motion design team, and top-notch music and voice actors all contribute to greatly enhancing the game's quality.

There's also a professional scriptwriting team and a great game storyline, which can make players cry at times and cheer at others.

Not to mention the comprehensive peripheral development and sales channels, which greatly expanded the survival space of those games.

It can only be said that the money and resources that Wang Hao and Xinghe Group invested in the early days laid a solid foundation for their business.

The huge success of films like "Black Myth: Nezha" and "Game Era," as well as the popularity of "Nezha 2" and "Rampage," are the best proof of this.

Oh, by the way, besides games and movies, Galaxy Group has also been a leader in TV dramas in recent years.

For example, "The Age of Awakening".

This major revolutionary historical drama, jointly produced by Xinghe Film and Television, the Publicity Department of Beijing Municipality, the Publicity Department of Anhui Provincial Party Committee, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television, and the Anhui Provincial Bureau of Radio and Television, can be said to have dropped a bombshell at the beginning of the year. After its broadcast, its ratings and popularity continued to soar, and it was almost on par with "Ne Zha 2".

The drama spans from the publication of "Youth Magazine" in 1915 to the establishment of "New Youth" as an official publication in 1921, fully showcasing the magnificent historical panorama from the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement to the founding of our Party, and telling the story of social customs and the myriad aspects of life in that era.

The key point is that "The Age of Awakening" not only restores history, but also allows the audience to see a series of vivid and full-bodied revolutionary figures.

Let everyone know that they are not just cold, lifeless names in textbooks, but real, vivid people with love and hate.

In particular, the smile that Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian exchanged before their sacrifice in the drama moved countless people to tears on Douyin because of its perfect match with the song "As You Wish".

Under that video, there was also a highly upvoted comment:
"If there is a sequel to The Awakening, your life now is its sequel."

Another TV series that also moved countless viewers was "Love Between Mountains and Seas," a poverty alleviation drama directed by Kong Sheng and Sun Molong, starring Huang Xuan, with Reyizha, Huang Yao, Bai Yufan, and Wang Shasha in supporting roles, and special appearances by Zhang Jiayi, Yan Ni, Guo Jingfei, Zu Feng, Bai Yu, and others.

The drama was planned, organized, and guided by the State Administration of Radio and Television, with the application for project approval submitted by the Fujian Provincial Radio and Television Bureau, the support of the Ningxia Radio and Television Bureau for filming, and produced by Xinghe Film and Television.

The drama mainly tells the story of how, since the 1990s, the people and cadres of Xihai Gu responded to the call of the national poverty alleviation policy, completed the relocation, and received counterpart assistance from Fujian.

The story of how hard work and tireless exploration transformed a barren, windswept "dry beach" into a golden beach where every inch of land is precious.

Generally speaking, many TV dramas nowadays tend to use indoor sets or special effects backgrounds in order to save costs.

However, in order to be as close as possible to the real situation of poverty alleviation and to avoid giving the audience a stereotypical and unrealistic feeling, "Love Between Mountains and Seas" increased the portrayal of the authenticity of poverty alleviation and specially went to the location to shoot on location. From the selection of locations, costumes, props and other aspects, it tried its best to restore the real appearance of the local area.

For example, the production team used the technique of filming in local dialects. The actors' authentic local dialects not only made the characters more detailed and three-dimensional, but also brought people back to that era with each local accent, making people feel very close to them.

As a poverty alleviation drama, "Mountains and Seas" not only showed the audience the poor and backward state of Xihai Gu, but also demonstrated its tremendous changes from poverty to prosperity under the leadership of the Party.

Behind this lies the tremendous effort of millions of people.

For example, Huang Xuan plays Ma Defu, a grassroots cadre, and Guo Jingfei plays Chen Jinshan, a poverty alleviation cadre. Through various assistance measures, they overcome numerous difficulties and ultimately lead the masses out of poverty and into prosperity.

And then there were those self-reliant, impressive splashes of water.

The character played by Reyizha, instead of complaining about life's injustices, is positive and optimistic, and is willing to do her best to change her fate.

Such a meticulous production attitude naturally made the TV series "Love Between Mountains and Seas" popular with a wide audience, and it could almost compete with "Awakening Age" for the title of "Drama King of the Year".

(End of this chapter)