Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 937 Adjustments (23)

Xiangshan, the prequel to "The Wandering Earth" is in post-production...

This film is already a national-level science fiction project, sponsored by a bunch of companies, all of which are large state-owned enterprises!

Therefore, there's absolutely no need to worry about funding...

Guo Fan is quite good at saving money; the two prequels only cost less than 9 million RMB…

Including later stages, it's roughly around 13 billion...

Less than two hundred million dollars…

Thirteen visual effects companies across the country were collectively hired, and each sent its top-notch teams…

Lu Yang, meanwhile, was in Xiangshan discussing the special effects for "A Night at the Film City" with the special effects supervisor…

If you're making a big-budget special effects film, a lot of the plot will revolve around the special effects!

The special effects team had to join the project during the film's pre-production phase.

Otherwise, relying solely on the later stages would put the timeline on a very tight schedule…

Oh, post-production for "Underground Fire" is still in progress, so it's estimated it won't make it to the summer release window. It's tentatively scheduled for release during the National Day or Lunar New Year holiday...

Upon arriving in Xiangshan, Shen Yan did not notify anyone and went directly to the ancient fishing port of Shipu.

Shipu Fishing Port Ancient Town feels pretty much the same as all other tourist attractions…

The main street is paved with ancient stone slabs and lined with shops on both sides, making it a bustling and lively place.

The shops on both sides of the street sell various seafood, ornaments, trinkets, and some local delicacies from Xiangshan.

Unlike the goods sold in many ancient towns and cities in Yiwu, most of the products here have a seaside flavor. Some natural sea snails are particularly popular with tourists. They are inexpensive and do good business.

Shen Yan also picked out a few small sea snails and had lunch there—seafood noodles…

The taste is alright!
In the afternoon, Shen Yan had a good time exploring Xiangshan!
Xiangshan has numerous islands scattered throughout the area.

The stone pillars on Hua'ao Island have an Icelandic feel, the blue tears phenomenon in the Yushan Islands is incredibly dreamy, and there are also the stone houses on Tantoushan Island, the coastal road and beaches on Nantian Island—each place is like a painting.

Hepu Beach and Huangcheng Beach in Xiangshan are both great for watching the sunset. After the blues of the evening, the sunset is a spectacular sight, with the sun slowly sinking into the sea and the sea breeze brushing past your ears. It's an extremely beautiful scene!

After enjoying the sea view, just find a restaurant and you'll get a huge bowl of seafood noodles, along with a variety of chewy snacks like rice cakes, mochi, and wheat pancake rolls…

However, Shen Yan's main reason for coming to Xiangshan this time was to try out the Yushan Islands!
Yushan Island is known as "Asia's No. 1 fishing ground" and is a dream destination for countless sea anglers.

Oh, and he also went to see the Wangjialan Grassland…

Okay, Wangjialan is the name of a village; the Wangjialan Grassland is actually the Wangjialan Village Grassland…

It's actually a ranch!
The cattle roamed freely in the pasture, and several calves were not afraid of strangers, grazing peacefully nearby.

The area is not large...

I took one look and lost all interest in staying!
Back to the film studio!

……

"The swimming crabs from Xiangshan are the most famous... You should try them!"

"Isn't it too early for swimming crabs to be on the market?"

"If you want to eat it, you can definitely get it!"

Upon arriving at the film studio, Guo Fan, Lu Yang, and Zhang Chiyu from Happy Twist treated Shen Yan to a seafood feast…

After it was all over, Shen Yan asked the three of them, "So, what are your thoughts?"

"I'll go first!" Zhang Chiyu said, "Brother Yan, 'Unique Moon' is almost ready..."

"What's the problem?" "I feel like this movie isn't really suited to be a comedy... You see, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi disaster setting, making it into a pure comedy just doesn't feel right!"

Yes, Zhang Chiyu is absolutely right...

The original "Lone on the Moon"... was full of laughs, but it was clearly set in a post-apocalyptic science fiction disaster background. It wanted to express the lonely and complex inner growth and changes of the male protagonist, Dugu Yue, and also wanted to express some human portraits under the apocalypse.

Then, the middle and later parts start to focus on romance, and the ending even includes a sentimental scene of self-sacrifice and heroism...

I have no idea what this movie is trying to express...

Any one of these elements, taken individually, would be compelling enough. The challenge lies in seamlessly blending so many excellent elements together without sacrificing anything, resulting in the 6.6-rated film, *The Lone Ranger on the Moon*.

It's a bit like... The Martian-style plot progression with a Wandering Earth-style ending...

To be honest, if Shen Teng hadn't starred in this movie, it would definitely have been a box office failure!
Shen Yan sighed: "What you're going to film isn't a classic... just a popular sci-fi comedy..."

"I'm wondering whether to remove the romance part..."

"Go ahead and delete it, but you'll need to find a new emotional connection between Dugu Yue and Earth..."

For the film "Lone in the Moon", the love story is not indispensable.

The main appeal of this film lies in its humor, sci-fi setting, and Shen Teng's performance.

Removing this line wouldn't significantly harm the film's comedic effect...

On the contrary, it will speed up the pace of the plot!

However, the love story connects Dugu Yue and Ma Lanxing, and also links Earth and the Moon…

It can be considered Dugu Yue's survival drive and the driving force behind his efforts to return to Earth...

Deleting is possible, but you'd need to find other elements...

Zhang Chiyu exclaimed in surprise: "Why seek an emotional bond? Dugu Yue is human, and of course humans want to return to Earth!"

Shen Yan was speechless: "Do you know why the main characters in shonen manga are all teenagers?"

"Market positioning? The target audience for action manga is basically primary and secondary school students..."

"Wrong," Shen Yan waved his hand, "Because when you reach a certain age, you don't care about the world at all! There's a type of Japanese anime where middle-aged men or office workers are transported to another world. The common feature of this genre is that the protagonist is often very decadent and yearns for an easy, everyday life. Most adults treat saving the world like going to work. They've mostly lost their enthusiasm for saving the world and are more inclined to create their own comfortable little world, like 'Wandering Witch's Journey' and 'Isekai Black Heart Labyrinth Enterprise'."

"Ah? Is that so?"

"I often imagine a scene: outside the window, a ferocious monster towers into the clouds, roaring and waving its huge paws to smash buildings, spewing flames to burn everything, and sweeping its tail fiercely, instantly leveling several blocks to the ground."

Inside the office building, workers put down the half-finished reports and materials on their computers, sipped their coffee and hot tea, and turned around to quietly appreciate everything.

Strangely, at this most frightening moment, no one really experienced any emotional fluctuations. Perhaps their brains were already overloaded, causing their thoughts to stop, thus creating this eerie silence.

"Look, it's turned around!"

"Yes, they've started breathing fire..."

Do you think this scenario is possible?

Lu Yang nodded: "I think it's possible..."

"So Dugu Yue definitely needs a trigger, otherwise, why would he return to Earth? Why would he want to be a hero? What does the destruction of humanity have to do with him..."

"I'll go back and think about it again..."

Guo Fan interjected, "What does the original text say?"

Shen Yan replied, "The original work is full of dry humor, which is very niche and not easy to popularize... Besides, there is no romance in the original work!"

(End of this chapter)