I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

In contrast, there are not many cases of Chinese films and television dramas going overseas.

Even if a few works gain international recognition, they are difficult to enter the mainstream due to language and market rules.

Foreigners' understanding of China still relies more on traditional, stereotyped content such as "kung fu movies" and "martial arts culture."

This lack of cultural influence prevents China's modernization from being conveyed to overseas audiences in a more vivid way.

However, prejudice is not insurmountable.

As more and more foreigners come to China in person, their perceptions are slowly changing, and the dreams of Western media editors are about to be shattered.

Cheng Sheng's historical films have debunked this lie ahead of time, allowing foreigners to rediscover China.

In recent years, more and more foreigners have been traveling to China, which is precisely the impact of Cheng Sheng's historical films.

In the past, when I talked about famous emperors such as Qin Shi Huang, Li Shimin, and Emperor Wu of Han abroad, very few foreigners knew them.

Nowadays, foreigners can almost recite the names of famous emperors in Chinese history.

Chinese history is widely accepted in the West, which is something Hollywood film companies find hardest to understand.

Although they didn't understand it, they wanted to replicate Cheng Sheng's success.

In the past two years, Hollywood film companies have also produced Western historical films, hoping to spread the influence of Western culture.

Unfortunately, several Western historical films flopped, some small film companies went bankrupt, and slightly larger film companies lost everything. Only the eight major Hollywood film studios fared slightly better.

Unable to replicate Cheng Sheng's success, Hollywood film companies did not give up. Instead, they turned to studying what made historical films about Cheng Sheng so appealing and that they could attract so much interest.

To this end, Hollywood personnel watched "The Great Tang Dynasty 1" and "Three Kingdoms" countless times, and finally they discovered something.

That is, when watching these two movies, they will have a feeling of empathy, immersed in the magnificent history, as if they were a part of history themselves.

It is precisely this immersive viewing experience that makes people so interested in the movie and everything around it.

Upon learning this, the foreigners exclaimed, "My God!"

It completely shattered their worldview.

Who would feel this way while watching a movie?
They suspected that Cheng Sheng might have used Eastern magic in the movie, otherwise how could there be such a ghostly immersive viewing experience?

It's important to understand that this kind of feeling has never occurred in other movies. Even in the greatest film, "Titanic," the audience was only moved by the plot, not immersed in it.

The foreigner exclaimed in disbelief, but his heart was filled with despair.

Because this is something they can't replicate.

The inability to replicate does not mean giving up; Westerners are full of adventurous and exploratory spirit.

Since we can't find the answer in the movie, let's focus on Cheng Sheng as a person and the entire process of his filmmaking.

Therefore, Hollywood film companies have been keeping a close eye on Cheng Sheng ever since they learned that he had started filming a new movie.

While everyone was focused on Cheng Sheng's new film, half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

"The Great Tang Dynasty 2" has also come to an end.

After a month in theaters, it grossed over 7 million yuan at the domestic box office.

Compared to half a month ago, when it grossed 500 million in 15 days, the box office revenue declined sharply in the following half month.

But this is normal, since box office revenue tends to decline significantly as the movie progresses. Reaching 2 million yuan in the last 15 days was already beyond everyone's expectations.

Unfortunately, compared to the box office of "The Great Tang Dynasty 1", "The Great Tang Dynasty 2" was significantly less successful.

The first film in the Tang Dynasty grossed 850 million yuan at the domestic box office, more than 100 million yuan more than the second film in the Tang Dynasty.

The fact that a sequel movie can gross over 7 million already shows that the movie is quite good.

There's an unwritten rule in the entertainment industry: once a sequel is made after a successful movie, it always feels like the sequel isn't as good as the original.

The more successful a film series is, the higher the probability that its sequel will be a flop.

Because what sequels truly consume is never creativity, but rather the capacity of the genre itself.

Therefore, the first book has become an unsurpassable work in terms of historical status, plot, characters, and worldview; it is a groundbreaking and important work.

Groundbreaking works are always the most valuable because they establish a classic image of the genre for the audience.

If the first film isn't good enough, viewers naturally won't watch the sequel.

The audience's recognition led to the release of subsequent works. After all, film and television production companies need to make money. They can't rely solely on passion; they must value the huge commercial value of the work to develop sequels.

Therefore, it is obviously more difficult for later works to surpass the previous ones, since there is a standard for comparison. The first work, on the other hand, has no precedent, so the pressure of creation is relatively less.

Moreover, the creative team's motivation to produce sequels, driven by commercial interests, often results in subsequent works not being as well-controlled in terms of quality as the first.

Before the first film was released, no one could have predicted its huge success, which allowed the creators to approach their work with a purer mindset.

Subsequent works were merely attempts to extract commercial value from the first film. They were commercial creations from the beginning and were inevitably influenced by commercial factors. Naturally, they could not surpass the first film, nor was there any need to, because the original intention of creation had changed.

Artists often demonstrate their creative talent during the most difficult times, but once they are financially secure, their creative output tends to become mediocre and boring.

Perhaps art itself is destined to be accompanied by suffering.

"The Great Tang Dynasty 2" can be considered a very successful sequel film.

Even so, there are still many voices outside the industry criticizing "The Great Tang Dynasty 2" and Liu Meng.

This movie is inferior to "The Great Tang Dynasty 1" and the plot is not as exciting as the first one. Liu Meng ruined such a good IP as "The Great Tang Dynasty".

Of course, there will always be haters, after all, not everyone likes the movie "The Great Tang Dynasty".

No one, unless they're an idiot, would believe such mindless slander.

"The Great Tang Dynasty 2" is not only being released in the country, but also globally.

It grossed over 7 million yuan domestically and also performed well at the international box office, reaching 5 million US dollars.

When this box office result reached China, all those who criticized Liu Meng shut up.

Although its global box office was not as high as "The Great Tang Dynasty 1", its $500 million box office surpassed that of all directors except Cheng Sheng.

It's worth noting that even Zhang Guoshi, who is hailed as one of the top three directors in China, only achieved a record-breaking $1.77 million with his film "Hero".

Liu Meng's "The Great Tang Dynasty 2" grossed more than twice as much as Zhang Guoshi's "Hero".

With such box office success, who would dare to criticize Liu Meng anymore?

If he were to genuinely and insincerely criticize Liu Meng, wouldn't that be a slap in the face to Director Zhang and most directors in China? (End of Chapter)