I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

The film launched a seven-day advance ticket sale, and the hype exploded.

With 2,000 partner cinemas nationwide, each cinema will screen an average of three films per day, with an estimated occupancy rate of over 80%. The first round of pre-sales will offer nearly 480,000 tickets.

No one expected that the massive number of pre-sale screenings would be snapped up by audiences in less than half a day, with box office revenue directly exceeding 100 million yuan.

It's worth noting that the total production investment for "Crazy Racer" was only around 15 million, and the initial half-day pre-sale recouped the cost, securing a solid profit.

Based on the high expectations and pre-sale enthusiasm across the internet, industry professionals unanimously predict that the film's final total box office will definitely exceed 500 million yuan.

Five hundred million in box office revenue might be insignificant in today's film market where billion or two billion in box office revenue is commonplace, but in 2007, it was an absolutely dominant box office phenomenon.

In this year's mainland box office market, Cheng Sheng's "The Great Tang Dynasty 2" has been dominating the charts for years, followed by the Hollywood blockbuster "Transformers". The latter, with a box office of 2.77 million yuan, has firmly held the title of the year's imported film champion and is among the top in total box office.

The overall box office market in 2007 was limited. The top two domestic films of the year, "The Warlords" and "Assembly", only grossed 1.92 million and 180 million yuan respectively. If 500 million yuan were to be grossed this year, it would be enough to crush all domestic and foreign films, firmly securing the third place in the annual box office and completely rewriting the annual box office landscape.

For a time, the entire film and television industry was amazed by Ning Hao's box office appeal, and everyone admired Shengli Film & Television and Cheng Sheng's eye for film selection and production capabilities.

When news of "Crazy Racer" breaking 100 million yuan in pre-sales in half a day reached the company, Xing Aina immediately called Cheng Sheng, who was filming overseas, her voice filled with undisguised excitement and surprise.

When the call connected, Xing Aina excitedly recounted the pre-sale data in detail.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Sheng felt a sense of surprise and astonishment.

He clearly remembers that in the original timeline, although "Crazy Racer" was a box office and critical success and had considerable popularity, its final total box office was only slightly over 100 million.

No one could have imagined that upon arriving in this world, the film's box office would exceed 100 million yuan in just half a day of pre-sales, far surpassing the final total box office of its previous life—a difference as vast as heaven and earth.

After a brief moment of shock, Cheng Sheng quickly calmed down and, after careful consideration, figured out the key to the matter, realizing that such explosive pre-sale box office was perfectly reasonable.

Ning Hao today is no longer the up-and-coming director who gained some fame with "Crazy Stone" in her previous life.

With his support and guidance, Ning Hao has already established herself firmly, with hit works under her belt, and her industry reputation, audience recognition, and industry status have all increased significantly. She has even won international awards with the production team, boasting an impressive resume and a wealth of experience.

"Crazy Stone" has already surpassed 100 million yuan in box office revenue, establishing a solid audience base and accumulating excellent public goodwill and word-of-mouth.

In addition, Shengli Films launched a massive publicity campaign, deploying resources across all channels and creating momentum both online and offline, which fully aroused audience expectations.

More importantly, the release date of this film is considered a perfect one.

The National Day holiday has always been a prime time for domestic films, a golden period when audiences implicitly support local productions.

However, this year's National Day holiday film market was exceptionally bleak. The few films available were mostly imported from overseas, with very few truly high-quality domestic blockbusters, which could not satisfy the audience's viewing needs at all.

Audiences are already deeply disappointed and desperately need a high-quality domestic film to save the day.

As the official sequel to the highly popular Crazy series, Crazy Racer comes with its own audience and reputation. Once the release date was set, it instantly filled the market gap and naturally ignited a nationwide wave of support, achieving phenomenal pre-sale results.

Having figured everything out, Cheng Sheng understood and felt completely relieved. After comforting the excited Xing Aina for a few moments, Cheng Sheng hung up the phone and immediately dialed Ning Hao's number.

Once the call connected, Cheng Sheng cut to the chase, asking softly, "After filming the racing movie, do you have any new filming plans?"

Ning Hao's tone on the other end of the phone was confident, with a hint of anticipation and longing: "Brother Sheng, I plan to try a new genre. My next step is to make a science fiction comedy film."

Cheng Sheng was slightly taken aback, thinking he had misheard, and subconsciously asked, "What type of film do you want to shoot?"

"A science fiction comedy." Ning Hao repeated clearly once again.

Now, Cheng Sheng heard it clearly.

A name flashed through his mind in an instant, and he murmured to himself: Could it be "Crazy Alien"?

In his memory, of all Ning Hao's works, this was the only one that was a science fiction comedy.

However, the timeline doesn't match up at all. "Crazy Alien" was only started in 2019. If we put it in 2007, the special effects technology and industrial system in China simply couldn't support the filming needs of that movie, and it wouldn't meet the standards of a finished product.

To confirm his suspicions, Cheng Sheng tentatively asked, "Has the script been started?"

"I'm writing it now," Ning Hao replied candidly. "The tentative title is 'Seven Dreams.' My partner and I are working on the script together, and the progress is going smoothly so far."

Cheng Sheng's pupils contracted slightly, his face full of surprise.

The Seven Dreams?
In my past life, I was glad that this film had never been shown.

Could it be that my appearance stirred up the industry landscape, changed Ning Hao's creative trajectory, and made him jump out of his original work sequence ahead of time?

Thoughts raced through my mind, and a long-forgotten memory suddenly surfaced.

He suddenly remembered that there was indeed a project called "Seven Dreams" in the film industry in his previous life.

This film was officially launched as early as 2008. It was Ning Hao's first attempt at hard science fiction. Inspired by Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time", it focuses on cause and effect and time paradox. It was also shortlisted for the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum and won a support prize of HK$100,000, which was once highly anticipated by the industry.

However, as of 2026, the film was still not completed and released, remaining shelved and abandoned for many years. It never appeared in theaters or on streaming platforms, making it a true unfinished and overlooked project.

Ultimately, the biggest obstacle has never been the script or funding, but rather the outdated film and television industry technology.

"Seven Dreams" contains a large number of high-difficulty science fiction special effects and time-space shots, which places extremely high demands on post-production, special effects rendering, and image compositing.

Given the current state of China's crude and weak film and television industry, it is simply impossible to support such a complex science fiction production. The slightest mistake could lead to a complete collapse, which is the core reason why it was delayed in its previous life and was eventually shelved.

After clarifying the cause and effect, Cheng Sheng pondered for a moment and slowly said, "Okay, send it to me as soon as the script is finalized."

If the script is of high quality and the subject matter is feasible, he wouldn't mind lending a hand to Ning Hao, using his experience and resources to help him improve the script, connect with the technology, and fill the gap in domestic science fiction comedies. (End of Chapter)