Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

But for people in the film and television industry, it has a different meaning.

Hunter is a director of a film company and also a big movie fan. His love for movies since childhood led him to build a film production company through his continuous efforts.

Whenever a new movie with a certain reputation is released, he will go to watch it as soon as possible, regardless of whether the movie is produced by a rival.

If this were in China, it would be a classic example of knowing yourself and your enemy, and never being defeated.

After watching the Detroit Films superhero movie and leaving the theater, he was still somewhat unsatisfied.

The special effects in this movie are quite good; although not perfect, they're close to a 9 out of 10.

The plot has good depth, and the script has obviously been well-polished.

Under these conditions, this movie will definitely be a success, and the box office should not be too bad.

The special effects for this movie are estimated to cost at least $100 million. If costs are controlled properly, a total production cost of $140 million would be a reasonable range.

He casually took out his phone and started looking up information online.

Recently, a new technology for accessing the internet via mobile phones has become popular in the United States. You only need to bring a smartphone to enter the vast ocean of the internet. He thinks it's a very fashionable thing, and people of his level are not short of money at all. Even though mobile internet is expensive now, he doesn't care at all.

He quickly found information related to the movie by accessing news websites through his mobile phone.

Detroit Films has announced the release date for its superhero movie and sincerely invites fans to watch it, promising that it will be well worth the price.

He skipped over all the nonsense and then found the information that concerned him most.

According to interviews conducted by our reporter, the total budget for this film was well controlled within the range of 80 million US dollars, which includes all production costs but excludes marketing and distribution.

"impossible!"

Suddenly, Hunter, somewhat out of control, shouted something in the street.

This immediately caused many people to turn their heads and stop, looking at Hunter with strange expressions.

Hunter realized what was happening, quickly left his spot, walked to his car, got in, and immediately took out his phone again to check the information.

One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand...

It's $80 million, that's right. It's impossible for the production cost to be $800 million. No company would be foolish enough to spend that much money to make a movie.

But how did they manage to do that?

How could such special effects be produced with a total cost of only 80 million?

The special effects weren't perfect; there were still some flaws, but they were enough for the audience.

Hollywood is a place that values ​​cost control, and any Hollywood film studio is quite stingy when it comes to cost control.

Even if it means saving tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, I will try my best to save.

Their dream is to produce blockbuster films with minimal budget.

At that moment, Hunter couldn't hold back any longer and dialed a number.

"Hey, get me all the information about the new superhero movie that Detroit Films is releasing right now. I'm going back to the company to check it out."

Hunter was still somewhat skeptical of this cost-controlled price, and he decided to go back to the company in person to see for himself.

Perhaps that media company did not investigate the facts and should not rely solely on the report from this one media outlet.

Back at the company, the employees who had to work overtime on the weekend were obviously unhappy, but they couldn't disobey their boss's orders, so they immediately organized all the documents and placed them on Hunter's desk.

He entered his office, where a stack of documents was already prepared. He immediately picked them up one by one to examine them.

These materials range from procurement information in related industries to on-site interviews by major media outlets; they are all here.

As the owner of a film and television company, he is very competent. He is not the kind of guy who only knows how to make money and enjoy himself. Only in this way can he have a place in the highly competitive film and television market in the United States.

The world is already very strong in the cultural industry. Apart from the gaming industry, competition in other cultural industry sectors is extremely fierce. It's not easy to make money effortlessly, and audiences won't buy into it easily.

Hunter spent from noon until after 10 p.m. reading through the pile of documents in front of him before finally finishing them.

He was still somewhat dazed after reading it all.

Really... it only cost $80 million in total... that's unbelievable.

Chapter 287 This is Insider Information

After a whole night of research and investigation, he finally found a clue among countless documents.

This time, Detroit Films bypassed several previous visual effects partners and signed a new cooperation agreement with a game company.

The specific details of this cooperation agreement cannot be disclosed, but it roughly explains why Detroit Films bought a ten-year license to use its special effects software, along with a recommended hardware system.

The software is called Unreal Engine, and the game company that developed this engine is Yuxing Electronic Entertainment.

Yuxing Electronic Entertainment...

This name sounds familiar.

Hunter frowned, then thought about it carefully.

He eventually found the name in the deepest part of his memory.

That was the company that its old rival Tukarev had recently publicized and announced a deep strategic partnership with the game.

It was quite puzzling that a company that dominated the gaming industry would suddenly venture into the film and television special effects industry. At the time, many people, including Hunter, expressed their skepticism about the collaboration.

In an interview, Hunter also stated that he was willing to acquire Tukarev after this failure and that he was willing to help Tukarev overcome the difficulties.

Later, Tukarev directly confronted him through the media.

Both are owners of film and television companies, but they are quite fierce when it comes to tearing each other apart.

They argued for several days, finally ending with a bet between them.

If Tukarev's total box office revenue exceeds $300 million, Hunter and several other film company owners will apologize to Tukarev in person.

If the film *Starry Night* fails to gross $300 million, Tukarev will voluntarily dissolve his company and never return to the film industry.

At the time, Hunter didn't care much.

With a cost far below the average special effects level of sci-fi blockbusters at the time, and the fact that the special effects were produced by a company from another industry, it seemed like there was no possibility of failure for this lineup.

But at that moment, he vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

Could it be that Tukalev has really struck gold?

This Youxing Electronic Entertainment now looks like a pretty capable guy, not some incompetent fool.

If they really did develop Unreal Engine, and if they can genuinely help Detroit Films save a significant amount on special effects costs, then it's quite possible that their efforts could backfire...

Thinking about this, he became restless.

Fortunately, he had a good relationship with Detroit Films in the past, and he quickly dialed the number of an old acquaintance at Detroit Films.

He needs to double-check.

Then, he received inside information that the cost was indeed $80 million, and the biggest contributor to it was indeed Youxing Electronic Entertainment.

Yuxing Electronic Entertainment reduced the original special effects cost of at least $100 million by half, while maintaining a very good quality.

With such cost control, this movie only needs less than $200 million to recoup its costs and then make a huge profit.

The old acquaintance from Detroit on the phone was very proud of him, and also suggested that Hunter should buy a copy of Unreal Engine, which is definitely a money-saving tool!

After hanging up the phone, Hunter remained silent for a long time.

He suddenly felt that the gamble with Tukarev had become uncertain.

But he still couldn't quite believe it.

Whether he believes it or not is no longer important.

A few days after its release in Detroit, the film began to receive increasingly positive reviews.

The Unreal Engine logo is also featured in the movie's opening logo.

The large U-shaped logo entered the world's view for the first time and began to leave a place in people's hearts.

A few days later, the first trailer for Starry Sky Infinite, invested by DreamPrice, directed by the well-known director Little Green, and enhanced with brand-new special effects, was officially released.

This is a trailer that is about one minute and thirty seconds long.

In the trailer, a beautifully designed spaceship breaks through a nebula and comes into view accompanied by magnificent music.

The massive spaceship sped past the camera, and the faint rumble of its engines as it approached the lens was incredibly exhilarating.

Then, immediately afterward, many small spaceships suddenly flew out from the nebula behind, while a barrage of artillery fire bombarded the beautifully designed spaceship at the very front.

This is a great battle in the sea of ​​stars.

In one minute and thirty seconds, no main characters appeared; all that was shown was a dazzling array of special effects.

The main characters merely shout out phrases like "Fire!" "Dodge!" "Turn left!" in the background.

The trailer is packed with atmosphere, and the special effects are impeccable.

After the trailer ended, the U-shaped logo that had just appeared at the beginning of the Detroit superhero movie reappeared.

Unreal Engine: Ushering in a new era by blending the virtual and the real.

End of trailer.

One minute and thirty seconds, with almost no wasted frames, the magnificent battle in the starry sea is vividly portrayed.

There may be some flaws, but it's enough to satisfy the average viewer who isn't picky.

This trailer alone is enough to entice most viewers to go to the cinema to watch it.

Unlike the Detroit superhero movies, this one will feature even more special effects scenes.

After all, one of them only needs to showcase the special effects of a superhero, emphasizing the portrayal of the individual hero.

The movie "Starry Sea" is almost entirely made up of special effects, which indicates that the cost was not low.

If the special effects of the entire film are as good as this minute-long trailer, then this year's Best Special Effects award will definitely belong to it.

In the future, to save costs, more money will be invested in special effects. The actors in this movie are all new actors discovered by director Green. It is hard to say how well they will perform, but even if they are not good, the special effects alone will make it worthwhile.

After the trailer was released, the internet was already buzzing with heated discussions.

Those netizens who previously expressed skepticism suddenly changed their tune. The internet has no memory; they all chose to ignore what they had said before and began praising the movie instead.

"I swear, this is the movie I'm most looking forward to this year. If the final film is as amazing as this one-minute trailer, I'll give it a perfect score!"