Chapter 53: Zhu Xian is a big hit

Summer vacation has arrived in the blink of an eye, and major cinemas in mainland China are almost deserted.

The reason is very simple. Without good movies released, the audience really lacks the motivation to go to the cinema.

What makes movie fans even more depressed is that the film "Lion Camel Ridge" has already been announced to be released in the summer of 2000.

In other words, Jiang Heng will be absent from this year's Lunar New Year movie season.

Not only that, the film "Lion Camel Ridge" is actually highly confidential. So far, no information has been leaked about the plot or the actors.

This makes the fans who are paying attention to the film even more curious.

Just at this time, a novel titled "Zhu Xian" quietly landed in major bookstores.

The children, who were on summer vacation, didn't care at first, but when they saw the font of the masterpiece by Jiang Heng, the director of "The Matrix" and "100 Million BC" written on the cover, they instantly became interested.

I opened the book and read the first page, and couldn't put it down!
This period was when martial arts novels from Hong Kong and Taiwan were popular. I wonder how many children went to rental bookstores to rent romance and martial arts novels.

It’s great for readers to read martial arts novels which will become obsolete in a few years.

For them, upgrading to the Xianxia version of "Zhu Xian" is simply too addictive.

After all, whether it is Jin Yong, Gu Long or some mainland martial arts novelists, their concepts and writing styles are still stuck in the previous period.

A typical example is Jin Yong's classic work "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber", in which the male protagonist appears late and the female protagonist appears even later.

If this kind of writing style were used in the era of online literature, it would definitely fail!

Although other authors did not do the same as Jin Yong, they still could not escape the martial arts routines created by Jin Yong and Gu Long.

"Zhu Xian" is different. Although it is not written in the style of later "cool novels", it is still very enjoyable to read.

The novel was of good quality to begin with, and was written by Jiang Heng, the director of the highest-grossing commercial film in China. The combination of the two made the novel a best-seller in an instant.

For a time, "Zhu Xian" was almost sold out in the book markets of major cities across the country.

Distributors from all over the country also kept calling the publishing house, requesting more printing and shipment.

When the news reached the crew, many people tried to get a copy to see what Director Jiang’s novel was like.

This sight left everyone stunned.

Hong Jinbao read most of the book, and came over with red eyes and said, "Director Jiang, can you sell the copyright to me?"

"What?" Jiang Heng was stunned.

Hong Jinbao also reacted and realized that his request was a bit excessive.

He sighed and said, "I just think that this book is more suitable for adaptation than "The Legend of Swordsman of Shu Mountain"! That book has too many characters and it's a headache to read!"

Jiang Heng asked: "How is the script revision of Old Monster Xu going?"

He knew that the filming of that drama should start soon, but he had been too busy recently and had no time to inquire about it.

Hong Jinbao said: "It has been changed a long time ago, but I think it's just average!"

Jiang Heng chuckled and said nothing.

Hong Jinbao said: "You also know that old monster Xu, once he makes up his mind, no one can persuade him. I just play a long-browed man in the film, and I don't bother to say anything else!"

What I didn't say was, if you don't even ask me to be your action coach, why would I care if you fail or not!

Perhaps due to considerations of fighting style, the action director of the drama "The Legend of Zu" was Yuan Heping, and Sammo Hung was not invited to be the director.

Jiang Heng said: "I don't think much of his movie either, and I didn't say anything either!" Hong Jinbao laughed: "If you say anything, it will be counterproductive. Originally, Tsui Hark was the most obsessed with special effects in Hong Kong. But you made two special effects blockbusters, and even Liu Weiqiang's "Storm and Cloud" was very successful. Tsui Hark is under a lot of pressure!"

Jiang Heng laughed and said, "I plan to keep this book for myself."

"I know, I'm just excited to see the prey!" Hong Jinbao said frankly, but there was a hint of loneliness in his words.

Jiang Heng thought for a moment and said, "I'm going to buy the adaptation rights for a game and plan to make it into a TV series in the future!"

Hong Jinbao waved his hand and said with a smile: "Forget it, I'd better just act honestly. I'm old and I really don't understand the preferences of young people. Let alone others, just my son, I really...!"

Listening to Hong Jinbao's complaints, Jiang Heng smiled without saying anything. What else could he say?
There is nothing wrong with Sammo Hung admitting that he is old and cannot understand the preferences of young people, but he cannot say this.

In fact, many directors have this problem. When they were young, they made many excellent works that were both well-received and box office successful.

As a result, he refused to admit his age, but the films he made kept flopping.

The reason is simple. The main audience of the film market is young people!
But then again, it’s a good thing that Sammo Hung didn’t agree.

Because the film and television rights of the game that Jiang Heng is going to buy is - "The Legend of Sword and Fairy"!
The 05 version of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" is the pioneering work of domestic fairy tale dramas, and it was also criticized when it was first released.

Unexpectedly, the later fairy-tale dramas became worse and worse, but "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" reached its peak as soon as it debuted and became a classic.

When Jiang Heng started filming, he didn't plan to make any major changes, and just wanted to make the special effects better.

On the set, Wu Jing came over quietly and said, "Congratulations, Director Jiang. Your book Zhu Xian is so popular. I heard from a friend that a fight broke out in the bookstore yesterday!"

Hong Jinbao said: "Not really?"

Wu Jing chuckled, "Young kids have hot tempers, and there are girls around, so they'll probably start fighting if they don't agree on anything!"

Jiang Heng said: "If you put it that way, it's still my fault!"

Wu Jing hurriedly said, "Director Jiang, don't think like that. Even if you didn't have that book, they might still take action if they were dissatisfied."

Jiang Heng didn't know whether to laugh or cry, thinking: "Are you praising me or not?"

Suddenly he said, "By the way, where are you signing now?"

Wu Jing looked like she was about to cry, "Director Jiang, I never thought you would still remember this!"

He then talked about the current situation, which was that he was working alone.

Because he wanted to develop into an action star, but there were few action film resources in the mainland, he terminated his contract with his previous company and prepared to develop in Hong Kong.

I didn't expect that I had signed the movie "Lion Camel Ridge" before the official opening.

At that time, I thought Jiang Heng would sign his agency contract as well, but I didn't expect that he never mentioned it at all.

Wu Jing was too embarrassed to say it, and was afraid that Jiang Heng would remember it one day, so he just kept it that way.

I still have some self-doubt in my heart. Is it really true that I have no progress?

But when he thought that Wu Yizu and Jiang Heng had only signed a unit contract, he felt relieved.

He thought that after the filming of this movie was completed, if Jiang Heng didn’t sign him, he would go south to Hong Kong to find a big company. Fortunately, the wait finally came!

Jiang Heng thought for a moment and said, "Then sign with me. The company will shoot a series of movies and TV series around you!"

"Action type?" Wu Jing's eyes lit up and he asked in surprise.

Jiang Heng thought about it and said, "I guess so!"

What I thought about was which military film would be better?
(End of this chapter)