Super Zoo

Xin Linli's words inadvertently reminded Suming of several other movies that had been released earlier, all of which were art films.

Suming considered his aesthetic taste to be quite sophisticated, but even he felt drowsy watching them.

Little Confused Bug wasn't wrong at all; even art films should be enjoyable and engaging for the audience.

In fact, many so-called art films, just like commercial flops, simply carried the 'art' label, but their content was hardly commendable.

In a commercial society, such art films could only dig their own graves.

"I'd like to add," Suming said, "that even art films can be made in a form that is enjoyable and appealing to the masses. Take 'The Grandmaster,' for example."

"Exactly!" Xin Linli slapped her thigh, the sound "smack" pronounced, and a red palm print immediately appeared on her white leg clad in shorts. The sight made Suming's heart skip a beat, yet she seemed unfazed, and continued to speak fluently, "This is an issue of plot and acting. To be honest, the visual effects of 'Legend of the Investiture of the Gods' are quite stunning—the floating castle in the sky is magnificent; the ten boats sailing in the vast ocean and the fortress-like castle navigating through the Eight Trigrams Array; and the ever-changing Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. From the perspective of a visual and auditory feast, it is a worthy fantasy blockbuster... But the plot is really problematic... With a strong special effects team and visual capabilities, why not spend this money, this technology, this high-tech, on the 'right path'? I remember in the past, when technology was not advanced, mainland productions of 'Journey to the West' and 'Investiture of the Gods' might not have had even a dime's worth of special effects, but they had captivating plots."

Suming thought for a moment and said, "Adapting is difficult; if it's too deep, most of the audience won't understand, if it's too superficial, it will end up the way it is now: a filler animation that relies on special effects to carry the scenes."

"There's no need for major changes!" Xin Linli said emphatically with a wave of her hand.

"No need to adapt?" Suming frowned slightly, finding this idea quite fresh. Weren't all fantasy blockbusters adapted from original works?

"Or rather, there's no need for extensive adaptation. The purpose of adaptation is to faithfully reflect the original work," Xin Linli explained. "Huaxia culture is profound and extensive. The mythological tales passed down from our ancestors have been refined and tested over time. Such stories are not only enjoyable and interesting, but also full of historical and cultural value. All we need to do is to inherit them, make appropriate adjustments on top of the original basis, and provide technological innovation and lavish visual presentations. That would be perfect already. Why abandon the original storylines and spout nonsensical nonsense? From screenwriters to directors, do you really think your intelligence surpasses that of the many ancients from hundreds of years ago? If so, you might as well write a new story altogether. Why use the name of a famous work? Isn't that deceiving people?"

...

Suming realized that his visit to the film company had indeed uncovered a hidden gem. After talking with Xin Linli for over an hour, he found this confused bug, who couldn't even recognize the boss face to face, actually had rather unique and profound insights into film. Their conversation was so enjoyable that he even learned a lot from her.

Seeing that it was getting late, and staying alone with a young female colleague in the company too long might not sound good if it spread, Suming checked the time and prepared to leave.

He would give Long Wu a response early the next morning. Long Wu had asked Suming to view an internal screening, surely hoping for some advice.

As he was about to leave, the film critic turned back into the Little Confused Bug.

"Mr. Su, I'll only stay at the company for three days at most before leaving. I'll definitely find a place to live within a week. If I haven't left after half a month, you can fire me, and I won't complain..."

Suming rolled his eyes. How many days exactly? Did this confused bug have any sense of time?

"Forget it, stay if you want to. Just don't sleep at the reception at night. Go sleep in the small screening room with the air conditioning on, so you don't get sick. If you can't handle renting a place by yourself, file a report and have the company's assistant help you," Suming said helplessly.

Xin Linli's eyes lit up instantly, and she said with a beaming smile, "Mr. Su, you're such a good person, and so handsome!"

Suming's mood had just improved when he suddenly looked up at the large portrait of himself on the wall and felt lost for words all over again.

...

The next morning, Suming called Long Wu.

"Brother Ten, I've seen the film," Suming said.

On the other end of the line, Long Wu chuckled, "What do you think? Isn't it explosively good?"

Suming was silent for a second or two before saying, "Brother Ten, we're friends and partners, right?"

"Why bring this up all of a sudden? Of course, we are," Long Wu responded.

"And, between friends, we should be honest with each other, right?" Suming also chuckled.

Long Wu, too, fell silent for a couple of seconds before suddenly bursting into laughter.

"I know what you're going to say. Are you about to tell me it's a complete disaster of a movie?" Long Wu asked.

"Actually, there are several redeeming features..."

Suming carefully chose his words, not because he was afraid of offending Long Wu, but rather because this film was a father's effort for his son, and Suming didn't want to hurt this father too directly.

He picked out portions of his conversation with Xin Linli from the day before and told them to Long Wu, putting it more diplomatically.

However, before Suming could start, Long Wu said, "Don't worry, I'm in the film industry too. I made the movie; how could I not know whether it's good or bad? I've invited a group of industry experts, oh, and Wang Jin, to have two internal screenings already. We wanted to hear everyone's feedback, but it was all bad, a complete flop. The company and the professionals from the mainland have forecasted that it will be tough to gross over 500 million at the box office. If we can make back the cost with three or four hundred million, we'll be laughing in our sleep. Not going to lie, my wife has been so upset these past few days, she's been shopping like crazy and maxed out several credit cards."

Hearing Long Wu talk like this, Suming actually had a great deal of respect for the former Xiangjiang big shot who could take things in stride and face challenges with a smile. This was the mark of a truly broad-minded and resilient person.

"Brother Ten, then I won't say much more. Just know that whatever I can do to help, I surely will," Suming said.

"Your company may have only released one film, but both its reputation and box office earnings are very good," Long Wu said. "That's why I'd like to hear your thoughts. The movie hasn't officially started its promotion or been released yet. If there's a chance, we could still do some damage control and not lose too terribly, and also leave some hope for Xiang Zuo."

Suming thought to himself, the boss really dotes on his son; at this point, he's still preparing to let Xiang Zuo develop a career in show business?

"I've said, he's my boy; as long as I see he's working hard enough, I'll give him three chances. This is the first one, and I don't want him plunged into despair from the very beginning," Long Wu stated gravely.

"Hmm, Brother Ten, I'll start gathering my team for a discussion right now and give you a call tomorrow. But honestly, at this point, with the movie finished and the release date set, I doubt there's much hope for any substantial fixes," Suming said.

"I understand. We all do our best, but in the end, it's up to fate," Long Wu said.

Suming hung up and headed to the film company.

The so-called 'team' actually consisted of just Xin Linli. Cai Liming and Li Wanting were both overseas, and besides, Cai Liming's strengths were in distribution and management, while Li Wanting's were in networking. Solely from the perspective of film critique, neither seemed to be as capable as Xin Linli at the moment.

He wondered if she had any advice.