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Chapter 607: Chapter 313: I Think You’re Not Enough

His words instantly grabbed the attention of the livestream audience.

Guo Fan and Wu Jing grew tense as well. After all, the moment of truth had arrived.

Sun Ji quickly conferred with Zhao Lei before sharing his opinion.

Sun Ji: "President Chen, the script for *Wandering Blue Star* is excellent. This kind of hard sci-fi is extremely rare in our country—practically nonexistent."

Zhao Lei: "That’s right. For that reason, this film deserves to be made. I also strongly agree with the additional ideas and plans Director Guo presented outside of the script. There’s just one issue: the budget is too large."

Sun Ji nodded. "Yes, the budget is too large, which means the risk is higher. The box office numbers it would need just to break even are incredibly high."

Chen Jincheng considered this all pointless filler and cut straight to the chase. "So, what’s your verdict? Do you think we should invest in this movie?"

Sun Ji replied immediately, "We can invest. Provided the quality is up to par, especially regarding the special effects, it could open up a new market. A box office of over a billion would be no problem. Of course, we must first ensure that the special effects outlined in their proposal are actually delivered."

Zhao Lei added, "Even if we invest, we’ll need to send our own people to the set to supervise. And we’ll need the right to monitor how the funds are being used."

Chen Jincheng smiled upon hearing their responses.

’As expected,’ he thought. ’People who can keep a company afloat in a state of self-governance and even launch new projects after their boss skipped town are clearly a capable bunch.’

He turned the livestream camera back to himself. "I’m sure you all know the outcome by now. It’s true, this kind of hard sci-fi film is virtually nonexistent in our country. I admire Director Guo’s pioneering spirit, and I believe this is exactly the kind of movie we should be supporting."

"I’m going to say something that might offend some people, but sometimes I find it hard to understand why the film industry is so obsessed with casting young, pretty-boy idols instead of focusing on acting ability. Since when does a movie rely on marketing instead of quality?"

"It’s gotten to the point where some of the directors, bigwigs, and financiers in the film industry—these so-called ’insiders’—know less than I do, and I’m a complete outsider. That’s a terrifying thought."

"I worry that directors and film investors will one day stray so far from the essence of filmmaking that a horrifying scenario will emerge. For example: a director could just find an overweight person and casually film a weight-loss vlog. Then, the financiers could market it with all sorts of inspirational, passionate propaganda, flooding the media to the point where it’s the only thing people see."

"In the end, it would devolve into something for the weight-loss industry, a banquet for radical feminists, and yet it would still rake in a huge box office. Meanwhile, the very things a true film should focus on would be lost. Just think about it. That would be a terrifying thing."

Chen Jincheng’s words left the people in the livestream audience staring at one another.

And yet, he had a point, especially regarding the issue of the pretty-boy idols.

However, many people disagreed with his final point, particularly those within the film industry.

"That’s just fearmongering. If you could get a massive box office hit by just filming some weight-loss vlog, then what’s the point of us directors?"

"Exactly! There’s no way our film industry has gotten *that* rotten."

"Chen Jincheng, don’t think you can run your mouth off just because you were right about *Nameless* once."

"..."

Chen Jincheng didn’t bother arguing with them. Instead, he turned to Guo Fan on the video call. "Director Guo, Second-Life Star will invest in your film. I just have one question: if we invest an additional 60 million, will that be enough for you to create perfect special effects?"

He recalled news from an interview in his past life. When everyone was pleasantly surprised by the special effects of "that little breakout film," they were actually just a rough version. The effects budget had been slashed from the original estimate, and the number of special effects shots had been cut in half.

The cost for even the semi-finished effects was already on the high side. To create the perfect version would have required another 150 million, pushing the break-even point to a 2 billion box office gross.

’Who would dare to invest in that?’

’Well, Chen Jincheng dared. In that scenario, his box office cut alone would jump from 240 million to 650 million. The total return on this investment could exceed 1 billion.’

Hearing this, Guo Fan grew anxious. "Mr. Chen, it’s enough! It’s absolutely enough! I can guarantee that after you invest this money, the funds will be absolutely sufficient. We won’t have a situation where costs go over budget again."

’He’d finally managed to secure an investor, and he was terrified the man would suddenly change his mind. That would be a real kick in the nuts.’

’So, all he could do now was give a firm guarantee. It looked like he’d still have to go back and cut some effects scenes and lower the quality requirements.’

’Making a hard sci-fi film in this country is just too damn hard.’

’Seriously, it’s not that they can’t do better than productions overseas. It’s just a genuine lack of funding. Hell, many of the people working in Hollywood are from our own country.’

’Just think about it. They get investments of 100 or 200 million USD. How much bigger is that budget?’

"Director Guo, I don’t think that’s enough," Chen Jincheng suddenly said.

"???" Guo Fan was visibly stunned.

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