Boss, I never expected you to have the potential to be a screenwriter, and such a powerful one at that, to have written a top-ten film script in the world!" In the second month of its release in 2012, Zhang Yingguo, who was fishing with Boss Huang, exclaimed in admiration.
Although Zhang Yingguo was known within the company as a sycophant and had the worst reputation among the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Jiangnan Group, he was also very shrewd. He seized every opportunity to flatter Boss Huang, thus maintaining his unshakeable position within the group.
His praise this time was genuinely deserved. After a month of global release, "2012" had already entered the top ten highest-grossing films in history, pushing its sibling film "The Misty Journey 5" down to eleventh place. With at least two more months of theatrical run, based on past experience, it was highly likely that "2012" would break into the top five, and even challenge for the top three was not impossible.
The script for this film had two credited writers: Harald Kloser, an American screenwriter who was the original writer for the film "2012" in history, and naturally, Boss Huang himself.
In fact, at Huang He's level, his original intention was not to have his name appear on the script. However, the entire company unanimously demanded that Boss Huang be credited as a screenwriter, and even as the lead writer.
At that time, everyone was impassioned, stating that if Boss Huang didn't agree, they would all forgo their salaries.
See what good employees they were! Boss Huang was deeply moved to tears and eventually added his name. However, he ceded the lead writer position to Harald Kloser, contenting himself with being a co-writer.
Harald Kloser was also very dissatisfied with this, stating that he was not worthy of holding the position of lead writer, as the entire outline of the script was provided by Boss Huang.
Although he had polished a script outline of merely two pages into a detailed script of over eight hundred pages, the creative ideas in the script were undoubtedly Boss Huang's.
To be honest, the entire Jiangnan Film and Television initially had only average expectations for "2012." Disaster films, in particular, had a rather poor performance in the global market. Moreover, it was a script written by Boss Huang himself. The screenwriter himself would absolutely not dare to alter a single word from the outline, only adding to the framework. It would be a miracle if the movie turned out well.
Of course, even if it didn't turn out well, it was a script personally written by Boss Huang, so the film would receive first-class treatment from the company. All sorts of resources were poured into it, and all available actors, especially various major stars, were cast in cameo roles for free, all hoping that the final result wouldn't be too dismal.
But who could have imagined that the movie would become a hit, and such a huge hit? This left many at Jiangnan Film and Television perplexed. It was Zhang Yingguo who finally clarified many of their doubts.
"Don't forget, our Boss Huang is no ordinary person. He's a legendary figure who built his empire from scratch and became the world's richest man in just 10 years. Such a great person, no matter what field he enters, he will be at the very top. In the future, if our chairman were to write novels, he would also be at the very top. People like Xiao Qian would have to step aside!"
Everyone praised him, and then they all found it to be perfectly reasonable.
However, speaking of which, Boss Huang's name appearing on the screenwriter list naturally sparked immense curiosity. This was a script personally written by the world's richest man. Everyone was curious about what story this movie told that was worth the world's richest man putting pen to paper. This attracted even higher attention, drawing in many people who were not originally interested in the film to go and watch it.
However, such a situation was not entirely positive; it was a double-edged sword that could potentially ruin the entire film.
Whether ordinary people respected or hated the world's richest man was not something that could be easily determined. This was why these world's richest men universally publicized their charitable endeavors; they did so to reduce their "hatred value."
Boss Huang was highly respected in China, but that was not necessarily the case worldwide. Furthermore, these people were not watching the movie with admiration but rather with a more critical eye.
If the movie had even the slightest inappropriate element, it would be immediately bombarded with criticism.
The simplest example was the short film later made by Old Ma.
To be fair, the film itself was quite well-made. Its martial arts fight scenes almost crushed all subsequent so-called wuxia television dramas, as it was a short film that brought together almost all of China's kung fu stars and had the unreleased investment from Old Ma, making it impossible for the quality not to be excellent.
And there was an interesting twist later: even the strongest martial arts masters on Mount Hua could not defeat the police on Mount Hua, a point that was worth deep thought and reflection for countless people.
If a veteran actor had played the lead role, it would have been praised sky-high across the entire internet.
But simply because the male lead was Old Ma, it was picked apart and mocked online, eventually devolving into a meme and becoming an object of ridicule across the web. This was the consequence of looking through tinted glasses.
Just as a side note, this short film also reflected Old Ma's change in mindset; he had become completely arrogant, and his subsequent downfall was only natural, as he had lost his perspective.
To get back to the point, Boss Huang was clearly relatively successful this time. Firstly, he only served as a screenwriter and not as an actor, thus avoiding significant backlash.
Secondly, the quality of the film was indeed very high, which played to the positive side of the double-edged sword, further boosting the film's box office.
Of course, some people would still express dissatisfaction with the film. For instance, Zhang Yingguo couldn't help but ask, "Boss, I have a question that's been bothering me. May I ask?"
"You've already asked it, so why ask me?" Huang He chuckled. Zhang Yingguo also grinned and then said, "Boss, this movie is good in other aspects, but it seems like China has very little presence in it."
In fact, Zhang Yingguo's question was quite mild. On Chinese domestic networks, many people had already vociferously criticized the film, with the core issue being that the country seemed to be portrayed as a jester.
This claim was not baseless; it had a factual basis.
For example, in the original "2012" movie, although China's scenes were not many, they were very important, shouldering the responsibility of constructing the entire ark, which also reflected China's prowess in infrastructure from another perspective. This was almost universally recognized and praised by Chinese netizens.
But in Boss Huang's version of "2012," the United States built Noah's Ark, and it was built on American soil. Coupled with all the technological sources and administrative management belonging to the United States, it was clear that all the credit was given to the United States. China was completely reduced to a supporting role in the matter of saving the world.
However, one could not say that China was unimportant in this movie, because the female lead was Chinese.
But she had gone to study in the United States shortly after graduating from university, and eventually married an American, becoming a true American. This was undoubtedly very disheartening for Chinese audiences.
Furthermore, China's role was more prominently featured in the prophecy. In the previous life of 2012, the doomsday prophecy came from the Maya civilization.
But in Boss Huang's version, it became the result of a Chinese Taoist priest, using the lost "Lian Shan Yi" (a classic divination text), calculating the outcome at the cost of his life.
Later, in other plotlines, there were scattered scenes related to Taoism, and China became more of a prophetic nation, but it was still a rather unpopular setting.
Therefore, although the film received rave reviews internationally and achieved legendary box office success, it was unusually unsuccessful domestically. The box office was only decent in the first two weeks and then plummeted to the bottom. If not for Jiangnan Group's strong control over online discourse, it might have led to a massive public opinion crisis.
This confused many employees within Jiangnan Group, and some were even displeased.
After all, under the leadership of Chairman Boss Huang, Jiangnan Group had basically assimilated into the vanguard of the great rejuvenation cause. Seeing the company suddenly produce such a film caused some internal dissatisfaction.
This created a lot of trouble for Zhang Yingguo, who was responsible for the company's internal administrative affairs. Thus, he subtly inquired of Boss Huang how to deal with the situation.
"Yingguo!" Hearing Zhang Yingguo's question, Boss Huang guessed his intention and said lightly, "Although you are mostly responsible for the company's internal affairs and rarely participate directly in its operations, you attend all the annual high-level meetings. Have you noticed any changes in our company's foreign trade?"
"Of course. Our company's foreign trade has reached new highs every year, with an average growth rate of 18%. These are miracles born under your wise leadership, Chairman!" Zhang Yingguo said cheerfully.
"Yes, our company's trade volume is increasing. Have you noticed that our operating costs overseas have also increased? Especially our legal and public relations costs overseas. This year, compared to 2008, the expenses have increased by a staggering 182%!" Boss Huang said, and Zhang Yingguo lowered his head.
He had never paid attention to such figures. In previous high-level meetings, he would sleep with his eyes open during discussions of these data. Expecting him to notice such subtle changes in the data was asking too much.
"The increase in legal and public relations costs means that the entire international trade environment is becoming increasingly unfavorable for me, especially in the United States. It seems many people there already regard us as competitors! Do you understand what I'm saying?" Boss Huang sighed.