Chapter 229: Extreme Passion

A sports car raced through the cinema, lifting maple leaves off the ground to a height of four or five meters—so fast that only the car’s silhouette and tail lights were visible! A deep, steady male voice echoed through the theater: “The most passionate sport, battles decided in an instant, faster than the wind. Coming on July 15th—awaited worldwide—‘The Legend of the Racing God’!”
This was an advertisement for another film before its release. This time, the marketing department deployed significant resources to enhance the production of copies, leveraging the overall influence of the Phantom Empire. Even while the film was still in production, news of it had already spread across Asia and Europe through Phantom’s various media channels and advertising methods; it even received its first advertisements in the mainland.
Four posters and three trailers were officially released worldwide—truly on a global scale. As Phantom’s long-term partner, Time Warner also stepped in, willing to release the film in mainstream theaters due to Xiao Ran’s return to directing after two years.
The North American rights alone (including videotapes) for this film were sold for 20 million dollars, setting a record for the highest fee ever paid for an Asian film in North America. It even generated hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars in profits before release. This meant Time Warner believed the film’s North American box office could reach at least 40 million dollars; otherwise, their profits wouldn’t be guaranteed.
It wasn’t that Warner underestimated the film—it was rather a conservative estimate. 20 million dollars was already a historic breakthrough. Remember, without director Xiao Ran, the film wouldn’t have fetched such a high price.
Over time, Xiao Ran’s reputation as a great director had solidified. He was far more famous internationally than Wu Yusen and Xu Ke. The key was that Xiao Ran knew how to please overseas audiences, whereas Wu Yusen and the others couldn’t.
However, all that was changing. Wu Yusen and Xu Ke had learned about the differences and similarities in the preferences of Eastern and Western audiences through the training programs organized by Phantom’s planning department. It was believed they would soon adapt to these changes and eventually become international great directors as Phantom expanded.
Don’t think Xiao Ran had forgotten the concept of guiding audiences. He knew well that if audiences didn’t even accept Mandarin-language films, there was no point in trying to guide them. So, his first priority was to get audiences to accept Mandarin-language films, followed by guiding them—order was crucial.
If Phantom didn’t have a distribution network in Europe, they would surely have had to sell the film’s European rights. But with one in place, releasing it there was a natural next step. Still, Xiao Ran gave Bai Wenjing an instruction: the film must be released in Europe, Asia, and North America within ten days.
The North American side was easy to handle. Though Warner was surprised by the requirement, they agreed. Phantom’s U.S. branch also entrusted the promotion to Warner, but the results were far inferior to those achieved by Bai Wenjing’s marketing department, showing just how critical marketing strategies really are.

It is precisely because of Xiao Ran’s instructions that we are moving closer to achieving a truly global simultaneous release without time differences. Of course, he had no intention of achieving true global synchronization before the advent of the information age—such an approach would be utterly foolish. Since information transmission was not yet efficient enough, a global simultaneous release simply could not be realized.

Bai Wenqiu is busy throughout the summer and Spring Festival holidays every year, as these two periods are crucial and determine the annual box office results. In fact, since the establishment of Magic Shadow, its films have consistently occupied at least five spots on Hong Kong’s top ten box office lists each year, and it has held the title of annual box office champion for four consecutive years—thanks largely to the efforts of the marketing department.

Moreover, Magic Shadow’s films manage to dominate Asia’s annual box office lists with at least five titles per year, while Hong Kong films secure at least eight spots. Don’t think just because Japan has a large market that Hong Kong films’ position across Asia is unshakable.

The promotion planning for this film began not long after shooting started last year, with costs alone for promotion reaching at least 60 million. A significant portion of this was in the form of free advertising, such as street signs, with some companies voluntarily supporting it—just like in the case of “Kung Fu.” Nevertheless, even excluding sponsorships, advertising revenue reached a record high, totaling 40 million across Asia and Europe.

It must be admitted that this film, apart from “Star Wars,” has the most extensive global promotion to date. This is certainly due to Xiao Ran and Magic Shadow, but more so because Xiao Ran deliberately had the marketing department create a huge buzz to boost Chinese-language films.

The release of “Legend of the Car God” was truly a grand event, with almost all of Magic Shadow’s subsidiaries getting involved. As it became a hot topic, they were able to obtain first-hand information and benefit greatly from it. For example, ATV took the opportunity to invite the main actors and creators to appear on its programs, and needless to say, those programs had extremely high viewership.

At a time when the whole world was paying attention, the film underwent a three-day preview in Hong Kong. This preview was quite different from previous ones, as several theaters showed English versions, as well as Japanese, Korean, and French versions to test performance. Great effort was put into dubbing, with the company even trying to bring in all available language teachers and top dubbing actors.

Xiao Ran actually didn’t have to dub the film himself, as it would surely be dubbed into English for European releases. But Magic Shadow uses a direct distribution approach, and Xiao Ran wanted the dubbing to be as authentic as possible to ensure quality. Since DVDs hadn’t yet become popular and the idea of preserving the original audio hadn’t emerged, Xiao Ran had no choice but to go this route.

Amidst the puzzled looks of others, Xiao Ran took Xiao Han’s hand and entered the theater, with actors like Jin Chengwu following closely behind to find seats. After a few commercial ads, the trailer for “Spy Change 2” was shown.

It must be admitted that this trailer is quite impressive, capturing its key selling points almost immediately. The most spectacular part of the first installment of “Spy Change” was that ten-minute chase scene; even after several years, even the proud Americans had to admit it was a classic chase scene in action movies.

“Spy Change 2” also cleverly grabs the audience’s attention with an intense and thrilling chase scene right at the beginning, followed by previews of other segments. After another action movie trailer, the actual film begins.

In fact, Xiao Ran had watched pornographic movies and knew this film should be fine. Yet he still couldn’t help but feel extremely nervous, a feeling even Xiao Han beside him could sense. Xiao Han looked at her brother in the darkness in confusion—she didn’t understand how, given his current status and position, anything could excite him so much.

Xiao Han clearly overlooked one thing: dreams and ideals are not something that status and position can provide in terms of excitement or satisfaction. Xiao Ran’s ambition wasn’t just to help elevate Chinese-language movies; he also hoped to become a true top-tier director—that was his dream.

Now he stood outside that hall, searching for a window or door to enter it, using his own true abilities. This was his attempt. Though he was well aware that there was little hope for a commercial movie like this, it was still worth trying.

For this reason, he even handed over films like “Léon: The Professional” to others to direct—“Groundhog Day” was given to Wei Changqing, while “Léon: The Professional” was entrusted to You Zhi. You Zhi made two experimental films that failed due to their overly dark themes, but his third experimental film finally returned somewhat to mainstream style. Knowing it was the right time, Xiao Ran handed it to him.

The film began with subtitles, which was extremely unusual compared to previous trailers that started with an opening sequence before subtitles. However, the presence of subtitles didn’t mean there was no opening sequence—Xiao Ran simply used a different approach.

First appeared were the four characters “Xiao Ran’s Works,” followed by the names of the lead actors and actresses. As soon as those four characters disappeared, the speakers, now upgraded to Dolby sound, emitted a low humming sound in the theater, similar to that of a car engine.

The sound grew louder and clearer, and suddenly, there was a terrifying screech of tires turning. The sound didn’t last long and quickly returned to normal, but strangely, a strong wind noise filled the theater at that moment. Combined with the sound of a car speeding, it created a vivid sense of immersion, as if one were witnessing a car speeding through the wind at high velocity.

Xiao Ran smiled at Xiang Bao, the sound designer present. Xiang Bao had been in the industry for less than two years, and collaborating with Xiao Ran had been extremely beneficial for him. Xiang Bao closed his eyes, enjoying the thrilling sound effects. At that moment, he fully believed what Xiao Ran said: “Sound design isn’t just about skill—it’s also a form of creativity. When you realize that every sound is unique, that’s when you gain artistic creativity!”

He heard these words from Xiao Ran while they were working on the post-production. He had originally planned to rely on his experience, but after Xiao Ran frowned a few times, he decided to abandon all the sound effects he had made earlier. Xiao Ran told him, “These soft sound effects were never what I wanted.”

To achieve the most realistic sound effects, Xiao Ran chose the most effective—and also the most laborious—method: recording natural sounds directly. He brought Chen Jiafeng and the retired driver over and had them drive, while the recording team prepared to capture sounds at corners and other locations.

Even to capture the subtle differences in sounds during cornering and engine startup, Xiao Ran had Chen Jiafeng and the retired driver imitate the characteristics of others. It was at this time that Xiao Ran said those words to Xiang Bao. Xiang Bao dismissed them outright; if Xiao Ran weren’t the boss and director, he wouldn’t even bother paying attention.

But now he realized he was wrong. Sometimes, when sound effects are taken to their limit, it becomes a form of enjoyment in itself. He remembered how meticulous Xiao Ran was when creating sound effects—carefully selecting and blending various sounds before incorporating them—resulting in such immersive sound effects.

The film title appeared abruptly, like a powerful typhoon rushing in, slicing through the screen like a knife, revealing a car speeding forward. At that moment, the intense music composed by Lei Songde seemed to build upon the previous sound effects, immersing the audience in a continuous wave of excitement.

Through clever editing and control, the car’s speed and screen transitions were closely tied to the rhythm of the music. The obviously expensive sports car performed exceptionally well, with the camera closely following it without ever revealing who was inside. A drone shot lasted about five seconds, giving a grand view.

Suddenly, a RV appeared ahead, but in that instant, the car completely overtook it. The camera caught a glimpse of the RV driver, whose face turned pale as he applied emergency brakes. At the same time, a distant shot appeared for three seconds.

The car quickly took another corner, and another sports car appeared ahead. This car also sped up rapidly, as if waiting for it, and quickly took the lead. The two cars raced closely together, and when they reached a corner, the mysterious sports car suddenly surged ahead. Ahead was a straight road, and a roaring young man emerged from the trailing car. The camera then switched to a drone shot, capturing the mysterious sports car from just the right height. Interestingly, under this angle, the usually small car appeared extremely clear, and as the drone shot rotated in the air, the effect became even more striking.

The camera switched again, showing a garage. A low humming sound continued, and suddenly, the car rushed into frame, making a violent and impactful brake stop before making a 180-degree turn.

The car stopped, the door opened, and Kim Sung-moo stepped out—a cheerful young man with a bright smile, dressed in highly trendy fashion that some had never seen before. It was at this moment that the audience’s hearts finally settled back to normal.
This was undoubtedly a very clever and successful opening sequence. Xiao Ran had always believed that the opening sequence is extremely important. In the case of an action movie, during those at least three minutes of the opening, one must not give the audience any chance to catch their breath.
The opening sequence was a huge success, as every member of the creative team could hear and feel the passionate applause and excited shouts from the audience. The sense of excitement was perfectly conveyed during those three minutes, with such smoothness that it seemed the camera was constantly in motion, keeping everyone thrilled.