6: Chapter 6: It's only right to take some time to achieve realism, isn't it?

"This topic can make it into the top ten trending searches? It wasn't bought, was it?"

"To the netizen above, remove the 'wasn't', this is clearly bought!"

"So disgusting, buying trending searches for hype again, and it's for a sci-fi movie at that."

"With these funds and this kind of petty scheming, why not just make a proper movie? Why insist on hyping it up? Look at how rotten sci-fi movies in the Dragon Kingdom have become now!"

The general public already had no patience for the behavior of buying trending searches, and now, seeing that it was actually done for a sci-fi movie, they were even more disgusted.

They felt even more revulsion in their hearts.

They flocked to the topic, beginning to attack this film and the label of 'Dragon Kingdom sci-fi movies'.

"Tsk tsk tsk... sci-fi movies; every time I hear that now, my stomach starts churning."

"Sigh, this movie is definitely using the sci-fi label, but in the end, it'll just be various romantic entanglements again. I'm already used to these directors' tricks."

"A sci-fi movie is one thing, but why is Xu's Heavy Industry among the partners? Isn't this company one that makes excavators and large agricultural machinery?"

"Got it, they're going to save the blue star while driving excavators..."

"..."

As more and more netizens participated in the discussion about the 'The Wandering Earth' topic, the focus of more people's discussion shifted from the movie itself to the partner enterprise, Xu's Heavy Industry Group.

In a sci-fi movie, a heavy industry enterprise actually appeared.

What is going on?

Are they going to save the blue star while driving excavators?

Confused netizens, driven by curiosity and bewilderment, followed the clues to start looking up relevant information about Xu's Heavy Industry.

As it turned out, upon checking, they discovered that Xu's Heavy Industry was actually a heavy industry enterprise on the verge of bankruptcy.

This immediately had the netizens in stitches.

"Partnering with a heavy industry group that's about to go bankrupt—are they afraid the movie won't flop fast enough?"

"Xu's Heavy Industry? What kind of company is this, do they sell farm tools?"

"To the person above, this company used to be a long-standing heavy industry enterprise. However, ever since the new chairman took office, it has gradually declined."

"An enterprise on the verge of bankruptcy + a sci-fi field no one dares to touch; are you guys stacking debuffs here?"

"..."

Because they discovered that the enterprise partnering with Guo Fan Film Industry was actually a heavy industry group on the verge of bankruptcy.

The focus of the gossiping netizens' discussion gradually shifted from the movie itself to the enterprise, Xu's Heavy Industry.

Media outlets sensitive to trending topics, seizing this wave of popularity, stirred up the topic even more, with many publishing articles online:

"The partnership between the near-bankrupt Xu's Heavy Industry and Guo Fan Film Industry: is it a desperate gamble, or is it..."

"Shocking! After Xu Hao took over Xu's Heavy Industry, it has suffered losses year after year with zero profit."

"A long-standing heavy industry group, in order to be reborn, actually did something like this..."

The heated discussions among netizens and the opportunism of marketing accounts.

For a time, discussions about Xu's Heavy Industry online became increasingly lively.

And Xu Hao, as well as Xu's Heavy Industry, became known to more people.

It's just that this understanding was not exactly positive.

While the topic online was in an uproar, Director Guo Fan, the person who created the topic, was currently at the set, preparing for the film's shooting.

With him at the scene was the lead actor of 'The Wandering Earth': Actor Wu Jing!

As an investor and lead actor of 'The Wandering Earth', Actor Wu Jing was very invested in this movie.

Just recently, Director Guo Fan had announced the official start of filming.

He finished the shooting of his previous TV series and immediately rushed to the filming set of 'The Wandering Earth'.

After running through the script, he picked up his phone and browsed the news online.

Because of the post that Director Guo Fan had made.

Over the past two days, topics like 'Dragon Kingdom sci-fi movies', 'The Wandering Earth', and 'Xu's Heavy Industry' had quite a lot of buzz online.

Actor Wu Jing swiped his finger across the screen, constantly scrolling through posts under the 'Dragon Kingdom sci-fi movies' topic.

Looking at the various posts above, they were all uniformly pessimistic.

He couldn't help but feel a little dejected.

Previously.

There had been film companies that attempted sci-fi movies, hoping to open up this field.

But the dismal box office and endless abuse ruthlessly slapped those film companies in the face.

Sci-fi movies are an abyss that buries practitioners!!

Thinking of this, Actor Wu Jing sighed and muttered to himself:

"Can sci-fi movies really succeed in the Dragon Kingdom?"

The voice wasn't loud, but Director Guo Fan, sitting beside him, heard it clearly.

He saw the slightly dejected look on Actor Wu Jing's face and watched his fingers constantly swiping on his phone.

Thinking of the topics on Weibo over the past two days, he immediately understood what was going on.

"Don't worry, I can't guarantee the movies of other film companies. But for my 'The Wandering Earth', I can guarantee you, it will definitely succeed."

Director Guo Fan patted his chest, full of confidence.

Actor Wu Jing lifted his head and stared at Director Guo Fan.

"The script for the movie 'The Wandering Earth' took us nearly five years to polish carefully; whether it's the plot, the special effects, the actors, or the professional props, we've put in a tremendous amount of effort."

"Although the internet generally doesn't think highly of this movie, believing that we, or rather the Dragon Kingdom, can't make excellent sci-fi films."

"But what the real result will be, everything will have to wait until the filming is finished, the movie hits the screen, and the audience sees it to know."

Director Guo Fan said a lot in one breath.

Those pessimistic voices online, even though he wanted to ignore them, he still saw them more or less.

To say it didn't bother him would be a lie.

But even if many more people opposed it, since he chose to film 'The Wandering Earth', he had to film it with the most serious attitude.

Regardless of the outcome.

Hearing his heartfelt words, Actor Wu Jing's mood recovered a little, and he nodded slightly.

"Hey, speaking of the props for 'The Wandering Earth', you mentioned that you were collaborating with Xu's Heavy Industry Group, right?"

Actor Wu Jing sat up, seemingly remembering something, and suddenly asked Director Guo Fan.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Director Guo Fan looked at Actor Wu Jing with a puzzled expression.

"This Xu's Heavy Industry doesn't seem to have been doing very well in terms of operations in recent years; I heard they are about to go bankrupt. Haven't you heard?"

Actor Wu Jing was a bit confused.

Logically speaking, before signing the cooperation agreement, Director Guo Fan should have gone to conduct an on-site inspection.

How could he choose to collaborate with a company that is about to go bankrupt?

"Bankruptcy? I wasn't really aware of that." Director Guo Fan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

"When I told Chairman Xu Hao about my vision, he agreed immediately, saying he could make the corresponding props, and even showed me the corresponding design blueprints."

"When I saw those design blueprints at the time, they were exactly like the large transport vehicles I had imagined, so I signed a cooperation contract with them."

"You have to know, although there are many heavy industry groups in the Dragon Kingdom, there are really not many enterprises that can build such sci-fi props according to requirements. Even those that could build them wouldn't look at a small director like me."

"Only Xu's Heavy Industry could not only build them but also agreed to collaborate with us."

Director Guo Fan explained to Actor Wu Jing.

"But they are indeed in poor operating condition, and most of their employees have left. Can they really make the props that meet the requirements on time?"

Actor Wu Jing was still somewhat skeptical and continued to press him.

After all, there were too many negative reports about Xu's Heavy Industry at the moment!