From the dialogue used to persuade the director, it's clear that Mr. Huang himself had no expectations for this film's box office performance.
The reasoning is quite simple: the story of "Journey to the Misty World" had absolutely no box office appeal.
The story was born years ago and wasn't even a household name in China, let alone having any influence abroad. Furthermore, it's a mythical tale detached from reality, with cultivation as its core concept. Expecting foreigners to understand such a story is practically impossible due to the lack of cultural foundation.
To illustrate, let's consider the mythological traditions of the East and West.
Chinese cultivation, for instance, focuses on internal cultivation, where one continuously refines their body and soul to gain extraordinary power. With perseverance, determination, and insight, one can achieve immortality.
Western mythology, on the other hand, can be summarized by two words: "bloodline."
Indeed, the entire Western mythological system is built upon the concept of bloodline. If your father is a deity, you are a deity; if not, you are forever a mortal destined for servitude.
Take, for example, Western divine realms, whether it's Norse mythology, Greek mythology, or the heaven of the Judeo-Christian tradition; they all revolve around bloodline. In Norse and Greek myths, deities are born from a primary god, and only their direct descendants can become deities. There are no myths of mortals becoming gods.
Even if such instances exist, upon investigation, it's revealed that these individuals are illegitimate children of a promiscuous god, possessing half divine blood, which allows them to become gods.
Judeo-Christian mythology is similar. While deities are not solely defined by bloodline, they are creations, as there is only one God. All other beings possessing divine power are created by God.
As for humans becoming gods, please, humans are mere lambs, pets of the gods. The greatest fortune is to reach heaven, let alone aspiring to be a deity, which is heresy and warrants being burned at the stake.
Westerners do engage in a form of cultivation, but it leads them to become witches, who are then burned at the stake.
Now, let's look at the deities in the Eastern celestial court. The origins of the Three Pure Ones are unclear, but they can be considered manifestations of the Great Dao.
The Jade Emperor, ruler of the celestial court, named Zhang Bainian, genuinely became the Jade Emperor after undergoing tens of thousands of trials as a mortal.
The Four Great Heavenly Masters were all commoners who cultivated and attained enlightenment in the mortal realm, achieving their positions through their own efforts.
The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li is also a mortal. Although he benefited somewhat from his son's status, it cannot be considered bloodline-based.
In summary, a quick check of the list of celestial beings in the Heavenly Court reveals that a majority of them were once mortals from the common populace.
They either became immortals through diligent cultivation or achieved immortality by rendering immense meritorious service in the mortal world. In essence, these immortals achieved their status through cultivation.
If we set aside these mythological systems and consider more grounded supernatural frameworks, such as the Marvel and DC universes, the heroes, despite their diverse origins, often attribute their superpowers to a few sources.
The most common source is still bloodline, typically being the son of a deity, like Thor, Star-Lord, Aquaman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, all of whom gain their abilities through their lineage.
Next is technology, the reliance on technology to gain powers, such as Iron Man, Ant-Man, or Cyborg.
Finally, there's mutation, commonly known as "the poor rely on mutation," where individuals gain superpowers through various miraculous encounters. Examples include Captain America, Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Flash, the Fantastic Four, and so on.
Among these superheroes, very few become superheroes solely through their own cultivation, without any external assistance, starting as mere mortals.
Of course, there are instances of heroes achieving their status through cultivation, such as Shang-Chi and Doctor Strange, who gain their extraordinary abilities entirely through training.
However, looking at the origins of these two heroes, Shang-Chi is of Chinese descent, and his powers come from ancient Chinese martial arts. Doctor Strange, though Western, derives his powers from the Eastern sorcerer the Ancient One.
This suggests that, in the Western subconscious, only Easterners are perceived as seeking mystical powers through cultivation, while Westerners are relegated to relying on bloodline, technology, or mutation.
This has created a fixed mindset.
Well, I've strayed quite far. All of this was to explain that most ordinary Westerners cannot comprehend the Chinese concept of "immortality." In their minds, the idea of an ordinary person becoming a superhero through diligent cultivation doesn't exist; they can only passively wait to be bitten by something, struck by lightning, or exposed to radiation to become a superhero.
With such a mindset, it's nearly impossible for "Journey to the Misty World" to be a blockbuster in the United States. This is the reason for the lack of box office foundation, something Mr. Huang is acutely aware of.
So, the question arises: if Mr. Huang himself is aware of this, why did he invest resources to create three films?
Firstly, this endeavor didn't cost an exorbitant amount, as much of the footage was repurposed from the television series, adding only tens of millions of dollars to the cost, which could potentially be recouped through film ticket sales.
Secondly, it serves as the starting point for his cultural export ambitions.
One of Mr. Huang's initial five ambitious goals was to make Chinese culture a global trend, thereby achieving cultural infiltration.
Everything needs a beginning, and that beginning must be impressive. The film version of "Journey to the Misty World" is the ideal choice. Although these films might not cause an immediate sensation in the United States, their exceptionally well-written scripts and production quality are bound to attract a dedicated fanbase of Americans.
With this core fanbase, the influence of Eastern culture in the West can gradually spread, eventually forming a vast Xianxia universe.
There are many successful precedents for this, such as "The Lord of the Rings," "Harry Potter," and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Initially, "The Lord of the Rings" had no audience base in China, but through the three films, Chinese people became at least somewhat familiar with Middle-earth.
"Harry Potter" was similar, inspiring countless Chinese individuals to search for the magical Platform 9¾.
This led to Western fantasy novels dominating the online fiction landscape before 2010. Most protagonists found themselves in other worlds, attending magic academies to learn spells, eventually becoming Archmages or Grand Magisters, capable of destroying worlds with a single forbidden spell.
It wasn't until later that Xianxia novels, leveraging their native advantage, began to flourish.
Yet, as of 2022, how many people can readily name the superheroes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Movies and novels derived from the Marvel universe also have a strong market among readers. In essence, the infiltration of these Western cultures into China has been remarkably successful.
Therefore, Mr. Huang is following suit. Regardless of the current market performance of these films, he is determined to push them into the U.S. market and let them ferment over time. Mr. Huang believes that stories from another world happening in China can similarly unfold in the Western world.
Returning to the main topic, since Mr. Huang himself knows his films won't have a significant market, so too do American filmmakers. Therefore, despite its release, "Journey to the Misty World 1" was not given extensive screen time.
However, Mr. Huang strategically chose a non-peak release window, avoiding competition from blockbuster special effects films. In terms of special effects alone, "Journey to the Misty World" boasts the strongest cinematic special effects in history, so the screen time was not entirely insignificant. At the very least, each cinema allocated at least one screening hall for "Journey to the Misty World 1" during every showing period.
But the downside of this release window is the limited audience willing to attend movies. It's akin to China's September movie season, where the lively summer holidays have ended, students have returned to their studies, and there are no major holidays or festivals like Qixi or Valentine's Day. Consequently, the audience throughout September is sparse.
Despite this, Mr. Huang did not skimp on promotion. Advertisements across various film media were continuous, paid placements were secured in television news, and online campaigns were launched using taglines such as "An Eastern mythological legend comparable to The Lord of the Rings" and "The world's strongest special effects film."
As a result, the film's opening day performance was mediocre, with a total box office of approximately $5 million. Considering ticket prices ranging from $10 to $20, around 400,000 people entered cinemas to watch this film.
Coincidentally, this was the day of the national final broadcast of "Cai Wei Fashion Apprentice." Furthermore, there were still nearly two months left until the television series "Journey to the Misty World" aired in China.
Indeed, "Journey to the Misty World" was scheduled to premiere on the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2005. However, its initial broadcasting platform was not a major network like CCTV or Hunan TV, but the obscure Jiangxi TV. The reason was simple: Jiangxi TV offered an exorbitant amount, splashing out 500 million yuan to acquire the premiere broadcast rights for the first season of "Journey to the Misty World," which consisted of 12 episodes.
This was truly a case of emptying the coffers. Jiangxi TV was a relatively unknown entity in China, with its most significant television drama endeavor being the premiere of "iPartment 1" in the past.
However, this was not due to Jiangxi TV's foresight; at the time, no one was interested in buying this potentially hit sitcom. The director, through connections, found Jiangxi TV and arranged for its premiere, essentially a buy-one-get-one-free deal.
But precisely because of Jiangxi TV's obscurity back then, this highly popular series did not gain widespread traction at the time. It was only after its online dissemination that "iPartment" eventually became a sensation.
However, Jiangxi TV in this world, for some reason, seemed to have found the courage to take a gamble. Its newly appointed station director, after viewing the sample footage of "Journey to the Misty World" at the selection meeting, made a stunning bid of 500 million yuan at the final auction, outbidding CCTV and Hunan TV.
They then allocated their entire year's advertising revenue and even took out bank loans to eventually gather the 500 million yuan, securing the premiere broadcast rights for the first season of "Journey to the Misty World" and exclusive broadcast rights for approximately three months.
On the other hand, even with the acquisition of 500 million yuan, it still didn't even cover a fraction of the production costs of "Journey to the Misty World"! After all, Mr. Huang had spent nearly a billion U.S. dollars on this television series!