I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 309 - 309 308. If youre tired of looking you can go straight

Chapter 309: 308. If you’re tired of looking, you can go straight to sleep (Extra update for monthly passes!)_1 Chapter 309: 308. If you’re tired of looking, you can go straight to sleep (Extra update for monthly passes!)_1 Several days ago, overseas, in Massachusetts.

Alfred Reek was one of the senior department heads responsible for importing movies at AMC.

He was the supervisor of Thomas Lee.

“The Christmas slot? What on earth is Lee thinking?”

Reek looked at the report on his desk and felt that his subordinate was becoming more and more troublesome.

Here, the Christmas season was akin to the combined holidays of Chinese New Year, Christmas, and New Year’s Day, when major shopping malls launch promotional activities. The streets bustled with people, malls were packed, and film revenues soared. It was the season second only to the summer and the golden week of May.

Typically, just as most films shown during the Chinese New Year cater to family-friendly, festive themes, movies around Christmas are also dominated by light comedies, romances, and animated films.

Yet Thomas Lee had submitted a war movie for consideration.

And it was a foreign language film.

As the Chinese would say, who wants to watch violence and killing during the festive season? It’s bad luck.

While there wasn’t a similar sentiment overseas, people still preferred to go to the movies with their families during Christmas, and war films, with their classification not allowing children, would not be the preferred choice for outings, dragging down the box office.

Moreover, it was a “foreign” production, which Reek found somewhat emotionally unacceptable.

Fortunately, the contract only guaranteed a five percent distribution; the specifics would depend on the circumstances.

Beside the report was a box of CDs, which contained the movie “Magic Tide”. It was sent over by Thomas Lee for assessment and local classification.

Overseas, all movies, games, and other audiovisual entertainment products must be classified to filter out any age-inappropriate content, thus leading to more intense films for mature audiences.

“Lee’s judgment has always been accurate. If he’s done this, there might be a reason. I might as well watch the movie first…”

Reek intended to start the review immediately, but then he remembered tonight’s gathering.

He graduated from Miskatonic University in Massachusetts, which hosts the famous Miskatonic University Student Film Festival, the largest youth film festival in the United States. Reek majored in cinematography. After graduation, he worked in film for a while before joining AMC and gradually made his way to his current position.

Tonight’s gathering was the 20th-anniversary reunion with a few close classmates, held at his own house, which was quite large and could accommodate friends to stay over if they were tired.

Some of his classmates had become famous directors, while others had stayed on as professors, all of whom were successful people.

Beyond the classic barbecue party, their gatherings involved watching movies together. As industry insiders, there was much to discuss while watching films, making for a relaxed and enjoyable evening.

“Having them join in the critique might be better.”

Reek thought that his opinion alone might be biased, but with so many classmates’ opinions combined, that would be enough to form a comprehensive evaluation.

After all, according to Thomas Lee, this was an epic film.

When Reek heard this, he almost wanted to ask his Chinese-American subordinate to translate what “epic film” meant.

As everyone knows, such high-budget movies have disappeared in recent years, even Hollywood, the strongest global film industry, has not dared venture into these costly productions. The past few years have seen a focus on interconnected superhero blockbusters. The classic epic movies of old were no longer being made.

Reek didn’t believe that other countries could produce epic films, mainly because they lacked the industrial equipment, followed by the level of actors, and then factors like the script, director, etc. Another point was the investment of funds.

At the turn of the century, there were some epic fantasy films. At that time, computer graphics technology was not yet mature, so many scenes were shot in real locations, such as having hundreds of horse riders charge or creating props that convincingly replaced special effects.

Such approaches also helped save costs. It might sound incredible, but at times, producing special effects was really expensive.

Today, what Hollywood prides itself on is still the mature film industry system, with superhero movies being the epitome of advanced special effects.

In Hollywood, these effects can be achieved at relatively low cost, but abroad, you either have to pay big bucks to outsource to Hollywood or figure it out on your own.

For example, creating a flame could take a foreign team several months to research particle rendering, but in Hollywood, the same fire effect has hundreds of options to choose from. This is all about accumulation and reserves, which aren’t so easily overtaken through shortcuts.

There are even many special effects that only specific studios can achieve, and most of these studios are concentrated here. It’s said that Hollywood monopolizes the special effects film, and this statement is not at all wrong.

And when you want to shoot movies with big scenes and lots of effects, you almost certainly would turn to Hollywood’s special effects teams.

But Lex hadn’t heard about any local studios undertaking related special effects production.

In other words, the special effects for “Magic Tide” were most likely made by other studios or by themselves.

Those fifty-cent-quality effects are simply not worth the anticipation.

Lex also glanced over the director’s previous list of works, all horror and thriller films, the kind categorized here as low-budget B movies. This only made Lex more convinced that the so-called “epic movie” was probably a joke.

And the reason those films managed to garner such high box-office returns, Lex felt, was probably due to outdated tastes.

In the past, there had been co-productions between two countries, even featuring famous foreign actors, but the quality was only mediocre, and the level of special effects was lacking, leading to audience disappointment.

Therefore, with the expectation of watching a joke and mocking a bad movie, Lex picked up the “Magic Tide” DVD and drove home.

At night, after enjoying a perfect barbecue dinner, Lex and his friends headed to the home theater he had built part of his garage into, which had perfect audio-visual effects, a true happy place for Lex.

“What did you say you brought?”

One of Lex’s friends, Justin, inquired; he was a somewhat famous director who had made a couple of decent movies, a standout in the industry.

“A movie set to release on Christmas, an import from overseas.”

Lex took out the DVD.

“‘Magic Tide’, the name reminds me of a game I played as a kid.”

Another friend, Professor Amitage, joked; he was a professor at the Miskatonic University School of Media Studies.

“They say it’s an epic film, heh.”

Lex inserted the DVD into the player.

“Epic film? I haven’t heard of any director planning to make such big productions recently,”

The last friend, Lais, a producer at a film company, didn’t quite understand Lex’s intent and so he asked.

“Just watch, I’ve got beer, and we can chat while we watch.”

Lex brought over a few bottles of beer, hit the play button, turned off the lights, and settled onto the comfortable couch.

The whole room darkened, and before the production list appeared, the first image was of a pitch-black forest.

*

The second monthly ticket additional update 1/3, October