mesbooks Chapter 304 Capital Has Smelled the Flame
Chapter 304 Capital Has Smelled the Flame
Chapter 304 Capital Has Smelled the Flame
In the spring of 1998, the entire Asian film and television industry and capital market were completely shocked by a TV series called "Boys Over Flowers".
Before this, Kitahara Shin had always been known as a "genius screenwriter" and a "high-quality masterpiece maker." Whether it was the delicate and heart-wrenching Tokyo Love Story, the profound humanity of Infernal Affairs, or the hardcore passion of Haikyuu!!, the core reason why these works were able to achieve legendary status was the irreplaceable, meticulously crafted quality of the scripts and the filming techniques, which were like works of art.
For the capital market, while such "masterpieces" may be profitable, they leave them with a profound sense of powerlessness. This is because what capital hates most is "unreplicability." No matter how good your script is, or how talented Kitahara Shin is, other film companies simply cannot learn from or imitate it. You reap the rewards, while they don't even get a sip of the soup.
However, the sudden emergence of "Boys Over Flowers" completely changed everything.
The commercial value of this drama far exceeded Kitahara Shin's initial expectations. Not only did it achieve a crushing victory in viewership ratings, but more frighteningly, it triggered a nationwide "fan economy effect."
Less than a month after the series aired, related merchandise sold out instantly. Postcards, posters, and school uniforms featuring the F4's images, even cheap replicas of the meteor necklace that Dao Ming Si gave to Shan Cai in the show, sold out in night markets and boutiques across Asia. The rental and sales figures for videotapes and VCDs broke all previous records in Japanese history.
Even more outrageous are the licensing fees for overseas broadcasting rights. Major television stations in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand practically lined up outside Kitahara Productions' publicity department, waving blank checks, to compete for the first-run and rebroadcast rights. This drama recouped dozens of times its costs just from selling overseas rights and airing ad slots!
What excites major Asian film and television investors the most is that they have finally found a "wealth code" in Kitahara Shin's drama that can be perfectly copied and frantically replicated.
Mary Sue idol drama!
This kind of drama doesn't need any profound meaning, nor does it need to delve into any rigorous logic. It has an incredibly clear and low-barrier template: find a few handsome male idols, pair them with an ordinary but stubborn Cinderella, and add the cliché plot of luxury cars, villas, class conflicts, and a domineering CEO falling in love with me.
This production model is ridiculously cheap! As long as you copy it, even if what you produce is just scraps, you can still make a fortune in the huge female market.
As a result, within just a few months, a frenzy of "idol drama imitation" swept across the entire Asian film and television industry. Producers in Taiwan bought the rights to various Japanese shoujo manga overnight to prepare for remakes; South Korean television stations began to select tall, handsome men in large numbers; even major television stations in Japan abandoned their melancholic social dramas and began to frantically launch various campus romance dramas.
Faced with this chaotic phenomenon, many traditional film and television industry veterans and serious film critics have expressed strong dissatisfaction with Kitahara Shin, the "instigator." They believe that it was Kitahara Shin, a high-end player who has always led the aesthetic trends of the times, who spearheaded the creation of this utterly meaningless Mary Sue drama, leading to the regression of the entire film and television industry's atmosphere.
Faced with subtle accusations from the outside world that he had "lost his value," "fallen from grace," and "led the way in making easy money," Kitahara Shin gave a perfect response that can be described as a textbook example of public relations in an exclusive interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun.
On the day of the interview, Kitahara Shin was dressed in a well-fitting casual suit. He sat in front of the camera with a calm demeanor, even with a touch of compassionate gentleness.
"I've never cared about the labels others put on me, like 'status' or 'legendary artist.' Those things mean nothing to me." Kitahara Shin said to the camera, his tone sincere and resolute. "I make TV dramas not to indulge in self-admiration within a small circle, nor simply to make money."
He paused slightly, his eyes becoming exceptionally profound: "Everyone must understand that every era has its own growing pains, and its own joys. In this era of economic downturn, where everyone is exhausted from making a living, if a seemingly clichéd idol drama can make a girl, worn out from working a day at a convenience store, genuinely smile when she returns to her rented room and turns on the TV at night, and can bring her a touch of sweet comfort in her dreams—"
"Then this drama has value." Kitahara Shin said this with great righteousness. "Tragedies that make people cry are art. Are comedies and idol dramas that bring simple joy to millions of people not art? What I want to do is simply guide everyone to find their own happiness in this imperfect reality."
How beautifully said! Not only did it shut down all the critics, but it also elevated a purely money-grabbing Mary Sue drama to the lofty level of "humanistic concern" and "consolation for the times." Countless female fans watching the interview were moved to tears, their admiration for Kitahara Shin reaching its peak.
However, only Kitahara Shin himself knew that all this talk of solace was just sophisticated rhetoric packaged for outsiders.
His real purpose was simply to make money in a straightforward and brutal way!
Because he knew better than anyone that the tide of the times was advancing at an alarming pace. In order to keep up with, and even lead, the industrial revolution in film and television over the next twenty years, he needed to have a vast amount of liquid capital at his disposal.
His mind is already filled with those groundbreaking masterpieces of the future.
He not only wants to make films that reach legendary status in terms of plot and depth, but he also wants to become a rule-maker for future global blockbusters. For example, Christopher Nolan's *Inception* and *Interstellar*. Those groundbreaking classics that perfectly combine hard science fiction, mind-bending logic, and top-notch audiovisual language often require staggering investments of hundreds of millions of dollars. To make a blockbuster that can consistently sweep the Oscars for technical excellence, a massive financial foundation is simply unthinkable.
Moreover, Kitahara Shin's greatest ambition is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a super gold mine that will dominate global box office for more than a decade after the turn of the 21st century.
As a businessman with a futuristic perspective, Kitahara Shin saw through Marvel. He knew that later Marvel movies were actually quite formulaic in terms of plot, and the characters gradually became flat, even being criticized by many big directors as "theme parks." But so what? It could still rely on pure visual bombardment, cool special effects, and interactions between characters to make audiences around the world willingly open their wallets for tens or hundreds of billions of dollars at the box office!
At this point in 1998, Marvel Comics was at its lowest ebb, even teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. They had to sell the rights to Spider-Man and the X-Men to Sony and Fox at bargain prices to stay afloat. This was absolutely the case when Shin Kitahara stepped in to completely acquire it.
Then it's the perfect time to take the lead in establishing the "Kitahara Superhero Universe".
To accomplish this monumental feat—acquiring Marvel, building a special effects empire, and laying the groundwork for future technology—the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue generated by "Boys Over Flowers" over the past few months are merely the foundation. He needs more money, more working capital.
Of course, while Kitahara Shin was busy strategizing and planning his future empire, those around him with whom he had countless connections also reached their respective peaks in this wave of entertainment.
Izumi Sakai (ZARD) has been incredibly popular lately.
This usually low-key Heisei-era diva, who rarely even appears on television programs, specially composed and sang an insert song for "Boys Over Flowers." Her clear and powerful voice, paired with the heartbreaking scene of Domyouji and Tsukushi breaking up in the rain, undoubtedly brought tears to many people's eyes, and the single once again topped the Oricon chart without any suspense.
Furthermore, thanks to Kitahara Shin's connections, her team was recently granted the music coordination rights for the anime "Detective Conan," hailed as an "evergreen of Japanese anime." Izumi Sakai's rendition of "Turning the Wheel of Fate" for Conan caused a sensation throughout the anime community.
Today, Izumi Sakai is not only a goddess revered in the pop music scene, but also holds a new title that has countless young people adoring her – "The Absolute Diva of Anime." Wherever her voice is, that drama or anime is guaranteed to be a blockbuster.
In another field, Megumi Hayashibara, who had a meal with Shin Kitahara when he first rose to prominence and talked about their dreams late at night, has now completely fulfilled her long-cherished wish.
With the social phenomenon brought about by "Neon Genesis Evangelion" (EVA) and the support of many subsequent hit anime, Megumi Hayashibara not only firmly sat on the throne of "Queen of Voice Actors," but also successfully released several personal physical records with the secret assistance of Kitahara Productions' powerful distribution channels.
She became the first truly crossover voice actress in Japanese history to become a mainstream singer and have album sales that rival those of top-tier pop singers!
Although Kitahara Shin was too busy with work in the past few years, he did not have any private interactions with Hayashibara Megumi.
But in this industry, he often doesn't need to do things personally. As long as the distribution and public relations departments under the Kitahara Group subtly hint that "this is a friend of the president," the capital and production committees in the Japanese entertainment industry will readily provide Megumi Hayashibara with top-notch resources and unimpeded convenience.
It can be said that she has become incredibly successful and untouchable in this cruel industry simply by relying on her weak connection with Kitahara Shin back then, and the invisible protection of being under a powerful figure.
Time flies like an arrow.
With the successful conclusion of the premiere of "Boys Over Flowers" across Asia, the F4 boy band embarked on a massive tour and fan meetings throughout the continent. The entire Asian commercial entertainment landscape has been irreversibly altered by the emergence of this drama.
While the industry was still following the trend and researching how to replicate idol dramas, Kitahara Shin's heavy weapon, which was truly meant to intimidate the world, was finally polished.
1998 October.
The algorithm was reconstructed by a top Pixar engineering team dispatched by Steve Jobs, and the render farms in Cupertino, California and Chiba Prefecture, Japan ran at full capacity day and night for six months.
That sci-fi thriller-action blockbuster, which cost a staggering amount of money and which Kitahara Shin poured countless hours of his heart and soul into—Resident Evil: Infinity War—
"Source", all the post-production CGI effects, sound effects synthesis and color matching work has finally been declared 100% complete!
When the final master tape was escorted to the Kitahara Group's underground vault, everyone involved in the film's post-production felt as if they had undergone a long and painful transformation. But upon seeing the finished product, all their exhaustion transformed into indescribable ecstasy and awe.
They fulfilled Steve Jobs' arrogant demand.
The monster modeling, lighting and shadow tracking, and physical destruction effects in this film have completely transcended the cheap "plastic" feel of 98 computer-generated special effects. Its dark, bloody, and chillingly realistic texture is absolutely capable of withstanding the test of time for the next decade without appearing outdated!
All is ready except for the opportunity.
Without any hesitation, Kitahara Shin made a sweeping gesture, uniting all the top theater distributors in North America, Europe, and Asia that he controlled or partnered with, and announced news that sent the adrenaline soaring among movie fans worldwide.
Resident Evil: Origins is officially scheduled for release in July 1998!
This is not a regional celebration; it's a simultaneous global release targeting the global summer movie season, with no time difference!
After half a year of silence, the zombie army is finally about to break free of the shackles of Arklay Mansion and launch its most frenzied attack on the big screens around the world.