After a whole night of research and investigation, he finally found some clues among countless pieces of information.
This time, Detroit Film Group abandoned several previous film and television special effects partners and signed a new cooperation agreement with a game company.
The specific content of this cooperation agreement cannot be disclosed, but it roughly explains that Detroit Film Group acquired a ten-year license to use special effects software in one go, along with supporting hardware systems.
The software is called Unreal Engine, and the company that developed this engine is Gamestar Entertainment.
Gamestar Entertainment...
That name sounds familiar.
Hunter frowned and carefully recalled it.
Eventually, he found the name in his deep memory.
That was the company that his old rival, Tkachev, had recently publicized and announced a deep strategic cooperation with in a high-profile manner.
A company that dominated the gaming industry, suddenly venturing into the film and television special effects industry was very puzzling. At that time, including Hunter, many people expressed doubts about this cooperation.
Hunter even went so far as to express his willingness to acquire Tkachev after this failure. He was willing to help Tkachev get through the difficulties.
Later, Tkachev directly clashed with him through the media.
Both of them were film and television company bosses, but they were ruthless when it came to conflict.
They argued for several days, and finally ended with a bet between them.
If Tkachev's total box office revenue exceeded three hundred million dollars, Hunter and several other film and television company bosses would apologize to Tkachev in person.
And if the box office of the movie "Star Ocean: Infinity" didn't reach three hundred million dollars, Tkachev would voluntarily dissolve his company and never enter the film and television industry again.
At that time, Hunter didn't care much.
The cost was far lower than the average level of special effects in science fiction blockbusters at the time, plus the special effects were produced by a company that crossed over into the field. No matter how you looked at it, there was no possibility of failure with this lineup.
But at this moment, he vaguely felt something was wrong.
Could it be that Tkachev guy really struck gold?
This Gamestar Entertainment now seemed like quite a capable player, not a pushover.
If this Unreal Engine was really developed by them, and if they could indeed help Detroit Film Group save a significant amount of special effects expenses, then there was a possibility of him falling short...
Thinking of this, he became restless.
Fortunately, his relationship with Detroit Film Group had been good in the past. He quickly dialed the phone number of an old acquaintance from Detroit Film Group.
He needed to confirm one last time.
Then, he received internal information that the cost was indeed eighty million dollars, and the biggest contributor was indeed Gamestar Entertainment.
Gamestar Entertainment single-handedly reduced the special effects cost by one hundred million dollars, and the quality was still very good.
With such cost control, this movie only needed less than two hundred million dollars to break even and then make a profit.
The old acquaintance from Detroit was also very proud when talking to him, and also suggested that Hunter should buy a set of Unreal Engine. It was definitely a money-saving tool!
After hanging up the phone, Hunter remained silent for a while.
He suddenly felt that this bet with Tkachev had become uncertain.
But he still didn't dare to believe it completely.
But whether he believed it or not was no longer important.
A few days after the release of the Detroit superhero movie, the word of mouth about this movie started to get better and better.
And the Unreal Engine logo also appeared in the opening logo of the movie.
The large U-shaped logo appeared in the sight of people in this world for the first time, leaving a place in people's hearts.
Shortly after, funded by MavPress, directed by the well-known director Little Green, and with brand-new special effects, the trailer for the first movie of "Star Ocean: Infinity" was officially released.
It was a trailer of about one minute and thirty seconds.
In the trailer, a beautifully designed spaceship broke through a layer of nebulae and entered people's sight accompanied by grand music.
The huge spaceship swiftly flew past the camera, and as it approached, the faint sound of engines could be heard, which was very satisfying.
Then, suddenly, many small ships flew out of the nebula in the background, along with many cannons and ammunition firing wildly at the frontmost beautiful spaceship.
It was a grand battle in the starry sky.
In one minute and thirty seconds, there were no major characters appearing, just dazzling special effects scenes.
The main characters only shouted phrases like "Fire!", "Evade!", "Turn left rudder..." in the background of the screen.
The atmosphere of the entire trailer was intense, and the special effects were impeccable.
After the trailer ended, the U-shaped logo of Unreal Engine, which had appeared in the opening logo of the Detroit superhero movie, appeared again.
Unreal Engine, creating a new era between illusion and reality.
The trailer ended.
One minute and thirty seconds, almost no frame was wasted. The grand battle in the starry sky was vividly displayed.
Perhaps there were still some flaws, but it was already enough to satisfy the not-so-picky ordinary audience.
Just this one trailer was enough to make most of the audience prepare to go to the cinema to watch it.
Different from the Detroit superhero movie, this time there would be more special effects scenes.
After all, one movie only needed to showcase the special effects of superheroes, emphasizing rendering individual heroes.
But in "Star Ocean: Infinity," almost from beginning to end, it was all special effects, indicating that the cost was already high.
And if all the special effects in the entire movie were as excellent as this one-minute and thirty-second trailer, then it would definitely win the Best Visual Effects award of the year.
And in the future, saving costs and investing more money into special effects, the actors in this movie were all new actors recently discovered by Little Green. It's hard to say how good their performances would be, but even if they didn't perform well, just watching the special effects wouldn't be disappointing.
After this trailer was released, the internet couldn't hold back and began heated discussions.
The netizens who had previously expressed doubts changed their minds, the internet had no memory. They all chose to ignore what they had said before and began to praise this movie.
"I swear, this is the movie I am most looking forward to this year. If the final film is as exciting as this one-minute trailer, I'll give it a full score!"
"Me too! I am a veteran sci-fi fan and completely unable to resist the temptation of these special effects. I'm afraid the investment in special effects this time is unprecedented, right? Do you think it has exceeded two hundred million dollars?"
"Hehe, guys, let me tell you a secret. The total cost of this movie is probably at most one hundred million dollars. Don't ask me how I know, I'll just tell you it's insider information."