Chinanews client, Beijing, December 26 (Reporter Song Yusheng) It is hard to imagine that the Youzu who announced six years ago to make the "Three-Body" movie will return to public view in this way.
Data Map: Lynch
The chairman died after being suspected of being poisoned
On the evening of December 25, Youzu Network issued an announcement: The company's chairman and general manager, actual controller, and controlling shareholder Lynch died on the same day due to invalid treatment.
As soon as this news came out, it was regarded as an end to the rumors and speculation that had lasted for many days.
Screenshot of Youzu Network Announcement
As early as a few days ago, there were related rumors.
Many media said that Lynch, chairman of Youzu Networks, was suspected of being poisoned by colleagues.
On the evening of December 23, the Shanghai police report seemed to confirm this rumor to some extent.
The report stated that at about 17:00 on December 17, 2020, the police received a report saying that a patient Lin (male, 39 years old) was suspected of being poisoned during diagnosis and treatment in a hospital.
After receiving the report, the police immediately launched an investigation.
After site surveys and investigations, it was discovered that Lin's colleague Xu (male, 39 years old) was suspected of committing a major crime.
At present, Xu has been criminally detained by the police in accordance with the law, and related investigations are being further carried out.
Weibo screenshot
According to the "Beijing News", an industry insider said that Xu Yao, the suspect notified by the police.
Prior to this, he had appeared as the CEO of Three Body Universe.
On the evening of the 23rd, a voluntary information disclosure announcement issued by Youzu Network also stated that Lynch was "stable in physical condition and continued to improve."
"The above matters have not affected the normal operation of the company. The management of the company is diligent and conscientious and performs their duties normally to ensure the continued stability of the company's operations. At present, the company's business operation and management are all normal."
Two days later, Lynch died.
"Smashed the three-body, it will be infamy for a lifetime"
According to the introduction of the official website of Youzu Network, this company was established in 2009 and officially landed on China’s A-share main board in June 2014. It is an interactive entertainment provider and has successfully launched "Juvenile Three Kingdoms", "Tomb Notes", and "Game of Thrones Winter General" To" and "League of Goddess" series and many other well-known game products.
Obviously, this is a gaming company.
But the reason why it has received such attention is related to Liu Cixin's science fiction masterpiece "Three Body".
Specifically, it should be "three-body IP".
Book Cover of Liu Cixin's Novel "Three Body"
"I remember the first time I discussed a movie with Kong Ergou. He said that after a few years, others may not remember what games you made, but they must remember what movies you made. At the beginning of the month, when Monk Jin was discussing the three-body system, He also said something similar. If the game is messed up, it will soon be forgotten, but if the movie is bad, it will be infamous for many years..."
On December 22, 2014, Youzu Company moved to a new location.
Lynch wrote these words in an internal email sent to employees that night.
Among them, "Kong Ergou" is the CEO of Youzu Films, Kong Xiangzhao, who later served as the chief producer of the movie "Three Body".
Now it seems that it is true.
2014 is a special year in the 11-year history of Youzu.com.
In that year, Youzu Network went public, Youzu obtained the copyright of "Three Body", and Youzu Films was established.
In November 2014, Youzu Pictures announced that it would spend 1.2 billion to create a series of movies called "Three Body".
According to articles on its company's official website, 2014 was considered to be a year of "overall upgrade of the big IP strategy" and "layout in the pan-entertainment field".
In his speech at the company's annual meeting in February 2015, Lynch mentioned the "Three-Body" again.
He said: "The game can be restored after 3-5 weeks, and the movie can be relieved after 3-5 months. If the IP like "Three Body" is destroyed, I may have to remember Infamy for a lifetime."
Start and postpone indefinitely
At that time, the "Three-Body" had not won the "Hugo Award", and there were far fewer people who understood this work than today.
In March 2015, the film of the same name adapted from the novel was officially filmed in Xiaoxinganling. The film was starred by Feng Shaofeng, Zhang Jingchu, Tang Yan, Du Chun, Wu Gang, Zhang Han and others.
Since then, Youzu also announced that the "Three-Body" series of games have also entered the agenda, and a series of products such as "Three-Body" online dramas, mobile games, page games, animations, dramas, and peripherals have entered the pre-production stage when the film starts. stage.
Data map: Liu Cixin.
Photo by Wang Di
In August 2015, good news came, "Three-Body" won the Hugo Award.
The Youzu who got the copyright of "Three Body" began to have high hopes from netizens, and their attention has skyrocketed.
In January 2016, an article on the official website of Youzu Network revealed that the three-body game is currently under development, and "not only one", "will be released at the same time as the "Three-body" movie."
But in June of that year, there was news that the release of the movie "Three-Body" would be postponed indefinitely.
At the same time, the film producer and producer Fang Youzu Films CEO Kong Ergou has resigned, the special effects team has been replaced, and the material shot by director Zhang Fanfan has been abandoned.
However, Kong Ergou, Yang Lu, vice president of Youzu Films, and director Zhang Fanfan immediately denied this.
The "Three-Body" movie page on the official website of Youzu Pictures.
webpage Screenshot
But 4 years later, the movie "Three-Body" is still silent.
The reporter noticed that on the website of Youzu Films, the movie "Three Body" is still marked with the words "Released in June 2016 (Mainland China)".
Just in June 2016, the "Three-Body" TV series version was filed, and the reporting agency was also Youzu.
The underestimated "Three Body" adaptation rights
In fact, as early as 2014, some netizens questioned the lineup of the film "Three Body".
First of all, Youzu himself did not have experience in filming and filming before this, while director Zhang Fanfan and screenwriter Song Chunyu did not have many works before that, and there have been few well-known films in recent years.
At that time, many netizens had such a question: Why did you find such a team to shoot a work like "Three Body" that can win the Hugo Award?
Data map: Liu Cixin.
Photo by Ma Jiaxin
In fact, the original author Liu Cixin himself responded to this.
In an interview with the media, he said that when the right to adapt the novel was transferred, it was probably in 2009.
Domestic sci-fi movies are still in a very deserted state. "People are not particularly concerned about the right to adapt sci-fi works, and the work "Three Body" is far less influential than it is now."
"Youzu Pictures only intervened later. At that time, it was director Zhang Fanfan's company. The staff and producers of their company contacted me. At that time, no other company came to ask about it except this company. In the words of Liu Cixin, at that time, "Three Body" was in a state of "no one cares."
This also led to the serious underestimation of the adaptation rights of this masterpiece at the time.
In April 2015, the Chinese science fiction blockbuster "Three-Body" film adapted from the novel of the same name by Liu Cixin and filmed by Youzu Films held a press conference in Beijing and announced its finalization in July 2016.
The starring lineup was exposed at the scene, and Feng Shaofeng has confirmed to play the leading actor Wang Miao.
Photo by Jin Shuo, reporter from China News Service
When the time comes to 2018, the film and television works of "Three Body" ushered in another turning point.
In January of this year, Youzu acquired the Baixing Club of Zhang Fanfan and Song Chunyu, obtained the full authorization of the film and television drama "Three Body", and began subsequent development.
After that, Santi Universe Culture Development Co., Ltd. was established and became the copyright owner of "Santi".
At that time, some media published articles pointed out that the "Three Body" project "has been on the right track of development."
Lynch.
Screenshot of Youzu's official website
The formation and uncertainty of the "three-body universe"
Although the "Three-body" project is on the right track, in people's memory today, when you mention the film adapted from Liu Cixin's work, you still have to say "The Wandering Earth".
In comparison, the film and television works of "Three Body" seem a little out of reach.
In the Spring Festival of 2019, the film "The Wandering Earth", adapted from the work of the same name by Liu Cixin, was released, achieving a double harvest at the box office and ranking third in the total box office list of Chinese movies so far.
Screenshot of Kong Ergou Weibo
"The Wandering Earth is really great, I don't know how to describe it in words. After watching it yesterday, I cried and sat in the cinema to wait until the last line of subtitles was finished." Kong Ergou, who has stepped down as CEO of Youzu Network, wrote on his Weibo, "I feel deeply guilty and ashamed for the rash and ignorance who hurriedly started the'Three Body' project 5 years ago."
Also in this year, Xu Yao, who was the same age as Lynch, joined the Trisolaris.
Enterprise Check APP screenshot
According to an enterprise search, in March 2019, Three Body Universe added a number of directors, including Xu Yao.
At that time, Xu Yao, who had served as the CEO of Three-Body Universe, told the media that for works like "Three-Body" with a strong unique temperament and spiritual connotation, the first thing to do in the adaptation process is to "follow the original temperament" and "in the heart". Full of awe, walking on thin ice."
After that, the "Acceleration" button was pressed during the film and television process of "Three Body".
Liu Cixin's science fiction novel "Three-Body" will make a TV series.
Source: Website screenshot
In May 2019, the filing public information showed that "Three Body" will be adapted into a TV series and has passed the filing.
The TV series will start filming in September, with a total of 24 episodes.
Screenshot of the first official trailer of "Three Body" animation.
In June of the same year, the "Three-Body" animation project was launched; in October, the cultural announcement stated that Tian Xiaopeng, the director of "Journey to the West: The Great Sage Returns", will be the director of the "Three-Body" live-action movie.
October Cultural Announcement
In September 2020, Youzu announced that it has reached an agreement with paid streaming platform Netflix to jointly develop and produce the English series of "Three Body".
In the list of the first batch of core creators announced at the same time, Lynch is the supervisor.
The list of creators of "Three Body" English drama series.
Screenshot of Youzu's official website
On December 14 this year, the "Three-Body" TV series was announced.
The article read: "Four years of polishing the script, 126 days of shooting, from Hengdian to Heihe, with more than 270 sceneries, the first season of the "Three Body" TV series finally entered the post-production stage!"
Two days later, on the evening of December 16, Lynch developed acute symptoms on the way home.
On the 25th, Lynch died.
The future of a series of film and television works of "Three Body" has become uncertain once again.
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