To sweet-talk Chen Gu into acting, Ding Zhou had promised it would be a major production. However, the funds from the Bureau of Mystic Security and the military didn't grow on trees. This project was most likely going to flop—or, if one were confident enough, they could drop the "most likely."
Five hundred million invested, just to go down the drain?
Ding Zhou figured that even with utmost frugality, at least two hundred million Starshield would be needed; otherwise, he would have trouble explaining things to Chen Gu.
Moreover, if the budget for special effects was reduced further, a sort of visual 'break' would become apparent.
That segment of the live broadcast was real and would definitely be used in the movie. If the special effects in other parts were too poor, it would look jarringly inconsistent and arouse suspicion.
Ding Zhou and Bai Yunpeng explored many avenues for securing sponsorships.
