iQIYI's 'Love On Theater' Premieres 'Fangs of Fortune,' Setting Benchmark for C-Drama Virtual Production

BEIJING, Oct. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI, China's leading online entertainment platform, premiered Fangs of Fortune in late October, the latest release under 'Love On Theater.' Inspired by The Classic of the Mountains and Seas, an ancient Chinese mythological text, this fantasy period drama unfolds in a rich universe filled with Chinese cultural elements, brought to life through state-of-the-art technologies and virtual production.

Classical Chinese Culture and Romance

Presented by iQIYI and starring Neo HOU and Duling CHEN, Fangs of Fortune reinvents the Chinese fantasy narrative of "demons catching demons." Featuring numerous mythological creatures from The Classic of the Mountains and Seas, the drama follows demon leader Zhu Yan, who, disguised as Yuanzhou ZHAO, infiltrates the "demon-hunting bureau." Alongside the goddess Xiao WEN and other bureau members, they begin to unveil the truths behind the malicious acts of the demons and beasts they encounter.

Through laughter and tears, the demon-hunting squad experiences love and personal growth, healing and redeeming one other in a story enriched by the creative team's bold interpretations and expressions of classical Chinese aesthetics.

Upon its release on October 26, Fangs of Fortune was received with great acclaim with its content popularity index surpassing 8,500, sparking widespread discussion on Chinese social media. As part of iQIYI's 'Love On Theater' collection, Fangs of Fortune joins a slate of titles that bring Chinese romance and culture to a global audience, leading in both views and revenue across all regions and genres on iQIYI International.

Setting the Standard for Virtual Production in China

Fangs of Fortune is the third virtual production from iQIYI following the successes of My Journey to You and Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red-Moon Pact, and continues pushing the boundaries of virtual production in Chinese television. The drama achieved remarkable success in precise HDR color management and virtual light matching, natural depth of field transitions, seamless blending of virtual and physical sets, realistic virtual sky and climate simulation system and 200+ FPS high-speed filming, leading the C-drama industry in terms of the amount of virtual production technology used, length of production cycle and scene count.

Unlike traditional filmmaking, virtual production technology greatly enhances efficiency and collaboration by creating virtual sets ahead of on-site filming. Since late 2020, iQIYI has led the way in applying and promoting virtual production technology, becoming one of China's first streaming platforms to complete the entire filming and broadcasting process for virtually produced series. To advance its virtual production capabilities, iQIYI has also built a "Digital Asset Library" and its proprietary AI-powered IQStage virtual production system, amassing numerous accolades, virtual production patents, and software copyrights.

Building on the creative partnership behind My Journey to You, the team behind Fangs of Fortune pioneered innovative solutions, including an electric revolving stage that ensures synchronized rotation between physical and virtual sets to significantly reduce conversion times.

iQIYI's virtual production capabilities have developed a full set of mature hardware selection standards and testing methods, all assembled in IQStage. This achieves a high degree of integration between software and hardware, setting the standard for virtual production quality and efficiency in China.

CONTACT: iQIYI Press, [email protected]