Editor’s Note: The box office of the summer movie in 2023 (June 1-August 31) has enjoyed a gratifying rise, which has also injected a "shot in the arm" into the China film industry. Various kinds of "explosions" frequently appear in the summer file. We see rich theme types, normalized box office decline, resurgence of traditional culture, and the long-accumulated cultural and entertainment needs of China audiences. China films stand at a new starting point of recovery.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Xinhuanet Beijing, August 10th (Reporter Wang Zhiyan, Yan Yuxi)
Long time no see, 10 billion summer vacation.
"It is better to live in a cinema in July." Some fans are so emotional. This summer, there is a movie market that is hotter than the temperature.
126 films are competing, and more than 40 new films are in full swing.
There are various types and rich themes, and the audience has more choices. There are not only head-ballast stone masterpieces like "Feng Shen I", but also waist strength and small and medium-sized weights such as "Enthusiasm" and "Tea No.2 Middle School" … … It is the strongest summer file.
According to the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, in 2023, the total box office of China movies in July alone reached 8.718 billion, with a total attendance of 212 million and a total number of 11.833 million, creating a new box office record in the history of China cinema in July.
As of press time, the summer box office has exceeded 15 billion, and returned to the "10 billion" level after four years.
Emotional resonance, a new panacea for domestic movie box office
Disappeared She, In an Octagonal Cage and Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an were among the top three in the box office list in July. It is worth noting that they are not masterpieces.
Everything seems to have a warning.
On June 27th, the box office of "Disappeared She" broke one billion, which started the first shot of the summer waist movie. The data shows that the film’s viewing peak is one week after its release. As the topic of women triggered by movies fermented on social platforms, the single-day box office once reached 335 million, and the total box office has now exceeded 3.5 billion.
The subsequent realistic film "The Octagonal Cage" adopted a new gameplay of "super-long point screening" before its release, and it has also won over 2.1 billion box office so far. The film truly presents the living conditions and fighting spirit of the people at the bottom. What is similar to the Lost She is that they hit the mood of many young people at present.
The animated film "Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an" with the theme of Tang poetry is a real "dark horse", which is better than reaching deep empathy with the audience in culture. Douban scored 830, exceeding the box office of 1.6 billion, ranking second in the box office list of animated films in China film history. Before the release, no matter from the production team, theme setting, and narrative rhythm, it was difficult for the industry to predict that it would achieve such brilliant results.
"Tang poetry has no circle." Yu Zhou, vice president of light-chasing animation and producer of Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an, told Xinhua that there was always discussion about how to "break the circle" in two-dimensional animation, but for Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an, the word "break the circle" did not apply. Those who grew up in China culture or were influenced by Chinese culture were the target audience of the film.
During the screening, Yuzhou found a 92-year-old gentleman among his classmates. After watching the movie, he also wrote a neat seven-character poem. "He may be the oldest audience of Changan Three Wan Li."
In the eyes of many people in the industry, the audience is willing to pay for "emotional value" and "social currency". Chen Sicheng, the screenwriter and producer of "Disappeared She", once said that the film would look better if it had direct connection and relationship with the audience. Once social topics are extended, giving movies more social attributes will bring unpredictable increments.
Rao Shuguang, president of China Film Criticism Society, said in an interview with Xinhua. com that the core issue of film aesthetics is "the relationship between film and audience". Only by absorbing more inspiration from real life and substituting the audience with them to maximize empathy, resonance and resonance can the film be better spread.
"This year, a large number of hot topics about films originated from the audience’s ‘ Self-fermentation ’ It presents the characteristics of high entertainment, high topicality and high relevance to the content of the ontology. " Li Jie, president of Alibaba Pictures, told Xinhuanet that how to better reach the audience requires innovative ways of playing in the future film announcement.
Stills of the movie "Chang ‘an Three Wan Li"
Oriental Aesthetics, Creating a New Narrative Paradigm of China
"Oriental Aesthetics" is another key to the success of this summer’s summer file. No matter "Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an" or "The First Goddess", the new aesthetics and narrative paradigm of China’s films are widely praised.
In a sense, Feng Shen Part I, which has been sharpened for ten years, is a trace and refinement of Chinese excellent traditional culture. In the most entertaining way of clothing and scenery setting, director Wu Ershan insists on "restoring ancient ways without mud", which combines land and water paintings in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, bronze elements in Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the aesthetic style of landscape in Song Dynasty.
The same is true of Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an. Inspired by Tang figurines, murals and ancient cultural relics, the film’s main creator tried his best to restore the details of culture, costumes and customs in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and finally presented a story full of magnificent imagination.
Rao Shuguang praised the innovation and exploration of the two films. "The first film" not only represents the development level of China’s film industrialization, but also shows the cultural confidence and ‘ Spiritual autonomy ’ . The organic integration of "Chang ‘an Three Wan Li" and traditional culture has constructed the oriental meaning of China’s animated films, reflecting the modern value of Chinese excellent traditional culture. "
The highly mature film industrialization makes "Oriental Aesthetics" perfectly realized. In fact, industrialization refers not only to the technical level of film production, but also to the process and management.
During the filming of the trilogy of gods, it is said that there are more than 8,000 registered crew members, and the filming time is more than 400 days. It is conceivable that the production and management are difficult. However, when director Frant Gwo visited the class, he found that "there was almost no sound in the huge studio, and everyone was orderly, eating after work, and then preparing the content for the next day." It is the crew that has explored the institutionalized and streamlined scientific management methods, ensuring a high degree of smooth cooperation and cooperation between various types of work.
"The industrialization of animated films puts more emphasis on teamwork." Yu Zhou introduced that during the three-year preparation and production period of "Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an", a total of 500 or 600 people participated, and the time point of project promotion will fall to every week, every day and everyone, which must be strictly implemented. "Because there is a very complete and sophisticated production management system, we finally advanced the progress and caught the summer release."
"Deep cultural heritage+high degree of film industrialization", this Chinese path may open up more possibilities for the future of domestic films. Wu Ershan said in an interview with Xinhua. com that there are still many types of gaps in China’s films, and "The First Part of Gods" opened up the genre of mythical epic and fantasy. China’s historical myths, traditional arts and other cultural resources are very huge, and there is still huge room for development in the future.
Li Jie said that a more mature and comprehensive industrial system should improve the overall production level and efficiency. We need to further improve high-tech and realize more technological "creation" besides technological "application". Secondly, we need to pay attention to the cultivation of film talents, so as to promote the sustainable development of China’s film industry system with professional talents with both local understanding and international vision.
Feelings are hard to sell, and Hollywood blockbuster "Money is Lost"
The summer file has always been a battleground for Hollywood blockbusters. This year, Hollywood blockbusters are collectively "dumb". Word-of-mouth was generally depressed, and the box office fell off a cliff. Among the films participating in the summer file competition, the box office of imported films currently accounts for only about 15%.
Take Mission Impossible 7 as an example. It has been 27 years since the series was introduced to the mainland, and almost every time it will set off a movie-watching craze and topic. This time, Tom’s not working! More than half a month after the release, it recorded more than 300 million box office, which can be described as bleak. Five years ago, Mission Impossible 6 had a box office of 1.245 billion in China, which set the best result in the same series.
Other classic IPS, such as Transformers: The Rise of the Super Warrior, have a box office of 653 million less than one-third of its peak. Although the box office of "Fast and Furious 10" broke through 100 million yuan on the first day, it lacked stamina and finally closed at 983 million yuan, which has been halved compared with "Fast and Furious 8". Even The Flash, Galaxy Guard 3 and Spider-Man: The Vertical and Horizontal Universe, which were favored by cinema people before the release, did not perform well.
Many viewers spit out, "The old IP chews repeatedly, and the formula and taste are still the same. It really has no appetite." Indeed, the old-fashioned plot, flat characters and special effects aesthetic fatigue make it difficult for Hollywood blockbusters to rekindle their enthusiasm for watching movies, and the audience will not "pay" for their feelings every time.
In Rao Shuguang’s view, Hollywood blockbusters are "not fragrant" because they lack emotional resonance with the current audience. "In the past, we sought after Hollywood’s special effects, techniques, scenes and so on, but these were all outside people’s emotions, so I fell asleep watching Transformers."
If Hollywood wants to win back its audience in China, it may need to re-understand the China market. "The audience’s preference for movies is really changing." Liu Peng, president of Cat’s Eye Research Institute, analyzed that with the maturity of movie audiences in China, the upgrading of special effects and big scenes can no longer fully satisfy their tastes, and it is more necessary to innovate in content and resonate emotionally.
Even so, we can’t underestimate the strength of Hollywood movies. Looking at the performance of Barbie, although it was dragged down by the announcement in the early stage, with the high reputation of Douban of 8.3 points, it won more than 200 million box office in China market with a very low number of films, and its global box office has broken 1 billion dollars. The topic of women caused by movies continues to ferment on social media.
Culture "in tune", Sino-foreign cooperation to explore new breakthroughs
Megalodon 2: Abyss joined the battle in the second half of the summer file. As of press time, it has recorded more than 450 million box office in the five days since its release.
As a deep-sea adventure monster blockbuster controlled by China producers, Megalodon 1 has made a box office of 1.053 billion in China and 530 million dollars in the world, which is the highest box office of a Chinese-American co-production.
The sequel Megalodon 2: Abyss is a unique existence in the summer file. On the one hand, it is a Hollywood-style special effects action movie; on the other hand, China elements are well integrated in story creation, character setting, lines and shooting details. For example, the scientist "Nine styles" played by Jason Wu in the film, these two words come from the ancient China prose "Up to the sky, down to the candle", which means ocean or abyss.
Different from the previous global blockbusters, China actors are no longer "tools" to promote the development of the plot, but a rich, vivid and advanced image of contemporary China people. Behind this character setting is the result of deep cooperation between Chinese and foreign teams.
In the industry, co-production is regarded as an important way for China’s culture to go abroad. From assisting in filming in the early stage, to intervening in the script development stage, and even co-producing and co-distributing, China films have made breakthroughs in international communication.
Ying Xuzan, vice president of the Chinese Culture Group, the producer of this film, said in an interview with Xinhuanet that it is very meaningful to let everyone see how China filmmakers behave themselves, how to take a concrete shot and how to modify a line, and finally let the world audience have a deeper understanding of China’s aesthetics, China’s cultural integration and China’s spiritual inheritance through the carrier of English movies in a quiet way.
Suppress first and then promote, and the market will not bury good content.
The competition for the second half of the summer file is still fierce. At present, the anti-fraud movie "Put All Your Eggs on One Egg" has entered the market, and the first day box office (including screening) quickly broke 700 million, with a rapid momentum. High-heat films such as "I Through the Storm" and "Burning Winter" are also ready to go.
"It is a high probability event that the summer box office exceeded 18 billion this year." Rao Shuguang predicted that if the total box office of China movies can reach about 60 billion in 2023, the recovery momentum and growth trend of the market are still satisfactory.
With more than four months left in 2023, can the film market continue the heat of summer all the way to the end of the year? Liu Peng believes that it still depends on the content and quality of the film itself, and whether it can resonate with the audience. "At present, the audience’s viewing habits have basically recovered, and the annual box office is expected to be basically the same as that in 2017, which will drive the entire industrial chain to actively and positively cycle."
"In the summer, everyone will go out collectively ‘ Restrain first and then promote ’ The box office curve, this is the real ‘ The market will not bury good content ’ It is also a manifestation that the market is gradually maturing. " Li Jie said that when there is enough high-quality content pouring into the market, the vitality of the market will come back and the market will usher in an outbreak.
After several years of downturn, China film market has finally stood at a new starting point of recovery.
How to boost consumer confidence, the summer file has been successfully set, that is — — Follow the market rules, supply high-quality products and give full choices, and the result is "if you don’t give up, I won’t give up." (Intern Deng Yaxun and Hou Peichen also contributed to this article.)
