Foot on the ground looking up at the starry sky
Domestic film genre innovation, 2022 summer box office exceeded 9 billion yuan
According to the data of Maoyan Professional Edition, at 9:30 on August 29, the total box office (including pre-sale) of the 2022 summer archives officially exceeded the 9 billion yuan mark. Among them, the box office of Guangdong Province won the national box office champion with 1.24 billion yuan, firmly sitting on the throne of “China’s No. 1 box office”; the sci-fi comedy “Lone on the Moon” became the box office champion with 2.86 billion yuan.
As early as mid-August, the total box office of the 2022 summer program reached 7.5 billion yuan, surpassing the total box office of last year’s summer program of 7.381 billion yuan. Behind the recovery of the film market is the unremitting attempt of film creators to innovate in genres. This summer, “On the Moon”, “Tomorrow’s War”, and “Mozart in Outer Space” have their own unique tricks to open up new themes for domestic sci-fi films; Widely popular, it has found the pulse of the market for the literary films that were always “applause but not popular” in the past.
The brain hole is wide open, and the “Sci-Fi +” mode is amazing
In addition to leading the box office in the summer, “Lone on the Moon” created by Happy Twist currently ranks second in the 2022 box office list, second only to “Shuimen Bridge of Changjin Lake” in the Spring Festival. Many people in the industry believe that this is a “popular” work that will perform well in any schedule. In fact, “Lone on the Moon” was airborne in the summer season on July 29, which did add enough horsepower to the performance of the second half of the season.
Shen Teng and Ma Li’s “Shen-horse combination” is the first driving force for “Alone Moon” to attract audiences into the theater, and the film’s creation has not lost its chain in both science fiction and comedy, which is a guarantee of its sufficient box office stamina. . “Lonely Walking on the Moon” tells the story of a small person in a big background: because an asteroid was about to hit the earth, humans started the “Moon Shield Plan” on the moon, but because of an unexpected early retreat, the maintenance worker Duguyue was secretly in love with him for many years. The commander of the lunar base, Ma Lanxing, fell and became “the last human on the moon”. The laughter and tears of the film both start from the audience’s double-layered examination of the protagonist Duguyue: in addition to being the first-level perspective of the cinema audience, people can witness Duguyue from the perspective of the Earth survivors watching the “moon live broadcast” in the film. Various performances on the moon – from the “broken pot” at the beginning, to the courage to save oneself later, to finally defeating the ego and becoming a hero to save all mankind.
As the first sci-fi work of Happy Twist, 95% of the shots of “Lonely Walking on the Moon” involve special effects. In order to simulate the real moon surface, the crew grinded 200 tons of stones into sand, and the “moon base” was built in a 6,000-square-meter studio. These solid investments and efforts have made the film recognized as another breakthrough in the film industry for Chinese science fiction films after “The Wandering Earth”. At the same time, the film successfully combines the comedy elements of “light” texture with the sci-fi elements of “heavy” texture, which also opens up a new way for the genre innovation of domestic sci-fi films.
“Tomorrow’s War”, which was released on August 5, is a fresh attempt of a domestic mecha sci-fi film. The film is set in the earth that has experienced environmental pollution, and tells the life-and-death crisis encountered by the human mech army when fighting against powerful alien creatures. On the basis of “monster + mecha”, the film combines the plot of “finding ghosts” that Hong Kong-made crime action films are good at, plus the superb acting skills of many Hong Kong actors such as Louis Koo, Liu Qingyun, Zhang Jiahui, etc. The plot makes up for the tension. In terms of visual presentation, the film gives full play to the flexibility of Hong Kong filmmakers under the condition of limited production funds, setting a new industrial benchmark for domestic mecha sci-fi films. The film currently has a box office of more than 600 million yuan, and the Douban score is higher than 74% of science fiction films and 74% of action films.
“Mozart in Outer Space” directed by Chen Sicheng is an innovative attempt of science fiction films on the theme of teenagers. The film tells the story of Jackie Chan’s father who wants to train his son to become the next Lang Lang, but his son is interested in extraterrestrial civilizations until one day an alien really falls from the sky. The film has put a lot of effort into visual presentation, presenting such wonders as the book ladder unfolding from the windows of tall buildings, the toy boat flying over the city, and the starry sky map blooming above the Great Wall. However, the plot elements of the film are complex, and the target audience is not clear – both want to use childlike innocence to attract small audiences, but also want to use educational topics to attract adult audiences, and ultimately both sides are not flattering. Even with the participation of national-level comedians like Huang Bo, “Mozart in Outer Space” finally received only 223 million yuan at the box office, and the Douban score was only 4.4 points, leaving a lot of valuable lessons for the creation of domestic science fiction films.
Realism is “supported”, and the literary film market has grown
“Life Events”, which was released on June 24, was the first surprise in this summer’s program. The popularity of the film continued from before the start of the schedule to the beginning of August. After two key extensions, it successfully “taken over the baton” in the summer season from “Breaking the Screen” to “Lonely Walking on the Moon”. “Events in Life” starring Zhu Yilong and young actor Yang Engai, tells the story of the funeral director Mo Sanmei who met the orphan Wu Xiaowen during a funeral not long after she was released from prison. The latter unexpectedly changed Mo Sanmei’s attitude towards career and life. . The film is Liu Jiangjiang’s directorial and screenwriter debut. Producer Han Yan has directed “Get Out!”, which also focuses on life and death. Tumor Jun” and “Send You a Little Red Flower”. Today, “Major Events in Life” has a box office of 1.71 billion yuan, surpassing “A Little Red Flower for You” with 1.432 billion yuan, becoming the new box office champion of family films in Chinese film history. The film’s reputation is also good, with a score of 7.3 on Douban, and a score of 9.5 on Maoyan and TaoPiaoPiao.
It’s somewhat surprising that a literary film with a slightly “mourning” theme is actually very popular in the summer season when the mainstream audience is young people. But if you think of last year’s Spring Festival “crying movie” “Hello! The disappointment of Li Huanying, and the popularity of high-quality domestic family films in the current film market does not seem to be accidental. In this regard, the movie fan “Drawer” believes: “The aesthetic level of Chinese movie audiences, especially young audiences, is greatly improved. Compared with empty Hollywood visual effects blockbusters, they are now more concerned about the stories rooted in the ground, and it is easier to be approached by the true feelings of their lives. Impressed.”
“Broken Bridge” directed by Li Yu is a literary and artistic film with a crime theme. It starts from an old case and shows the different states of human nature after being forced into a desperate situation. The film, starring Ma Sichun, Wang Junkai and Fan Wei, currently has a box office of 226 million yuan and a Douban score of 6.1. Although the outside world‘s evaluation of “Broken Bridge” is polarized, most of the debates focus on the actors’ performances and plot details. The film’s photography and editing, as well as its bold exploration of realism, have won the majority of audiences and film critics. Appreciate. However, the market survival of literary films is more difficult than that of commercial films, and a little controversy may hinder the film’s box office prospects. Douban fan “Gakki” commented on this: “I can see that director Li Yu has ambitions to let this niche film go out, but I still think “Broken Bridge” is more suitable for the niche literary market. Art has a threshold , but the aesthetics are subjective. When you see Li Yu and Zeng Jian, you know that there is no need to worry about the audio-visual language of “Broken Bridge”. The documentary-style realism and exaggerated fisheye lens play the film’s aesthetics to the extreme. However, it is not enough, the tone has However, the logic of the script is not self-consistent, and from the perspective of an ordinary audience, I still feel regret and sadness.”
Compared with “Major Events in Life” and “Broken Bridge”, although “Hidden in the Dust”, which is almost entirely played by amateurs, has no advantage of fans’ support, it does not have the worry of “black fans” maliciously scoring low scores. The whole box office depends on fans. “Tap water”. This literary film directed by Li Ruijun was filmed in the village where the director grew up, and the actors except Hai Qing are almost all his relatives and neighbors. In the past, Li Ruijun used this most “money-saving” way to shoot the “Land Trilogy” which was well received by movie fans – “Old Donkey’s Head”, “Tell Them I’m Riding a White Crane”, “Home in Waterweed” A Lush Place” and has won the attention of major international film festivals including Busan, Tokyo and Venice. This “Hidden in the Dust” was also honored before its official release, and the film was nominated for the Golden Bear Award at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.
“Hidden in the Dust” tells the story of two “unseen” people in a village who warm and support each other. After the film was released on July 8, it aroused much more attention than the filmmakers expected. Countless urban audiences found spiritual resonance in the two rural people, the fourth and Guiying, and many people lamented the dull life of the two. The mutual support of each other is “the best love”. With a very low rate of filming, the film has accumulated a lot at the box office. So far, it has reached 31.25 million yuan, which is much higher than the results of director Li Ruijun’s two previous works – “Tell Them, I’m Going on a White Crane” with 91,000 yuan and 91,000 yuan. The 823,000 yuan of “Home in a Place with Lush Water and Grass” shows the potential of niche literary films in the current film market. At present, the movie key has been extended to September 30.
It is worth mentioning that there is also a summer Hong Kong-produced film representing “Detective War”. Although the film is a commercial film, it surpasses the plot routines of similar films with the unique personal style of director and screenwriter Wei Jiahui. The film was released on July 8, and the box office has exceeded 711 million yuan so far, which is a successful representative of “commercial film authorization”.
Guoman continues to make efforts, but still lacks a “key leap”
In recent summers, Guoman is an indispensable new force. Especially in 2019, “Nezha’s Devil Child Comes into the World” topped the box office list with a score of 4.7 billion yuan, and the film has so far remained at the fourth place in the box office list of Chinese film history. In the summer of 2021, under the influence of the epidemic, “White Snake 2: The Robbery of the Green Snake” still ranks third at the box office with 562 million yuan. However, in this summer’s summer season, with the overall improvement of the market, Guoman’s “seed player” “New God List: Yang Jian” currently only ranks sixth in the box office list. As of 11:51 on August 29, the 11th day of the film’s release, the box office exceeded 300 million yuan. Considering that last year’s Spring Festival “Xin Shen Bang: Nezha Rebirth” only received a total box office of 456 million yuan, the “Xin Shen Bang” series based on the new Chinese mythology seems to have not found the secret to becoming a “popular” so far.
Like “Xin Shen Bang: Nezha Rebirth”, “Xin Shen Bang: Yang Jian” was criticized as “form over content”. The plot can’t keep up with the art and special effects, which seems to have become a bottleneck in the creation of current Chinese comics. From the box office perspective, Guoman audiences are no longer satisfied with paying for dazzling visual spectacles. Up to now, only “Nezha’s Devil Child Comes into the World” has ranked among the top 10 box-office lists in Chinese film history. Another national comic film after the film is the 2020 National Day movie “Jiang Ziya”, which ranks 40th, with a total box office of 1.602 billion yuan. In the online comments of this summer’s national comic “New God List: Yang Jian”, many viewers lamented that some national comic creators “made animations with their hearts and scripts with their feet”, expecting that in the future Guoman can overcome the shortcomings of plot creation and make The key leap.
Reporter Li Li
[
责编：曾震宇 ]