According to data from the Beacon Professional Edition, as of December 16, the total box office of mainland China movies in 2021 has exceeded 45.1 billion, and it continues to maintain the title of global single market box office champion. The total number of movie viewers is 1.12 billion and the total number of screenings is 118 million. “Changjin Lake”, “Hello, Li Huanying” and “Chinatown Detective 3” are among the top ten in the total box office of Chinese film history, and “Changjin Lake” topped the box office champion of Chinese film history with a box office of 5.76 billion.
Looking back on this year, it was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. “1921” and other major themed movies were released; family relationship movies broke out, and “My Sister” and others have become “dark horses” one after another. It is worth mentioning that the “Jiangsu Movies” have made great efforts, and participated in the production of “Chinese Doctor”, “Revolutionary” and “Great Dad”, all of which have achieved good results.
The main theme has a strong atmosphere, which helped “Changjin Lake” reach the top box office champion
2021 coincides with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and a number of thematic blockbusters will be released. The three directors Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, and Lin Chaoxian joined forces to launch “Changjin Lake” focusing on the battle of Changjin Lake. Over 100 million viewers walked into the theater to pay tribute to the “loveliest person”. The film broke more than 30 box office records , Successfully jumped to the top of the box office chart of Chinese film history. After the release, the “Changjin Lake Effect” was also set off, and topics such as the test of frozen potatoes by young netizens also went out of the circle.
As the third part of the “National Day Trilogy”, “My Fathers and Me” takes revolution, construction, reform and opening up, and the new era as the historical coordinates. It describes the struggle experiences of several generations of fathers through the perspective of “home and country” and tells about China People’s blood connection and spiritual inheritance reproduce the memory of the Chinese people’s hard work. The film finally earned 1.476 billion yuan, occupying the fourth place in the box office this year.
The reporter noticed that in addition to these headlines in the main melody blockbuster, there are two tribute films “1921” and “Revolutionaries”. , The new story supports a richer narrative, and adds spy war elements, which is more in line with the aesthetics of young audiences; the latter promotes the revolutionary romantic style, looking back at the collective memory with individual thoughts.
In addition, the newly released “Railway Heroes” truly reproduced the anti-Japanese deeds of the “Lunan Railway Team” with sharp photographic style, passionate action scenes, and delicate and vivid character depictions.
The theme of family affection is the most tear-jerking, and it has become a “sweet pastry” with multiple schedules.
Due to the impact of the epidemic, the emotional connection between people has become more prominent. This year, films focusing on family and individual emotions have blown out. “My sister”, “Dad”, “My mother”, etc., are posted one after another. “Tear gas”, not only has a strong explosive power, but also has a remarkable box office performance.
The Spring Festival movie “Hello, Li Huanying” is undoubtedly the biggest winner. It was a blockbuster runner-up at the box office this year, and temporarily ranked third on the box office list of Chinese film history. “Li Huanying” was once synonymous with mothers, and Jia Ling also became the world‘s highest box office female director. .
During the Ching Ming Festival, “My Sister” starring Zhang Zifeng tells the difficult choice between the sister who lost her parents and the younger brother who needs to be raised. In addition, “Send You A Little Red Flower” tells the story of an anti-cancer family, which is the creator’s spiritual comfort to the audience through the screen; “Great Dad” is born with the love of his father to the sun; “All about my mother” “It is also an anti-cancer story. Through the portrayal of a series of changes in personal and family relationships after her mother Ji Peizhen learned that she was suffering from cancer, it mobilized the audience’s association with her mother and evoked the “regret complex” of self-growth. repercussions.
In this year’s New Year archives, this kind of family-related emotional movies are splendid. “If there is no me in your world” and “We Who Loved Each Other” have been released one after another. In upcoming films, “Myth of Love” and “Embracing You Through the Winter” may also perform well.
“Chinese Doctor”, “Embracing You Through the Winter”… Anti-epidemic films are released one after another
After the anti-epidemic theme dramas began to be broadcast one after another, anti-epidemic films have also been released continuously. The movie “Chinese Doctor”, released in July, started from the realism perspective of medical staff, and recorded the magnificent and arduous struggle against the epidemic in a panoramic view, evoking the collective memory of the audience, and finally ended with a box office of 1.328 billion.
The documentary film “Wuhan Day and Night”, which also focused on medical staff, contained a large number of real and precious images that cried many audiences. In addition, the news documentary “Walk Together” uses CCTV news broadcast sound as the background of the event and the main line of narrative time. It connects the personal experiences of doctors, community officials, volunteers, patients, etc. A panoramic picture of the fight against the epidemic during the lockdown of Wuhan.
In the blink of an eye, it is the third winter after the outbreak. Every ordinary person is shining in his post. Their sense of mission is admirable, and their sense of happiness is also worthy of being recorded and cherished. The movie “Embracing You Through the Winter”, which will be released on December 31, will be starring Huang Bo and Jia Ling, and Zhu Yilong, Xu Fan, Gao Yalin, Wu Yanshu, and Xu Shaoxiong will outline the 76 days of Wuhan’s closure with gentle and meticulous brushwork. In time, ordinary people support each other and guard each other.
The suspense film is playing steadily, but the performance of the literary film is unsatisfactory
It is worth mentioning that this year, the share of suspense films in the film market is not small. Among them, “Detective Chinatown 3” in the Spring Festival file, although its reputation has declined, but the box office has been stable; the suspense science fiction film “Assassination of the Novelist” shows the wonder of the dual world; “Above the Cliff” and “Secret Visitor” on May 1st It was released before and after the file, the former counterattacked with its excellent quality, won the audience and successfully ranked 9th in the 2021 box office.
In addition, in November, the “Dark Horse” work “Famous Li Wan” broke through the curse of the big schedule and successfully ranked 11th in the annual box office with a unique narrative of “script killing” and a realistic concept.
However, the performance of the literary film this year was not satisfactory. The reporter found that although many literary films have won some international awards, they still “turned over” in the face of market tests. “Lao Paoer” Wang Shuo’s work “The Wonder of Immortality” received mediocre response. The new director Wei Shujun’s “Wild Horse Splitting Mane” failed to gain the reputation of ordinary audiences. Adapted from Zhang Ailing’s film “The First Incense” and “Old Beast” director Zhou Ziyang’s new work “Wuhai” all “turned over” to varying degrees, even in Douban, which is more friendly to literary and artistic films, mostly pass the score.
Animated movies have new colors, and imported movies are not “smart” anymore
After the domestic animation film market experienced the explosion of “Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World“, there have been batches of “My life is my life” pie films. Although the animation is well-made, the plot cannot withstand repeated episodes. Chewing, and mostly limited to adaptations from “Mythology IP”, among which “New God List: Nezha Rebirth” and “White Snake 2: Green Snake Tribulation” failed to break the circle. Take “White Snake 2” as an example. The previous work “White Snake: Origin” was a dark horse in 2019, with a box office of 468 million yuan. “White Snake 2: The Green Snake” has made a great modern interpretation, but the audience still doesn’t buy it. And the realistic folk comedy movie “Lion Boy” for the Lunar New Year is about to bring a touch of color to the tired audience.
The imported films that have ignited the enthusiasm in previous years are not so “smart” this year. This year, there is no blockbuster film like “Avengers 4” in 2019, and “Out of Control Players” has a little bit of Hollywood’s dignity with 860 million. The box office of the big IP “007” was cold, and this edition of 007’s final work “007: No Time to Die” only received 413 million yuan in box office. In addition, Disney’s “Jungle Voyage”, Hollywood sci-fi movie “Special Forces: The Origin of Snake Eye”, and animated film “Music Adventure of Honey Bear” all have a box office of less than 10 million.
[One more sentence]”Schedule dependence” is still prominent
Looking at the mainland film market in 2021, the number of films released is actually not too small, there are more than 400, but 53% of the movies, the box office is less than one million; 75% of the movies, the box office is less than 10 million, the use of IP adaptations in the past years Participating in performances with traffic stars has basically lost its effectiveness this year, and movies made by well-known creators often end dismal.
Among them, it is not difficult to see that the film’s schedule dependence is still prominent: as soon as the movie is on holiday, new movies are released in theaters, and the audience can’t come over; if there is no holiday, the quality of the new movies is uneven, and the audience has no intention of stopping in the theater. For example, during the Spring Festival this year, six blockbuster films were screened collectively. As a result, “Tang Detective 3” and “Hello, Li Huanying” “two heroes contend for hegemony”, and the other films struggled to survive. In addition, there are more than a dozen movies that can be squeezed into small periods such as Qingming and May 1st, but it is difficult to find photogenic movies on normal weekends.
In addition, the reporter also found that “emotional marketing” is a popular way of publicity for many movies this year. For example, emotional words such as “watch crying” and “tear eyes” are used in the publicity. If used correctly, it can have a very good effect. For example, “Your Wedding” eventually yielded 789 million at the box office; and if it was used incorrectly, it would make the audience feel deceived. For example, “The First Incense” quickly ushered in a word-of-mouth crash, which in turn affected box office performance.
It’s the Lunar New Year file right now, and the competition will be fiercer this weekend. “Manslaughter 2” and “Lion Boy” will be on stage, followed by “Across the Winter and Embrace You” and “Anti-Corruption Storm 5” and other films with great box office potential, which are expected to appear. Two “dark horses”.
Yangtze Evening News/Ziniu News reporter Kong Xiaoping
Intern Bian Shulei
Original title: Looking back at 2021 | “Changjin Lake” reaches the top, family affection, anti-epidemic and other themes erupt
Editor in charge: Guo Weiwei