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©️New Game

By Yinglin

Written and directed by Tang Jili, Legend, a sister film of Myth, was advanced to July 10. Previously, the film only earned more than 30 million yuan in the first week of preview, and Maoyan Professional Edition predicted that the total box office in the mainland would be just over 100 million yuan. Compared with the production cost of 300 million yuan rumored on the Internet, this "blockbuster" that was highly anticipated obviously did not achieve the expected effect in the summer season.

Why are big IPs and big productions not popular? From the perspective of publicity, topics such as "AI restores 27-year-old Jackie Chan", "Kim Hee-sun's surprise cameo", "Xinjiang real-life shooting", and "real scenes of thousands of troops" all emphasize that "Legend" continues the sentimental narrative of "Myth" and the scale of the film. But this set of ideas seems to be somewhat unworkable today. The grafting of sentiment and high investment in production alone cannot inject new power into the market 19 years later. The old narrative and formulaic performance that cannot be covered up by the movie itself cannot be saved even by Jackie Chan himself, let alone AI Jackie Chan.

Valid continuation? Forced association?

The Myth That Cannot Be Reproduced

Released in 2005, The Myth took in 120 million yuan out of the total 2 billion yuan box office in China that year. The familiar theme song melody and the movie scenes intertwined together always evoke the emotions and memories of the audience, and remind them of the story about "eternity". It is believed that the sequel to The Myth, an IP with a certain degree of popularity, has a certain box office foundation, which is probably why the producers were confident at the beginning.

Although the time travel in 2005 can be considered an innovation, how can such a story of ancient and modern romance attract audiences to the cinema in 2024? Obviously, the film has not done enough in this regard.

In terms of structural design, the "Myth" 19 years ago was about returning to the Qin Dynasty, and the "Legend" is set to return to the Western Han Dynasty. Both are gorgeous and grand scenes, using a dual-line narrative of time and space to tell a story that spans thousands of years. The modern main line is that Professor Fang, an archaeologist played by Jackie Chan, leads research assistants Wang Jing (played by Zhang Yixing) and Xinran (played by Peng Xiaoran) to explore the ins and outs of a Hun jade pendant from the Han Dynasty. In the ancient clues, the two generals Zhao Zhan and Hua Jun played by Jackie Chan and Zhang Yixing followed General Huo Qubing (played by Dou Xiao) to fight against the Huns, fought against Hu Du Na (played by Aarif Lee), who killed his father and brother to seize the throne, and had an emotional entanglement with the princess played by Nazha. The setting of the characters satisfies the intertextuality of time and space, and builds a complete shell of "Myth".

But compared to the dreamlike, mysterious and timeless atmosphere created by the dual narrative of "Myth", the interweaving of ancient and modern times in "Legend" is more abrupt. The cross-cutting and unbalanced ratio of ancient narrative and modern scenes make the final presentation of the film more like a historical documentary with explanations. In the specific plot, the thin motivation of the characters and the deliberate scenes make the plot points of this film go in the direction that the audience can predict: heroes saving beauties, love triangles, two poisoned people and only one bottle of antidote... This set of formulaic plot logic is internalized in the whole film, making the narrative appear old and monotonous.

If there is any innovation, it may be the key point of the film's early publicity: "AI restores Jackie Chan at the age of 27." It was thought that it would arouse the audience's shock at the technology and emotional resonance, but this digital doppelganger that occupies 70% of the screen is not only not the finishing touch, but also very rough. The blurred face with chaotic switching between long and short shots and the lifeless eyes when the emotions fluctuate make it difficult for the audience to understand its meaning.

Movie sequels are not uncommon. The well-known "Wolf Warrior" series, "The Wandering Earth" series, and "Police Stories" series have all been released one after another and received good box office feedback. These sequels either expand the intrinsic nature of the storyline, or continue based on the ending of the plot, or are related to some settings. But no matter what form, the continuation of IP has never been a panacea for box office success. The public emotional resonance and topic attention carried by the original work are the prerequisites for sequels, and the audience's expectations and attention mean that subsequent movies must strive to innovate and surpass the established framework.

In "Legend", the similarity of settings and the rewriting of hit songs only gave it the shell of "Myth", while the old-fashioned plot logic and the technical performance of AI face-changing not only failed to continue the essence of "Myth", but also failed to tell a good story.

"Jackie Chan Action Movie"

The symbol of the era that has been worn away

People may still miss the 27-year-old Jackie Chan, or rather, miss those brilliant and classic "Jackie Chan action movies", but definitely not in "Legend", which is called "the best Jackie Chan movie in the past decade."

The essence of Jackie Chan's action movies: danger, reality, and humor. In "Rumble in the Bronx", he personally completed a jump from a 30-meter-high building with a plaster cast, in "Project A", he jumped from a clock tower without any protective measures, and in "Police Stories", he landed holding a live light bulb... In addition to Jackie Chan's "life-threatening" shooting, the climax of the story, the coexistence of thrills and comedy, and the fast and intense film rhythm are also typical characteristics of Jackie Chan's kung fu movies.

It is difficult to see such life-threatening, thrilling and exciting films in today's film market, and it is even harder to find the so-called "successor" of Jackie Chan. Therefore, more consumption is still directed towards Jackie Chan himself, such as "Dragon Horse Spirit" paying tribute to classic films such as "Project A", "Kung Fu Yoga" continuing the character relationship of "The Myth"... In recent years, Jackie Chan's new films have emerged in an endless stream, but the average Douban score is only around 4.5 points. The producers may hope that "Legend" will make a comeback for the symbol of "Jackie Chan", but the facts have proved that compared with the Jackie Chan action movies recognized by the public, "Legend" is still far behind.

In the past, when watching Jackie Chan, the audience saw his fierce punches, the protagonist’s changing body movements to find a ray of hope in various extreme conditions, and the ordinary person who can fight and scream in pain. This is precisely why "Legend" is not a Jackie Chan action movie: objects are greater than people, and scenery is greater than people - weapons are greater than fists and feet, scenes are greater than details, and the charm of the characters is quietly lost in various "exquisite designs". For example, in the ancient part of the double martial arts between Nazha and Aarif Lee, the performance of weapons is more exquisite than human movements. It may be due to props and shooting. Weapons control people better than people use weapons. After the long spear and long sword complete the programmed fight, the ending of both people's death is completed.

Jackie Chan's fighting scenes are composed of the ancient AI Jackie Chan and the modern Jackie Chan himself. How is the plot of the AI ​​Jackie Chan fighting scenes promoted? In the first fight with the villain, General Zhao Zhan rode alone into Hu Du Na's tent. In addition to showing the thrill of the actor's own actions, the exquisite horse fighting scenes also gave the horse "superpowers" so that the front and rear legs of the intelligently processed horse could bend directly to 90 degrees to hit the enemy. In the second fight, with the Han army having an absolute advantage over the Xiongnu, General Zhao Zhan rode alone to chase the fleeing villain team, and then fell into a disadvantageous poisoning and injury in a one-on-many fight. At the end of the modern plot, the fighting scenes performed by Jackie Chan himself finally had Jackie Chan's martial arts flavor, but the logic behind it must be that the protagonist and the villain's double fight scenes were created only when the teammates were injured or went out to call the police.

Even if such fighting scenes can rely on "real people on stage" as the key to publicity, the fluctuating strength of the fighting force in the story setting and the sudden fainting of the villains make all kinds of fighting lose their excitement and seem deliberate. And the audience watches action movies for the unexpected and the thrilling, and they never feel bored after watching such performances and feel that "as expected, the protagonist won".

If the 27-year-old Jackie Chan is the symbol of "The Myth" that is being consumed, then the later parts in which Jackie Chan plays a real person are the consumption of the role of his own era. The boring martial arts and the logic of rehashing old stuff are still eroding the audience's trust in Jackie Chan.

Bona blockbuster, market disappointment

Why can't big IP and big production attract audiences? This is a question that the film producer Bona may have.

Legend is the only major production film that Bona Film Group controls and invests in this summer. "Big scenes" and "real shots" are also important promotional points of the film. The background and plot setting of the whole film create a considerable difficulty for the action scenes. The big scenes such as the galloping horses and the beacon fires on the battlefield are all real shots.

The behind-the-scenes video released by the film confirmed that in order to shoot the battle scene between the Han army and the Xiongnu, the crew organized 1,200 cavalrymen and nearly 10,000 carefully selected high-quality horses to interpret the scene of the fierce battle between the two armies in the wild with real "thousands of troops and horses". At the same time, 1,400+ crew members conducted more than 160 days of real-life shooting in Zhaosu County, Xinjiang, spanning winter and summer. Whether it is the snowy plains or the lush spruce, they have contributed many big scenes to the film, which is indeed a visual feast. But if the audience walks out of the theater to evaluate the movie, and feels that the only thing worth mentioning is the good big scenes, it will inevitably make people feel top-heavy.

The idea of ​​making the big production and big scenes of the movie the main points of attracting audiences to the cinema, taking a differentiated approach in the competition with video platforms, and not being limited to the small and medium-cost investment of "small wins big", is reasonable. For example, in recent years, movies such as "Oppenheimer" and "Dune" have outstanding sound effects and special effects, and people say "you must go to the cinema to watch them". Unfortunately, judging from the box office performance of "Legend" in mainland theaters, it may only be "big wins small" in the end.

At the 2023 annual report performance briefing of Bona Film Group, Bona proposed that in the next three years, a creative production pattern of "three major films, three small films, and three series" will be formed. For Bona, which has achieved box office and reputation success with mainstream commercial blockbusters such as "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy", "Operation Mekong", and "Operation Red Sea", large-scale production and large investment have always been part of its strategy. However, according to the financial report of Bona Film Group, the company's net profit attributable to its parent company was a loss of 72.1069 million yuan in 2022 and a loss of 553 million yuan in 2023. On July 11, 2024, it released a semi-annual performance forecast, with a loss of 108 million to 153 million yuan, a narrower loss than the loss of 265 million yuan in the same period last year.

Compared with previous "golden blockbusters", "Legend" did not bring ideal market feedback. Excellent production is, but not only the decisive factor for audiences to go to the theater. The polishing of the script, the creation of topics, and the control of film quality are all indispensable factors in market competition. "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" released this year was initially launched on the Internet, but still achieved good results in theaters. The audience does not have to pay for the high investment in film production. If there is good content, they will still make a choice.

In the promotion of "Legend", topics related to "snow fighting" and "galloping horses" all mentioned that "such a dedicated shooting is sincere". Years of deep cultivation in the film industry can indeed be called "sincerity", the main creators who shot fighting scenes in winter can indeed be called "hard work", and being a pioneer in the industry and exploring technology can indeed be called "bravery", but these can only be said to be the sincerity of the actors, team, and production. Only by using technology as a means, listening to the development of the times and changes in the market, polishing the story well, and outputting good content can it be regarded as the sincerity of the entire movie and a true "blockbuster".

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