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"Reverse Life", directed by Xu Zheng and starring Xu Zheng and Xin Zhilei, is currently showing in theaters. On August 13, the summer movie "Reverse Life" held a roadshow in Hangzhou. The film's director and starring actor Xu Zheng and actor Wu Jiakai attended the show.

(Director and lead actor Xu Zheng and actor Wu Jiakai attended the Hangzhou roadshow of "Reverse Life")

As of 12:00 on August 12, the 2024 summer box office has exceeded 9.2 billion yuan, which is significantly lower than the 2023 summer box office. However, summer movies are still being released, with rich genres and diverse themes, which may continue to help this year's summer box office recover.

Xu Zheng denies consumption suffering

The film tells the story of Gao Zhilei, a middle-aged man who was laid off and became a food deliveryman by chance, switching tracks and starting over. Gao Zhilei, played by Xu Zheng, suddenly lost his job in middle age. He submitted thousands of resumes but none of them came back. He needed money everywhere, including the medical expenses of the elderly at home, the monthly mortgage payments, and the tuition fees for his daughter. Under the pressure of life, the 45-year-old Gao Zhilei decided to wear a food delivery rider's uniform. After entering the food delivery industry, the film follows Gao Zhilei's perspective and tells the stories of other food deliverymen such as Dahei, Laokou, and Dashan.

This movie is a work in which Xu Zheng is the screenwriter, director and star. Xu Zheng said at the roadshow that he has been in the "loser" track for many years. Although there are many excellent actors in the same track, he still feels itchy when he sees this role. "I think only by acting myself can I better grasp the inner world of the character."

However, it is worth noting that the audience's evaluation of "Reverse Life" is significantly divided. Some viewers think that the film is "rich people playing poor people" and "consuming suffering and beautifying suffering". Xu Zheng denied the controversy of "consuming suffering" caused by the film.

In response, Xu Zheng said: "I find it very difficult to make movies now, because it is impossible to make a movie that satisfies everyone. After watching a movie, everyone has different feelings. Different audiences will see different details and have different expectations. But if you criticize a movie without watching it, it is not fair to the movie."

Xu Zheng also said that after watching the movie, he would accept both good and bad reviews, because every audience member has a different attitude towards life and different feelings.

Data shows that the movie "Reverse Life" has grossed over 200 million yuan in six days since its release. This is also the first time that Xu Zheng has released a realistic film after "Dying to Survive". Previously, in 2018, the movie "Dying to Survive" directed by Wen Muye and produced by Xu Zheng was released. The film was not only a big hit at the box office, but also sparked widespread discussion about drug fairness. The film's first-week box office was 1.333 billion yuan, topping the global box office, and the final box office reached 3.1 billion yuan.

Xu Zheng is regarded as the director who opened the era of high box office for Chinese films. The two "囧" series films directed by Xu Zheng have grossed a total of about 2.8 billion yuan, making them one of the most popular domestic series films in China. In 2012, Xu Zheng's "Lost in Thailand" broke the number of viewers of "Avatar" and became the first Chinese film in the history of Chinese films to exceed 1 billion yuan.

New releases continue in August

The summer season has a long time span, involves a large number of films, and is prone to producing hits, making it a battleground for film companies.

August is already halfway through, and there is about half a month left before the end of this year's summer vacation. Summer movies are still being released continuously, with rich genres and diverse themes, which may continue to help this year's summer movie season to recover.

According to data from Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of 12:00 on August 12, the 2024 summer box office has exceeded 9.2 billion yuan, of which "Catch the Dolls" is 2.99 billion yuan and "The Silent War" is 1.33 billion yuan, leading the box office list by a large margin, accounting for a total of more than 46.7% of the summer box office.

However, this figure is still significantly lower than that of 2023. The 2023 summer season finally achieved a box office of 20.6 billion yuan, which was called the "strongest summer season in history." Currently, two-thirds of the summer season has passed, and the time left for this year's summer season is relatively limited. Industry insiders analyzed that this year, both the number of films and the number of moviegoers have decreased compared with last year, while the average ticket price has increased.

Chen Jin, a data analyst at Lighthouse Professional Edition, said that so far this summer, there has not been a third film with a box office of over 500 million yuan, and the single-day peak of the market is only 372 million yuan. Last summer, five films with a box office of over 1 billion yuan were released in succession, and the single-day box office exceeded 400 million yuan for several consecutive Saturdays and Sundays.

In addition to "Reverse Life", the recently released "The Decryption" (directed by Chen Sicheng and starring Liu Haoran), the comedy science fiction film "Safe Escape from the 21st Century", "White Snake: Floating Life" and other high-quality reserves are expected to drive the overall box office market to continue to heat up. As of 16:39 on August 13, the box office of the film "The Decryption" exceeded 300 million yuan; 9 days after the release of "Safe Escape from the 21st Century" on August 2, the total box office exceeded 100 million yuan.

"This summer, there will be 34 films to be released in the coming mid-to-late August, including the feature film "Hedgehog" directed by Gu Changwei and starring Ge You and Wang Junkai, the Japanese animation "Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentacle", the Hollywood science fiction film "Alien: Taken Flight", the Thai drama "Grandma's Grandson", the crime films "Rebirth" and "The Wrath of the Titans", etc. We look forward to the good performance of the film market in mid-to-late August." Chen Jin analyzed.

CICC predicts that the total box office for the 2024 summer season may be between 85% (17.5 billion yuan) and 105% (21.7 billion yuan) of last year's box office.

In a research report, Changjiang Securities stated that the performance of key films in the 2024 summer season has been gratifying since its release, driving the continued increase in the popularity of the 2024 summer season. Looking forward to subsequent movies in the summer season, the film genres are diverse, and there is no shortage of new works by well-known directors and actors. It is expected that as the demand for movie-watching further recovers, the 2024 summer season may continue the outstanding box office performance trend of important periods this year, and the movie box office is expected to continue to grow. We are optimistic about the continued recovery of the theater sector and the performance elasticity of high-quality content producers.

Editor: Peng Bo

Proofreading: Wang Wei

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