observation | jackie chan, chen sicheng, xu zheng and wuershan, why did the four "box office directors" collectively fail?
2024-08-29
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peninsula omnimedia reporter huang jingfei
why did “box office directors” collectively fail during this summer’s movie season?
jackie chan + chen sicheng + xu zheng + wuershan, four industry leaders, all have blockbusters competing for the summer season, but the total box office is only 1 billion. who would have thought? chen sicheng's carefully crafted "decryption" and xu zheng's passionate dedication "reverse life" have just exceeded 300 million yuan at the box office. wuershan's new movie "under the alien" did not break 100 million until the sixth day after its release in theaters. the fantasy action blockbuster "legend" starring jackie chan, which cost 360 million yuan, finally accumulated a box office of only 79.9 million yuan. several "rescue heroes" expected by the industry have failed, and even chen sicheng, the "hit-making machine", was not spared.
jackie chan and wuershan's big production breaks the filter
on july 10, the costume action film "legend" directed by stanley tong and starring jackie chan, zhang yixing and nazha was released. with the "mass base" laid by "the myth" 1, the starring lineup of jackie chan and zhang yixing, and the relatively optimistic market expectations for "legend", but after the release, the box office did not make any splash at all due to the poor reputation.
on july 27, the comic-adapted fantasy film "under the alien" directed by wuershan was released. based on everyone's expectations for the "investiture of the gods" series, "under the alien" also has a filter. but the theaters also expected wuershan to repeat his success in last year's summer season, but after the release, these filters were all broken. "under the alien" failed to retain fans of the original work, nor did it attract ordinary audiences. the box office remained at 118 million, which also made "investiture of the gods" fans worried. how will the last two parts of the trilogy of "investiture of the gods" and "under the alien" be released?
the new work of "explosive product maker" is more about form than content
"before chen sicheng was criticized, it didn't affect the box office, but this time it didn't work." undoubtedly, the three characters chen sicheng are almost a guarantee of box office success. last year, "gone girl" produced by him was almost the epitome of the current hot topics. many people's impression of chen sicheng is that he is a product manager who knows the film market very well. "decryption" will be officially released on august 3, and managers of major theaters also have high hopes for this film.
"decoding" is a work nominated for the mao dun literature prize by the writer mai jia. it tells the story of rong jinzhen, who has a mathematical talent but is lonely and fragile, burning her life to decipher the code. "decoding" is very different in style from chen sicheng's previous works, but after watching it, you will inexplicably think of his famous work "detective chinatown" in the film industry.
his "tang detective" universe has become popular, "a bunch of crime suspense projects came to him", and the success of the "manslaughter" series has brought countless similar projects to him, but chen sicheng declined them all. last year, a total of 144 projects came to him, of which only 5 were unanimously approved by him and his team. in "detective chinatown 3", he said through the character's mouth: "everything in this world that is attributed to art requires talent."
probably no one can give a definition to "decryption". it is a spy film, a biographical film, a drama film, and even a fantasy film... but it is not. many people in the circle commented that chen sicheng made an innovative attempt in the main theme narrative this time. from the perspective of audio-visual language and genre innovation, "decryption" is a blockbuster and has been recognized by the audience. the weak story is the unanimous evaluation of the film by the audience. the film shows rong jinzhen's ten dreams. although the audience feels the visual shock, it is difficult to truly experience the true spiritual world of the genius. as for the portrayal of the supporting role, the "tool man" attribute is even more obvious. by mixing various elements to attract users, once you enter the type you are not good at, it is easy to fall into the bug of form being greater than content and the story being suspended. for example, "mozart from outer space", which was released in 2022, has various elements such as family, music, and science fiction, but the content is relatively empty, and the core of "decryption" is not deep enough.
realist works spark controversy over "consuming suffering"
director xu zheng's realistic masterpiece "reverse life" will be released on august 9. from "lost in thailand" to "dying to survive", xu zheng always brings surprises to the audience. this time he turned his attention to the group of deliverymen.
"reverse life" tells the story of a middle-aged man named gao zhilei who, after experiencing a double blow to his career and family, chooses to become a food delivery man and finds his life direction again in the process of delivering food. this seemingly simple story has sparked widespread discussion because of xu zheng's portrayal of reality in the film. controversy also followed. some people questioned whether xu zheng could really understand the hardships of food deliverymen and believed that the film was suspected of "consuming suffering." 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. but if you criticize the movie without watching it, it is not fair to the movie."
there is another reason why the box office of "reverse life" did not "explode". before the movie was released, some theaters issued a statement to boycott it and reiterated the grievances caused by "lost in russia". at present, douban has a score of 6.8. the guidance and influence that "reverse life" wanted to get are counterproductive. although it has a strong topic and discussion after its release, the screening schedule has always been around 20%. xu zheng is regarded as the director who opened the era of high box office for chinese movies. the box office of the two "lost in russia" series films directed by xu zheng has accumulated about 2.8 billion, making it one of the most popular domestic series films in china.
industry insiders: olympic year, short videos, and negative reviews affect box office
from historical experience, the olympic year does not necessarily have an impact on the summer box office. the 2016 (rio olympics) box office was 12.41 billion yuan, which was basically the same as the 2015 box office of 12.45 billion yuan. tan fei, a well-known film critic and film and television producer, has been paying close attention to the changes and trends of this year's summer box office. he believes that the high ticket prices in some cities have seriously affected the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies, and the current creation methods of short videos in film and television have also greatly affected the audience's viewing habits. some new films have received a lot of negative reviews before they were released, and some "black for the sake of black" reviews have caused the film to fall into a reputation crisis, which in turn seriously affected the box office.
realistic themes are a challenge, and it is even more difficult to produce masterpieces like "dying to survive". we hope that more film and television works can face reality and drive people to think about reality. the film industry needs to continue to innovate and break through to meet the audience's growing aesthetic needs. producers should pay more attention to the innovation and depth of the film content, and at the same time increase publicity and promotion efforts to increase the film's popularity and influence.
