news

the top pan-entertainment self-media only talks about hard facts and hard logic

rhino entertainment original

text｜nan rumin edited｜park fang

producer fang li turned into a director at the age of 70 and spent all his money to make this movie丨the behind-the-scenes operator

the overall market is still in a cold state. there has been no change from the summer vacation to the mid-autumn festival.

of course, even in the coldest market, there will still be surprises. especially in this sluggish market environment, there is room for small dark horses to ferment, and some small projects are eager to try.alien: death stranding》、《rebirththe explosion of "the unexpected" shows that there are always unexpected things happening in the market. among them, an unknown, non-commercial documentary is blooming silently.

2014han hanin his debut work, "no see you later",g.e.m.the theme song of the show goes "when a ship sinks to the bottom of the sea, when a person becomes a mystery". with the release of the documentary "the sinking of the lisbon maru", this line of lyrics has finally been revealed. this niche documentary was released in a low-key manner in early september, and even now not many people know of its existence, but now it has begun to accumulate and ferment more energy.

looking at the marketing events of domestic films, in 2016,birds pay homage to the phoenixthe box office schedule of "a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix" was unfavorable, and the producer fang li's kneeling incident was undoubtedly the most popular event in recent years. as a veteran in the industry and a big shot who has been working on literary and artistic films all his life, fang li's actions quickly became popular, and the topic and hot spots continued to rise. in the end, "a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix" completed an amazing counterattack, from a small literary and artistic film with a box office of 3 to 5 million yuan, it finally won an amazing result of 80 million+ in one fell swoop.

although fang li has already become famous in the industry, this is the first time that fang li has entered the eyes of ordinary audiences and has been defined by the audience as a conscientious filmmaker. now he has finally returned as a king, bringing the long-lost documentary "the sinking of the lisbon maru". the film has been a pressure on fang li's career, and he even decided to sell his house to make it. now the film has finally landed on the big screen and achieved excellent results.

if the previous "a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix" was popular because of the topic, and then the audience cared about the quality, then this documentary "the sinking of the lisbon maru" first took root with absolute quality, and through time and space, it completed an incredible fermentation counterattack. the film did not have any gimmicks or events in the early stage, and the extremely niche nature of documentaries made it completely unable to compete with commercial films.

according to common understanding, this should have been released in art theaters, with a final box office of 2-3 million. this is indeed the case. the film was screened a lot in the early stage, but it did not stir up any waves at all. the first day of screening was 1.9%, and the box office was only 368,000. the film was already close to the expected box office of 2-3 million. but the quality of this documentary is so good that it has the power to change fate.

douban scored an astonishing 9.3 points, the highest score among all the films released in mainland china this year. maoyan and tao piao piao both scored an astonishing 9.6 points. in a word, "the sinking of the lisbon maru" is almost a perfect movie. even for a documentary, it has been screened in commercial theaters and has attracted many audiences. in particular, the box office curve of the film is heading towards a major comeback.

in the early stage of its release, the film was able to basically maintain a daily level of over 1 million through slight fermentation. the mid-autumn festival period, with as many as 10 new films released, would undoubtedly completely crush this tiny film, but the film achieved an astonishing resistance to the decline, and won the attendance championship among all the films released during the mid-autumn festival period (excluding preview films). the film finally broke the 3 million box office mark in a single day on the last day of the holiday, and this only used 1.8% of the screenings.

i believe that with more and more audiences entering the theater, the film will be fermented on a larger scale, which lays the foundation for the subsequent long-term operation. in the next working day, the film will continue to resist the decline, and it is not ruled out that it will continue to rise. regardless of the current position of the film or the subsequent market environment, the film will continue to have space, and it is even expected to get a volume of tens of millions, becoming another box office miracle after "a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix".

when a domestic film reaches 7 points on douban, it is a masterpiece worth watching; when it reaches 8 points, it must be an outstanding work; when it exceeds 9 points, it is basically a masterpiece that can go down in film history. therefore, the 9.3 points of "the sinking of the lisbon maru" is not only the ceiling-level work of domestic films today, but also a testimony to the efforts made by domestic films in the diversification of genres. fang li, an older generation of artists with great sentiments, has made an indelible contribution.

the film focuses on the sinking of the japanese ship "lisbon maru" during world war ii, the fate of more than 1,800 british prisoners after the sinking, what they experienced, how the "lisbon maru" sank, what atrocities the japanese army committed, and how the chinese islanders rescued them. all of these are fully restored in the documentary in a panoramic and multi-perspective way to the true history of the time.

director and producer fang li traveled around the world, invested 8 years, and paid a lot of money and energy to contact countless british soldiers' families and descendants, and even found two nearly 100-year-old british soldiers to tell the story of the disaster that was forgotten by history. the documentary is presented from an objective perspective. this unbiased and realistic approach is an important reason for the success of the film, and the islanders of china's dongji island are undoubtedly the saviors.

whether it is the shooting level, the drama of the story, or the overall production level, this documentary shows the creator's dedication and investment. it is really a rare conscientious work today, especially in the current impetuous market environment. compared with those unbearable bad movies, it is completely a breath of fresh air. director fang li took action to make this period of history see the light of day in such a shocking way, which is really admirable.

coincidentally,guan huthe director's new filmdongji island"the sinking of the lisbon maru" is also telling this period of history. it is a completely commercial blockbuster type of work, or it will be a war epic-level work, and "the sinking of the lisbon maru" has already served as a good trailer for this film.

according to director fang li, "i don't really believe that i can recover the cost of 'the sinking of the lisbon maru' and i don't have such expectation. however, if this movie is like 'a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix' and actually generates a profit, it must be given to the fishermen friends in zhoushan and used as funds for sino-british exchange activities." judging from the current situation, there is still hope of recovering the cost, and i hope that a bigger wave of fermentation will be formed next.