Testing the audience in 2018 is the real turning point for literary films.

next year may be the real "spring" of literary films.

original title: top ten literary films in 2017! In 2018, new films from Jiang Wen, Jia Zhangke and Lou Ye led the market to explode

in 2015, Wang Xiaoshuai's "intruder" was released, and the "murder in advance" grossed only 10.036 million at the box office.

in 2016, Wu Tianming's "A hundred Birds to the Phoenix" was released, and Fang Li's "kneeling" grossed 79.578 million yuan at the box office.

in 2017, "Fang Hua" directed by Feng Xiaogang exceeded 300 million in three days, "Gang Rinpozi" grossed more than 100 million yuan, and "77 days" has grossed nearly 97 million yuan so far.

at first glance, Chinese literary films have indeed ushered in their own "spring". But in fact, the brilliance on the spire can not hide the gloom of the whole tower. While "Gang Rinpozi", "22" and "Fanghua" took off at the box office, a number of small-budget literary films such as "Old Beast" and "August" could hardly reach 5 million at the box office.

this year, content Wang has become a key word in the film market, and literary films have indeed seen more cases of "World War I fame" than last year, and there are also acclaimed representatives at the same time. However, it is still too early to judge that the market for literary films is getting warmer.

because next year may be the real "spring" of literary films.

the entertainment industry has selected the top ten literary films in 2017 and the top ten most anticipated literary films in 2018 on the basis of box office expectations, public praise inside and outside the industry, content influence, and the practical significance of the content. To discuss with you.

strong > Cultural curiosity activates the interest of the audience, and literary films present "Survival chain" / strong >

Last year, "roadside picnics" and "pictures of the Yangtze River" set off a big wave of repercussions in the market, although the final box office results were not satisfactory, but let a number of small-budget literary films see hope.

this year, if the first release of "August" is not satisfactory, then "return to the Wolves", "Love without words" and "Gang Rinpozi" have been successfully "passed" in the Hollywood blockbuster since the summer, and their box office results have far exceeded expectations.

looking back at the performance of literary films in this year's film market, word-of-mouth is not the most important factor. Whether it is "Fanghua" or "Gang Rinpozi" or "back to the Wolves", the theme has the absolute upper hand. To some extent, it is the cultural curiosity that activates the interest of the audience.

" freshness ", which enables literary films to maintain a very high degree of recognition regardless of the attack of Hollywood" popcorn "or the encirclement of domestic" heavy industry ".

for example, the reason why "Gang Rinpozi" can counterattack successfully is that its unique Tibetan culture has attracted the attention of moviegoers, followed by a hot topic about belief.

what is interesting is that this year's film market presents a literary film survival chain of "cultural novelty-documentary-narrative-metaphor". Last year, the "poetic" style represented by "roadside picnic" and "picture of the Yangtze River" was not popular this year.

strong > the halo of awards cannot be boosted at the box office. Instead of "making progress," moviegoers have just become "Buddhists" / strong >

2017. Every one of the top 10 Chinese literary films has an "halo of awards." Among them, "Carnival" was shortlisted for the Venice International Film Festival, although it eventually missed the grand prize, but it glowed in the Golden Horse Award. "Blizzard is coming" and "No problem" are the products of the return of the Tokyo International Film Festival.

in addition," August "," Lao Beast "and" Love and dating "are also" collective representatives "of the Golden Horse Award in Taiwan. Compared with last year, the International Awards focus more on Asia in the literary films released this year. First, it is in line with the basic line of Busan, Tokyo, Jinma to support young directors and small-budget literary films, and the other is that the documentary style is obviously more culturally resonant in Asia.

but literary films break out with the least halo of awards. At present, the top three box office results are "Fanghua", "Gang Rinpozi" and "77 days". None of the three works is blessed with heavyweight trophies. "Blizzard" and "Old Beast", which were released immediately after winning the award, did not change their living environment because of winning the award.

although many people attribute this phenomenon to a "progress" of fans' rational viewing of movies, it is actually more of a "Buddhist" mentality of fans watching movies. In the eyes of many fans, participating films or award-winning films are not very attractive to them. Whether they can win awards and how many awards they have won will not change their original intention of choosing movies. The market signal such as

seems to pose a big problem for literary films. The increase in the number of fans of "Buddha" has made its living environment continue to deteriorate.

strong > the role of the Art Federation is difficult to play, and literary and art films are still struggling. / strong >

on October 16 last year, China's first art theater alliance was jointly sponsored by China Film Archive, Huaxia Film Distribution Co., Ltd., Broadway Film Center and other organizations. In this regard, 100 cinemas joined the first batch of "Art Federation", and many literary and art filmmakers have finally made progress in the "separate distribution" that has been called for for many years.

but it is rather disappointing that August," Old Beast "and" Love and dating "promoted by the Arts Federation this year haven't changed much at the box office.

in fact, the role of the Art Federation itself is not very helpful to literary and art films. At present, the mainland still does not implement a film classification system, and there is still no sign of relaxation in film censorship. On the contrary, overseas participation in awards and "underground films" are further regulated in the Film Industry Promotion Law.

and the changes in the viewing quality and demand of moviegoers will not change immediately as a result of the emergence of the Arts Federation. The hard contradiction of "there is no audience, there is no film" still exists.

except for Fanghua directed by Feng Xiaogang, other small-budget literary films still face serious financial difficulties in investment and production, and those who are willing to invest in literary films are not only a small number of companies focused on literary and art film investment, but also only companies with Hong Kong backgrounds such as Jiaying and Anle are willing to help.

however, the real "Kaner" of literary films is next year, and the "appearance" of literary films next year is completely different from that of this year. It is no exaggeration to say that whether we can promote the progress of the literary film market, we must bet on the success of the film to be released next year.

strong > the big director has stepped in collectively, and the capital and stars have doubled / strong >

in the past two years, Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye and Jiang Wen have not released any new works. In 2018, several heavyweight directors have released films, which is obviously stronger in terms of market appeal than in the past two years.

among them, Jia Zhangke, who is frequently loved by the three major European international film festivals, will launch "jianghu sons and daughters." And Lou Ye, who has not been seen for a long time, will also have a new work to be born. Jiang Wen's long-planned "Hermit" and Xu Haofeng's new film "Hidden on the back of the knife" are both highly likely to be set in 2018.

besides the director, the leading line-up is obviously the biggest attraction. In the most anticipated list, with the exception of the big world, which was scheduled for January and the small-budget thriller "evil", which was completed last year, the other eight films have stars, and are much higher in quantity and quality than in the past two years.

in the past two years, literary films have basically maintained the standard configuration of "one piece, one star", but the actual effect is not as good as imagined. The market appeal of individual actors can hardly stimulate the enthusiasm of moviegoers. Next year, in addition to Zhao Tao, the hostess of "Iron fight", the combination of Liao Fan, Xu Zheng and Feng Xiaogang is undoubtedly highly anticipated by fans.

in Lou Ye's new film "Lanxin Theater", the combination of Gong Li and Zhao Youting is the most "new". Kaneshiro Kaneshiro, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Yuyan Peng in Jiang Wen's new film, and suspense tenderness by Fan Bingbing and Huang Xuan in Cao Baoping's new film she killed will all have enough topics to activate the audience.

authors with strong literary and artistic attributes will hope to drive the box office through actors with market appeal, and actors with high flow will also hope to temper their acting skills through high-pressure literary and art films. The coincidence of the two suddenly pushed up the box office ceiling of literary films.

and with the increase of the size of literary films, the degree of capital investment increases obviously. For example, passing the Future, a focus unit of the Cannes International Film Festival, was previously shortlisted, with a production cost of 30 million, and an Le Pictures led by Jiang Zhiqiang. Tencent, Wanda, Maoyan and other 12 companies gathered here for the production and distribution of the "Deluxe" thriller, which is famous for its 70,000 cost, when it was shown in Cannes this year.

strong > 2018 of the audience is the real turning point of literary films / strong >

with the increase of investment in literary films, 2018 is highly anticipated. The key to whether a film type market can break through also depends on whether the "bellwether" can promote the progress of the market.

at present, at least there has been a marked improvement in the quantity and quality of literary films released next year. This also makes 2018 a key year to test whether the quality of moviegoers has improved.

although moviegoers always take "content" as the first criterion, word-of-mouth, stars and awards cannot influence the choice of audiences, but the new films of top directors are still highly attractive and, more importantly, 2018 may become particularly critical for the literary film market.

Capital is always profit-seeking. Literary films with a sudden rise in investment costs are bound to hope to be enhanced at the box office, but once the film released is difficult to achieve too much response in the market, then for eager studios, it is undoubtedly a great harm. To some extent, the new work is a benchmark for testing the market. Success leads to progress, while failure leads to decline.

the sense of existence of Chinese films overseas continues to decline, and if the new director's new films fail to stir up a little spray in the mainland film market, then what hope is there for small and medium-sized literary films that lack star appeal and are difficult to win in international awards?

it is not uncommon for the high-profile director to suffer a Waterloo. Sudden capital and commercialization make it difficult for him to reverse the "habit of poverty". So under the contradiction and conflict, how to ensure the balance between art and commerce has become the key to test the director.

what the market really needs is the mining of the "leader". No matter what the answer will be in 2018, it seems that literary films will usher in a life-and-death turning point.

Edit: mary