The false fire in the film market gradually recedes and "new stars" rise to carry the banner of creation

the competition of many films in the summer season is becoming more and more rational and standardized-squeezing out the capital bubble, returning to the essence of creation, and paying more attention to the improvement of artistic quality and the creation of the core of stories, will be more conducive to the healthy development of Chinese films.

original title: domestic films boost the market

compared with previous years, domestic films in the first half of 2017 showed a depressed market situation, with a total box office of about 10.5 billion yuan in six months, less than 2 million yuan of the total box office. In this case, the summer vacation has become the key to determine whether domestic films can make a comeback in the fierce competition with imported films. In terms of creation, the recent film market shows a rich variety of types and themes, and the new generation of directors come to the stage to play the leading role. At the level of market performance, domestic military masterpieces with Chinese characteristics, such as Wolf Warriors 2, which are comparable to similar commercial blockbusters in Hollywood and with Chinese characteristics, have won a good harvest at the box office, contributing to the construction of China's film industry system. The competition of many films in the summer season is becoming more and more rational-squeezing out the capital bubble, returning to the essence of creation, and paying more attention to the improvement of artistic quality and the creation of the core of stories, which will be more conducive to the healthy development of Chinese films.

strong > the new generation takes up the banner of creation / strong >

when it is another summer vacation, dozens of new films are released here one after another. Such as the historical war film "the Great cause of Building the Army", "when will there be the Ming Moon", comedy "Father and son Heroes", costume film "embroidered Spring knife 2: the Battlefield of Shura", crime suspense film "Psychological Crime", horror film "Capital 81 2", science fiction film "reverse time Rescue", fantasy film "Legend of Wukong", "Peach Blossom for three generations", Sports Film "I am Marbury", Animation Film "Doufu Zhuan", Youth Film "Flash Girl" and so on. Almost covering all kinds of film styles, the market is very busy. In the past, a few types of themes emerged in a pile, and there was less and less vicious competition to compete with star topics. instead, the product layout became more and more diversified and reasonable, which brought people a wealth of choices to watch the movie. it also reduces the waste of unnecessary industrial resources.

the new generation of directors carry the banner of creation and rush to the big screen with works of different styles, which has become a major feature of the summer vacation. These include Guo Zijian, the director of the Legend of Wukong, Lu Zhengyu, the director of the Great Master, and the post-70s and post-80s generation who soon set foot in the film industry, as well as cross-border people like Wu Jing, the director of Wolf Warriors 2. These new forces are naturally sensitive to the new ideological trend of the times, new artistic methods and industrial operation, which not only bring new work forms and creative methods to domestic films, but also open up various modes of operation and broad space for development for the industry. For example, in "embroidered Spring knife 2: Shura Battlefield", director Lu Yang tries to combine martial arts style with suspense elements under the package of historical stories, while Yang Zi tries sports themes. for the first time in I am Marbury, he focused his creative vision on the dream stories of foreign basketball players. What these new-generation works have in common is that there are new ideas in artistic expression and sincerity in creative attitude, especially in the cast, instead of betting all the "treasures" on "fresh meat". This is a positive signal that the film industry is moving towards a benign development stage.

although the new generation is strong, it is also faced with all kinds of "growing troubles". The lukewarm box office of some summer films exposed their lack of market experience and lack of control of the balance between business and art. For example, the Legend of Wukong weakens the warm-blooded fighting spirit of the original work, focuses on the emotions of the characters, and relies too much on the construction of special effects, which leads to the weakness of the plot, which only captures the "shape" of the magical type, but loses the most important "soul". Lu Zhengyu pays tribute to Zhou Xingchi's "extraordinary master" imitation trace is too obvious, does not have its own artistic characteristics, but lost the innovative charm of Wulitou comedy. Similarly, there are "Father and son Xiongbing" and "Qinghe Men's Gao". These films are different from the bad films in the traditional sense, they all have shining points in some aspects, but on the whole they appear young and need to be further polished and processed.

strong > mainstream blockbusters have become a new hot spot in the market / strong >

this year coincides with the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland and the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese people's Liberation Army. Mainstream blockbusters have jumped out of the stylized pattern of the past and incorporated elements and thinking that are well used in the industrial production of contemporary films such as high-tech and typed films into the transmission of mainstream values, the telling of historical stories and the shaping of heroes. By virtue of high box office and good reputation in the market to find their own wonderful, so that more audiences realize that the theme film can also be very good-looking.

as the end of the trilogy of the Founding of the people's Republic of China, the Great cause of Building the Army leads the audience to look back on the extraordinary years at the beginning of the founding of the Chinese people's Liberation Army. Liu Weiqiang, a director who is good at action movies, interprets history from a typological perspective, interspersed with fierce battle scenes while reproducing key events, and uses "fresh Blood" to play the young hero in the middle of the historical stage at that time. the organic integration of flesh-and-blood characterization and the transmission of lofty beliefs, narrowing the psychological distance with the younger generation of audience. Wu Jing, the director who made a domineering return with Wolf Warriors 2, shifted the background of the story from the national defense border to overseas Chinese evacuation, with the theme of the protagonist rescuing compatriots and refugees with the support of Chinese embassies abroad and the people's Navy. Created a Chinese version of the superhero. The creators skillfully combine war themes with action movie elements and incorporate cool flying cars, tank wars, hand-to-hand combat and other shots, opening up a new market space for military themes. Since its release, the film has broken the box office records of domestic films all the way, and it is difficult to get a ticket in Southeast Asia, Australia and other overseas markets, defeating the Hollywood blockbuster Dunkirk and winning the title of global box office week. it has greatly boosted the confidence of Chinese filmmakers. In addition, "when will the Moon have", "the Battle of the Xiangjiang River" and "the Battle of the Dragon" are all unveiled during the summer vacation, although the historical scenes are different and the artistic expressions are different, but the stories of the country and the heroism shown are similar, so that the audience can not only get a different kind of viewing experience, but also be nourished by spirit and guided by value.

strong > realistic works are still scarce / strong >

the appreciation level of Chinese audience is improving day by day, and the behavior of watching movies is becoming more and more rational. It is becoming more and more unrealistic to rely solely on capital to make a profit in the market. if a film wants to win the box office, it must depend on quality. One of the manifestations of this trend of industrial progress is that films such as "I am Marbury" and "Flash Girl" that the protagonists strive for in real life have gained a good reputation, which to a certain extent reflects people's desire for high-quality realistic films.

No matter how the times develop, audiences always have a strong desire to see excellent films that resonate with real life on the screen, and often those works that closely interact with the hearts of society and are full of information of the times and flavor of life can stand the test of time and become a classic. However, it is regrettable that under the guidance of the erroneous concept that some commercial capital only cares about economic benefits, regardless of artistic quality and social benefits, the field of creation has blown up a bad atmosphere of blindly catering to consumption, vaguely surpassing reality and deliberately far away from the times, which makes realistic creation face the crisis of marginalization. As far as this summer is concerned, there are a lot of realistic works, but most of the stories are still suspended on reality, and there are still a few films that really use the spirit of realism to guide the creation. This is not so much a defect as a call.

if the summer vacation in previous years was when the rapid development of the film industry attracted a large number of hot money inflows and triggered an investment boom, while a large number of IP movies, fan movies, and topic films gathered for profit, the 2017 summer vacation was a bit like a level playing field for film competition-the meaning of summer vacation is changing after the virtual fire has subsided and practitioners have calmed down. It is becoming an inclusive platform, commercial films are no longer the only protagonists, as long as excellent quality, innovative spirit, low-cost art films, animated films can also come to the fore. It has also become a training ground for testing the talent, ability, and sincerity of the new generation, providing young people with more opportunities to accumulate market experience and get in close contact with the audience, so that they have a better understanding of how to go next. It may also become a turning point for the rational return of the market, and the severe situation of competition with Hollywood blockbusters forces the Chinese film industry to focus more on tamping the quality of creation, so that filmmakers pay more attention to the strengthening of the artistic level of drama and the deep excavation of ideological connotation, and pay more attention to the construction of the industrial system and the improvement of the level of science and technology, thus reducing the number of "bad films" and increasing the number of excellent films with both artistic and ideological quality. After this summer, we have reason to rekindle our confidence in Chinese films and believe that they will embark on the broad road of healthy development with the joint efforts of many Chinese filmmakers.

Edit: mary