text / Ding Minjun
Since the "People on the Road" series of fire, Xu Zheng has become the leading figure of the new domestic directors. Although the word-of-mouth of the follow-up "Hong Kong 囧" declined, it still grabbed 1.6 billion at the box office. In 2020, Xu Zheng made a comeback and launched the last film of the 囧 series, "囧 Mom", but in just a few days, he experienced a series of turmoil, such as withdrawing from the file, withdrawing from the theater, etc., along with the behavior of Xu Zheng in the circle. It is also quite opinionated. A few days ago, more media revealed that Xu Zheng's new film was suspected of being divested by the capital, and his future film road seems to be struggling.
announced the withdrawal the day before the movie went live. Xu Zheng's approach on the eve of the Spring Festival also won him the favor of many netizens. After all, nowadays pneumonia strikes, if movie fans enter and exit the theater on a large scale, it will definitely be detrimental to their own safety. From this perspective, Xu Zheng is also fully responsible to the fans.
Subsequently, Chen Sicheng, Lin Chaoxian and others also announced that their films were withdrawn from the Spring Festival file. The specific launch date is to be discussed. It was originally a normal operation, but Xu Zheng was unconventional. On New Year's Eve, it was announced that "囧Mom" would be broadcast for free on New Year's Day.
This news aroused heated discussions among netizens as soon as it was announced. Everyone was looking forward to the launch of "囧Mom". But due to the film's decision to withdraw from the theater, many fans also regret this. This time, Xu Zheng simply changed "囧 Ma" to be broadcast online, which can be regarded as satisfying everyone's watching needs.
Before the "囧Mom" went live, Xu Zheng, who was exposed by netizens, signed a 2.4 billion gambling agreement. If the box office fails to meet expectations, Xu Zheng and his partners will have to pay 600 million. After Xu Zheng announced that "囧Mom" would be broadcast on the online platform, a "informed person" broke the news that Xu Zheng sold the film to related platforms for a price of 630 million yuan.
Although these news have not been confirmed so far, judging from Xu Zheng's noncommittal attitude, it seems that there is not much discrepancy. However, even though netizens are tacitly aware of the gambling, more people still expressed support for Xu Zheng's practice of allowing everyone to watch movies for free.
For movie fans, it is undoubtedly the best choice to be able to watch movies at home without leaving the house and without paying any fees. Even if the reputation of "囧Mom" did not meet expectations, there was no loss as an audience. So for a time, Xu Zheng's reputation has also improved a lot.
But from another perspective, although the audience is very satisfied with Xu Zheng's approach. However, the theater that used to put a lot of manpower and material resources into the promotion of "囧Mo" is now empty. Xu Zheng's behavior was also boycotted by major theaters, and even "industry insiders" like Bi Zhifei directly criticized it.
Under such circumstances, Xu Zheng and Huanxi Media seem to have been blacklisted by major theaters. According to media reports, Xu Zheng's partners have already withdrawn funds. Although many people analyzed afterwards, with Xu Zheng's financial resources and influence, he could fully invest in filming in the future.
But if the divestment is true, then it also means that the influence of the boycott of many theaters before is not negligible. After all, no matter how high the quality of the movie is, it is useless if the theater is unwilling to increase the amount of film. Many netizens even asked directly whether Xu Zheng will have a new work successfully launched in the next few years?
Currently, Xu Zheng has not responded to the withdrawal. However, some media interviewed the manager of a certain theater before. The manager said that if all the theaters unite and refuse to make a film for Xu Zheng, then Xu Zheng seems to have to use the network to broadcast the road. Due to the impact of the general environment, It seems that it is difficult to have a platform that can spend huge sums of money to pay for his movies. If this situation persists, it will be difficult for Xu Zheng to make greater achievements.
From Xu Zheng's point of view, it seems that it is beneficial to others to stop losses in time through free online movies. But from the perspective of the theaterConsidering it did make them suffer heavy losses. So no matter whether Xu Zheng can shake hands with the theater in the end, it is hoped that in the future, major filmmakers can think twice before making a decision. I also hope that Xu Zheng can devote more energy to creation, and strive to release works that surpass "Tai囧".
