Guangming Daily reporter Zhang Yuling and Niu Mengdi
As the nation celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the film market also gave birth to "the strongest National Day file in history." According to statistics, as of October 8, the box office of this year's National Day movies has exceeded 5 billion yuan, a record high, and the annual box office of the film market has exceeded 50 billion yuan earlier than last year.
From the "hot" Spring Festival file, to the "high-burning" summer file, and then to the "hot" National Day file, a Chinese-style blockbuster tells Chinese stories with movies, and uses movies to promote the Chinese spirit and bring them to the whole industry. Confidence and hope. Professionals said that although the film industry is still adjusting "from high speed to high quality", the hot money in the bubble has been squeezed, the disruptors have retired, and professionalism and rationality have gradually returned. For professional directors, teams, and companies In other words, it is the best time for the layout. The Chinese film industry is accumulating new potential in the adjustment and is ushering in the spring of healthy development.
calls for more Chinese blockbusters
"Me and My Motherland", "Captain of China" and "The Climber" earned 2.2 billion yuan, 2 billion yuan, and 800 million yuan in box office during the National Day respectively, contributing to the total box office of the National Day stalls The rate exceeded 90%, and at the same time, they all got a high score of 9 points or more. The three main theme movies all tell the inspirational stories of ordinary heroes struggling, dedicating, and defying hardships. They show the positive energy and family feelings of the little people in the big era. They are all Chinese blockbusters with good box office and good reputation.
"In addition to "The Captain of China", Bona Pictures also launched "Heroes of Fire" and "The Final Moment" this year. These three meticulously crafted mainstream movies are also known as the "Chinese Pride Trilogy"." In the creation of Chinese-style blockbusters, Yu Dong, chairman of Bona Pictures, said frankly that it is not a simple matter to make a blockbuster film with the main theme. It is necessary to do everything possible to balance the theme and the market, with both grand narrative and grand narrative. Pay attention to the stories of small people, and focus on the lives of ordinary people as well as great people. Why is it difficult to make a blockbuster movie with the main theme of
? According to Xiao Yongliang, a professor at the School of Art and Media at Beijing Normal University, the main reason is that the audience's appreciation level has improved, their tastes have become more and more critical, and their requirements for a better life have become more and more diverse. It can be said that "the domestic market is also international competition." Chinese audiences also use Hollywood blockbuster standards to measure the quality of Chinese films, calling for more outstanding Chinese blockbusters.
From "Captain China", "My Motherland and Me" to "Wandering Earth", "Wolf Warriors 2", "Operation Mekong" and "Operation Red Sea", none of these Chinese blockbusters hailed as "new mainstream movies" The exception is done both internally and externally: the content is the Chinese people's happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy, the connotation is the Chinese spirit, the core is the Chinese people's homeland feelings; and the external form is the production method and expression method of "blockbuster".
produced 1082 films of various types nationwide last year, and more than 400 domestic films were released, and 320 films with a box office of less than one million yuan, accounting for 80%. Hui Ming, a distinguished researcher from the Cultural Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, found the "crisis" for these films with a box office of less than one million yuan: the emotion of the story cannot resonate with the audience, and the quality of the film cannot meet the expectations of the audience. "You" fate.
movies are spiritual and cultural products. After all, they must rely on content and quality to win. There is no shortage of movies in the Chinese film industry. What it lacks is good movies, and what it lacks is quality products. In this round of adjustments, with the maturity of the Chinese film industry, the creation of high-quality films has become the consensus of the industry: filmmakers must regard creation as their central task, and good works that sing the main theme and promote positive energy are the foundation. I believe that the audience will vote with their feet and remember those high-quality Chinese-style blockbusters that inspire ideas, cultivate sentiments, delight the body and mind, and warm the soul.
attracts high-quality social capital
"The strongest National Day stall in history" reached 796 million yuan in box office on the first day, ushering in a good start, and also set the highest single-day box office record after the Spring Festival stall. Since then, it has been singing all the way. The daily average value of the 7-day box office is Last year twice. This year, the number of people who watched movies in 8 days during the National Day holiday this year was 135 million, which not only hit a record high, but also surpassed the total number of people who watched the Spring Festival in 2017 and previous years. The
National Day box office record is a microcosm of the huge potential of the Chinese film market. The reason why capital is willing to enter the film market is that we have a large market of 1.4 billion people, a large audience of movies and a good market foundation. According to statistics, the total number of movie viewers nationwide reached 1.716 billion last year, surpassing North America and ranking first in the world; the number of screens in my country exceeded 60,000.It also ranks first in the world, 20,000 yuan more than the second place in North America, reflecting the demographic and market dividends of the Chinese film industry.
"Chinese-style blockbusters require the professional quality of the main creators, and the strategic planning of capital. In particular, more long-term capital and professional capital are needed to enter the film field." Rao Shuguang, director of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Film Art Center and president of the China Film Critics Society, witnessed The rapid development of China's film industry knows that the film industry is a capital-intensive industry with a high degree of marketization, and investment in this field is the key to life and death. Stimulating the enthusiasm of high-quality social capital to invest in films not only fully respects the laws of the film market, but also meets the requirements of the transformation of the film industry.
“High-quality capital understands both movies and investment; it respects the laws of creation and the laws of the market, and is able to carefully control risks, and is good at capturing the best fit between culture and economy.” Hu Jinsong, chairman of Huaying Planet, believes After the big waves scoured the sand, most of what remained was high-quality professional capital. On the one hand, understanding the laws of the film market reduces the expectations of huge profits. On the other hand, after this round of reshuffle, the market returns to normal, and it is a good trend to respect the laws of film creation. Can
optimize the production system and industry ecology
"the strongest National Day file in history" record can be broken? Can the main melody movie be "in full bloom"? Can Chinese-style blockbusters with good reputation and box office become the norm in the Chinese film industry? Experts said that "a single flower does not mean spring, but a thousand red is spring". The long-term strategy is to cultivate a good development soil and continuously optimize the system and ecology of the film industry.
Hollywood-style high-tech productions and Bollywood-style small and sophisticated models are examples for us to learn from. Chen Meilan, chairman of Guolong Film and Television Investment Company, believes that from imported films to co-productions, open cooperation will be a good opportunity for China’s film industry to learn and improve; introduction-digestion-absorption-creation is the only way for China’s manufacturing to China’s creation. It is also suitable for Chinese films to achieve innovating business models in line with international standards, cultivating professional talents, telling Chinese stories, and integrating into the international market.
"Movie box office is only one source of income, and further innovation and market cultivation are needed to expand the territory in various fields such as platform on-demand, derivative products, theme park authorization, game development, film IP, etc." Zhejiang University Film and Animation Games Pan Jian, director of the research center, hopes that through this structural adjustment, a number of large companies with stable production capabilities and continuous innovation capabilities will emerge, which will bring more stability to the high-quality development of Chinese films.
"Guangming Daily" (version 09, October 10, 2019)
