text | Linghu Boguang
A few days ago, Cameron's "Avatar 2" broke the official trailer. would like to say that the release of these two films has certain similarities to the global film market. Before its release in 2009, the financial crisis broke out, and the global economy fluctuated, but the rise of China's economic development and the rise of the film market were the prelude.
then " Avatar " ranked first in the global box office, and it was also the first film in the Chinese market to break the 1 billion box office at that time.
"Avatar" is a milestone movie. It activated the film industry in China back then. That era was the era when Internet cafes and pirated DVDs were popular. The post-80s and post-90s would not necessarily go to the cinema once to watch a movie. , watching movies in Internet cafes or rented discs to watch.
At that time, many movie theaters in third- and fourth-tier cities closed down until "Avatar" was released. Because many domestic theaters did not support 3DMAX, "Avatar" required theaters that did not meet the screening standards were not allowed to show. Many theaters wanted to show "Avatar". "Avatar" is upgrading the hardware, which also makes it impossible to release on a large scale. The scalper ticket once rose to 2,500 per ticket, and many people finally got back the habit of going to the cinema to watch movies, in order to enjoy the shock.
Movie theaters in China began to come back to life again, and Marvel also took advantage of the victory and started the journey of the Marvel universe.
Of course, behind this is the background of China's accelerated urbanization and the crazy expansion of cinemas. It cannot be just a movie. But it does have a push, no doubt a milestone. Is the situation similar to
now? The global economic turmoil brought about by the "epidemic" and the impact of the rapid development of online streaming media on the film industry. The domestic film industry is very unstable due to the epidemic, and new films are not fixed, or fixed and then withdrawn, which is in a depression.
Now "Avatar 2" may come again, so is it possible for "Avatar 2" to save from ? I personally think it is possible globally, but not very likely domestically. The reason is that the actual changes in Sino-US relations, and the core of film technology innovation packaging may not be as attractive to Chinese audiences as it was 13 years ago. Sir
, times have changed, it only took 13 short years.
China box office 1.3 billion, global box office 2.7 billion US dollars? Why "Avatar" is so popular of.
In fact, the technology of "Avatar" is more of a comprehensive upgrade of the integration of many previous technologies. The breakthrough of a certain film technology is not too big, it is the kind of groundbreaking groundbreaking.
, such as motion performance capture technology, uses human faces to generate Na'vi people. Before " Lord of the Rings " gulu was a milestone. The same is true for other film technologies of
. This film technology is more about integrating the technologies that have appeared before, then integrating and successfully upgrading, and finally forming a more mature and perfect film industry technology. Of course, there is no such thing as Doubts are milestones.
So what about Avatar 2? What CINITY technology does its current promotion use, plus 4K, 3D, high frame rate CINITY. The most important thing is that it is the new naked-eye 3D technology - that is, the audience can experience the 3D viewing effect without wearing glasses.
simultaneous 4K digital photography technology, underwater motion capture , holographic technology, and 120 frames per second and so on.
This technology has also been used in Ang Lee's " Gemini Killer ", you don't think it is a new technology. The is either the two Will Smiths of the digital man, or the 4K120 frame effect.
is probably "Avatar 2" anywayInside the Na'vi , the animals will be more realistic like "Alita" produced by Cameron. The ecological environment, biological system, and climate change of the entire Pandora star are more real, and there is a kind of fictional real dream world.
The viewing experience of the audience should be VR without glasses, and the whole immersive experience of the virtual world.
As for whether this technology can lead the world into the wave of 3D movies like "Avatar", "Avatar 2" and the following films lead the world into the wave of naked-eye 3D, immersive VR experience movies, and lead the innovation of technology in the world's film industry .
To be honest, it depends on the effect and influence of the movie after it is released. After all, there have been too many changes in reality in recent years. The global conflicts caused by geopolitics, especially the economic impact, are very far-reaching. All major countries are tossing other industries. Compared with the cultural industry, the cultural industry is tightening.
Various factors have caused the audience to be conservative and politically correct in cultural expression, and this is the case all over the world.
Even if we don't talk about macro narratives, just in terms of the film and television industry. Because communication technology entered the 4G era, Internet technology and smartphones broke out, the global short video industry began to break out in 2014, streaming media broke out a few years ago, and the "epidemic" promoted short video again, and the streaming media industry has deepened.
The offline film industry has been hit the hardest in recent years. The whole world is not the same as China.
Theoretically, the near-future technological development is indeed the outlet for breakthroughs in AI, VR and AR technology, but the theory is the theory, and the reality is the reality. Just like VR games have been around for several years, but because the equipment is too large, it is inconvenient to popularize, the price is high, and there is no comprehensive breakthrough in content, and the proportion of the cultural industry is not high.
All in all, as a commercial blockbuster with naked-eye 3D, 4K and 120 frames, whether "Avatar 2" can set off a wave of immersive movies like VR games depends on the impact of the movie's release. Like the first one, but it could also be like Ang Lee's Gemini Man.
From the land to the ocean, the water world of Pandora is too beautiful, what's the point of "Avatar 2"? There's no point in doing two Will Smiths, and at the same time 4K 120fps is definitely a breakthrough, but the content of the movie is too old and meaningless. The movie
is a failure as a movie, so how can you talk about movies driving technological development, after all, you are not even successful in business.
This technology is to serve content after all, "Avatar 2" theoretically has a much higher probability of success, because its first success. So why was the first one so successful? In fact, it uses the advantages of Western fantasy literature to create an overhead world based on scientific foundations.
Cameron has created a convincing enough world, Pandora planet has a complete ecosystem, all kinds of strange animals, luminous plants, suspended mountains, Na'vi beliefs, life-flowing network, stored consciousness (soul) The soul tree, even has its own language system (the last one was Tolkien)...
All this beauty is displayed in front of the audience through the top film technology, and then destroy it, destroy the beautiful Something that makes people empathize with and pity. Although the plot is relatively routine, which is also its shortcoming, the emotions and emotions of the characters are sincere and delicate enough.
(here named and criticized the " Fast " series, as well as Marvel superhero movies and many Hollywood commercial blockbusters)
Moreover, the simple plot can carry such a mysterious unknown, dangerous and charming Pandora world. At the same time, although it is very simple in terms of plot and characters, it still has the same epic character as "The Lord of the Rings". You see the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, " The Hobbit ""Now it's easy to watch the plot.
Compared with the vast majority of commercial blockbusters today, "Avatar" does not have those gag-style jokes, there is no sense of separation and isolation that enforces political correctness, and there is no superficial and perfunctory character emotion. There is no plot collapse caused by forcibly adding some settings.
Its world view setting is convincing enough, its rhythm control is comfortable enough, and the characters' emotions are sincere, pious and contagious enough, and not so disconcerting like Marvel and other commercial blockbusters now. Responding to People, Character Emotions and Behavioral Logic", the plot is also very smooth and overly natural.
There are many blockbuster special effects that have not yet been mentioned (Marvel even started to pull special effects), and there are also many blockbusters showing alien civilizations or extraterrestrial planets, such as " Interstellar Agent: City of a Thousand Stars " " Alien Battlefield ”, “Star Wars” and other blockbusters, but they are either a skinned version of the story of Earth Agents, or they are purely superficial special effects stacking and emotional bonuses.
"Avatar" focuses on creating a very convincing extraterrestrial planet. The animals, plants, environments, indigenous peoples, ecosystems, language systems and other settings it displays are like an encyclopedia, a biological illustration, and can bring Give the audience the most immersive and amazing viewing experience.
"Avatar 2" preview shows basically the ocean, I believe that with the comprehensive upgrade of technology, plus the time is still so long. The marine ecology shown in the movie, as well as the Pandora environment and system will be more comprehensive, making the audience more immersive.
In 13 years, 190 minutes, "Avatar 2" may not be able to create a "box office myth" again
I don't think "Avatar" is just a popcorn blockbuster purely watching special effects, and the movie will definitely go to the best theater experience when it is released. The mysteries and unknowns of Pandora are far more than those shown in the first part. I look forward to the touching and surprises the second part will bring me.
But whether it will lead to the success of the first one, I don't think it is certain. The reason is the disenchantment of the United States and Western culture brought about by real factors, and it has only been 13 years.
Thirteen years ago, what was the image of American and Western culture in the hearts of Chinese audiences, and what is the image of American and Western culture now, I believe there is no need to say more.
Although the storyline and expression of "Avatar" is not as boring as Ang Lee's "Gemini Man", it is not profound in nature. In addition to technology, its content and expression are not like the western religion, civilization and scientific basis of "2001 Space Odyssey "; the cyberpunk of " Blade Runner " and the virtual reality of "The Matrix" have far-reaching influence. , which defines the genre of sci-fi culture around the world.
To put it simply, there are countless sci-fi works in the world that later learned about "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Blade Runner" and "The Matrix", but in addition to learning the technology of "Avatar", very few of the world learned its content and expression. .
Because "Avatar" wraps up the old Western colonial thinking, the local indigenous atonement, and the white left expression of the concept of environmental protection.
is quite outdated to be honest, but it is not too bad, but it is too traditional and not universal enough. It is probably similar to "Dune", which also creates a planet based on the old colonial era and medieval content of the West. Because of its early appearance, "Dune" has a profound impact on the global science fiction of later generations.
As a result, last year the movie was not able to be released at the global box office. You said that the director of , Dennis Villeneuve , is definitely not as capable as Cameron, and some of the movies are not so commercialized. But when it comes to technology is not bad, the quality of foreign public opinion is even more blowing, as a result the global box office is not up.
in the final analysis is because of the reality factor story. The expression is disenchanted, at least in China's public opinion circles.
At the same time, Chinese sci-fi blockbusters have also appeared. We can't say that the quality of " Wandering Earth " can be compared with "Avatar", but Chinese people in the context of the rise of national power see Chinese narratives and sci-fi blockbusters of Chinese culture., the subconscious is more cordial, and there are more choices.
Chinese audiences will not be so obsessed with "Avatar 2", only the film and television version of "Three-Body Problem".
All this was not possible 13 years ago, this is only 13 short years.
In the end, the story and expression of "Avatar 2" is still the same as the first one. Considering the foundation and new technological innovation of the first one, this business is definitely much more successful than "Dune". To replicate the success of the first film, I don’t think it’s certain whether it can reach the box office of “The Wandering Earth” in China, not to mention the movies all over the world!
ps: The length of this movie is really too long, which is another important factor affecting commercial success.
