The box office of "If You Are the One 3", which was released for just one week, was less than 70 million yuan, and the score of 6.1 also set a new record for a film directed by Feng Xiaogang in the past ten years. However, "If You Are the One 3", which suffered a "double loss" at the box office and word of mouth, did not necessarily lose money.
01, the disastrous failure of "The Originator of Lunar New Year Shows"
"If You Are the One 3", which used a dopamine-colored room and the love of an elderly couple to support 90% of the entire drama, will definitely be difficult to give to "If You Are the One", which spans 15 years. 》series has come to a perfect end.
On the evening after the New Year's Day holiday in 2024, in a theater near Beijing's Guomao International Trade Center, there were less than 10 people watching "If You Are the One 3" in a theater that could seat hundreds of people, and half of them were elderly. A staff member said, "There are indeed more elderly people watching than at other venues."
During the screening of the film, an elderly couple enjoyed watching it very much. Whenever the uncle saw Ge You's gags on the screen or some hints were revealed in the film, he would burst into hearty laughter.
Although there are bright spots in "If You Are the One 3" and Ge You and Shu Qi are also giving their best performances, there are also many flaws. First of all, there is a strong sense of patchwork. In addition to directly moving the clips from the first two parts into the new work, we even used old jokes such as "Reaching for the same relationship and having a round head" and "You look ugly, but you want to be beautiful" as the plot. Transition. The successive visits from old friends from previous films give the film the flavor of a stage play.
In terms of plot, the branch plot between Li Chengru and Yue Yunpeng gave people a feeling of being forced together. The deletion seemed to have no impact on the direction of the plot, and no relevant explanation was given in the end, leaving many viewers confused. As for the most important scene in the film, the Dopamine Villa where Ge You lives, was even called "innovative" by Feng Xiaogang. "This is a contrasting color method that has never been used in Chinese movies in the past."
"If You Are the One 3", a romantic comedy, did not bring surprises to the audience, and the audience also did not bring surprises to Feng Xiaogang. The New Year's Day 2024 box office set a new record for the New Year's Day box office in Chinese film history, with a total box office of more than 1.5 billion yuan. However, as of January 5, the weekly box office of "If You Are the One 3" was only 67 million yuan, ranking only 8th on the day's box office list. , neither as good as the "younger" Dapeng comedy "The Annual Party Can't Stop!" "The 400 million yuan is not as good as the 630 million yuan for the romance film "Twinkle Twinkle Star".
The box office forecast of "If You Are the One 3" given by
Lighthouse Professional Edition is only 80 million yuan. Not only is it far less than the box office of the two previous films of 325 million and 500 million yuan, it is not even as high as "A World Without Thieves" filmed by Feng Xiaogang 20 years ago. Someone said, "Feng Xiaogang, the former king of Lunar New Year films, has exhausted his talents. Together with Ge You and Fan Wei, the three of them together are almost 200 years old. From director to starring, their era has passed."
It is undeniable that Feng Xiaogang was an important promoter in creating Lunar New Year films and Lunar New Year movies.
The concept of New Year's films first became popular in Hong Kong, China in the 1980s. At the end of each year, some well-known celebrities would spontaneously get together and shoot several lively comedy films without any pay to celebrate the new year. In the 1990s, with the rise of the mainland's film and television industry, this concept was amplified, and the concept of Lunar New Year movies was born, which is roughly the movie schedule from the end of November to early March of the following year. Later, as the ability of movies to attract money during the Spring Festival increased, the Lunar New Year stalls were replaced by various more subdivided Spring Festival stalls, New Year's Day stalls, etc.
In 1995, Jackie Chan's "Red Zone" was the first film to be introduced to mainland China in the name of "New Year's film". In 1997, Feng Xiaogang's "Party A and Party B" became popular in the north and south, and also started the New Year's film in mainland China. market. At that time, when "Titanic" was sweeping the Chinese film market, "Party A and Party B" was even called "the rescue work of Chinese films." Coupled with "See You or Die" and "Endless" in the following two years, Feng Xiaogang's status as the king of New Year's films has been consolidated.
's box office performance of two championships and one runner-up not only brought Feng Xiaogang the beginning of wealth, but also allowed him to meet the brothers Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei, and started a "marriage" with Huayi that lasted for more than 20 years. Therefore, whether it is the Lunar New Year festival for Feng Xiaogang or Feng Xiaogang for the Lunar New Year festival, there is a complex that is difficult to ignore.But the performance of "If You Are the One 3" undoubtedly adds a bit of darkness to this complex.
is like what one viewer commented, "No matter how many memes are buried, I can only say sorry that the end of the dog continues. The only emotion is that time flies by. And when people reach middle age, their understanding of If You Are the One is already thousands of miles away from what it used to be."
"Paying tribute to oneself and selling feelings" is a selling point of Feng Xiaogang's movie. After all, 13 years have passed since "If You Are the One 2" was released in 2010. However, there are not many people who can pay for Feng Xiaogang's feelings. While the scolding continued, only Hu Xijin, a "peer", stood up to "cry out" for Feng Xiaogang, saying that everyone did not understand the film and Xiaogang.
2023 is actually the year that Feng Xiaogang returned after being quiet for a period of time and was questioned about his return to the United States. However, in addition to his starring role in the remake of "Hachi", which received certain praise, in terms of directing, whether it is an online TV series Neither "Echo" nor the movie "If You Are the One 3" achieved good results.
At present, the Douban score of "If You Are the One 3" is only 6.1 points, which is the lowest score for a film directed by Feng Xiaogang in the past ten years. It is even 0.2 points lower than the 2019 "Only Yun Knows", which is equivalent to the one released in 2013. , only "Private Customization" with a score of 5.9, and the earlier "Night Banquet". Three of Feng Xiaogang's four lowest-rated films are from recent Lunar New Year releases.
Feng Xiaogang has been defeated one after another in the Lunar New Year stalls that he has made popular, which is regrettable.
02, Feng Xiaogang's "little abacus"
Although "If You Are the One 3" suffered a "double loss" at the box office and word of mouth, it did not necessarily lose money. The main reason was because of the advertising placement in the movie.
With the influence Feng Xiaogang has accumulated over the years, the advertising brands involved in "If You Are the One 3" have reached double digits, ranging from Volkswagen cars to Din Tai Fung steamed buns and Tinghua wine worth tens of thousands of bottles. The brands are exposed to the extent that they can do whatever they want. the point. Although some of them are handled not too abruptly, most of them are given directly. While watching the movie, the man in front of me who laughed heartily complained, "Why are the commercials endless?"
According to industry insiders, “In successful investment projects, the income from implantation will generally account for 10% to 30% of the cost. But in extreme cases, the income obtained through advertising implantation can even allow the producer to Recover the cost beforehand."
Many of Feng Xiaogang’s movies are the latter “extreme” situation.
As early as 1998's "See You or Be Parted", advertising placement had already begun to appear, and it also won the title of "the originator of film placement advertising". Since then, almost all of Feng Xiaogang's modern-themed movies have included advertisements. Not only are they diverse, but they are also "large in quantity". Even disaster movies such as "Tangshan Earthquake" have been inserted into brands such as Jian Nanchun. of exposure.
NetEase Entertainment reported that at that time, the in-depth implantation of Feng Xiaogang's works required more than 10 million yuan.
In fact, the "If You Are the One" series can also be seen as a "large-scale advertising collection package" spanning 15 years. Feng Xiaogang once revealed that the advertising placement in the first film amounted to 20 million yuan, which could recover half of the production cost, while the advertising placement in the second film reached 60 million yuan. Feng Xiaogang was called "Advertising Master" by Xinhua News Agency at the time ”, and triggered a “war of words” between the two parties.
As for "Private Customization", which has a very bad reputation, it has become the pinnacle of Feng Xiaogang's advertising placement. Wang Zhongjun, the boss of Huayi, once revealed that "Huayi's previous movies with embedded advertising cost about 80 million yuan at most. "Private Customization" has exceeded this figure." Coupled with the income from its derivative reality shows, it can almost cover the cost, not to mention it also achieved a box office of 700 million yuan.
Although "If You Are the One 3" did not give a specific shooting cost, with almost no location shooting, the cost will most likely not be too high. What's more, this film was "shot on the fly" by Feng Xiaogang. From the start of filming on June 21, 2023 to the end of July, it only took 40 days to complete. Feng Xiaogang also admitted frankly, "The original crew reunited, and it was a gathering of a group of friends." , everyone also enjoyed the shooting process."
For Feng Xiaogang, it may not be an impossible task to recover costs solely through advertising. What's more, there are also copyright fees for subsequent listings on various video platforms.
The results of the National Film Administration's registration announcement query show that there are two registration units for "If You Are the One 3", namely China Film Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Dongyang Meila Media Co., Ltd., and the producer also includes China Film Creative (Beijing) Film Co., Ltd. , Huayi Brothers Film Co., Ltd., and Xinjiang Bona Runze Culture Media Co., Ltd.
If we divide these five companies, we can see the general capital power behind them.
Sky Eye Check shows that China Film Creative (Beijing) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Film, Xinjiang Bona Runze is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bona Pictures, and the rest are Huayi Brothers and Feng Xiaogang, a pair of "bundled" comrades. The shareholders of Zhejiang Dongyang Meila are Huayi Brothers, which holds 70% of the shares, and Feng Xiaogang, who holds 30% of the shares.
However, although "If You Are the One 3" itself may not lose money, in the long run, it will undoubtedly further reduce Feng Xiaogang's reputation and box office appeal, and even have a certain negative impact on the commercialization of his future films.
03. Young people who can’t be caught
“Don’t you think it’s weird to see the 67-year-old Ge You falling in love with the 47-year-old Shu Qi?” said one person who made it clear that he would not watch “If You Are the One 3” The post-90s generation said.
Feng Xiaogang, who has entered his later years, seems to have an indescribable obsession with romance movies. The works he shot in recent years, whether it is "Youth" or "Only Yun Knows", all use his view of love in Shown in the film. But "Youth" can achieve a box office of 1.4 billion, not only because of the love element, but more importantly, the era background itself gives it rich interpretability.
When it came to "Only Yun Knows", Feng Xiaogang focused only on love, and the box office slumped instantly. As Wang Xiaobo, a well-known contemporary scholar, said, "This is a work that makes people feel uncomfortable. The director strongly appeals to the utopia of love in the hearts of mainstream audiences. However, the empty and thin performance of this personal love memoir makes it seem that the increasingly discerning audience I’m not willing to pay for it.”
"If You Are the One 3" also has similar problems. In Feng Xiaogang's view, "nine times out of ten, these people are divorced," so he wants to praise love. But this obviously does not resonate with the main consumers of film and television, or even young people who may not be married yet.
"2023 China Film Market Annual Inventory" shows that young people aged 20 to 34 account for two-thirds of the total ticket purchases, of which women account for more than half, while the huge age range over 40 years old only accounts for ticket purchases 16% of the total amount. Therefore, whoever can capture young people will have higher box office potential.
Actually, it’s not that Feng Xiaogang doesn’t want to capture young people. “If You Are the One 3” not only adds hot AI elements, but also casts idol star Yu Shuxin to play a robot, and the color style is also full of dopamine style. However, Feng Xiaogang, who only forcibly bundles these external popular factors and ignores the current concept of love understood by young people, will find it difficult to attract young people.
The reasons why Feng Xiaogang's works in recent years have generally performed poorly are due to objective factors such as the reduced influence of the Lunar New Year films, as well as the fact that Feng Xiaogang inserted too many advertisements into his films, which made the audience "bored". In the final analysis, Feng Xiaogang still "doesn't understand" young people. As he himself said frankly, "I often see the preferences and talk of daughters born after 2000, and I can't help but lament that I don't really understand what this generation is excited about."
"Sincerity is a must-kill skill", this also applies to movies. Jia Ling's "Hello!" The reason "Li Huanying" became popular is that it included the director's true feelings about maternal love, which is also the key to impressing young people.
For Feng Xiaogang, he is still more suitable for those in the urban alleys and return to the once ordinary public life. The reason why Feng's comedy is famous is not only based on language humor, but also by creating a sense of gap, reflecting certain social problems, and showing the inner confusion of little people in the changing times.
In fact, Feng Xiaogang also realized that his era has passed. "One generation of directors serves one generation of audiences. The market will always need comedies, but it will not always need Feng Xiaogang's comedies." Of course, maybe one day, Feng Xiaogang can once again find a way to attract young people and usher in his second spring like Zhang Yimou's "The River is Red", but it may not be a romance film.
(Author | Feng Chenchen, Editor | Liu Xiaoying)
