"In order to win, I want to fight once!" - Excerpted from the subtext in the movie " Hot and Spicy ".
In 2021, before "Hello, Li Huanying" was launched on a large scale, Jia Ling once made a bold statement: " If the box office exceeds 3 billion, I will become as thin as a lightning bolt. "
said it like How can it be a child's play when the promise is ahead of the splashed water?
So, while Jia Ling lost weight, she filmed a movie called "Hot and Spicy". The reason why she was able to do this was because she is a well-known comedian in China, and her fatness has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
So, what is the quality of this video that Jia Ling shot by the way? How is the degree of completion? Can the box office success of "Hello, Li Huanying" be replicated?
With these questions, Brother Fei walked into the theater to experience it for himself. When I walked out of the theater, I gave Jia Ling a thumbs up again, one word: great!
1. Box office.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2024, the Spring Festival season officially kicked off, with a box office of 1.365 billion on the first day, which was slightly higher than the 1.357 billion box office on the first day of the Spring Festival season in 2023, which was about 8 million, and basically at the same level.
The top three are "Flying Life 2", "Hot and Spicy" and "Bear Infested: Reverse Time and Space".
This Spring Festival has ushered in a total of eight new films. There is a huge gap in the ladder and the competition for the top spot is fierce. They can be roughly divided into four categories:
The first category is the "cannon fodder" level. , such as the animated movies "Bajie: The Lower World of the Canopy" and "Huang Pi: The God of Wealth Cat from Heaven", ranked seventh and ninth respectively, with one getting 82,000 and the other getting 730,000.
Because there are too few films in the schedule, it is expected that after the three-day tour in theaters, there will be very few films left in the schedule, and it will be completely reduced to a "cannon fodder" film during the schedule, losing the opportunity to compete with other films.
The second category is the struggling level at the bottom. Representative works of include Ning Hao and Andy Lau's "Mr. Red Carpet"; Han Yan's new work, "Let's Shake the Sun Together" starring Peng Yuchang and Li Gengxi. The box office of these two new films
is less than 50 million, and the predicted box office is only about 200 million. If there is no special announcement to make a surprise victory, the film schedule will mostly remain the status quo. It is very difficult to stand out from the box office.
The third category is the leisurely and leisurely level. They are the cartoon "Bear Infested: Reverse Time and Space" and Zhang Yimou's "Article 20", ranking third and fourth on the list.
"Reverse Time and Space" is the tenth major movie of "The Bear". After years of accumulation, Huaqiang Fantawild has two very mature creative teams, which are fully capable of releasing a new work every year.
The box office is rising accordingly, one step at a time. This year, it is conservatively estimated to be 2 billion. There is no suspense. "Bear Bears" has become a major domestic animation IP. They have achieved the ultimate in refinement, and the children are looking forward to it.
In recent years, Zhang Yimou has found the password to the theater box office and carefully selected scripts to ensure the quality of the film. This "Article 20" starring Lei Jiayin, Ma Li, and Zhao Liying is going to be smaller again. It exploded.
The production costs of these two films are quite low, and they are capable of hitting more than 2 billion at the box office. The film studios can really have fun.
The fourth category is for the championship level.
Directed by Han Han and starring Shen Teng, "Flying Life 2" grossed 428 million on its first day, narrowly beating "Hot" with a box office advantage of 7 million, and won the first-day box office championship during the Spring Festival.
Jia Ling's latest work "Hot and Spicy" premiered with 421 million, winning the runner-up spot.
The two films have been competing since the pre-sale, and have almost reached the point of competing for each other. Whether it is the first day of filming or attendance, one side has never widened the gap.
The results of "Hot and Spicy" are quite extraordinary. Cinema managers across the country have scheduled 130,000 screenings for this film, which is 45% higher than "Hello, Li Huanying". It is the top seed in this year's Spring Festival championship competition.
If this achievement is maintained, it is still possible to target a box office of 4 billion. However, if it wants to surpass the myth of "Hello, Li Huanying"'s 5 billion box office, there is still a gap of 1.4 billion in box office. It is only because the reputation of the movies in the same period this year is too good.
2. Movie quality.
Oddly enough, most videos related to "boxing" tend to explode.
Hollywood has the "Rocky Series" and the "Creed Series". The Mainland has Ellen Marie's "Shameful Iron Fist" and last year's "The Octagon" by Wang Baoqiang.
"Hot and Spicy" also uses this theme. The prototype of the story is adapted from the Japanese high-scoring movie "One Hundred Dollar Love". It tells the story of a good-for-nothing who fell to the bottom of his life and then fought back to redeem himself.
Du Leying, played by Jia Ling, stayed at home and grew old after graduating from college. She only ate and slept every day, completely separated from social interaction.
In desperation, she had no choice but to run away from home and wanted to find a new way of living with her own hands. At this time, she met fitness coach Hao Kun (played by Lei Jiayin). When she thought her life was about to get on the right track, she did not expect that she The hot life has not officially begun yet.
Life is really terrible for her. Her boyfriend and best friend (played by Qiao Shan and Li Xueqin) stabbed her in the back, her sister (played by Zhang Xiaofei) wants to rob her house, and her migrant boss (played by Xu Juncong) touches her She refused to admit that the coach had cheated on her, and even gave her money. Her distant cousin (played by Yang Zi) used her to appear on camera for interviews.
The TV interview became the straw that broke the camel's back. On that stormy night, Du Leying was reborn. She was going to participate in a boxing match to change her once useless self.
"Hot and Spicy" has a very high overall degree of completion and is very inspirational. The first impression it gives people is that of authenticity and sincerity, with laughter and tears, and there are many outstanding things that are worth savoring.
One, flashback.
There were a lot of blank shots in the first half of the film, but they were made up for through flashbacks in the end, bringing twists and turns to the film, such as transferring the house to my sister, being a bridesmaid for the ex-boyfriend’s best friend’s wedding, and allowing my cousin to faint on stage, etc. .
Jia Ling has this kind of very simple shot to tell the audience that this movie was made with care. The flashback of just a few dozen seconds elevates the movie to a new level. The expression here is similar to that of "Hello, Li Huanying" Same thing.
The second one is a long shot of boxing.
In the second round of the boxing match, a one-shot shooting technique was used. Du Leying was beaten for about three minutes. Regardless of these three minutes, how to arrange the attack and defense process is a great test of the director's skills.
Jia Ling endured it. She completely recorded the whole process of Du Leying from physical exertion to finally collapsing on the stage. The audience said it was true after watching it, and it was very contagious.
Third, the soundtrack is very good.
In terms of soundtrack, the movie has also reached a very high level. There is Zhou Shen's "Little Happy" at the beginning, Wang Sulong's "Hidden Star" when falling in love with the coach, the eight seconds countdown in the boxing ring, and Zhao Yingjun's "Send You Away". A Little Red Flower" etc.
A few interludes are just right and play a finishing touch.
The overall quality of "Hot and Spicy" is quite good. Douban gave it a high reputation of 7.9 points, laying a solid foundation for the film to achieve long-term sales.
3. Jia Ling.
The biggest selling point of the movie is Jia Ling. Jia Ling posted a long article saying: "In order to protect the audience's viewing experience, she will not show up before the movie is released."
From the completion of the movie to the release, Jia Ling refused She received an invitation from "Ace vs. Ace". Except for her friends in the industry, no one knew her current situation. After watching the movie, I once wondered whether the slimmed down Jia Ling in the movie was made using AI special effects.
It wasn’t until CCTV Six Princesses’ live interview with Jia Ling on February 10 that I discovered that she really paid a lot for this movie. To what extent?
In almost one year, she gained weight from 170 pounds to 210 pounds, and then successfully lost one Yang Zi from 210 pounds.
Yang Zi weighs about 100 kilograms. In Lei Jiayin's words, that is "a bag of cement."
Jia Ling was like this before.
was like this before.
is like this now.
Looking around the world, there are five people who can be called comedy masters, namely Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carrey and Stephen Chow.
Stephen Chow's comedy style is "nonsense". In the 1990s, he created many classic works, such as "Journey to the West", "Nine Levels of Sesame Official", "Fighting Back to School", etc. His body language and lines made the audience laugh. laugh.
But since "Shaolin Football" and "Kung Fu", Stephen Chow has only starred in one "Yangtze River No. 7". Since then, he has directed a film every three or five years. In the past 16 years, he has not starred in a comedy movie. The subsequent films directed by
, "The Mermaid", "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" and "The New King of Comedy" also received mixed reviews, which are a bit different from the past. If Stephen Chow is suspended, who can take over the Chinese comedy of and take charge of it alone?
In the Chinese film industry, apart from Stephen Chow, the other filmmakers who can make achievements in comedy are Feng Xiaogang and Shen Teng.
First of all, Feng Xiaogang, who pioneered Chinese New Year films, is now getting worse. The box office of the New Year's Day comedy "If You Are the One 3" barely exceeded 100 million. Moreover, he is now faced with the situation where the box office of starring movies is high and the director's works are not popular on the market.
To say that Feng Xiaogang has not kept up with the times is really not a disparagement. At present, he can no longer replicate the box office success of "A World Without Thieves".
Next is the rising star Shen Teng. Happy Twist actors Shen Teng, Ma Li, Allen, etc., who became popular through the Spring Festival Gala, became well-known to the audience and gradually moved to the big screen, and their transformation was quite successful.
Almost all movies starring Shen Teng can be a box office hit, which we call "Han Teng Quantity".
Then there are Huang Bo, Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang. However, since the end of the "囧" series, they have rarely cooperated, and the box office performance of them alone is not very satisfactory.
There are also comedians such as Zhao Benshan, Guo Da, and Pan Changjiang. They are okay in TV series, variety shows, and cross talk sketches, but they can't stand up to the big screen at all.
Now there are two more comedians, the male is Dapeng and the female is Jia Ling. They are fully capable of taking over from Stephen Chow.
Needless to say, Dapeng produced five new films last year, half of which had a box office of about 1 billion. The New Year's Eve film "The Annual Party Can't Stop" has already grossed 1.288 billion at the box office.
Jia Ling, who has a background in cross talk sketches, has only filmed one film before, "Hello, Li Huanying", which grossed 5.4 billion at the box office. A single film cannot explain much. If it continues to produce high-quality masterpieces, that will be another matter. .
The current "Hot" is really tough. Judging from the current box office trend, this film is very likely to eventually win the championship film during this year's Spring Festival.
Now Jia Ling's second work can compete head-on with Shen Teng's "Flying Life 2". In addition to being an actress, Jia Ling also has the important task of director, which Shen Teng cannot control.
It can be said that Dapeng and Jia Ling are fully capable of taking over from Stephen Chow and becoming the "unparalleled twins" in the Chinese comedy industry.
3. Conclusion.
The central theme of "Hot and Hot" is to win for herself. How can she win in this one-sided competition? The answer is given at the end of the movie. If she insists on completing the game or punching a professional player, she will win.
Win once for yourself. My daughter asked her father if she had two apples, one big and one small, and a friend wanted one, which one would he give? The father said to give it to the older one, but the daughter said to give it to both.
The father thought that his daughter must be very popular, but the daughter said that they all thought that I didn’t like apples.
Father, what about now? The daughter replied: "It depends on your mood!"
The ending of the movie was well handled.
When the female protagonist Jia Ling is invited by the male protagonist Lei Jiayin, a boxing coach.
She said: "I don't like bullfrogs. Let's try another day, it depends on my mood!"
The core of the original version of "One Hundred Dollars of Love" is love, while the core of "Hot and Spicy" is inspirational life and oneself.
Now "Hot" has grossed 421 million at the box office at its premiere. I wonder if Jia Ling is in a good mood?
