China News Service, Beijing, May 6th This year’s May Day movies can be said to have both good news and bad news.
Let’s talk about the good news first, the box office hit a new high.
The National Film Administration released data on May 6 that the box office of May Day movies in 2024 reached 1.527 billion yuan, with 37.77 million moviegoers. Exceeding the May Day box office in 2023 (1.521 billion).
Among them, " Peacekeeping Riot Squad " leads the box office with 406 million yuan, " Thelma and Louise ", " Kowloon Walled City: The Siege ", " Spy House Codename: Bai " and " Ha" "Your Moving Castle " ranked second to fifth on the box office list.
Picture source: National Film Administration
Let’s talk about the bad news. At least four of the eight movies released suffered from “word-of-mouth failure”.
"Peacekeeping Riot Squad" has a Douban score of 5.5, "Thelma and Louise" has a score of 6.1, " Nothing Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot " has a score of 6.2, " Journey Through the Moon " has a score of 6.8...
Who It can be imagined that the highest reputation in this period is actually "Howl's Moving Castle", which was released again after ten years, with a score of 9.1 points.
Four movies suffered from "bad reputation"
was withdrawn
The box office was not good, should they be withdrawn? Two movies in the same period gave different choices.
On the 5th, the movie "Nothing That Can't Be Solved by Hot Pot", which was the third-lowest box office grosser during this period, announced its withdrawal. Director Ding Sheng posted a high-profile message: "Thank you everyone, I still have a lot to say, we will meet again someday."
The withdrawal operation was on the hot search, but it was met with a lot of doubts - "You are really too hasty" "Director, the publicity problem is quite big Yes, the script and comedy were not promoted at all." More netizens expressed concern, "Director, do you really not understand what the consequences of a movie that has been released and then withdrawn are?"
Image source: Director Ding Sheng Weibo
On the other side, "Journey Across the Moon" selection Hard.
"You can die on the battlefield, but you won't retreat." On the 6th, producer Zhang Yu issued a message stating that the movie will never be withdrawn: "I will never cry or write a short essay. Who doesn't have hardships, and whose family has no hardships." Sutra. Don’t just cry, beg for this or that, apologize, but don’t be afraid.”
Although this move is considered to be an “eye candy” for Ding Sheng, this operation did not bring much to the film. box office. As of 16:50 on the 6th, the film's box office was 38.156 million, still the second-to-last May Day box office.
If the box office is not good, is running away the best option? Most likely not.
" Mr. Red Carpet ", which was withdrawn from the Spring Festival and released again, has a cumulative box office of 94.073 million, which is far from expectations.
Prior to this, " China Ping Pong: Jedi Counterattack " also experienced the same situation. After the Spring Festival release was pre-released, it was announced that "there were major errors in the publicity and distribution work" and was postponed for a month. One month later, the box office was finally set at 100 million. Yuan, did not realize the "jedi counterattack".
The producer of "Journey Across the Moon" refused to withdraw the film
hot reviews
What is better than the May Day movie is the hot reviews from netizens.
The action movie "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City" was criticized for "disdain for physics" and "If the director is bolder, he can cultivate immortality";
The pure love movie "Journey Across the Moon" tells the story of a newlywed couple who live in two places due to work. Husband and wife embark on a two-way journey during the holidays. A highly praised comment on Douban was "Brother and sister, you two are taking a break during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Is it necessary to say goodbye like this?" "It looks like I wrote a line and then expanded it into an 800-word essay"...
"Nothing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" even became a hot search topic due to its spicy review #Nothing That Can't Be Driven Crazy by a Bad Movie#.The self-media blogger "Teacher Liu Talks about Movies" commented that the film is "pure nonsense", "If it is a comedy, I really can't laugh at all. If it is suspense, how can it not be logical at all?"
What’s funny is that the blogger apologized after being “besieged” due to harsh comments, saying, “I’m sorry, I’ll give it a second try in two days to support you again.” However, before he could spare the time, the video was withdrawn, and he had no choice but to say “Second. I can’t brush it anymore, hey.”
After putting the movie on the hot search list, the blogger apologized.
Also considered to be illogical are "Peacekeeping Riot Squad" and "Stranger Spending Money". The former was ridiculed, "I haven't slept so soundly in a hail of bullets for a long time." "It all depended on the villain's conscience at the end, and he shed two lines of tears and didn't pull the trigger, otherwise all the real guns and ammunition were in vain."
The latter is considered to be a fabrication. It is not only a copycat of the classic film "Thelma and Louise ", but also a low-profile version of "The Richest Man in Xihong City". "The people who filmed the short drama were secretly amused and relieved." "There was nothing wrong with Jia Youwei's brain in the movie, but there was something wrong with my brain when I paid to watch this movie."
comments: It’s hard to fool the audience this time.
Although it is said that “routines have won people’s hearts since ancient times”, it can be seen with the naked eye that it is not easy to fool the audience this time.
The above-mentioned movies with poor reputation all have the same problem: there are almost no traces of life, and they are all the imagination of the screenwriters. Who would let a delivery person dance at home after delivering the meal? Can several hospitals misdiagnose at the same time? The prerequisite for growth and transformation must be rebellion and disobedience?
The consequence of suspension is that the routines are old and boring, without detailed descriptions and lens language. The plot relies entirely on joke lines, exaggerated expressions, and even subtitles. When a movie created in a fast-food style faces unsatisfactory box office and word-of-mouth reviews, they throw the blame away, blaming the poor schedule, blaming the audience for not buying it, blaming the actors for not cooperating with the promotion, and then say "I don't want what you think, I want it" I feel like I'm going further and further on the road.
It is said that movies are the art of dream-making. I hope that the creators of domestic movies will not just think about taking advantage of vacations and traffic dividends, but be less clichéd, more sincere, and create more masterpieces that can arouse empathy. After all, if the movie is not good-looking, it will not sell well in any schedule. (End)
