905 Movie Network Special Article After nearly seven years, the fourth film in the "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" series, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes: New World" (hereinafter referred to as " Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4"), returns again, and the conflict between man and ape escalates! In the first three days of
's release, the film's global box office totaled US$129 million, with the North American box office approximately US$56.5 million and the cumulative box office in Mainland China approximately RMB 82 million. For a blockbuster film costing $165 million, this is a decent start. According to the word-of-mouth performance displayed by
on major rating platforms, the CinemaScore evaluation is B grade, imdb 7.3 points, MTC 66 points, and Rotten Tomatoes freshness 81%, all of which are the bottom scores of the first three parts of the series. On the domestic Douban platform, it currently has a score of 6.5, which is also the lowest score in the series.
The weakness of "War for the Planet of the Apes" may affect subsequent box office trends, surpassing the US$480 million of "War for the Planet of the Apes", the US$710 million of "War for the Planet of the Apes", and the US$710 million of "War for the Planet of the Apes". The US$490 million of "The Ultimate Battle" may be difficult.
series Rotten Tomatoes freshness comparison
series MTC score comparison
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After the conclusion of the "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" trilogy, Fox once again activated a new production team and cast, with "Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4" Begin the next chapter of the trilogy.
Hollywood has been relying on restarting classic series and re-frying old dishes to feed the market. Can this be done?
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Looking back at the entire "Planet of the Apes" series from "Rise of the Planet of the Apes: New World", the story of the conflict between man and ape was first put on the big screen in 1968.
In 1963, the French science fiction novel "Planet of the Apes", which tells the story of "a future where apes rule mankind", was born. It aroused enthusiastic responses around the world, and then quickly prompted Hollywood to film "Planet of the Apes" and "The Lost Apes" from 1968 to 1973. The five-part film series "Planet of the Apes", "Escape from the Planet of the Apes", "Conquest for the Planet of the Apes" and "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" has become a legendary series in Hollywood science fiction films.
The entire "Planet of the Apes" series uses time and space travel as a conceptual clue. The story spans nearly four thousand years, and is looped from beginning to end in the last part. During this period, the conflict between humans and apes reflects on race, class, religion, Criticism and reflection on real issues of the era such as the Cold War and nuclear threats, this is why this series can become a classic in film history.
Fox restarted the "Rise of the Planet of the Apes Trilogy" in 2011, with the ape Caesar as the core protagonist, using a new perspective and advanced motion capture technology to epically build the world of apes, and using a more grand vision to show the human race. Destruction and the Rise of the Apes. The trilogy has grossed a total of nearly 1.7 billion US dollars worldwide and has been a huge success.
Seven years later, a new chapter of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was launched again. However, the global evaluation of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4" after its release was generally lower than that of the previous three films in the series, with obvious advantages and disadvantages.
Wes Ball, the director of the "Maze Runner" series, brings his youth adventure narrative mode into the new "War for the Planet of the Apes" series. The story takes place hundreds of years after Caesar's death at the end of "War for the Planet of the Apes". Under the inheritance of Caesar's spirit, it focuses on the problems faced by Noah, the new protagonist of the ape family, as he grows up.
The director said: "This is the grand adventure of a character who encounters very different perspectives as he learns about the world around him, the history of apes, and the relationship between humans and apes."
Noah has to deal with a man who is trying to build a new world. Sessa, the tyrannical leader of the apes of Order, can see the disputes between groups within the ape tribe. He will also face a mysterious human girl Nova at the same time, and the changes in their relationship will reveal the crisis of trust between humans and apes.
accompanies Noah's journey and the interweaving of various character relationships, presenting the survival and value conflicts between different ethnic groups, which is the highlight of this story.
The first three films used high-level motion and facial performance capture technology to create realistic images of the apes and bring them to life. Each film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.The film also continues to cooperate with the team behind the visual effects of the first trilogy - New Zealand's Weta Visual Effects Studio.
This film was produced immediately after "Avatar: Water Path" and further applied the upgraded motion capture technology and accumulated experience in "Avatar" to the "War for the Planet of the Apes" series. At the same time, motion capture actor Andy Serkis, who played the protagonist Caesar in the previous trilogy, was hired as a special consultant to help fine-tune the character's voice and personality. The visual effects of
's film still maintain a high level. The images of the ape characters are vivid, and the decaying landscape of the future world - abandoned reinforced concrete buildings entwined with tangled forest vegetation is also constructed very realistically.
Audiences were mainly dissatisfied because the overall story was not eye-catching enough. Many critics mentioned that the plot advancement was not exciting enough to support the 145-minute duration. The
movie opens with a gripping action scene - apes who are about to reach adulthood climb to search for eagle eggs to complete their coming-of-age ceremony. As Noah's family tribe is slaughtered by a villain headed by Caesar, and his father is killed, Noah embarks on a journey to find his tribe, and meets the peace-seeking orangutan Laka and the human girl Nova. However, the film has entered a more routine mode, and the narrative rhythm is also relatively slow.
Until the appearance of the villain Saisa in the third act, the appearance of an ape fortress converted from an abandoned ship and a mysterious huge weapons vault revealed that Saisa has mastered human information and technology and is trying to revive the kingdom ruled by the apes. ambition. Noah is caught in a dilemma of choice between humans and his own kind, and the film has new vitality and stronger dramatic tension.
The aura of Noah's character in this film is not as charming as Caesar in the previous film.
Caesar has had a very complicated life experience and destiny since he was born. His relatives were killed by humans, and he was raised by humans. Finally, he was forced to return to his own race to survive again, and he also had to face the threat of humans to the apes. . The dilemma that Caesar appears in the first part is more tortuous and heart-wrenching than what Noah is enduring now.
The core of the problem is the theme. From the "Planet of the Apes" five-part series to the "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" trilogy, the greed and tragedy of human nature have been deeply explored around the racial conflict between apes, and the social reality has been reflected.
And does the newly launched trilogy of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" have any more incisive and original themes that are different from the previous ones? We haven’t seen it in the first part so far, and we have to wait for the second and third parts to tell us the answer.
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Looking at the reboot movies of the classic series in recent years, the responses have been mixed.
Some box office reputations have collapsed: the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series started "Raiders of the Lost Ark: Wheel of Fortune" 15 years later, with losses as high as 143 million U.S. dollars. It was among the top five Hollywood movies with net losses in 2023 and became a "tragedy" ".
Some of them didn't get the IP bonus: Although "The Matrix: Reboot" used the original cast, this sequel, which was old-fashioned in both literary and martial arts, still ruined the classic in the eyes of the audience, with a global box office of 157 million US dollars. The production cost was less than $190 million.
However, Warner Bros. has no "give up" and will continue to develop "The Matrix 5". The Wachowski sisters will no longer be the directors and creators, but will be directed by "The Cabin in the Woods" and "The Martian" screenwriter Drew Godar. De directed and was responsible for the script.
Some of them have poor reputations, and the box office is not as good as the previous works in the series, but they have not lost money and even made profits:
The four-part "Hunger Games" series has pushed the movie adaptations of popular youth novels to a climax, with each film averaging about 700 million US dollars in global box office, 8 The previous work in the series, "The Hunger Games: The Song of Songbirds and Snakes," created later this year, cost US$100 million and earned over US$300 million in global box office.
"Transformers: Rise of the Power Rangers" earned a global box office of US$439 million, which is the lowest box office revenue among the seven movies in the series. However, because it only cost US$200 million, the overall cost can be considered as a return on investment.
director Stephen Caple Jr. once said that he created "Transformers" as a whole with a grander trilogy. The ending also announced that it will be linked to the movie "Special Forces". This new linkage film has also been obtained by Paramount. official confirmation.
" Kung Fu Panda 4", which debuted in March this year, has been 8 years since the last film. IP's box office appeal is still strong. Although the Rotten Tomatoes freshness and MTC scores are the lowest in the series, the global box office has reached 530 million. US dollars, the production cost was only US$85 million, and the revenue doubled several times, setting the highest box office record in the series and becoming the most successful work of DreamWorks in recent years. These rebooted works of
are based on IP sales, but are produced at a lower cost than the previous works in the series. Therefore, they tend to be conservative in their creative lines and do not dare to make innovative breakthroughs. For example, "Kung Fu Panda 4" lacks fan-favorite characters such as the Furious Five and does not continue to expand in depth.
"The New Batman " directed by Matt Reeves and starring Robert Pattinson is a relatively successful reboot project in recent years, with good box office and reputation. According to statistics, the film has a global box office of US$772 million and revenue of US$177 million, making it one of the most profitable Hollywood blockbusters in 2022.
"New Batman" has developed a different temperament from the " Dark Knight" trilogy, adding a new style of noir detective movies. The main theme of the story focuses on how to uphold justice and strengthens the charm of Robert Pattinson's young Batman. , giving the series new life. The success of the film also prompted DC to make "The New Batman" into a trilogy series.
The completed "Jurassic World" trilogy is an outstanding representative of the continuation of the classic series. "Jurassic Park", which came out in 1993, was the highest-grossing movie in the world that year, and the trilogy series it spawned was also popular around the world.
After 14 years of "Jurassic Park 3", "Jurassic World" directed by Colin Trevorrow and starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard was released. Set a global box office record of US$1.7 billion. The shocking scenes and realistic special effects presented by
3d, the new bigger and more ferocious dinosaurs, the adventurous love between the male and female protagonists, and the linkage blessing of classic emotions have made "Jurassic World" another Hollywood blockbuster series. The trilogy has also become popular in mainland China. All of them have a box office of over 1 billion.
Universal Pictures will not let go of the opportunity for this popular IP to continue to make profits. After the "Jurassic World" trilogy ends, it will use a new story line, new production and cast team to create "Jurassic World 4" 》. By the time of "Jurassic World 3", the quality of the film had actually fallen into a state of weakness, and it had to be reformed and remade in order to have new endurance.
In the current Hollywood production system with reduced originality and over-reliance on classic IP sequels, there are an endless number of rebooted and new versions of films. There are still opportunities to make money by playing the emotional card. This is a trend caused by the feedback of the entire market and the choice of the audience.
If the reboot movie blindly "kowts down" to the classic series, restarting, ending, and restarting again and again, without keeping up with the current times, telling fresher content, and using innovative forms, the audience will fall into aesthetic fatigue and lose their good impression of the classics. .
