The Chinese film market has shown strong recovery momentum in 2023, and the box office has recovered to 85% of 2019, showing the vitality and potential of the Chinese film market. However, the film market still faces challenges in the number of moviegoers and the frequency of moviegoers per capita. How can the Chinese film industry move from the "plateau" to the "peak"? Alibaba Pictures Group, together with many film companies, released a list of seven films at the Shanghai Film Festival's "Chinese-language Blockbusters Tour", which gave a practical plan for this problem - there is no shortcut, and one must return to the film content itself.
Exploration and innovation of diverse types and themes
Chinese films will also present a new look and future vision in a new stage of development. The first "Chinese Blockbuster Tour" announced 7 film lists: " Under the Stranger ", " Retrograde Life ", "Burning the City", " Darts ", "Eastern Island", "When the Stars Shine" and "Catch the Spy" , it can be said that it has a variety of genres and themes. Behind it is a collection of great Chinese film directors and producers from the 1940s to the 1980s, bringing together half of the Chinese film market.
The seven films range from fantasy action to realism, from martial arts spirit to science fiction adventure, from which we can see the continuous exploration and innovation of Chinese filmmakers. Following "The Trilogy of the Gods", director Wu Ershan challenged the "peak Chinese comics" and launched the movie "Under the Stranger", showing the world of Chinese style and superpowers that is rare in Chinese films; the movie "Retrograde Life" returns to " Xu Zheng+realism" golden combination; the film "Burning City" produced by Jiang Zhiqiang is the first film focusing on radiation disaster; director Yuan Heping brings the hardcore martial arts Chinese comic "The Bodyguard", starring Wu Jing even unveiled the martial arts A new chapter in action; director Guan Hu's "Eastern Island" is adapted from real events of World War II. The difficulty of filming and heavy industry production challenges are unprecedented in the history of Chinese films; the science fiction adventure film "When the Stars Shine" spans 60 years and three generations of astronauts, telling the story of the Chinese themselves of hard-core technology. "Master of Sadness and Joy" Feng Xiaogang 's "Catch the Spy" returns to period films, telling a story of a game of faith that spans 40 years.
closely adheres to the "sense of quality, industrialization, and large-scale production" to convey emotions and stories
's seven-film list closely adheres to the key characteristics of "sense of quality, industrialization, and large-scale production". Behind industrialization and large-scale production, it is not only a visual spectacle, but It integrates diverse elements, tells good stories, and has a profound insight into individual destiny, feelings about family and country, humanistic care and resonance of the times.
Wu Ershan's film "Under the Stranger" builds a huge and complex content pattern and creates a cosmic audio-visual feast. However, Wu Ershan hopes to use the most advanced film technology to continue to promote the creative transformation of China's excellent traditional culture. Let the most traditional and the most fashionable collide and be relevant to the current situation of young people. He said: "If "The Trilogy of the Gods" is our protection and respect for traditional culture, then "Under the Stranger" is how Integrate traditional culture into contemporary life."
Director Xu Zheng directed the realistic film "Retrograde Life", which features a talented cast and superb acting skills. It focuses on daily life and makes everyone who works hard to live shine in front of the camera. This is director Xu Zheng's return to the summer schedule after six years. The film focuses on daily life, allowing us to see that everyone who works hard in life is shining. The
movie "Burning City" focuses on the complex superposition of "natural disasters + man-made disasters". Producer Mr. Jiang Zhiqiang said, "Disaster movies should not just be a collection of special effects caused by natural disasters. A real disaster movie should be a deduction of human civilization. "As the first Chinese radiation disaster film, the film not only has a fresh breakthrough in subject matter, but also maintains a creative consciousness of humanistic reflection.
The hard-core martial arts action film "The Bodyguard" will once again polish the most glorious brand of Chinese-language films. Director Yuan Heping has witnessed most of the history of the development of Chinese-language action films, and still cares about the inheritance of the martial arts spirit. Producer and starring Wu Jing returns to a martial arts film after 13 years, with real swords and passionate martial arts. "The Bodyguard" will bring back to the big screen a masterpiece of martial arts action and family and country chivalry that Chinese movie audiences have been away from for a long time.
"Dongji Island" directed by Guan Hu tells the story of the kindness and bravery shown by Chinese fishermen in an international rescue in the context of World War II. The film includes real-life island scenes, real-sea filming, and 1 :1 Restore the entire hull design of the Lisbon Maru. In addition to the attempt to industrialize the film, director Guan Hu said that the film should also convey the kindness and bloodiness of the Chinese people. "This is a very touching story. I love it every time." Every review brings tears to my eyes. A group of ordinary people can rescue more than a thousand international friends in such a huge shipwreck. "
The science fiction adventure movie "When the Stars Shine" has the core of a science fiction story and the Chinese aerospace industry that spans the ages. Spiritual inheritance. The film tells the story of three Chinese astronauts in future time and space who encountered complicated situations and lost contact with the ground on their way back to Earth. At an extremely critical moment, they received an electronic signal, and their fate will be determined by a mysterious code hidden in this signal. Change... The film strives to weave together the most realistic scientific details and the most unbridled imagination to tell the hard-core science fiction of the Chinese people.
"Catch the Spy" directed by Feng Xiaogang also relies on the industrialization of film to support the quality of the film and outline the collective memory of the times for the audience. "The focus of our film mainly focuses on people, photographing people's changes in the context of changing times. Today I feel that the time is ripe for directors like us to use our strengths to restore the memories of the era we lived in and put them on the screen. This can be regarded as doing something that should be done for our era. "
It can be seen from this that. As the Chinese film market continues to grow, the improvement of film production levels has become an important direction for industry development. Against this background, the Chinese film industry has begun to develop in the direction of industrialization and specialization. The improvement of production levels has also allowed directors to express themselves more It is more enjoyable, improving the quality of the film and making it more competitive in the market.
Filmmakers work together to reach new heights during the summer season
According to data released by the National Film Administration, the number of moviegoers nationwide in 2023 will be approximately 1.299 billion, a year-on-year increase of approximately 82%; in addition, Tuopu data shows that moviegoers in the first quarter of this year will The number of visitors was 364 million, a year-on-year increase of 8.14%. The film market has recovered rapidly, drawing much attention to the upcoming summer season. There are also works in this film list that have the upper hand and are expected to break through. The
movie "Under the Stranger" will be released on July 26. With its blockbuster IP + top-notch production team + luxurious star cast, the clever fusion of oriental cultural elements and modern film language has made this movie a hit before it was broadcast, and has already been praised by many viewers. Scheduled to be a dark horse at the summer box office. Directed by Xu Zheng, starring Xu Zheng, Xin Zhilei, Wang Xiao starring, Jia Bing special appearance, Feng Bing, Wu Jiakai, Liu Meihan starring, Ding Yongdai, Ding Jiali, Chen Halin starring, Huang Xiaolei's friendly appearance in the summer reality The socialist movie "Retrograde Life" was released on August 9.
Taking the "Chinese-language Giants Tour" as a symbol, more Chinese-language film works with depth and breadth will jointly promote the Chinese film industry towards a more glorious future. As the driving force behind the scenes, Alibaba Pictures is also full of confidence.
In 2018, Alibaba Pictures released the "Jincheng Co-production" plan, announcing that it will launch 20 high-quality co-production films with leading industry partners within five years through the method of main investment, main control, and main promotion. At the end of 2023, Alibaba Pictures exceeded its promise with "26 outstanding films in 5 years, with a cumulative box office of 17.8 billion". Subsequently, Alibaba Pictures once again upgraded the content goals of the "Jincheng Co-production" plan: in the next five years, through joint production, we will jointly launch 30 excellent films with richer themes and more diverse types.
This time, Jincheng The "Chinese-language masterpiece" in the special content unit of the joint production plan gives Chinese-language films more possibilities for high-quality development. Li Jie, president of Alibaba Pictures, said that Alibaba Pictures has always had confidence and a sense of mission in Chinese-language films, and has the courage to invest in large-scale productions and the determination to promote film industrialization. "I hope to work with all Chinese-language film creators to make 'Chinese-language blockbusters' Helping China’s film industry reach new heights”
Written by Beijing Youth Daily reporter Xiao Yang
edited by Gong Lifang
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