" Godzilla vs. Kong 2: Rise of an Empire " poster
"As of last week, China's total movie box office in 2024 exceeded 22.4 billion yuan (about 3.1 billion U.S. dollars), becoming the world's largest movie market." This is the information disclosed by Belinda, president of the Asia-Pacific Region of the Motion Picture Association of America, at the 10th Global Film Industry Chain Development Forum yesterday. Belinda proudly said: "As a representative of the American Motion Picture Association, I am very happy that our member companies' works such as " Kung Fu Panda 4", "Godzilla vs. Kong 2: Rise of an Empire", " Garfield Family " and "" "Mysterious Friends ", " Rise of the Planet of the Apes: New World ", etc. have also contributed to the success of the Chinese film market. "
" is a type of commercial blockbusters that are popular in Hollywood and are also called high-concept movies. High-concept movies are Chinese movies. While industrial development brings inspiration, Ying Xujun, vice president of Chinese Culture Group and president of Chinese Pictures, reminded: At present, countries around the world are learning from Hollywood's high-concept film model, and Chinese films are bound to absorb its advantages, but they must also avoid its shortcomings. , "We must pay more attention to integrating plot characters into the story and avoid thinning and instrumentalizing the characters."
High concept originated from "one sentence marketing of movies"
What is a high concept movie? Cheng Jiaqi of Fosun Film and Television said: "High-concept movies are actually a marketing-driven film project operation model, which is typically characterized by big directors, big stars, big investment, big production, big marketing, etc." Ying Xujun further introduced , Hollywood's high-concept movies are highly linked to marketing. "Because the movie needs to be marketed to a wider audience, the plot should be as easy to understand as possible, and the entire movie's story should even be condensed into one sentence."
Huang Zhixiang of Universal Pictures emphasized the IP continuation of high-concept movies: "Film and television companies should choose high-concept movies that have established values and are widely popular, and continue IP as much as possible to give full play to market value." For example, "Jurassic Park" directed by Steven Spielberg When it was released in 1993, it vividly reproduced ancient dinosaurs to the audience; at the same time, the film also raised topics such as genetic ethics and animal protection, triggering extensive discussions from all walks of life. After the film series ended in the form of a trilogy, it was restarted under the title "Jurassic World ", becoming a long-lived IP with more than 30 years. In addition, there are also the Minion characters in the comedy animated film "Despicable Me" that are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and films such as "Kung Fu Panda" that are infiltrated with Chinese cultural elements, all of which continued to expand IP after the success of the first film. As of now, "Godzilla vs. Kong 2: Rise of an Empire," which has the highest box office among imported movies in 2024, is also an IP sequel.
Where do novel stories come from? Be more "what if" imaginative
The plot of high-concept movies is simple, but if you want to capture the audience, you have to work hard on the novelty of the story. "Think more about 'what if' (what if) stories, and innovate outside of conventional stories." Ying Xujun gave an example, "The police catching criminals is an ordinary story, but let a policeman and a When criminals join forces to solve a crime, it becomes a high-concept movie. "
" what if" requires more breakthrough creations in the creation of movie scripts. Yin Ai of Paramount Pictures strongly agrees with the concept of "what if": "For example, "A Quiet Place" is a typical case of 'what if'. This movie assumes that humans are facing alien monsters with amazing hearing. The story of how to survive in a doomsday environment is very attractive to the audience." She also shared an interesting story in the theater: "An audience found that the theater was unusually quiet due to the atmosphere of "A Quiet Place." , and the sound of eating popcorn is very abrupt. "In Yin Ai's view, novel story settings are very important to create this kind of "resonance" on the screen and in the theater.In fact, after the success of Marvel's classic movie "Avengers", it invested in a new series of animated series, telling the hypothetical stories of Agent Carter becoming Captain America, Doctor Strange accidentally destroying the world in order to resurrect his dead lover, etc. The story, although not a movie, is a concentrated display of the "what if" creative concept.
Author: Wei Zhong
Text: Wei Zhong Picture: "Godzilla vs. Kong 2: Rise of an Empire" Poster Editor: Li Ting Editor: Xing Xiaofang
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