" Retrograde Life " directed by Xu Zheng and starring Xu Zheng and Xin Zhilei was released on August 9. According to China News Network, on August 14, "Retrograde Life" held a roadshow at Nanjing Station. Film director and starring Xu Zheng and actor Wu Jiakai met with fans. The
movie "Retrograde Life" tells the story of a programmer from a major Internet company who was laid off, suddenly unemployed in middle age, and finally decided to put on a delivery rider uniform and enter the food delivery industry. However, the film has experienced polarization in word-of-mouth since its release on August 9. Netizens have been discussing: Is it focusing on small people, or is it consuming delivery workers and consuming suffering?
"Retrograde Life" poster
As of 22:00 on August 15, the box office for the 2024 summer season has exceeded 9.6 billion yuan. This figure is significantly different from the 20.63 billion for the 2023 summer season. However, summer movies continue to be released, with rich genres and diverse themes, which may continue to help the summer movie pick up this year.
Xu Zheng denies the suffering of consumption
The movie "Retrograde Life" reflects various problems in modern society through the living conditions of a new type of labor group, takeaway boys, such as economic pressure, family responsibilities, workplace competition, etc. It mainly tells the story of Gao Zhilei (played by Xu Zheng), a middle-aged man who was laid off and unemployed. By chance, he became a delivery boy, switched tracks and started anew. Gao Zhilei, played by Xu Zheng, suddenly lost his job in middle age. He submitted thousands of resumes, but nothing came of them. He has to spend money on everything from medical expenses for the elderly at home, monthly mortgage payments, and daughter's tuition fees. Under the pressure of life, 45-year-old Gao Zhilei decided to wear a delivery rider uniform. After entering the food delivery industry, the movie follows Gao Zhilei's perspective and tells the stories of other food delivery workers such as Dahei, Lao Xi, and Dashan. This movie is written, directed and starred by Xu Zheng.
However, it is worth noting that "Retrograde Life" has attracted controversy. The audience's evaluation of "Retrograde Life" is significantly divided. Some viewers think that it focuses on small people and is close to reality; while other viewers think that it is consuming delivery people, "the rich play poor", "consuming suffering beautifies suffering", etc.
According to the Chongqing Daily, "When I watched it, I actually cried several times." In the opinion of Mr. Wang, a citizen, the movie does not just show the group of delivery boys, but shows all aspects of life and the From this point of view, "Retrograde Life" is worthy of being put into the cinema for any family that is constantly running forward for life.
But many viewers have higher moral expectations for realistic themes. This part of the audience believes that, under the banner of realism, in addition to setting the plot close to reality, it should also go further in criticizing reality and revealing the root of the problem.
"To be fair, the movie talks about the unreasonable customers, arrogant security guards, traffic problems, ruthless business rules and other problems that delivery workers encounter, but the reasons behind these large and small conflicts are only briefly touched on." On the evening of August 13th, , Liu Hongji, who works in the service industry, expressed his disappointment with the movie after watching the movie. Liu Hongji said that the real dilemma is very clear, but there is a lack of criticality, which makes people feel stuck in their throats.
According to Securities Times·e Company, Xu Zheng said at a road show in Hangzhou on August 13 that he has been running the "wimp" track for many years. Although there are many outstanding actors in the same track, he still felt itchy when he saw this role, " I feel that only by acting by myself can I better grasp the inner world of the character." Xu Zheng denied the controversy over "consumption misery" caused by the film.
Xu Zheng responded: "I find it very difficult to make movies now, because making a movie cannot satisfy everyone. After watching the movie, everyone's feelings are different, and different audiences will see different details. "Different audiences have different expectations. But it would not be fair to a movie to criticize it without watching it."
Xu Zheng also said that after watching the movie, he will accept it regardless of whether it is a good review or a bad review. Because each audience has a different attitude towards life and feels differently. According to
data, the film "Retrograde Life" has been in theaters for 7 days, with a box office of over 250 million yuan.In terms of Douban score, more than 50,000 people participated in the rating, and the current score is stable at 6.8 points. This is also Xu Zheng's first realist-themed movie after many years after " I am not the god of medicine ". Previously in 2018, the film "I'm Not the God of Medicine" directed by Wen Muye and produced by Xu Zheng was released. The film was not only a box office hit, but also sparked widespread discussions about the fairness of medicines. The film topped the global box office with a box office of 1.333 billion yuan in its first week, and the final box office reached 3.1 billion yuan. "Retrograde Life" is destined to be an ending that is difficult to surpass with its Douban score of 9.0 and box office of 3.1 billion yuan compared with "I'm Not the God of Medicine".
Xu Zheng is regarded as the director who ushered in the era of high box office for Chinese movies. The two films in the "囧" series directed by Xu Zheng have a cumulative box office of approximately 2.8 billion, making them one of the most popular domestic series of movies in China. In 2012, Xu Zheng's "The Journey to Thailand Again" surpassed the number of viewers of "Avatar" and became the first Chinese-language film in the history of Chinese-language films to exceed 1 billion yuan.
Realistic themes are a test, and it is even more difficult to produce high-quality films such as "I'm Not the God of Medicine". I look forward to more film and television works that can face reality and stimulate people's thinking about reality.
The total box office of this year's summer season is less than that of last year's
html. In August, it is still about half a month away. There are still about half a month before the end of this year's summer vacation. New summer films are still being released, with rich genres and diverse themes, which may continue to help the recovery of this year's summer season.According to real-time data from Beacon Professional Edition, as of 22:20 on August 15, the total box office (including pre-sales) for the 2024 summer season (June-August) has exceeded 9.6 billion.
Among them, the film starring Shen Teng and Ma Li became the most popular film this summer, accounting for 31.9% of the box office, breaking the box office record of summer comedy films in the past five years. The previous holder of this record was " Wanders Alone on the Moon " starring Shen Teng and Ma Li and " Silent Kill " accounted for 14.2% of the box office, ranking third in the cumulative box office of summer crime films in Chinese film history.
"Silent Kill" and " There's a Shop in the Cloud " are temporarily ranked second and third on the summer box office list.
htmlThe new movies released in August also have great potential.The movie " decrypted " directed by Chen Sicheng received a box office of 40.889 million yuan on its first day of release on August 3. As of 22:00 on August 15, the cumulative box office reached 310 million yuan, ranking seventh in the summer movie box office. .
"White Snake: The Floating Life " became the box office champion of the Chinese Valentine's Day film period in 2024, and set a box office record for the Chinese Valentine's Day animated film period in Chinese film history. Currently, the film ranks ninth at the summer box office with a box office of 250 million yuan.
At the same time, " Deadpool and Wolverine ", " Despicable Me 4" and "Inside Out 2" ranked fourth to sixth at the summer box office, with box office revenue of 410 million yuan and 370 million yuan respectively. Yuan, 340 million Yuan.
It is worth mentioning that the total box office of movies in the 2023 summer season (June 1 to August 31) is 20.619 billion yuan. The top six films in the summer box office are: "Desperate" with 3.526 billion yuan, "The Disappearance" "Her" 3.523 billion yuan, "Fengshen Part 1: Chaoge Fengyun" 2.481 billion yuan, "The Octagonal Cage" 2.204 billion yuan, "Thirty Thousand Miles from Chang'an" 1.799 billion yuan, and "Warm" 895 million yuan.
The 2023 summer season finally achieved a box office of 20.6 billion, and is known as the "strongest summer season in history." There is still a certain gap between the total box office of summer movies this year compared with last year. Currently, only one film has exceeded 3 billion yuan in box office, and the other films have not exceeded 2 billion yuan in box office.
According to China Business Daily, "The competition in the movie market is becoming increasingly fierce, and audiences have more diversified movie-watching choices. This year's box office may be affected by multiple factors such as film quality, publicity strategy, and release time, resulting in the box office failing to meet expectations. This also reminds us "The film industry needs to continue to innovate and make breakthroughs to meet the growing aesthetic needs of the audience. Producers should pay more attention to the innovation and depth of film content, and at the same time increase their publicity and distribution efforts to increase the popularity and influence of the film," said Pangu Think Tank senior. Researcher Jiang Han told a reporter from China Business Daily that although there is still a gap in box office compared to last year, we should also see the positive side, that is, the film market still has huge potential and vitality.
Zhongtai Securities research report pointed out that policy support stimulates cultural and entertainment consumption momentum, and high-quality film and television content reserve companies are expected to benefit. The State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Service Consumption", which pointed out the need to stimulate cultural and entertainment consumption momentum, enrich the supply of films, support the release of films through differentiated models such as branch distribution, and promote film-related consumption. At the same time, by improving the quality of radio, television and online audio-visuals, deepening the management of TV fees and complex operations, and accelerating the development of ultra-high-definition TV, companies with high-quality film and television content reserves are expected to benefit from policy catalysts, promote project turnover rhythm, and expand user scale.
AVIC Securities said that from the supply side, the supply of domestic high-quality films is accelerating, and imported films and Chinese-foreign co-production films continue to increase, which is expected to meet the diversified viewing needs of audiences. Both sides of supply and demand continue to exert force, and we are optimistic about the performance of the market in 2024. Companies that deploy cinema lines and high-quality films are expected to benefit.
Editor | Cheng Peng Gai Yuanyuan
Proofreading | He Xiaotao
Cover image source: Retrograde Life Weibo
Daily economic news is compiled from Securities Times·e Company (reporter: Nie Yinghao), Chongqing Daily, China Business News , China Business Daily
Daily Economic News
