文丨Li Yihan
On February 7, 2023, the Marvel movie "Black Panther 2" will be officially released in the Mainland. According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, the film won a box office of 20.027 million yuan on the first day of its release, and its predicted box office is only about 112 million yuan. On Douban, the score of "Black Panther 2" is only 5.5 points, which is not equal to the 6.5 points of the first film.
has been away from the mainland market for three years. Marvel's "Black Panther 2" failed to satisfy mainland audiences in terms of content expression and character creation. The weakness of the fourth stage of the Marvel Universe in the global market and the rise of domestic films after the epidemic also make people wonder whether the Marvel Universe has a future in China?
Both box office word-of-mouth collapse
Black Panther 2 landing in the mainland was frustrated
On February 7, 2023, the Marvel movie "Black Panther 2" was officially released in the mainland. This is the finale of the fourth phase of the Marvel Universe, and it is also the first meeting between Marvel and mainland audiences after "Spider-Man: Far From Home" in 2019. However, judging from the current situation, "Black Panther 2" does not seem to have gained the enthusiasm and recognition of mainland audiences.
The release of "Black Panther 2" did not arouse the audience's enthusiasm for watching the movie, and the box office performance was far from satisfactory. According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, the film won 20.027 million box office on the first day of its release. The film's first-day schedule accounted for 19.9%, second only to "The Wandering Earth 2" (28.5%) and "Man Jianghong" (24.2%). However, the attendance rate of "Black Panther 2" on the first day of its release was only 4.7%, and the average number of viewers per game was only 7.7. After
noticed the lackluster box office performance on the first day, theaters have reduced the schedule of "Black Panther 2". Two days after its release, the proportion of "Black Panther 2" in the film schedule fell below 15%, and on the first weekend after the release (February 11, February 12), the proportion of the film's film schedule was around 10%. According to Maoyan’s forecast, the box office of “Black Panther 2” in the mainland will be about 112 million yuan, which is far lower than the average box office of Marvel series movies in the mainland (about 887 million yuan), and lower than that of “Man Jianghong” and “The Wandering Earth”. 2" and many other domestic films screened at the same time.
(On the Maoyan professional version app, "Black Panther 2" box office data)
"Black Panther 2" is the sequel to "Black Panther", which tells the story of Princess Shu Rui, O'Neill's death after the tragic death of "Black Panther" King T'Challa. Kaye, Queen Ramanda, and M'Baku fight to protect Wakanda and unite all forces to open a new chapter in the Kingdom of Wakanda. It is a pity that such a storyline has not been recognized by the audience. On Douban, the score of "Black Panther 2" is only 5.5 points, which is not equal to the 6.5 points of the first film. On social platforms such as Douyin and Weibo, people from all walks of life have "persuaded" "Black Panther 2" from the media.
("Black Panther 2" Douban rating)
has been away from the mainland market for 3 years, and Marvel's first work in the mainland ushers in Waterloo. What happened to "Black Panther 2"?
Unsatisfactory content and narrative
Character creation is not three-dimensional
There is not a single reason for the collapse of "Black Panther 2". Under the combined effect of external and internal pressures, the film's narrative is lengthy, its conception is weak, its logic is blunt, and its political correctness and "American values" are overly respected. Black Panther 2 did not create the next powerful Black Panther, and the character creation is not convincing.
"Black Panther 2" has a total of 161 minutes, and the real adrenaline-inducing traditional Marvel-style fighting scenes are only about 20 minutes. In the rest of the time, the director of Marvel performed literary dramas that he was not good at, and the plot was bland and boring, making people drowsy.
At the same time, the plot logic of the film is not reasonable enough. Why are two different tribes fighting? What role did the US play in this process? Why did the tribes reconcile in the end? The screenwriter did not give a clear account of all the reasons, and all the audience can see are one broken turning point after another.
"Black Panther 2", as the final work of Marvel's fourth phase, is representative in terms of values. In the film, we can see many elements of African civilization and Latin American civilization, and we can see the appearance of women and vulnerable groups, which is completely in line with "political correctness". In fact, the Marvel Universe has long had the ambition to enrich narrative objects, describe different types of civilizations, and focus on world issues in the fourth stage. However, Marvel is only in the form ofThe diversity of civilizations has been achieved formally, but different civilizations have not been truly recognized in the underlying logic and values.
Take "Black Panther 2" as an example. Although Wakanda is an African tribe, and although the singing and dancing of spears is an African element, it still pursues "Wakanda centrism" when conducting diplomacy and dealing with relations with different countries. In order to save the lives of scientists, Wakanda fought fiercely with different camps such as the United States and Namo. In the process, there were very heavy casualties. This kind of "killing a hundred and saving one" is still a typical American elitist value. The Marvel Universe put too much emphasis on formal political correctness in the fourth stage, but lacked real respect and understanding of different civilizations. Under the cover of diversity and openness, it is still an American-style comic drama, and it still advocates American values, so it is difficult to escape a kind of separation between form and spirit. In terms of character creation, "Black Panther 2" can hardly be called a success. Marvel had to make major adjustments to the script due to the cancer of Chadwick Boseman, the star of the first film. "Black Panther" is an important figure in the fourth stage of the Marvel universe, and the fullness of its shape will greatly affect the conclusion of the entire fourth stage world line. "Black Panther 2" takes Princess Su Rui as the protagonist, but in the first half, it gives more shots of the captain of the guard, the mother and others, presenting a narrative effect of "group portrait" rather than "superhero". At the same time, Princess Su Rui is not enough to support the mantle of the Black Panther in terms of personal ability and spiritual attributes, which is why the movie has been criticized.
Having been away from the mainland market for three years
Does the Marvel Universe have a future?
This is Marvel's first work to meet mainland audiences after "Spider-Man: Far From Home". Having been absent from the mainland market for three years, is Marvel Universe competitive in the mainland market?
Judging from the performance of "Black Panther 2", the answer is undoubtedly no, but the failure of "Black Panther 2" does not prove that Marvel is no longer attractive to mainland audiences. The film was released in North America as early as November 2022, and a clearer streaming version came out before the mainland screening stage. Some mainland Marvel fans have already seen the content of "Black Panther 2" in advance, so they will not Choose to go to the cinema to watch. Therefore, the test of the Marvel universe in the mainland will not really come until February 17, when "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Frenzy" will be released simultaneously in China and the United States.
Marvel Universe launched a total of 7 movies in the fourth stage, namely "Black Widow", "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings", "The Eternals", "Spider-Man: No Return for Heroes", "Doctor Strange 2: Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Black Panther: Long Live Wakanda. In terms of box office, the global average box office of the seven films so far is about 810 million U.S. dollars, which is far lower than the average level of the first three stages of the Marvel Universe (about 1.02 billion U.S. dollars). In terms of word-of-mouth, "Thor 4", "Doctor Strange 2", "Black Panther 2" imdb, and Rotten Tomatoes scores are all lower than the previous ones, and the word-of-mouth has declined compared with the third stage. Among the
7 films, "Spider-Man: No Home for Heroes" almost carried the entire fourth stage, with a global box office of 1.92 billion US dollars and an imdb score of 8.3. But the victory of "Spider-Man: No Home for Heroes" is not the victory of the plot, but the victory of Iron Man, the world's top IP. Other than that, the rest of Phase 4's films have been pretty mediocre overall. Unlike the first three stages, the fourth stage of the Marvel Universe lacks core elements such as "Infinite Gems" and "Multiverse". The main line of the entire fourth stage is unclear, and the correlation between films is limited. At the same time, the creation of characters and roles has also fallen into fatigue. People no longer have the enthusiasm for characters like Chasing America and Iron Man, and they are no longer willing to go to the cinema because they like a certain character. Marvel gave Phase 4 ambitions for a grander narrative, but the final performance was unsatisfactory. American values are still exported under the banner of cultural diversity and cultural integration, and it is difficult for audiences outside North America to buy it.
In the past three years, hit by the epidemic, the film market in mainland China has almost stagnated. With the easing of the epidemic, local movies will usher in an outbreak during the Spring Festival in 2023. "Man Jianghong", "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Deep Sea" are all films that are closer to Chinese aesthetic habits and cultural customs. The rise of such domestic films will undoubtedly have an impact on the "re-entry" of the Marvel Universe. When "Man Jianghong" hit theaters during the Spring Festival this year, director Zhang Yimou said in an interview: "We are no longer so obsessed with Hollywood blockbusters and American pop culture as we were 10 or 20 years ago.The confidence is stronger, and the cultural identity of the audience is also stronger." The enhancement of the narrative ability and box office appeal of local films is another major test for Marvel to return to the mainland market. In addition to popcorn-style cool films and Top special effects, what else can the Marvel universe bring to mainland audiences? This is also a question that Marvel must answer.
Mirror Entertainment (id: jingxiangyuler) original
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