The box office of the movie "Changjin Lake" has now exceeded 5.7 billion yuan, becoming the box office champion of Chinese film history.
Data shows that the box office of "Changjin Lake" is basically contributed by the domestic market.
It is hot in the domestic market, but it is difficult to pass the heat to the international market. This has become a knot in the hearts of Chinese filmmakers and Chinese movie audiences.
"Chinese film'going out' requires new thinking and paths." Recently, at a film forum, participating experts reflected on the strategies and methods of Chinese film'going out' in the past few years.
They believe that the "going out" of movies is a kind of cross-cultural communication. Movies that go to the international market must not only represent the national culture, but also have the "penetration" into the culture of other countries. At the same time, offline commercial theaters are not Chinese movies. The only way to "go out".
Attempt to spread the new mode of focus
Xie Fei is the leader of the sixth generation of directors in China. In his opinion, there are huge differences between Chinese and foreign cultures. In addition, it is very difficult for Chinese films to enter the commercial theaters of the international market.
Although there is no way to conduct mass communication through theaters, it is possible to conduct mass communication and interpersonal communication through other channels.
In 2016, Xie Fei participated in a film culture exchange activity at a university in Brazil.
He asked the students what Chinese movies they knew.
The students actually said a lot of Jia Zhangke's works, which surprised Xie Fei.
It turned out that their teacher had been to China and even opened a course on Jia Zhangke's films at school.
Because of the class, his students’ understanding of Jia Zhangke’s films and Shanxi’s local culture even surpassed the average Chinese audience.
"There are many ways to spread movies between people. In addition to classrooms, academic exchanges, and small-scale screenings, teaching materials, especially history textbooks, can greatly add value to movies and have a profound influence across time and space. This has been used in many cases. Proof." Xie Fei said.
In recent years, wherever Xie Fei went, he put his movie works wherever he spread Chinese culture.
Once lectured at the University of California, he started with his movie "Xiao Xiao, a Girl in Hunan", and gave a comprehensive introduction to China's social culture, customs and conditions during the Republic of China.
A professor at the school said: "This is a very good textbook for understanding Chinese culture."
"For Chinese films, to carry out interpersonal communication overseas, we must make good use of the 60 million overseas Chinese as a setter." said Gao Qunyao, founder and CEO of Mobile Cinema.
During the Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival of 2021, with the support of the China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, the mobile cinema sent a number of outstanding Chinese-language films to overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese through the method of screening.
"The effect of the event was unexpected. During the Mid-Autumn Festival alone, the number of Chinese and overseas Chinese who watched the film reached 125,000. In some places that were often overlooked in overseas film distribution in the past, such as Myanmar, the local Chinese and overseas Chinese were very enthusiastic about Chinese movies. They either Word of mouth, or use social media to spread, drove the attention of the audience in the country to Chinese movies." Gao Qunyao said.
Open up new channels for distribution and screening
Gao Qunyao believes that the "going out" of Chinese films cannot just focus on the outlet of physical cinema chains.
With the advancement of Internet technology and the advent of the era of integrated media, Chinese films should try more external channels such as online theaters.
Gao Qunyao founded the mobile cinema in May 2018.
Install mobile cinema apps on mobile phones, TVs and other terminals, and audiences can watch the latest movies that are simultaneously released with physical theaters online.
Since it is connected to the same box office system as the offline physical theater, the online movie box office is included in the total box office of the movie.
Due to the unlimited online space, there is almost no so-called film arrangement problem, which can realize the simultaneous release of countless films, which solves the problem of film arrangement of offline physical theaters. This not only provides opportunities for many small and medium-cost movies to be released, but also for Chinese movies. "Going to sea" opens up new channels.
Facts have proved that the effect of online theaters in boosting Chinese films to "go to sea" is obvious.
Gao Qunyao introduced that after more than three years of development, the mobile cinema App has developed different overseas versions, and has also entered the TV terminals of tens of millions of American cable TV users.
Up to now, mobile cinemas have shown nearly 900 cinema movies, and more than 72 million movie tickets have been sold for online viewing.
Recently, the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for Chinese Film Development" issued by the National Film Administration proposes to adopt precise promotion and marketing methods that are close to different regions, different countries, and different audience groups to further expand the regions, channels and platforms for international distribution and projection. The main markets and emerging country markets are equally important, and commercial theaters, art theaters, online new media, and TV channels are both given consideration.
Industry experts said that from the national policy level, this affirmed the role of new online cinemas in the "going global" of Chinese films.
The development practice in the past few years has shown that the online distribution and projection model will only increase the increase in the film market.
Polish the business card of Chinese Kung Fu film again
Since being introduced to the world by Bruce Lee in the 1960s and 1970s, Kung Fu movies have always been the favorite Chinese-language movie genre for audiences around the world.
In the history of the North American movie market, 8 of the 10 highest-grossing movies in China were Kung Fu movies.
Since 2011, the Institute of International Communication of Chinese Culture at Beijing Normal University has been conducting research on "International Communication of Chinese Films" for ten consecutive years.
A series of survey data shows that Kung Fu movies have always been the favorite Chinese movie genre for foreign audiences.
The survey found that many young foreign audiences said that they have rarely seen Chinese Kung Fu movies in recent years.
According to Huang Huilin, Dean of the Institute of International Communication of Chinese Culture at Beijing Normal University, this unexpected result is related to the failure of Kung Fu stars in recent years and the decline in the output and quality of Kung Fu movies.
The old generation of Kung Fu stars "can't move", and the younger generation of Kung Fu stars has not been cultivated. In recent years, the output of Chinese Kung Fu movies has been insufficient, and the quality is not as good as before, and there is a lack of competitive products that impact the international mainstream commercial film market.
Experts believe that the "going out" of Chinese films is a cross-cultural dissemination, and should follow the trend. When the domestic war films, science fiction films and other film types are temporarily unable to win the recognition of foreign audiences, continuing to do well in kung fu films is the "going out" of Chinese films. A shortcut to
"We must start with training Kung Fu actors, and the film education industry must analyze the reasons why Kung Fu stars are disconnected, and summarize the growth rules and training methods of Kung Fu actors." Xie Fei said.
Liang Ming, a professor at the Communication University of China, suggested that a special training mechanism should be established to train young martial arts actors so that Chinese kung fu movies can continue.
Yin Hong, a professor at Tsinghua University, believes that the revitalization of Chinese kung fu movies should not just stop at the martial arts routines of fighting, but must make breakthroughs in artistic innovation and cultural refinement.
Film and television critic Xue Jinwen pointed out that the creation of kung fu films should reject the deconstruction of traditional martial arts spirit by pan-entertainment. In addition to expressing the benevolent and righteousness of martial arts culture, it should also echo the theme and value of the times.
(Reporter Han Yeting)