Main theme "advanced"
China News Weekly reporter/Xu Pengyuan
At last year's Shanghai International Film Festival, "theme film" became a popular word that was frequently mentioned. Even in the schedule of the Golden Jue Film Forum, a special theme was arranged with the theme of "the marketing exploration of the theme film". discuss.
As the only international A-category film festival in China, the Shanghai Film Festival has always been regarded as a barometer of the Chinese film industry.
Therefore, this film festival's high attention to the main theme, to a certain extent, shows a certain consensus of the industry on its own development approach, or at least a timely reflection and summary of the actual situation.
In 2020, the global film industry is facing an unprecedented crisis under the impact of the new crown epidemic. According to the "Blue Book of Film: Global Film Industry Development Report (2020)" released at the end of the year, it is estimated that it will take five years for the global theater box office to recover to 2019. year market size.
Of course, Chinese movies are not immune. After 179 days of cinema shutdown, the total box office in 2020 is only 20.314 billion, which has dropped directly to the level before 2013.
But there are also miracles in misfortune.
Also in this year, Chinese films topped the global box office for the first time with "Eight Hundred", of which only three works, "Eight Hundred", "My Hometown and Me" and "King Kong River" contributed nearly 35% of the share. "Yao Bai" became the global annual box office champion with 3.111 billion yuan.
This trend continued thereafter.
In 2021, Chinese films will continue to rank first in the global box office. Among the 11 films with over 1 billion yuan, 4 are the main theme works. The box office of "Changjin Lake" also broke 32 film history records with a box office of 5.775 billion yuan.
Entering 2022, the two key schedules of New Year's Day and Spring Festival, "Embrace You Through the Cold Winter" and "Shuimen Bridge of Changjin Lake" have become the leaders of their respective schedules with obvious advantages; The prevention and control of the epidemic has caused the film market to fall to the freezing point again. More than half of the country's theaters have been suspended, and only 3 films have grossed more than 100 million at the box office. .
At the darkest moment when the film industry was severely damaged, the main theme work not only proved its strong appeal with outstanding market results, but also saved the lifeline of Chinese films.
In this sense, the discussion in the Shanghai Film Festival forum about "theme movies are the new mainstream movies" is far from over.
The Advancement of Main Theme Movies
For Chinese films, the main theme is not a new concept.
After 1949, Chinese films carried the important function of ideological propaganda and education, and at the same time, under the management policy and business model of "uniform purchase and underwriting", they showed a strong "main theme" in an all-round way.
After the reform and opening up, Chinese films began to face a growing market decline, so major studios turned to so-called "entertainment films". By the mid-1980s, the output of "entertainment films" had exceeded 50% of the average annual output at that time.
In view of this, the National Feature Film Factory Directors Conference held in 1987 clearly put forward the requirements of "highlighting key points, insisting on diversity", and insisting on "the main theme of literature and art". And finally in 1990, it officially became the guidelines for film creation in the new era.
In the 1990s, with the continuous deepening of the reform of the film system, the creation of the main theme was also mentioned and emphasized more and more.
But because of this, the concept of the main theme has also been in a rigid state for a long time.
In fact, the main theme is an extremely broad concept.
Dai Jinhua, a famous film scholar, believes that the main melody can be understood in at least three ways: "One understanding is that the main melody is such a film with value orientation and ideology orientation; The third type is to only highlight the value of publicity, the so-called positive energy and production scale are not within its scope of consideration.” From the perspective of the specific background proposed by the main theme, it is only a guide corresponding to “entertainment films”. , does not involve a clear subject range and creative mode.
However, due to the influence of inherent cognition, the public's understanding of the main theme often points directly to the theme of revolutionary history. Even within the industry, it has been habitually equated with gift films and mission films for a period of time.
Especially since 1994, the continuous pressure and influence of imported sub-account films on domestic films has made the main theme move towards a "non-market-oriented" path in the initially formed film consumption.
In 2002, with the implementation of the new film management system, the era of comprehensive marketization of Chinese films began.
In the gradually mature industrial system and market system, the main theme movie also ushered in a new starting point.
In 2009, a "Founding of the People's Republic of China" was born. The unprecedented lineup of 172 stars brought sufficient topicality and market selling points. The box office of 420 million led the domestic film of the year, becoming second only to "2012". And "Transformers 2" two big Hollywood box office third place.
At the same time, "The Wind" and "Nanjing!
Nanjing!
"The three main theme works of "October Siege" co-produced with mainland Hong Kong have also entered the top ten at the box office.
This is the first time that the theme film collectively shows commercial value that cannot be ignored, and it has taken an important step in the marketization of the theme.
In 2011, "The Founding of the Party" followed the all-star model and once again won the box office of more than 400 million, ranking seventh that year.
However, these films still belong to the tribute works based on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party, especially like "The Great Cause of the Founding of the People's Republic of China" and "The Great Cause of the Founding of the Party". degree of policy inclination.
The "Chinese Partner" in 2013, "Take Tiger Mountain by Wisdom" in 2014, and "Operation Mekong River" in 2016 were completely separated from the assistance of important historical nodes, and began to be dominated by private companies to explore more purely The commercial map of the main theme movie.
The most cherished thing is that the three directors from Hong Kong, Chen Kexin, Tsui Hark, and Lin Chaoxian, also integrated the mature experience of Hong Kong movies into the creation of this theme, and made a key exploration of the type of the main theme works.
2017 was another banner year for theme films.
August 1st of this year is the 90th anniversary of the founding of the army. The "Founding of the Army", which was launched a year in advance, was regarded as the most important gift by the film industry.
The film is still dominated by the old partners Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin, directed by Hong Kong director Liu Weiqiang, with the same all-star lineup, and it is younger.
It's just that no one thought that the final winner was not this huge masterpiece, which was placed on double expectations of politics and the market, but "Wolf Warrior 2", which was released on the same day as it.
From any point of view, "Wolf Warrior 2" does not have the conditions to wrestle with "Founding an Army".
The cost of the former is only 150 million, while the latter still has an investment of 200 million on the basis of zero pay for the starring role; although the former is supported by the TV Art Center of the Political Department of the Nanjing Military Region, it also cooperates with the action team of "Captain America 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". The underwater photography and rescue team reached a cooperation, but it was dwarfed by the latter with nearly 60 leading actors, over 25,000 group performances, and more than 600 crew members; despite the 540 million box office "Wolf Warrior" was first, but At that time, Wu Jing still lacked absolute market appeal, and "Founding an Army" held a number of top idols...
However, in just 4 hours on the day of its release, "Wolf Warrior 2" won twice the box office with half the filming rate of "Founding an Army". In the next half month, it has been occupied by about 80% of the box office. All videos from the same period.
As a result, "Wolf Warrior 2" became the first film to exceed 100 million viewers, and raised the Chinese film box office record to 5.6 billion in one fell swoop.
This is not a simple transcendence in the sense of data. It announces that the creative model established by the "Founding of the People's Republic of China" has reached its stop in the history of the development of the main theme.
Simply relying on star attraction can no longer satisfy a new generation of audiences with an increasingly broad vision. The superhero narrative structure and climax action scenes of "Wolf Warrior 2" can ignite national passion in the extension of the movie viewing effect.
At the same time, flesh-and-blood contemporary stories may be easier to reach the emotional core of the public than the display of graphic history.
Starting from "Wolf Warrior 2", the main theme movie has completely opened its own era.
In 2018, "Operation Red Sea", which is similar to "Wolf Warrior 2" in many aspects, won the box office championship. This film is also the final film of Bona Films' "Mountains, Rivers and Seas" series, completing its main theme field. attempt.
In 2019, they continued to launch the "China Pride Trilogy", of which "Heroes of Fire" and "Captain of China" were both shortlisted in the top ten of the annual box office.
In addition, they joined the "Director's Dream Team" on the basis of all-star actors in "My Motherland and Me", which was jointly produced by several companies such as Huaxia Film, and also created a score of 3.12 billion.
Also in 2019, a "Wandering Earth", alongside the idea of "typing the main theme movie", also achieved a successful advancement of "the main theme of the genre movie".
Based on the Hugo Award winner Liu Cixin's novel of the same name, the film tells the story of a human being who takes the earth to escape the dying solar system and find a new home.
As China's first sci-fi blockbuster, the film not only ranked fifth on the box-office list in film history, but also attracted great attention from foreign media.
The New York Times of the United States said that "China is a latecomer in the field of space exploration and science fiction, but now this situation is about to change", and the article of the British "Financial Times" commented: "Saving the earth is not just the United States alone. This time, it is the Chinese who lead the world to participate in rescue operations at a critical moment." Later, the State Film Administration held a seminar for "The Wandering Earth", and director Wang Xiaohui made a statement "interpreting Chinese traditional and contemporary values, and promoting The concept of a 'community with a shared future for mankind' has provided a Chinese way and a Chinese plan different from that of the West for overcoming the disasters that mankind may face."
The next day's 16th edition of the People's Daily included an excerpt of the seminar on a full-page scale, and an article was published on the 12th edition, praising the film not only as a milestone in Chinese science fiction films, but also as a time for Chinese films to move from a plateau to a peak. The successful artistic practice fully reflects the cultural self-confidence of Chinese films.
The era of China's main theme blockbusters has been in full swing, just as Wen Muye, director of "My Motherland and Me", said in an interview: "For Chinese films, the theme of the next decade is likely to be Patriotism movie." Not long ago, when he took the new film "Miracle · Stupid Child" in an interview with "China News Weekly", he expressed the same point of view again: "Every era has something that should be shot in this era." Based on this, in this cold winter of movies with the advent of the epidemic, the main theme movies have logically shown a little support for the market amid the depression.
Policy guidance, business choices
Resonance with social emotions
"I believe that the main theme commercial film will become a mainstream choice in the future." Yang Weiwei is a screenwriter who has been in the industry for many years and has participated in the creation of films such as "Manslaughter" and "Red Fox Scholar". She told "China News Weekly" that many movies are currently The company has plans to participate in the theme project: "Because there have been many theme films in the past two years, many of which have achieved very good results, so many companies will tend to be more willing to invest in it."
This is a natural result in line with the laws of the market, and it is also an effective path that has been verified by facts.
For example, the original investment in "Wolf Warrior" was only 27 million, and investors temporarily withdrawn capital in the middle, but the 546 million box office results made the capital smell business opportunities. When Wu Jing decided to shoot the sequel, the investment took the initiative to come to the door, and finally "Wolf Warrior" 2" With the cooperation of 21 companies, the budget has increased by 5 times, and the Beijing Culture, which is the lead publisher, has become famous in one battle and has risen rapidly.
When capital shrinks, this kind of "targeted" can be regarded as a safe choice.
According to Yang Weiwei, since about 2018, Chinese films have entered a stage of "fever reduction": "In the period of the blowout development of the film and television industry, a lot of hot money entered, and the number of newly established companies and new projects was doubled at that time. Growth. Afterwards, related to the clean-up of the financial market, etc., the hot money gradually receded, and many projects will be very cautious from the early stage of preparation, and some projects are facing suspension or re-examination, such a situation is very common. "The outbreak of the epidemic has obviously greatly intensified. In view of this trend, on the one hand, the overall economic damage will inevitably be distributed to all walks of life, including movies. On the other hand, the control and suspension that the crew faces at any time due to cooperating with the requirements of epidemic prevention has virtually increased unnecessary expenses. The closure of theaters has also created obstacles to the return of investment.
In the face of "China News Weekly", the producer Fang Li even said bluntly: "There is no doubt that it must be a very bad season for business investment. The risk of investment has become very large, and there are more concerns when investing, and some investments Humanly speaking, it may not come back.”
In this sense, in the cold winter of 2020, the continuous emergence of theme movies is not only a continuation of the theme based on previous market exploration, but also a trade-off in a severe situation.
What's more, due to the nature of the theme, the main theme project may also enjoy special support in each link.
"We must see the government's promotion and support, and give a lot of green light to resources. This is a favorable place." Fang Li said.
"King Kong River" is a corroborating example. This film, which took only two months from the project to be released, is guaranteed by the cross-direction of three directors and the joint work of a 5,000-person crew, and the production process is almost Covering all important private film companies in China.
When it came to "Changjin Lake", these behind-the-scenes investments were refreshed again. When it comes to the filming process, producer Huang Jianxin told China News Weekly that he had a working team of 12,000 people, more than 80 technology companies and How to solve the problem of parking more than 100 vehicles and feeding more than 7,000 people.
As far as the current volume of China's film industry is concerned, it is obviously impossible to achieve such a huge schedule simply by relying on market forces.
In 2018, whether it is the management of movies or the positioning of Chinese movies, from the adjustment of administrative management relations to the development of clear directions, it shows that movies have become part of the national strategy.
As scholar Dai Jinhua said to China News Weekly, the emergence of the main theme is not simply a matter of business choice.
Therefore, when 2020 and 2021 enter the important milestones of the 70th anniversary of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, the centenary of the founding of the party, the year of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and the decisive battle against poverty, the concentrated presentation of the main theme can be understood as an unavoidable task and responsibility for Chinese films.
In addition to the resonance and cooperation between policy and business, social emotions are another basis for the creation of the main theme works.
The people's overall national awareness and national pride have been continuously improved in the past ten years, thus forming a causal relationship with the spiritual life guided by the mainstream values.
Yu Dong, chairman of Bona Films, said: "The main theme is not something lofty, but a tacit understanding with popular culture." Wu Jing directly gave a more specific explanation for this tacit understanding: ""Wolf Warrior 2" has Today's box office is not my personal artistic achievement, but the audience and I have created history together - the audience's hearts have already dried up, but I lit a match and ignited the audience. It's an explosion of Chinese patriotism."
The younger generation of the post-90s and post-00s are especially evident in this regard.
Mao Jian, a professor of East China Normal University and a film scholar, once pointed out in an interview: "The situation in China is that youth culture and mainstream culture have never formed an antagonistic or confrontational relationship, but basically act in parallel. The contemporary situation is even more special, with The young people represented by station B have been the flag-bearers of the main theme these years." As the main audience of the cultural consumption market, the preferences and needs of young people often determine the taste and form of cultural products, and at the same time, they participate in cultural production. The part of people who, in turn, will create more content that is in line with their own values.
Changes in the international pattern also provide an objective external condition.
Producer Fang Li told "China News Weekly" that he believes that part of the thrust in domestic theme movies comes from outside: "After Trump came to power, he gave the theme a chance. Because any nation has national self-esteem, patriotism has Nationalism is in it. In particular, several major productions to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea must be related to this.”
In the post-pandemic era, this sentiment is bound to continue.
The effectiveness and experience of domestic anti-epidemic, the confidence of the whole society is a new boost, and the inner feelings entangled and suppressed by the virus also need to be vented with high-spirited exports.
Big waves in the cold winter
In a conversation with film and television planner Tan Fei three years ago, producer Fang Li said the epidemic could set Chinese films back by 10 to 15 years.
Today, he still maintains this view.
This worry is not overly pessimistic.
Due to the long-term cycle of film production, even if the epidemic completely dissipates in the future, all preparations and start-up work cannot be started immediately. The disrupted film production rhythm requires sufficient adjustment time. Before that, the market will continue to face For a period of "slices of drought".
The recovery of audience confidence in watching movies and the overall recovery of the overall economy are also the reality that Chinese movies must accept and wait patiently for.
In this process, the main theme movies will undoubtedly still be the main force in carrying the market. Judging from the currently available to-be-screened list, "You Are My Spring", "Prosecutors", "Rock Solid", "Fox Hunting" and "Nameless" The main theme works are still worth looking forward to in terms of box office and word of mouth.
But this does not mean that the current theme will be able to maintain its existing appeal in the future.
Fang Li said: "No matter how delicious the food is, there will be a time to eat it. If everyone rushes to make the theme movie, there will be losers." Song Wen, founder of the FIRST Youth Film Festival, also believes that after any genre reaches a peak , whether it is the creator or the audience, there will be some boredom, "The creation of this type of themes seems to have reached a critical point." The so-called prosperity and decline, the law that nothing can escape-for the current type of theme movies, "Decline" does not mean losing its vitality, but it is another moment when a change should be made.
In addition, in the existing general attention and joyful discussion, the existence of another theme movie has actually been ignored.
"People's Screening" is a mobile Internet platform that focuses on serving the main theme movies and provides movie viewing channels for various units or groups in the form of initiating private events.
Its founder, Dong Fei, told China News Weekly that the current main theme movies can basically be divided into two types: "The first type is the main product with large production and strong lineup, which is in line with the market and commercial category; the second type is national or regional special projects. Projects, such as the key projects of the Beijing Municipal Government and the Hunan Provincial Radio, Film and Television Bureau, have less investment and are more educative.” Today, while the former is constantly setting new film history records, the latter is still faced with the problem that audiences cannot find theaters for screenings. , the theater can not wait for the audience to buy tickets.
The main melody is by no means a single theme and form. This is the basis for a correct view of the true current situation of the main melody, and it is also the key to continuously exploring the future of the main melody.
"What is the main theme? Is the main theme only when we talk about revolution? That is a very narrow definition." Fang Li believes that the main theme is the mainstream values, the so-called positive energy output.
Yang Weiwei also said that for the theme of the main theme, she is more inclined to look at it from the aspects of cultural values and emotional expression conveyed by the work.
Concerning or advocating the main theme, the creation of other themes should not be ignored.
On the one hand, the excessive embrace of the main theme will have a squeezing effect on the overall film structure, just like Fang Li said: "If we say that too many main themes occupy most of the country, we will not have enough experience to guarantee capital, Young creators who don't have enough experience to control action war blockbusters must be extremely disadvantaged." On the other hand, although the theme films of the past few years have repeatedly achieved good results, there are also "This Killer Is Not Calm" and "Hello, Li Huanying". Waiting for the dark horse, "Hello, Li Huanying" even broke the Spring Festival record created by "The Wandering Earth" for a time, proving the vast blue ocean of other types of movies with facts.
"I don't think (the theme of the main theme) seems to have a particularly large proportion of the overall market. In fact, comedy, emotion, action, etc. are also mainstream in the market." Three years ago, Yang Yi founded "Four Four Get Eight", specializing in short films of films. In video marketing, he has participated in the promotion of main theme projects such as "Changjin Lake", "My Parents and Me", and "Chinese Captain", and has a deep understanding of audience preferences and marketing trends in mainstream markets.
Regarding what kind of subject matter is more popular with the public, she feels that there is no rule to follow: "No matter what subject matter, you still need to shoot well. In the current environment, there are more and more ways to meet the needs of entertainment than movies, and movies are even more important. Just give the audience a reason to go to the cinema.”
In the final analysis, diverse creative paths and market options are the foundation for Chinese films to get out of the cold winter and move on.
As the scholar Dai Jinhua said: "The industrial system and commercial system must be built on a very rich and diverse industrial foundation, otherwise, whether any single choice can continue is not a question that the film itself can answer." It is also in this sense. Fang Li felt that now may be an opportunity for the development of small and medium-sized films, including literary films: "Commercial operations pursue commercial returns, this is their real cold winter. And what cultural pursuits are just opportunities, because it The original impulse is not for making money, but for expression, sharing and dissemination, and its impact is relatively small.”
In his view, the cold winter season is also an opportunity for big waves to wash away the sand.
"There are fewer movies and fewer theaters, so we will make more high-quality products. It turns out that the hot money that came to toss has disappeared, and people who really love movies and are willing to pay for movies will have a chance." Screenwriter Yang Weiwei also felt that , this is a stage of adjustment, so that everyone can see the normal creative development and business rules of this industry: "To be honest, my feeling about the industry is that it is possible to meet people with strong professionalism. It is still necessary to improve professionalism. Sex, professional people doing professional things.”
"China News Weekly" Issue 13, 2022
Statement: The publication of "China News Weekly" manuscripts is authorized in writing