Yangcheng Evening News reporter Gong Weifeng intern Hou Ying

  On August 5, the TV series "The Legend of Sword and Fairy Six" (also known as "Pray for the Present") was officially launched in Hengdian, starring Xu Kai and Yu Shuxin attended the opening ceremony, and related topics attracted attention on social platforms.

  Since "The Legend of Sword and Fairy Five" (also known as "Clouds"), which was broadcasted in 2016, "Falled on the Street" with a score of 3.9 on Douban, the IP adaptation of "Xianjian" has not released any new works for five years.

But for a while, in addition to "Pray for the Present", "Legend of the Sword and Fairy 1" starring the rookie lineup, and "The Legend of the Sword and Fairy IV" (also known as "Tianhe Biography") starring Ju Jingyi and Chen Zheyuan, all has been put into production.

  The sudden acceleration of the transformation of the long-silent "Xianjian" IP will bring a "renaissance" to the Xianxia drama section that has entered the bottleneck period, or will it be a few ordinary "re-fried leftovers"?

Maybe only time will tell.

  "Xianjian" game IP film and television adaptation road

  "Pray for Jin Dynasty" is adapted from the game "The Legend of Sword and Fairy Six", which tells the story of Yue Jin Dynasty (played by Xu Kai) and Yue Qi (played by Yu Shuxin) teaming up with fellow partners to defeat conspiracies one by one and embark on a journey of chivalry and righteousness.

According to the announcement of the filming and production of TV dramas published by the State Administration of Radio and Television in August 2021, the reporting agency for "Qi Jinchao" is Shandong Film and Television Production Co., Ltd. The production cycle is 6 months, and the number of episodes is tentatively scheduled for 36 episodes.

  The male protagonist of the show, Xu Kai, once came out of the circle with the hit drama "Strategy of Yanxi Palace". He played the role of Fucha Fu Heng, whose appearance, personality and acting skills are all online, attracting countless fans.

And the heroine Yu Shuxin once became a "funny person" with the role of the quirky Cai Minmin in "The Next Stop is Happiness", which is impressive.

  Archaeology: IP turned out to be the pinnacle of adaptation

  In July 1995, the game "Legend of Sword and Fairy" produced and distributed by Daewoo Information Co., Ltd. of Taiwan, China, was born.

According to data, after the launch of "Legend of Sword and Fairy" in Taiwan, China, the monthly sales exceeded 100,000 sets, and the monthly sales in mainland China reached 300,000 to 350,000 sets. It became a hot PC game at that time and was praised by many players as "Wonderful work".

  In the next eight years, the "Xianjian" IP faced chaotic development rights disputes and company management contradictions. Until 2003, "Xianjian Qixia Zhuan II" was co-created by Daewoo Information's fanatic creation group and Domo group. " was launched in the same year as "The Legend of Sword and Fairy III" created by Softstar Technology (Shanghai), a subsidiary of Daewoo Information.

In contrast, "Legend of Sword and Fairy III" is even more popular. The first batch of games sold out within a week, and the "Xianjian" IP was resurrected with blood.

  But "Xianjian" IP really broke the circle at the mass level in 2005.

Adapted and produced by Tang Dynasty movies, the TV series "Legend of Sword and Fairy One" starring Hu Ge, Liu Yifei, An Yixuan, Liu Pinyan, and Peng Yuyan was broadcast. In 2008, after being broadcast on Hebei Satellite TV in the first round of the star, it won the national championship in the same period of ratings, and it was repeated three times in the same prime time period within two months.

Hu Ge, Liu Yifei and other leading actors became famous with the play.

  The Legend of Sword and Fairy III, also adapted from a Tang Dynasty movie, premiered on terrestrial channels in many cities in 2009, with unprecedented popularity, and reached its peak after it landed on Jiangsu Satellite TV in the first round of star broadcasts on the first day of the Chinese New Year in 2010.

Sedum played by Hu Ge, Xu Changqing played by Huo Jianhua, Tang Xuejian played by Yang Mi, Zi Xuan played by Tang Yan, and Solanum nigrum played by Liu Shishi have all become classic characters in the "Sword" series, and the popularity of several leading actors is unprecedentedly high.

  In terms of derivative product development, "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" has developed TV dramas, comics, novels, stage plays, seiyuu dramas, cards and other related derivatives at that time, becoming an important IP brand of Daewoo Information.

  Dilemma: Subsequent adaptations have been cold in succession, and the future of IP restart is uncertain

  After the success of "Legend of Sword and Fairy", the "Xianjian" series of games continued to be released.

But unfortunately, the subsequent release of the "Legend of Sword and Fairy" game has frequent bugs, the user experience is degraded, and the IP reputation is affected.

  The decline in the IP value of "Xianjian" has also affected the film and television adaptation like a vicious circle.

At the same time, domestic Xianxia dramas and martial arts dramas have exploded, and audiences have become aesthetically fatigued with the stereotyped clothing and ancient puppet routines.

  In 2015, at the 20th anniversary of the launch of the "Xianjian" IP, the online drama "Xianjian Inn", which was adapted from the game "Xianjian Qixia Chuan I" starring Wu Lei, Sun Xuening, Xu Yue, and Tong Keke, was broadcast. The popularity of the show was extremely low, and there was no splash.

In 2016, "The Legend of Sword and Fairy Five" starring Han Dongjun, Guli Nazha, Zheng Yuanchang, Jin Chen, etc. was broadcast. Although it was broadcast with great momentum, its Douban score was only 3.9 points.

  After a few years of silence, the transition period of "Xianjian" IP development appeared.

Daewoo Information sold its 51% stake in Beijing Softstar to China Mobile Games in 2018, and sold the remaining 49% stake to the other party in 2021.

China Mobile Games has since become the only holder of the development rights of "Legend of Sword and Fairy" in mainland China.

At the same time, a number of "Xianjian" IP adaptations have been filed in the film and television drama market.

In terms of TV series, in addition to "Qi Jinchao" which just started filming, there are also "The Legend of Sword and Fairy One" and "The Legend of Sword and Fairy Five Prequels".

In terms of online movies, the IP character derivative work "Jiujian Xian" is the first exclusive biographical film for the character in the Xianjian series, and there is also the online movie "The Legend of Sword and Fairy II".

  Can Xianxia drama reproduce the glory of "Xianjian"?

  The history of domestic Xianxia dramas is not long. At present, it is mainly divided into two creative modes: one is based on the game adaptation of "Male Frequency" Xianxia dramas represented by "The Legend of Sword and Fairy"; the other is based on "Three Lives, Three Worlds and Ten Miles" "Peach Blossom" as the representative of the network adaptation of "Female Frequency" Xianxia drama.

With the restart of the "Xianjian" IP adaptation drama, can the domestic Xianxia drama market reproduce the "Xianjian" mode production and broadcasting trend?

  The "Xianjian" mode is the first of its kind in domestic Xianxia dramas

  "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" broadcast in 2005 is not only the pioneering work of the "Xianjian" IP drama, but also the beginning of my country's Xianxia drama.

In addition to the tactful love story, the play is also a classic in the shaping of the protagonist and the group of characters.

This drama also created the fixed patterns and routines of Xianxia dramas in the following ten years. For example, the narrative line is simple, and it tells about heroic characters who lead their friends all the way to upgrade and fight monsters; the story has the characteristics of "male frequency", and the protagonists are Men with bizarre backgrounds; handsome men and beautiful actresses starring, love stories with romantic flavors, etc.

  In the period when the "Xianjian" model was popular, almost every fairy-tale drama could become popular with some young actors. For example, after the broadcast of "Gu Jian Qi Tan", Li Yifeng, Yang Mi, Zhong Xintong, Qiao Zhenyu, Ma Tianyu, Chen Weiting and other leading actors quickly It became popular, and film appointments continued in the following years.

At the same time, the "Xianjian" mode Xianxia drama takes chivalrous spirit as the core spirit of the drama, which also affects the creation of subsequent domestic martial arts dramas.

  The homogeneity of the "Three Lives Three Worlds" model is obvious

  From the hit drama "Flower Thousand Bone", which premiered in 2015, the proportion of love scenes in Xianxia dramas has increased until "Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" starring Yang Mi and Zhao Youting in 2017. officially born.

The play has created a fixed pattern of Xianxia dramas in the past five years. For example, the story background is set to four seas and eight wastes, and the narrative line runs through three lives and three lives, telling the love story of the male and female protagonists who are obsessed and sadistic; the story has a "female frequency" Features: Most of the heroines do not understand love and are flawed, while the male protagonists have supreme power and divine power; actors with traffic appeal will play the leading roles, etc.

  After 2017, the worldview, story line, and character settings of Xianxia dramas have become homogeneous, and the path of Xianxia dramas seems to be getting narrower and narrower.

Taking the recently aired "Agarwood as Crumbs" as an example, the play brings together the routine settings of Xianxia dramas in recent years: it tells the love story of the hero and heroine who are born after life, first sweet and then cruel; two actors with traffic appeal will perform Xianxia. The common "teacher and apprentice love" in the play... In addition, compared with the "Xianjian" model, the "Three Lives Three Worlds" model also changes the core spirit of the Xianxia drama - downplaying the chivalrous spirit and human touch, repeating The immortal war and the love story across time and space make the text lack depth.

  There are abundant IP sources, and there are new possibilities for Xianxia dramas

  Is there a possibility of a new mode for the domestic Xianxia drama?

In fact, with the upgrading of online novels, there have been many sweet pets, comedies, comics and fairy tales on the market today, and the fairy tale drama market will also tilt towards these segments.

  At present, there have been more than 20 new Xianxia projects announced by the industry, and the IP sources are quite rich: in addition to the new version of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" and other game adaptations, there is also the national comic "Fox Fairy Little Matchmaker" from Jinjiang Chun Ai District's "Er Ha and His White Cat Shizun" and "Blessings from Heavenly Officials", etc.

The adaptations of male-frequency novels include "Fate of the Dust" and "Covering the Sky", etc., while the adaptations of female-frequency novels include fantasy romance works by well-known female online writers such as Jiulu Feixiang, Shu Ke, Shishilang and so on.

In addition, there are also many creative plots in Xianxia dramas to be broadcast. For example, "Stars Fall Congealed into Sugar" starring Chen Xingxu and Li Randi, was regarded by netizens as "Xianxia version of "Wrong sedan chair to marry the right man"", which tells the story of the human race A pair of twin sisters with different personalities in the royal family got married wrongly due to an oolong, not only making countless jokes, but also involving two romantic and beautiful love stories in ancient costume mythology.

These innovative works will open up ideas for the innovation of the theme and mode of Xianxia drama.