Under the "miserable" marketing, the box office continues to counterattack

　　Homegrown mecha sci-fi film controversy begins

　　"Tomorrow's War", known as "China's first sci-fi mecha cool film", finally broke the 600 million yuan mark at the box office after more than 20 days of release.

This film with large investment and greater pressure to return to capital can achieve a continuous reverse decline in attendance and box office. It is not unrelated to the "miserable" marketing of the film team and starring Gu Tianle, and the continuous box office controversy. As the first local film A cool mecha film, "Tomorrow's War" does have its own breakthrough in the sci-fi genre. The box office record of the film may have a certain reference and influence on the subsequent creation of such films.

has been followed

　　After the release of "Tomorrow's War" on August 5, the cumulative box office exceeded 200 million in the first weekend. For ordinary themed films, this box office result is not bad, but for the mecha blockbuster with very special effects, this result is not bad. not ideal.

It is said that "Tomorrow's War" invested 450 million Hong Kong dollars, and the film's box office exceeded one billion yuan to make a return. Faced with the unsatisfactory box office results after its release, Gu Tianle, who is also the film's producer and starring, began to vigorously market and promote , trying to turn the tide of the battle.

　　In order to promote the film, Gu Tianle, in addition to the normal national post-screening meeting and film festival, has also been a guest in the live broadcast room with goods many times, and chatted awkwardly with the anchor who brought goods, just to open up a larger market and attention to the film.

In order to promote the film, Gu Tianle's most critical operation is to focus on the topic of "selling miserable".

　　Louis Koo ran the propaganda, constantly showing his grievance and disappointment at the unsatisfactory box office of the film, and even covered his face and wiped away tears at an event, showing his unwillingness in his heart.

In fact, the most unwilling person for this film should be Gu Tianle. In order to complete this mecha film he loves, Gu Tianle established a company, pulled investment, and even spent nearly ten years to do this.

When Gu Tianle was promoting the movie, he kept wiping tears and the scene of "selling miserably" was matched with sensational copywriting and music, which quickly went out of the circle and became a hot topic on major short video platforms.

"Others only see how happy he is on the surface, only I know how much pain he is behind." "The world is so cruel, and 10 years of hard work will bring no return." "Gu Tianle has guarded the dreams of so many children, and this time it's his turn. Let's guard his dream" and other marketing copywriting describing the tragedy of Gu Tianle's film did win some sympathy points from the audience, increasing the filming rate and attendance rate.

　　In addition, Gu Tianle's words on publicity occasions, "As long as you have seen "Tomorrow's War", you will be my wife," and "Chinese sci-fi dreams" have also been marketed wildly.

And some good people on the Internet "morally kidnapped" Andy Lau, Li Ruotong and other stars, asking them to help promote the movie, and questioning the "box office stealing" oolong incident of the same period movie, etc., also made the movie "Tomorrow's War" always concerned. , has been breaking the circle.

　　Overwhelming movie promotions, such as "sell miserable" marketing, over-marketing, poker-style marketing, and "stealing the box office", have almost become an emotional carnival on the short video platform.

Although this has caused some audiences to resist and doubt, it has brought continuous popularity to "Tomorrow's War".

This made the box office of "Tomorrow's War" released on the third Sunday surpassed the second Sunday, showing a reversed trend.

　　But from a rational point of view, in the self-media platform, the methods and methods are a bit disregarding the actor's image. For the sci-fi cool film "Tomorrow's War", it may be the best choice.

At the moment, the audience's understanding of mecha sci-fi blockbusters may still stay on Hollywood blockbusters such as "Transformers", "Avengers", and "Pacific Rim". The audience is not certain about the quality of the first local mecha sci-fi film. Cognitive, and Gu Tianle's "miserable" marketing, at least let users of all ages and sinking markets have a certain understanding of the first mecha sci-fi blockbuster, and also led audiences other than mecha sci-fi fans to enter Cinema to watch movies.

　　Accurate, surprising and effective movie marketing strategies can certainly increase the popularity of the movie, but it is the quality of the work that determines the final box office volume of the movie.

　Huge improvement in effects

　　As the first local sci-fi mecha cool film, "Tomorrow's War" has five years of post-production.

As another exploration of local science fiction in terms of subject matter and special effects, the film's advantages are obvious, but its shortcomings cannot be ignored.

　　In terms of plot, "Tomorrow's War" is a great film about fighting alien monsters and saving people. The film has cut literary drama to a minimum. At the same time, in order to reduce the special effects scenes of large-scale battles, the main contradiction of the story is concentrated on people. The main line of the struggle with people is not the big battle between humans and alien creatures in the larger universe.

It is right that the film is positioned as a cool film with a simple plot and focuses on a few large-scale battles, but the crotch-pulling and childish plot has become a flaw in the eyes of the audience.

　　In the combination of mecha sci-fi elements, special effects and various elements, "Tomorrow's War" has its remarkable points.

The post-production special effects of the film took five years, and there were more than 1,700 special effects shots. It was a film with a large scale and high technical difficulty.

The film builds air force bases, armored vehicles, and fighter cabins in real scenes, and heavy industry builds power armor, robot special forces, all kinds of hard-core mechas, cold weapons, etc., so that the film shows the futuristic sense of science fiction films and presents the level of local film industrialization.

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the wonderful mecha elements, the film does not lose the advantages of classic Hong Kong films, and incorporates elements such as traditional martial arts, fighting, police and bandit dramas, showing the characteristics of local sci-fi.

The constant switching of subjective and objective perspectives in the film also gives the audience a sense of substitution.

　　Some netizens believe that the film is not hard-core enough compared with Hollywood blockbusters, and criticized the film as a "stitch monster" mixed with Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters, but it is undeniable that it is different from the previous "Future Police", "Robot" and "Machine". Compared with local films with mecha elements such as "A Core" and "Kunta: Reverse Planet", "Tomorrow's War" has achieved the first place in China's mecha theme in terms of investment volume and special effects. The great progress and improvement have made the film have extremely high technological content and special effects quality. The biggest contribution of the film is to expand the subject matter of local science fiction films.

　　As the starting work of local mecha sci-fi, the special effects of "Tomorrow's War" are worthy of recognition. The best result for this kind of pioneering film is to get more box office, realize the return of the original, and allow this kind of film to continue to be made. Realize an efficient production cycle.

　　Reporter Shi Wenjing