In the just-concluded 2022 summer season, a "sci-fi wind" has been blowing in the mainland film market.
According to data from the State Film Administration, as of August 31, the 2022 summer season has produced a total of 9.135 billion yuan at the box office, an increase of 23.76% from 7.381 billion yuan in the same period in 2021.
Among them, the box office of the domestic sci-fi comedy film "Lone on the Moon" was 2.896 billion yuan, and the box office of the sci-fi action film "Tomorrow's War" was 623 million yuan, accounting for nearly 40% of the box office.
In addition, the box office of the sci-fi parent-child movie "Mozart in Outer Space" was nearly 224 million yuan, and the box office of the sci-fi animation films "Out of the Earth" and "Happy Superman's Heart of the Hero" both exceeded the 10 million yuan mark.
In recent years, domestic science fiction films have made great progress.
"The Wandering Earth", which was released in the Spring Festival in 2019, won unanimous praise from the industry and abroad, and started a new journey of domestic science fiction film creation.
Today, "The Wandering Earth 2" is about to be released, and "Cosmic Exploration Editorial Department" won the "Most Watched Film" in the "Focus on the Future" section of the 12th Beijing International Film Festival.
Science fiction films such as "749 Bureau", "Crazy Alien 2" and "Mermaid 2" are also under preparation and production.
In the future, domestic sci-fi movies are expected to become an important growth point and new driving force for the high-quality development of movies.
Industrialization is a strong support
"When "Zootopia" was released in 2016, Judy Rabbit had more than 2 million hairs. At that time, everyone was very envious of Disney's degree of industrialization. Today, Chinese filmmakers have tried their best to create nearly 50 million hairs in "Alone on the Moon" The root Kangaroo Gangzi is deeply loved by the audience." said Liu Hongtao, the chief producer of "Lonely Walking on the Moon" and the president of Happy Twist Films.
Chinese science fiction films have long been in the primary development stage of industrialization, and workshop-style film crews are not uncommon.
The real realization of film industrialization not only means higher level and large-scale shooting of visual effects and sound effects, but also includes the specialization, standardization and refinement of film production process.
From "Thunderbolt Bebe" and "The Atmosphere Disappeared", which were known as "enlightenment" of children's science fiction films in the 1990s, to "Changjiang No. 7", "Future Police" and "All-in-One" jointly launched by mainland and Hong Kong filmmakers since the 21st century "City Alert" and "Mermaid", Chinese filmmakers have never stopped exploring the mode and construction of film industrialization, but due to various conditions, they have never been able to achieve substantial breakthroughs.
Until 2019, "The Wandering Earth" directed by Guo Fan with 2,200 visual effects shots was released and achieved a box office success of nearly 4.7 billion yuan.
The sci-fi comedy film "Crazy Alien" directed by Ning Hao was released at the same time, and it also received a good result of more than 2.2 billion yuan at the box office.
According to reports, 50% of "The Wandering Earth" is a difficult visual effect shot, and it also challenges a large number of full CG shots.
The crew of "Lonely Walk on the Moon" used 15 studios, and 95% of the shots involved special effects.
The crew laid 200 tons of sand and gravel to simulate lunar dust in a 6,000-square-meter studio, and built a lunar base with 100% real scenes.
Guo Fan believes that film industrialization is a way of thinking, a process, and a set of standards.
The "Wandering Earth" production team has 7,000 people. When coordinating such a large-scale team, production standards and management processes are particularly important.
After the release of "The Wandering Earth", Guo Fan conducted a long-term review and national research on the project, hoping to sum up experience and lessons and promote the establishment of China's film industrialization system.
He revealed that "The Wandering Earth 2" tried a new industrial process.
"The Wandering Earth" is a new beginning for Chinese science fiction films.
The success of films such as "Lone on the Moon" and "Tomorrow's War" shows that on the basis of the rapid development of Chinese films in recent years, the industrialization system has begun to take shape, and Chinese science fiction films have entered a new era.
Localization is the foundation
Based on the work of the same name by South Korean sci-fi cartoonist Zhao Shi, "Lonely Walking on the Moon" tells the story of the engineer Dugu Yue who was forgotten on the moon and struggled to return to Earth.
Happy Twist adapted this IP locally, based on the feelings of the Chinese family and country, and reasonably extended part of the story line, creating an unexpected comedy effect.
In particular, the end of the film enriches the plot of Duguyue's choice of self-sacrifice to save the earth and human beings. The story of sadness and joy fully embodies the traditional Chinese values of "family and world" and "sacrifice the ego in exchange for the big ego".
A similar plot also exists in "The Wandering Earth".
The film tells the story of "Wandering with the Earth" with distinctive Chinese historical and cultural characteristics and romantic poetry. There have been estrangements and misunderstandings, but we will eventually unite and build our homeland.” This is the Chinese expression of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Wang Hongwei, Vice President of China Film Directors Association and Associate Professor of Beijing Film Academy, has participated in the screenwriting and planning of science fiction films such as "The Wandering Earth" and "Crazy Alien".
He believes that Chinese science fiction films will adhere to the localization path, and copying foreign genre models may be a shortcut, but what really attracts audiences is the Chinese story itself.
Zhang Wei, executive vice president of the China Film Critic Society, believes that science fiction films tell the story of the future destiny of all mankind, and Chinese science fiction films should have a global vision and a high-level vision of a community with a shared future for mankind.
At the same time, science fiction films are an important area for a movie powerhouse, and Chinese science fiction films should reflect the common pursuit of human values, so that it is easier to gain worldwide influence.
Branding is the way of the future
After years of market cultivation, Hollywood sci-fi movies such as "Transformers" and "The Avengers" have all shown brand effects, and sequels are constantly being launched.
The much-anticipated "Avatar 2" will also be released in North America.
The domestic sci-fi movies that have entered the development track are also actively exploring the way of brand development.
During the 12th Beijing International Film Festival held in August, "The Wandering Earth 2" released its first trailer, announcing that Li Xuejian, the chairman of the international jury for this year's "Temple of Heaven Award" and a famous actor, joined the film, alongside Wu Jing and Andy Lau. Cooperation.
At this year's Beijing International Film Festival, it was also reported that the production of "The Mermaid 2" directed by Stephen Chow was about to be completed.
As early as last year, Bad Monkey Pictures announced that "Crazy Aliens 2" had begun preparations.
The film industry believes that with the same values and unified aesthetic style, a series of films can more easily obtain higher expectations and market popularity, and play an important role in increasing the box office, cultivating audiences, cultivating talents, branding domestic films, and exploring industrialization. .
As we all know, the shooting of science fiction movies is very difficult and the production cost is extremely high.
Preparing, creating, and launching sci-fi movies requires not only accurate judgment on the market, but also strong support from national policies.
In August 2020, the State Film Administration and the China Association for Science and Technology issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of Science Fiction Films", proposing to make science fiction films an important growth point and new driving force for the high-quality development of films, and announced the creation and production of science fiction films. , distribution and projection, special effects technology, talent training and other ten policy measures to strengthen support and guidance, known as "Science Fiction Ten".
In November 2021, the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Chinese Films" was officially released, which clearly stated that it is necessary to accelerate the development of film special effects technology, encourage and guide all resources to invest in the research and development of public special effects underlying technologies, and implement a linkage mechanism to promote the development of science fiction films. , and further improve the film standardization system.
Guo Fan once said that the audience recognition and confidence of domestic science fiction films are closely related to the country's growing comprehensive national strength.
Today, domestic sci-fi movies have a grander narrative pattern and a broad imagination space.
Under multiple favorable conditions such as policy support, market expectations, and audience recognition, domestic sci-fi movies will definitely have a better future.
Li Tingjun