Do you accept it?, Mission Impossible 7: Deadly Reckoning (Part 1) Released: Super long blockbuster yet to be completed, sequel series | Mission Impossible 7 | Unfinished, sequel
The action blockbuster Mission Impossible 7: Deadly Reckoning, starring Tom Cruise, was released on July 14th. As one of the most influential action movie series, the film was highly anticipated by fans after its release. However, the "up" in the title indicates that the audience cannot see the end of the story in this movie.
Recently, many Hollywood blockbusters have been released in the form of episodes. Although the titles of "Speed and Fury 10" and "Spider Man: The Universe" do not indicate it, they all abruptly come to an end during the crucial climax of life and death, and the subsequent plot will take a year or even several years to be revealed. Moreover, both films exceed 140 minutes, while Mission Impossible 7 has a length of 164 minutes.
Nowadays, super long blockbusters lasting over 150 and 160 minutes are ubiquitous in cinemas, posing a great challenge to the audience's attention and endurance. This can't help but be confusing. The longer the movie is filmed, the longer it has to be divided into upper and lower parts. Can't it tell a story?
The previous and subsequent episodes are mostly the last part of the series
The Mission Impossible series tells the story of agent Ethan Hunter, played by Tom Cruise, who performs an impossible mission. In Mission Impossible 7: Deadly Reckoning, Hunter and his IMF team embark on the most dangerous mission to date, once again rescuing crises around the world. It is worth mentioning that the film is relevant to current events, and Hunter's opponent this time is not ordinary humans, but AI. The story continues the series's style of climax and tense rhythm, with some plot segments remaining humorous. For example, to resist AI intrusion, agents have to manually backup data onto paper; AI controlled the voice navigation system and imitated the voice of teammates to send misleading messages to Hunter, all of which made the audience feel quite immersed.
On the day of the film's release, Douban scored 8.3 points. At IMAX's Shanghai film viewing event, its action scenes, spy plot, actor performance, as well as IMAX's audio-visual effects and immersive atmosphere were highly recognized by fans. Some praised it for "achieving the benchmark of action movies in terms of immersion.". As the creator introduced, "When shooting the stunt shots of Mission Impossible with Tom, there is no limit, we are always pushing the limits of the previous one.".
Tom Cruise's persistence in real-life action scenes is also constantly creating new screen wonders. In Mission Impossible 7, he challenged a sport rarely explored - parachute, which required a spiral descent during filming, landing at a high speed of over 80 kilometers per hour. These real-life thrilling action scenes, combined with IMAX screen effects, provide ample cinematic viewing opportunities for the film.
However, the story of Mission Impossible 7 is not yet finished, and whether Hunter can ultimately defeat AI will need to wait for the next part to be revealed. This is already the third half of the series released this year. Is it because we can't finish telling the story in 120 minutes when we split it into previous and subsequent episodes for release?
In the view of Du Liang, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Literature at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, the fact that the large films are divided into two parts is more for commercial considerations rather than narrative considerations. On the surface, it appears to prolong the long tail effect of movie IPs and improve economic benefits, but in essence, it is the IP anxiety of film studios in the era of copyright economy. "Hollywood's popular high concept movies emphasize high investment and high returns, but also bring high commercial risks. Making IP into a series of movies is an important way to reduce commercial risks and attract audiences to continuously pay for subsequent works."
John Woo's "Red Cliff" and "Taiping Wheel" have both been released as separate episodes, but due to a lack of early audience base, box office performance has not been guaranteed by the market. Therefore, series films are usually the prerequisite for the previous and subsequent episodes, and movies released in separate episodes are mostly the last installment of the series. For example, "Speed and Fury 10" is the final chapter of the Speed and Fury series, and "Mission Impossible 7" is said to be the concluding chapter of the series. The previously released Avengers 3: Infinite War and Avengers 4: Endgame War can also be regarded as the first and second episodes of the Avengers series, as Avengers 3 ends with a snap of a finger, leaving the suspense of whether they can turn the tables for victory to be revealed in Avengers 4, which will be released a year later. The entire story takes place in both films.
"Even the best IP will come to an end, and the filmmakers are more concerned about how the IP can generate more economic benefits before its end. Breaking it down into episodes for release is a simple and feasible way. If it can extend the size of a film, the additional box office may be billions or even billions of US dollars," said Du Liang.
As long as the work is good, all waiting is worth it
The idea of making one more movie in a blockbuster series has been filmed in both episodes, and many fans support it with a mindset of watching one less movie. Fan Hong Qishu watched Mission Impossible 7 for the first time and gave high praise to the plot and action scenes of the film, and planned to make a second installment. In his opinion, even though it was released in separate episodes, the plot of "Fast and Furious 10" was delayed and filled with water. After watching the upper part, people no longer showed interest in the lower part; And Mission Impossible 7 has a tight pace and a relatively complete story, so we will look forward to the release of the next installment even more. "It would be great if you could watch two movies in one go, but watching a movie for a long time can also distract your attention and leave your body overwhelmed. As long as the work is good, waiting is worth it."
Although Mission Impossible 7 had a good reputation, it took 9:46 in one day to break the 100 million mark at the box office, which is not as good as the recent performance of domestic films. Before the film was released, some cinema managers were worried that the clear labeling of the title only had the upper part, which would bring uncertainty to the box office performance. "For viewers who want to be 'lightning proof' when selecting a film, it is certainly good for the film to clearly indicate the upper part, but unfinished stories may attract mainly the core audience, causing the film to lose some non core viewers." Du Liang said. The title of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was released in separate episodes, clearly states that although both films have good reviews, the box office for the upper part is only 120 million yuan, while the lower part is 402 million yuan.
Before its release, many viewers were unaware that "Speed and Fury 10" and "Spider Man: The Universe" were actually only the first episode. At present, "Speed and Passion 10" has grossed nearly 1 billion yuan at the box office, but its reputation is only 6.2 points. The audience who came to the cinema with a farewell mentality roast that this was just a "super long trailer" with a big ending. The first half of the story in Spider Man: Crossing the Universe progresses slowly, and the last 40 minutes are almost all climaxes, ending abruptly at the critical moment of the protagonist's life and death. Ms. Lai, the audience, believes that this ending style is very bold and also challenges the audience's ability to accept. Fortunately, many foreshadowings are explained at the end, and the dazzling visual effects and extraordinary imagination also enhance the visual experience of the film. "Spider Man is a super big IP, and the audience will have patience and tolerance. If it is an original animated work, doing so is likely to lose most of the audience."
Is it a good or bad idea to break it down into episodes and release it, in order to continue the popularity of IP or achieve greater commercial benefits? "On a commercial level, there are definitely more advantages than disadvantages, but it can indeed bring a negative impression to some viewers. Especially those works that can be completed within two hours and forcefully split into upper and lower episodes through crazy water injection." Du Liang believes that for core audiences, it is difficult to separate from an IP due to the inertia of aesthetic review, but for ordinary viewers, facing such unfinished stories, they have a greater choice - bad reputation, wait for the next part to discuss.
Why gamble my time on your reputation
Nowadays, many single released films are also getting longer and longer. Is the 120 minute duration no longer suitable for the needs of the times? "The popularity of high-quality TV series has elevated the production level, laying a more complete story over a longer period of time. In contrast, the 120 minute duration of a movie may be a constraint on the director's expression and meeting audience needs." Hong Qishu believes that the duration serves the content. Previously, Zack Schneider's "Justice League" had a 120 minute screen length, but its reputation was lukewarm. Later, the director's edited version, which lasted for 242 minutes, was released online and gained audience recognition. "Some content may not be finished in 120 minutes and cannot be told well. As long as I can tell the story well, I don't mind shooting for too long."
Monk is an art film enthusiast. He watched "Lawrence of Arabia" during this year's Shanghai Film Festival, which was 216 minutes long. The longest movie he watched in the cinema was "American Memories". "I can accept a duration of 3 hours for an art film, but for a popcorn movie, if the content is exciting enough and the visual effects are exciting enough, it doesn't matter if it's a bit long."
The longest movie that Orange Shadow watched in the cinema was 181 minutes of "Avengers: Endgame". Recently, he watched 168 minutes of "Chang'an 30000 Miles" on the recommendation of a friend. Although he liked it after watching it, he admitted that the 168 minutes was something he wouldn't have considered. "Domestic dramas have evolved from 20-30 episodes in the past to 60-70 episodes now, with a common phenomenon of slow pace and excessive water injection. If everyone can accept long duration films, I am worried that relying on water injection to sustain duration and raise ticket prices will also become a common phenomenon in the film industry."
"90 to 120 minutes is the best time validated by the market, but this is only suitable for commercial films and is not suitable for director centered art films. Many art films far exceed 120 minutes, even up to six or seven hours." Du Liang believes that in the film era, strict control of film duration is generally implemented from the perspective of cost reduction. In the digital film era, the freedom of shooting has increased, and the amount of material has increased significantly. In addition, in recent years, the trend of genre fusion has strengthened, and most films not only have one genre element, but these factors will lead to a generally longer duration. In his opinion, 120 minutes is sufficient for most commercial films, but this year's Spring Festival blockbuster "Wandering Earth 2" has set too many narrative clues, leading to a certain degree of logical and structural confusion.
Hong Qishu said that in order to watch the 190 minute evening performance of "Avatar: The Way of Water", he didn't drink water for a whole afternoon. Orange Shadow also stated that if it weren't for the grand finale of "Fu Lian 4", she wouldn't be able to endure three hours in the cinema. "Audience loss may be a problem that feature films are destined to face. If it weren't for their favorite IP sequels and without recommendations from familiar people, I wouldn't have bought tickets. No one is willing to gamble their time and bladder on a movie's reputation."
"Some movie fans may think that the longer the movie, the better, but if you want to attract more people into the cinema, you still need to shoot a movie within 120 minutes, which is also in line with the viewing habits of the general public." Du Liang introduced that the American film market is supported by movie fans, which is the audience group with an average annual viewing frequency of more than 12 times, making its film production mechanism and box office predictability relatively strong.
According to the Cat's Eye Research Institute, the per capita number of movies watched in China in 2021 was 2.4, with half of the audience only watching one movie per year. "Why do domestic box office movies sometimes seem random? Because most of our audiences do not have specific viewing expectations and genre needs." He believes that in the future, if we want to create more domestic films with super long durations, we need to strengthen the guidance and cultivation of the audience, and form good communication between creators and audiences. But for now, we need more movies that can tell the story clearly in 120 minutes.
