The future of domestic films is promising, exceeding 10 billion yuan! Frequent occurrence of "dark horses" during the summer season by institutions | box office | dark horses
According to statistical data, as of now, the summer box office of 2023 has reached 10 billion yuan, with domestic films "The Disappearing She", "In the Octagonal Cage", and "Three Thousand Miles in Chang'an" ranking in the top three.
All three films are hailed as dark horses in the market, but this does not necessarily mean the full picture of the summer season. With the release of "Fengshen Part 1: Chaoge Fengyun", "Super Powerful Family", and "Passionate", as well as the scheduled release of "Youth" on August 17th, there may be even greater "dark horses". According to analysis by relevant institutions, this year's summer box office is expected to catch up with or even surpass the box office of the same period before the epidemic.
It has to be admitted that "The Disappearing She" ignited the summer audience's enthusiasm for watching movies, and it has surpassed the final box office forecast of 3.3 billion yuan shortly after its release, becoming a substantial "super high box office blockbuster". "The Disappearance of Her" carries the popular genre of suspense films in recent years, mixed with some popular social media hot topics. In addition, the film's precise and sustained effective marketing has made its topic popularity high after its release.
"The Disappearing She" is also constantly controversial. The film's shortcomings in narrative logic, detail composition, and character integrity have led to a significant drop in ratings from high to low after its release, seemingly falling into a "bad film high box office" mode. But "The Disappearing She" is not actually considered a "bad film". It is a product of the industrialization and mass production of genre films. The creator's long-term judgment of the market and precise "feeding" to the audience give this type of film, which draws inspiration from the story subject and creativity, a greater chance of winning.
Compared to "The Disappearing She", "In the Octagonal Cage" is more conventional and stable. Its main highlight lies in director Wang Baoqiang's "Salted Fish Revival". The intertextuality between the movie story and the creator's real-life experiences has achieved a mutual completion, invisibly catering to the audience's desire to watch "ordinary heroes" reach the pinnacle of life. As for the fighting and motivational elements of "In the Octagonal Cage", in terms of presentation and expression, it can only be considered as passing scores. While Wang Baoqiang captures the core charm of realistic film creation, he also needs to further improve his artistic style and technical level.
The popularity of "Three Thousand Miles in Chang'an" is to some extent similar to "The Disappearing She", walking at the intersection and online of social, cultural, and social topics - Xi'an has become a popular check-in city, and Tang Dynasty aesthetics have revived in the short video era, with content related to the Tang Dynasty frequently appearing on the screen. Chang'an 30000 Miles revolves around the lifelong friendship between Gao Shi and Li Bai, which determines that the film mainly focuses on highlighting human destiny. It is commendable that the film did not downplay the writing of history as a result. However, those who are as outstanding as Gao Shi and as great as Li Bai are just insignificant figures in the face of the tide of history. The movie captures this point and organically connects people with history, which is truly touching after watching.
The distant Tang Dynasty has been active in the sensitive points of people's consumption desires for many years. In an era where even a 5-minute video can conquer netizens, "Chang'an 30000 Miles" takes nearly 3 hours to give the audience a long dream. As some netizens have said, "If you give them a movie ticket, they will give you a 30000 mile dream." With such a viewing environment, audiences can naturally tolerate some of the shortcomings of the movie. After entering a bottleneck period in the past few years, "Guomang" once again achieved a breakthrough in terms of length, plot, and layout in "Chang'an 30000 Miles".
"Fengshen Part 1: Chaoge Fengyun", "Supernatural Family", and "Enthusiasm" are three well selling movies. Especially "Fengshen", this movie has the brilliance inherent in the classic story of "Fengshen Bang". It is a powerful collision between film technology and Chinese mythology, and also an expectation for director Ulsan's years of dedication to this topic. As a whole, "Fengshen" has a commendable grasp of the temperament of Chinese mythology and a magnificent display of historical momentum, especially in the first ten minutes of the film, which has a breathtaking sense of rhythm and oppression, making people excited and invested. The special effects and epic music are well combined. In terms of the main storyline and plot development, the film also strives to achieve interlocking elements and does not give the audience the opportunity to be distracted. But in front of a larger audience, the film may also face some word-of-mouth pressure, such as controversy over special effects, character design, costumes, and other aspects.
The pressure of "Super Family" and "Passionate" is much less than that of "Fengshen". Firstly, these two films are comedies and are one of the most popular film genres in the market; Secondly, these two works have a distinct "family reunion" color, which creates a better atmosphere in the cinema. A comedy film without pressure or ambition should have a decent reputation as a "dark horse" during this summer season.
To summarize this summer season, which has already exceeded half of its time, one thing can be certain is that it is a period when domestic films have taken over the market. The strong rise of domestic films has never been so obvious, from being evenly matched with imported films to now standing out from the crowd. According to statistics, as of now, the number of imported blockbuster films with box office revenue exceeding 1 billion is 0. The highest grossing film is "Speed and Passion 10" with a box office revenue of 980 million yuan, "Spider Man: Crossover Universe" with a box office revenue of 350 million yuan, "Flash Man" with a box office revenue of 180 million yuan, and "Black Panther 2" with a box office revenue of 106 million yuan... Hollywood has lost its position in the minds of Chinese audiences, continuously updating its young mainstream audience and starting to abandon those IP series films with outdated plots and lazy innovation.
Of course, heroes cannot be solely judged by box office. From the current situation, "Chang'an 30000 Miles" alone has basically achieved a "win-win" situation of reputation and box office, while other films have more or less obvious shortcomings. I hope that the release of new films in the second half of the summer season can make a significant impact and bring a beautiful end to this period. The results of the summer season make people feel that the future of domestic films is promising, and the future of Chinese cinema once again shows a broad picture.
