Author: Shi Bingyu
Edit: Nurhahaci
Previously, Lei Bao [WeChat: leinewspaper + attention] released the release of animation films in China in 2021, a total of 65 animation films were released in 2021, a rapid increase in the number compared with 2020, but the genre of the theme is still not separated from the "mythical universe" and "series IP", most of the domestic animation films are still children's works.
In the 2020 animation film filing statistics, according to the data of the National Film Administration, a total of 102 animation films were filed, of which 16 were mythological IP adaptations, and according to Lei Bao [WeChat: leinewspaper + concern] statistics, a total of 86 animated films were filed from January to November 2021, of which 22 were mythological IP adaptations and 15 were serial IP sequels.
22 mythological IP adaptations, 15 series IP sequels
Affected by the epidemic factors in the past two years, the number of animation film filings has decreased significantly, with a total of 131 animated films filed in 2018, 164 in 2019, 71 animated films filed in the first half of 2020, and only 31 in the second half of the year, while the data disclosed by the National Film Administration so far in 2021 shows that a total of 86 animated films have been filed from January to November, which is likely to hit a new low in recent years.
Although the number of animation film filings is declining, the number of movie filings related to myths and legends continues to rise. Since 2015, "The Return of the Great Sage of Journey to the West", domestic animation filmmakers have explored a genre with high market acceptance and reusable monetization mode in the film theme at all ages: mythological IP adaptation; according to statistics, between 2015 and 2020, a total of 878 domestic animation films have been recorded, of which at least 119 are mythological IP adaptation films, including but not limited to "24 Sun Wukong", "11 Nezha" and "8 Erlang Gods".
This situation continues in 2021, and among the 86 animation film filings currently disclosed, at least 22 are adapted from Chinese classic myths and legends IP, which are summarized as follows:
From the perspective of the selection of the protagonist of the movie, although "Sun Wukong", "Nezha", "Erlang God", etc., which have appeared in recent years, more mythological characters have also begun to appear frequently, such as 2 times "Ganjiang Mo Evil", 2 times "Cow Lang Weaver Girl", and 3 times "Chang'e" in this year's filing; in recent years, in addition to several major mythological IP (Fengshen List, Journey to the West, White Snake Legend, etc.), the film producers have also set their sights on non-popular myths and legends (Journey to the South, Cow Lang Weaver Girl, Meng Jiang Girl), folklore (Door God, King of The Stove) and historical figures (Guan Yu).
On the one hand, in addition to the self-generated heat brought by the accumulation of its historical traditions, it also avoids the negative emotions brought by the audience due to aesthetic fatigue; on the other hand, it also promotes the traditional Chinese culture and national culture while digging deep into the historical and cultural values; for example, in May 2021, the animation film "Burning Biwa" filed by shanghai fine arts film studio is from the myths and legends of the Qiang people. Lei Bao [WeChat: leinewspaper+ attention] did not include it in the mythical IP mainly because it does not have a large number of mass cognition, and has not formed an IP effect.
However, a large number of historical mythological IP adaptations also limit the creation of domestic animation movies to a certain extent, compared with the "Marvel Universe" and "DC Universe", the "Mythological Universe" comes with a complete world view system, which is a mature cultural symbol, and it is a very easy shortcut for the current domestic animation films to be used directly, and the explosive movies born in the "Mythological Universe" are no longer need to be counted one by one, but aside from the "Mythological Universe", the original series IP of the domestic incubation is very different from it.
At present, most of the domestic series of IP sequels on the market are mostly aimed at young age audiences, such as the 2021 animated film box office champion "Bear Haunting Wild Continent", which has pushed many all-age animation films to the top of the list. In the 2021 animation film filing, there is no lack of such animation figures, 86 filings, at least 15 for the series of IP sequels, sorted out as follows:
According to the collation table, under the domestic original series OF IP, in addition to "Big Fish Begonia II" and "Big Dream Mountain Sea Dream Awakening", there are no more all-age works, and "Big Fish Begonia II" has not formed a mature IP, and now the sequel may only value the popularity of its first work. "Big Dream Mountain Sea Dream Awakening" was born from the matrix IP "Big Dream Mountain Sea", but the IP is currently small and influential.
The remaining series of IP sequels, mostly popular science, preschool education themes, the overall audience is young and most of the production companies are not large-scale and small, the quality of the works is not high under various factors, and with "Bakken Bear", "Armor Warrior", "Balala Little Magic Fairy" and other IP, the experienced Aofei Entertainment focuses on the K12 market, and the development of another major domestic IP "Bear Haunting" Huaqiang Fantawild is also the same.
There are 5 light pictures, 3 of Aofei pictures, and 7 films of Shangmei Film
From the perspective of filing places, the first place in the number of filings during the year is Shanghai, with a total of 17 animation film filings, of which Aofei Pictures contributed 3 and Shangmei Film contributed 7; the second is Beijing, with a total of 16 animation film filings, Guangguang Pictures filing 5, followed by 9 in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and 8 in Guangdong.
The five animated film records of Light Pictures are "Erlang God", "The Broken Rebirth of Tuxingsun", "Big Fish and Begonia II", "Red Child's Rush out of the Flame", and "Tea Two Middle School", a total of 3 "Mythical Universes" and 2 IP sequels. Light Media is the first in China to put forward the concept of "mythical universe", in 2015 set up a color strip house, and the "mythical universe" theme of the production of the film is also known as "color strip house model", in recent years, light media has produced "big fish begonias", "the great protector", "Nezha's devil child descending" and other films, to help produce "your name", "Spirited away" and other imported films.
According to the 2021 semi-annual report of Light Media, the main business of Light Media film business has developed steadily, and the company's net profit attributable to the mother in a single quarter has reached 286 million yuan, while Chairman Wang Changtian said: "Light Media has invested in about 20 animation-related companies, and it is expected to release about 2-3 animation movies per year in the future. ”
And in 2021, Ofei Pictures, which filed 3 animated films, has been focusing on the production of children's IP movies, and its three films include "Pleasant Goat and the Basket of Gray Wolves out of the Future", "Bakken Bear 3: Mars Mission", "Super Flying Man: Ledi Acceleration", of which the second big movie of the "Bakken Bear" series," "Becken Bear 2: Gold Medal Agent" has just been released in July 2021, and the two series of films currently released by "Bakken Bear" have a total box office of 208 million yuan; "Super Flying Man: Leddy Acceleration" Not surprisingly, it will be the first big movie in its series; and this year's 17-year-old "Happy Goat" has launched a total of 7 animated movies, with a total of 800 million yuan at the box office.
Aofei Entertainment has many IPs, including "Pleasant Goat and Gray Wolf", "Bakken Bear", "Cute Chicken Squad", released in 2021, "Cute Chicken Squad: Meng New World" is also produced by Aofei, and the light focuses on the "mythical universe", Aofei focuses on children's movies. Aofei Entertainment started from traditional toys, the current business is mainly around children, has covered toys, animation, games, film and television, theme parks, the current of its Aofei Entertainment main business is still based on toy sales, its animation film box office compared to Huaqiang Fantawild's "Bear Haunting" series is not satisfactory.
As the founding father of domestic animation, Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, in 2021, it filed 7 animation films in one go.
The filing works include "New Three Forks", "Tianshu Qitan 4K Commemorative Edition", "Burning Biwa", "Goodbye Snow Child", "Impala Flying Ferry", "Big Trouble Animation City", "Four Seasons", among these 7 filings, "Tianshu Qitan 4K Commemorative Edition" has been released in November 2021, earning 27.793 million yuan at the box office.
Through the material information disclosed and published by Shangmei Film on the Internet, Lei Bao [WeChat: leinewspaper + concern] roughly summarized the keywords of its filing works, and it can be roughly seen that the theme types of these 7 works cover a wide range of topics, and there is no mythological theme content, which also includes "Goodbye Snow Child" and "Big Trouble Animation City" two emotional works.
"Snow Child" was born in 1980, Shangmei Film through the then undeveloped animation technology, to tell everyone a warm story that happened in winter, "Snow Child" has thus become a childhood memory of many people, this time Shangmei Film will be its sequel for the record, do not know how the "Snow Child" after more than 40 years will change. "Big Trouble Animation City" tells the story of Lao Hou, an actor who once played Qi Tian Dasheng, because gradually no one paid attention to a series of stories caused by resentment, which inevitably reminds people of the peak of domestic animation art produced by Shangmei Film in the last century, "Big Trouble Heavenly Palace".
In terms of themes, "Burning Biwa" mentioned in the previous article is from the Qiang myth Ofbiwa, Shangmei Film did not use the popular mythological IP, but turned to excavate the culture of ethnic minorities, and through its current public information, the work should be worth looking forward to. In addition to myths and legends, in 2021, Shangmei Film also filed a "New Three Forks", "Three Forks" is a famous Peking Opera in China, which belongs to the short martial arts drama, which is widely circulated, and Shangmei Film has made it into an animated film, which is also refreshing.
In terms of artistic expression, "Impala Flying Crossing" is Shangmei Film's first attempt to produce 90-minute ink painting animation, while China's first ink animation "Little Tadpole Finds Mother" was produced by Shangmei Film, which has extraordinary achievements in traditional artistic expression, including the 1964 animated film "Haunting the Heavenly Palace" produced by the Wan brothers. The content of the art animation "Four Seasons" is not known at present, but in terms of artistry, it should not disappoint.
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