"Wolf Warrior 2" is re-released.
At 8:01 p.m. on July 27, 2017, the action military movie "Wolf Warrior 2" directed and starred by Wu Jing was officially released.
Because of the success of Wolf Warrior 1, Wolf Warrior 2 has attracted much attention from the preparatory stage.
This time, Wu Jing no longer faces the dilemma of needing mortgage loan investment, on the contrary, various companies are rushing to invest. In order to repay the debt, Wu Jing even had to reserve a part of the investment share for his friends in advance.
As it turns out, investors are still very discerning.
The film broke 100 million in 4 hours of release, 300 million in 25 hours, 500 million in 46 hours, 1 billion in 85 hours, and 359.7 million in july 30 alone, setting a new single-day box office record in the history of Chinese films.
In its first week of release, Wolf Warrior 2 became the number one film in the world box office at the time with a total of $127 million.
On the 12th day of the release of "Wolf Warrior 2", the number of moviegoers exceeded 100 million, which is also the highest number of moviegoers in the Chinese film market since 1998.
On the 20th day of release, the cumulative number of viewers of "Wolf Warrior 2" in the Chinese market also officially reached 140 million, successfully surpassing the record of 138 million viewers in the North American market of "Titanic" and topped the global list of "single market moviegoers".
What does this record mean?
It shows that at that time, many Chinese who had not seen the movie went to the theater for this movie, and at least one in every ten people had seen "Wolf Warrior 2".
In the end, "Wolf Warrior 2" ended with a box office of 5.681 billion yuan, ranking 55th in the global box office list and the top of the Chinese film box office list.
The significance of "Wolf Warrior 2" to Chinese film history is self-evident, but did you know that as early as 22 years ago, Koreans have already made their own "Wolf Warrior 2".
This film, which has a pivotal position in the history of Korean cinema, is known as South Korea's "Wolf Warrior 2", which is the representative work of the rise of Korean cinema ,"Life and Death Spy Change".
On February 13, 1999, the Korean domestic film "Life and Death Disc Change" written and directed by Kang Te-gyu was released.
With 6.6 million viewers, the film broke the highest box office record in South Korea's history, beat the world-famous Titanic at the time, and became the first film market in the world to sink "Titanic" with a local film.
At the same time, the film also won 6 awards at the Korean Film Grand Bell Awards that year, 2 awards and 2 nominations for the Blue Dragon Awards, and 4 awards at the Baeksang Arts Awards.
"Life and Death Spy Change" undoubtedly became a "god work" that was a double harvest at the Korean word-of-mouth box office that year.
At that time, the total population of South Korea was about 46 million, and the film was watched by 6.6 million (Baidu Encyclopedia), which means that 1 in every 7 Koreans has entered the theater to see this movie.
But the impact of this film is not only the box office, but more valuable and meaningful is that after this, South Korean domestic films have taken advantage of the momentum, and after that, they have been firmly in the box office of their own films for 8 consecutive years.
The market share of Korean films in the country has also made great strides, from 25.1% in 1998 to 64% in 2006. 2%, a full 2.5 times.
As a result, "Life and Death Spy Change" became the first truly meaningful Korean blockbuster recognized in South Korea, and also became the starting point for the rise of contemporary Korean films, and Korean films entered the golden twenty years.
So, what exactly is "Life and Death Spy" about?
The film is a bloody battle. In September 1992, a 4-man squad patrolled a high grass somewhere in North Korea.
Despite their vigilance, they were silently annihilated within 6 seconds.
The leader of the assassination was Jin Mingji, an agent of the Eighth Special Forces of the Northern Dynasty, who was led by Bu Wankun, and the elite of the Eighth Special Forces of the Northern Dynasty, Jin Mingji, was the ace sniper in the team.
After training, Kim Myung-hee infiltrated South Korea and successfully assassinated several politicians.
After an assassination in 1996, Kim Myung-hee caught the attention of a South Korean secret service organization and assigned two senior agents, Choi Sang-hwan and Lee Jong-hee, to investigate her.
Unexpectedly, Kim Myung-hee disappeared and could no longer be found.
Fast forward to 1998, the year in which the two Koreas agreed to form a common soccer team for the 2002 World Cup.
In order to select the personnel of the football team, it was decided to hold a friendly match first, which would be attended by leaders on both sides.
Under this major event related to the reunification of the north and the south, Kim Myung-hee appeared again.
She helps find the latest weapon liquid bomb CTX developed by South Korea through the black market arms dealer Lin, and during the transaction, Lin accidentally discovers Kim Myung-hee's purpose, and in order to survive, he seeks refuge in South Korea's secret service organization.
However, on the day of the agreed meeting, Kim Myung-hee, who was dressed in disguise, also came to the agreed place. Lin fled in a hurry before he could connect with the agent, but was eventually killed by Kim Myung-hee.
According to Lin's clue, Choi Sang-hwan and Lee Jeong-hee found the Experimental Researcher of the Ministry of National Defense, but this time they were taken by Kim Myung-hee.
As soon as the two men contacted the researcher, the researcher was killed by a poison needle and the clue was broken.
These incidents caught the attention of south Korean secret service organizations, and it was clear that this time Kim Myung-hee's target was CTX.
CTX, as a top secret, has been kept in a safe place, and even with the cooperation of black-market arms dealers and Defense Department researchers, she still can't steal CTX.
But the turnaround is coming.
In order to participate in the arms exhibition, CTX went out of the warehouse for the first time.
But before that, Kim Myung-hee's superior, Bu Wankun, had sneaked into South Korea with a small group of elite North Korean Special Forces of the Eighth Special Forces, targeting CTX.
By the time Choi Sang-hwan and Lee Jung-hee arrived in helicopters as fast as they could, the squad carrying the CTX had been wiped out, and the CTX, which was enough to blow up an entire city, was also taken away.
Judging from this operation to seize CTX, Kim Myung-hee is far more involved in this operation. In other words, north Korean special forces must have a big move.
But what made Choi Sang-hwan and Lee Jong-hee even more nervous was why every time North Korea's special forces were able to preempt them, could it be that spies had appeared within their secret service organization?
The whereabouts of CTX here are mysteries, but Bu Wankun is not idle there.
He first assigned Kim Myung-hee to kill Choi Sang-hwan and Lee Jung-hee, who were standing in their way, and then planted bombs in several locations in Seoul to attract the attention of the secret service organization.
At the same time, a rift was also created within Choi Sang-hwan and Lee Jeong-hee.
Because Kim Myung-hee is faster than them every time, the two can't help but start to be suspicious of each other, Lee Jeong-hee installs a bugging device in Choi Sang-hwan's car and his girlfriend's residence, and Choi Sang-hwan tries to verify that Lee Jeong-hee is an internal ghost through a fake message.
But here the story comes, and it's the first reversal of the film.
The two men in the theater tell each other their guesses, but through review, they find that the person hiding behind them is likely to be Choi Sang-hwan's girlfriend of a year.
At this moment, Bu Wankun appeared with a squad, and the false news was indeed spread, and the war between the two sides was about to break out.
This time of false news, Bu Wankun's squad suffered heavy losses, and Kim Myung-hee's identity was completely exposed.
Here is a formal introduction to this girlfriend of Choi Sang-hwan, who is kim myung-hee after the makeover.
Originally, she was ordered to lurk around the secret service organization, but she did not expect that in this more than a year, she slowly fell in love with Choi Sang-hwan, and several times she did not go to the task and failed.
And the way she steals intelligence is through the eavesdropping devices on the fish in the fish tank.
Everything has been revealed, the ending is the cheesy square to save the world, the villain all lead the bento, and in order to make the plot more watchable, Kim Myung-hee died for love and loyalty, and the male protagonist brother Lee Jeong-hee dedicated himself to his career, leaving the male protagonist alone.
This is the end of the film.
Looking at this movie now, the shooting method can only be regarded as qualified, the plot cannot withstand scrutiny, and the dog is bloody and full of routines.
In the 8.90s of last century, the Korean film market was almost occupied by Hollywood and Hong Kong films, and many classic Hong Kong films can be seen in "Life and Death Spy Change".
The film combines the life-and-death sadism of old Hong Kong films, brotherhood, and the big-scene action scenes of Hollywood movies, but the movie is smart and smart in localization.
The background of the film's story is the "unification issue" that the South Korean people were most concerned about at that time.
The drive of national sentiment could have made the film gain a high market, and the director also cleverly integrated almost all the explosive elements of the year into this story.
Even the Koreans' "retention" of skill dog blood love is reflected in it, and the tragedy of kim myung-hee and Choi Sang-hwan who can't love each other because of their different positions after the makeover is very Korean love.
Feelings, emotions, pictures, plots are all there, such a movie is difficult to think of not exploding, it can be said that "Life and Death Spy Change" with modern film techniques to create a precedent for Korean commercial blockbusters.
The following year's Common Security District is the best example.
The film was Park Chan-wook's first commercial film, but he did not expect to be a great success, winning the Korean film box office champion that year.
"Common Garrison Area" is also based on the north-south issues of the DPRK and South Korea, and the theme has touched the points of the Korean people in those years, plus the powerful actors Song Kanghao and Shin Ha-kyun, as well as the appearance of Lee Young-ae and Lee Byung-hyun.
Coupled with Park Chan-wook's delicate treatment of the character's emotions, it is only natural that the movie can become a hit.
In the initial stage of Korean films, he has always been "take-ism", but his great point is that he takes the strengths of each family and does not forget to join Korea's own localization design.
They can change the popcorn film with dog-blood love, such as "Life and Death Spy Change", into a deep story with in-depth exploration of national scars.
In the brotherhood of the country rubbed into the righteousness, and finally returned to personal feelings, the film can start from the big, but also can receive the small people, the method is very clever.
And through the development of Korean films in the past 20 years, their progress can be described as quite large.
In fact, the real dawn of Korean cinema appeared in 1997, when South Korea promulgated the Film Promotion Law, which involved more than ten items such as film production, film censorship, and revitalization funds.
Kim Dae-jung, then-presidential candidate, publicly promised to abolish censorship under the principle of "support, never interference."
In 1999, this promise was also fulfilled, and the South Korean Parliament officially enacted the Film Act Amendment, which would replace film censorship with a film rating system in 2000.
At the end of the day, creative freedom is what the film industry needs most at all times.
Finally, a brief chat about the cast of this movie.
The film's cast now seems to be absolutely star-studded.
In addition to Han Seok-gyu, who played Choi Sang-hwan, who was already a first-line star at the time, most of Choi Min-sik's previous participation was a TV series, but it also belonged to excellent acting skills, and his interpretation of Bu Wankun in the film definitely overshadowed the other two leading actors.
Nowadays, the "uncle" Song Kanghao, who is red and purple, was still a newcomer in the film industry, whether it is acting skills or appearance, he looks very young, and he can't see the appearance of the uncle at all.
But he has also been seen by more filmmakers with this film, and his interpretation in "Common Security Zone" has left a deep impression on people, and now he has become a leading figure among Korean actors.
In addition, at the end of the film, Huang Zhengmin, who came out to play soy sauce, who could have imagined that this dragon set, which only had two lines in the movie, has now become one of the most influential and powerful celebrities in the Korean film industry.
In contrast, the director Jiang Digui, who has the most profit from this movie, has not developed as well as expected.
After "Life and Death Spy Change", Kang Di-gyu once became the most sought-after director in South Korea, and also filmed "Landing Day" with an anti-heavenly cast.
But after several similar films did not play well, he fell silent.
At present, his pending film is still the Chinese film "Breaking the Sky", starring Wu Lei and Lin Yun, but this project has been delayed again and again, and when it will be released has become a mystery.
In short, whether it is "Wolf Warrior 2" or "Life and Death Spy Change", the emergence of epoch-making movies is inevitable, and what we need to think about is how to draw "nutrients" from them, rather than keeping the box office and continuing to create routine films.
Bluestone Film Editorial Office | Old Meng
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