The pre-sale of the Spring Festival stall in 2020 is particularly late than in previous years, but it has the most "sense of ceremony".
Because the official unified pre-sale time is from 00:00 on January 18, seven films will be sold at the same time. This gives all film practitioners the illusion of selling at 11:00.
Looking at the blank data of the First Day of the Chinese New Year before January 18, some theater practitioners laughed and said, "This is like the calm before the storm." "At 00:00 on the 18th, the seven films were like the beginning of a long run, with seven runners starting at the same starting line, and no one could steal the steps.
Before January 18, the calm before the dawn storm
From the situation of the sale of a day, "Detective Chinatown 3" is not surprising that it is currently absolutely dominant. Another "Chinese Women's Volleyball Team", which is optimistic about the industry, announced that it was renamed "Win the Championship" before the pre-sale and started slightly behind. However, if there is no accident, this film will definitely catch up later.
In short, the Warring States Seven Heroes Drama of the Spring Festival in 2020 has begun.
The pre-sale of the first day of the Chinese New Year as of this morning
Today's Spring Festival stalls in the mainland film market are not only the undisputed first slot in China, but even the world's largest output slot.
Lunar New Year stalls, a concept that originated in Hong Kong, originally referred to a slot that began around New Year's Day and ended during the Lunar New Year's Festival. In this slot, major film companies will launch movies with a peak star lineup, a more relaxed theme, and suitable for the tastes of family audiences.
"Modern Bodyguard" pioneered Hong Kong's New Year comedy
Starting from Hui Guanwen's "Modern Bodyguard" in 1981, the Lunar New Year file has gone through nearly 40 years, and from hong Kong to the mainland, the focus of the New Year file has long become the New Year file with the Spring Festival holiday as the core.
Comedy has always been the most popular genre in Chinese New Year movies. Especially in Hong Kong, The Lunar New Year comedy can even once become synonymous with Hong Kong-made comedy, in the glorious 80s of Hong Kong-produced films, the highest-grossing comedies often come from The New Year comedies, and the annual box office champions are often in the Lunar New Year file.
The first long article in this column in 2020 will slightly sort out the development of New Year comedy in the past 40 years, looking back at the New Year comedy series that have created box office records, those companies and filmmakers who have created blockbuster comedies, and how they have also influenced the New Year comedies in the mainland.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Xu Guanwen's "ghost horse comedy"</h1>
In 1974, Xu Guanwen wrote and directed his debut comedy "Ghost Horse Double Star" was released. With its dense jokes, a large number of humorous passages, and extremely close and intimate Cantonese expressions, this comedy sold more than 4 million yuan, breaking the historical box office record of Hong Kong's port opening. At the same time, it also set up Xu's "ghost horse comedy" signboard.
Poster of "Ghost Horse Double Star"
In the remaining six years of the 1970s, Hui Guanwen self-directed and acted in three comedies, "Genius and Idiot" (1975), "Half a Pound Eight Two" (1976) and "Deed of Sale" (1978), all of which won the annual box office championship in Hong Kong, of which "Half a Pound Eight Two" once again broke the historical box office record in Hong Kong with more than 8 million.
In 1981, Xu Guanwen's fifth self-directed comedy "Modern Bodyguard" was released. This ghost horse comedy, which is very unified with the previous four works in terms of style and performance, chose to be released near the End of January near the Spring Festival, officially opening the Hong Kong New Year file, and "Modern Bodyguard" has also become the first true Chinese New Year comedy.
The three Xu brothers starred in "Modern Bodyguard"
"Modern Bodyguard" grossed more than 17 million yuan that year, and Hui Guanwen's comedy won the Hong Kong box office annual champion for the fifth time, and broke the historical box office record in Hong Kong for the third time, becoming the first Hong Kong film with a box office of tens of millions, far away from the second comedy "Chasing Girls" with a box office of more than 9.4 million. Xu Guanwen also became the best actor at the inaugural Academy Awards.
Xu Guanwen's comedy, which relied on jokes, was later called "density comedy". This kind of "density comedy" is simply to say that the creator must continue to make jokes in the process of telling the story, and even making jokes is more important than how to lay out the plot and describe the characters, how many jokes are needed in a situation, and how many minutes to throw a joke, similar to cross-talk needs to constantly shake the baggage.
This "density comedy" model is from Xu Guanwen and Xu Guanjie's comedy show "Double Star Annunciation" on TVB in the early 70s. In "Double Star Annunciation", Xu Guanwen and Xu Guanjie cooperated in the machine gun-style funny GAG (joke) SHOW, which satirizes the shortcomings of the times and is extremely lifelike, and is very popular after broadcasting.
Xu Guanwen's situation comedy "Double Star Annunciation" in TVB that year
Since "Ghost Horse Double Star", Xu Guanwen has always followed this model of emphasizing joke density, creating many comedy bridges that were later hailed as classics, allowing latecomers to imitate and pay tribute. For example, the kitchen battle in "Half a Pound, Eight Two" is typical of constantly designing various jokes in a situation and filling a situation with jokes.
Hui Guanwen's "density comedy" model has a far-reaching impact, and it can even be said that it has set the rules for the creation of Hong Kong comedies after this, especially the New Year comedy. And the most thorough use of this rule in the 80s in The New Year comedy, and the creation of one hong Kong film comedy brilliant series after another is the new art city.
The most classic situation of "Half a Pound, Eight Two": the kitchen war
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > New Art City's "Best Partner" series</h1>
The success of "Modern Bodyguard" many companies see the market potential of Chinese New Year comedies. New Art City, which takes comedy as its entrepreneurial foundation, decided to invest heavily in the production of the New Year comedy "Best Partner".
Before the birth of "Best Partner", the new art city, which was only two years old, had already achieved quite well in comedy. As mentioned above, the second place in the Hong Kong box office in 1981, "Chasing Girls", was produced by New Art City.
Not only that, in the top ten Hong Kong box office in 1981, four were comedies produced by New Arts City, namely the 2nd "Chasing Girls", the 3rd "Ghost Horse ZhiduoXing", the 7th "Funny Times", and the 8th "Happy Fairy Nest". Among them, "Funny Times" directed by Wu Yusen and starring Shi Tian and Mai Jia is the entrepreneurial work of New Art City.
Four of the top 10 Hong Kong box office hits in 1981 were New Arts City comedies
In 1981, New Art City began filming "Best Partner". Hui Guanjie performed at a sky-high price of HK$2 million, and the production of a small-budget film that year was only more than one million. This role was first originally caught in Zhou Runfa, but he was afraid of colliding with the file period, when Xu Keli was out of the crowd and recommended Xu Guanjie. In the end, "Best Partner" set a box office of 27 million during the release of the Lunar New Year period, setting a new record for the historical box office in Hong Kong. At the same time, Mai Jia also won the best actor at the second Academy Awards.
"Best Partner" is also a "density comedy" and still features a dense stack of jokes. But unlike Xu Guanwen's creation, "Best Partner" is a collective creation, with the so-called New Art City seven-person group thinking about jokes together. The seven are Mai Jia, Shi Tian, Huang Baiming, Xu Ke, Shi Nansheng, Zeng Zhiwei, and Teddy Robin.
The group of seven gathered in The room of Mack Ka's home in Mobil New Estate, known as the "Struggle Room", "crossed the bridge" together and "kicked the bridge" with each other. Throughout the 80s, many of the film bridges in New Art City were conceived by these 7 people in the "Struggle Room".
A group of seven people in New Art City that year
In addition to the dense comedy pile, the biggest difference between "Best Partner" and Xu Guanwen's ghost horse comedy, and even the previous kung fu comedy, is to sell spectacle scenes, borrow the spoof Western 007 series, and all kinds of modern flying cars and chase stunt pictures. Like the opening scene of the movie, the motorcycle flies out of the Empire State Building in Tsim Sha Tsui East, this modern and rhythmic stunt scene has never been seen in previous Hong Kong films.
"Best Partner" is also different from Xu Guanwen's comedy, that is, it is no longer like Xu Guanwen's comedy, reflecting social problems. On the contrary, it was detached from reality and hedonistic, which was very much in line with the social mentality of Hong Kong at that time.
"Best Partner" played a stunt spectacle scene that year
From the mid-1970s to the beginning of the 1980s, Hong Kong's capitalist market economy developed, the society was rich, and people began to pursue enjoyment. "Best Partner" was very much in line with the tastes of the audience at the time. Its big sale is also a portrayal of the aspect of social affluence.
The success of "Best Partner" allowed New Art City to hit the iron while it was hot and shoot a sequel. In 1983, he launched "Best Partner 2 Great Magic" and in 1984 "Best Partner 3 Empress Secret Order", achieving three consecutive hong Kong annual box office titles.
The "Best Partner" series made a total of 5 films, and by 1986, the fourth "A Thousand Miles to Save the Poor Wife", the box office was more than 27 million, ranking third at the box office that year. The fifth film, 1989's "New Best Partner", only grossed 20 million, ranking 6th at the box office. At that time, the new art city had gradually divided, the seven-member group was dissolved, and in 1990, the new art city was split and reorganized.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the 5 "Best Partner" series of New Art City's New Year comedies in the 80s, the "Eight Stars annunciation" directed by Du Qifeng in 1988 is also a masterpiece. The film was released in the 1988 Lunar New Year file and grossed more than 37 million, and after three years, the New Year comedy once again became the annual box office champion.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Debao's "Rich and Powerful" series</h1>
In addition to the "Best Partner" series of New Art City in the 80s, Debao's "Rich and Powerful" series was also popular.
In the golden age of Hong Kong Film City Road, Jiahe, New Art City and Debao divided the world. The comedies of the three major companies all have their own characteristics. New Art City takes the route of modern fashion entertainment films; Jiahe has two major action superstars, Jackie Chan Hong, and action comedy is its main genre; while Debao is mainly urban middle-class and family comedy.
In 1987, Debao produced the New Year film "Rich and Powerful", written and directed by Gao Zhisen, and starring Dong Biao, "Fat Sister" Shen Dianxia and Zeng Zhiwei. It tells the story of uncle Biao's family of five, everyone expects to develop and get rich.
"Rich and Powerful" has the style of Debao urban light drama and is full of urban vitality. Its story is also very much in line with the mentality of some ordinary people in society at that time, that is, developed. The aunt played by Fat Sister in the film is very keen to buy the lottery and hopes to win the lottery one day. One day I finally won the lottery, thinking that I could be rich by getting a windfall, but I encountered the collapse of the bank with the deposit, and the disaster was not alone, the disaster was still to come.
On the one hand, "Rich and Powerful" is full of jokes, on the other hand, it is also a bit of satire on the unrealistic dreams of grassroots families to get rich. This Lunar New Year comedy was released that year and earned more than 27 million at the box office, ranking 4th at the annual box office.
Uncle Biao's family's dream of development
Subsequently, "Rich and Powerful" made two sequels, "Rich and Strong" (1988) and "Rich and Heavy Again" (1989), the story is still around uncle Xiao's family to buy the lottery, and the trilogy of the series was among the top ten box office in Hong Kong that year.
A few years after the end of the series, the same team filmed another "Rich Golden House", telling the story of Uncle Biao's family buying a house and buying a house.
Although the "Rich" Lunar New Year comedy series is not as eye-catching as the "Best Partner" series of New Art City at the box office, it is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people with its subsequent replays of the New Year's Eve on TV stations in the 90s, and even in the recognition of The New Year comedy, its popularity is even higher than that of "Best Partner".
Uncle Biao's family is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in South China
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > "Happy Events" series</h1>
The New Year comedy entered the 90s as a different story. From the 70s when Xu Guanwen's ghost horse comedy was a big family, to the 80s when a hundred flowers blossomed, to the 90s, the nonsense comedy laugher Zhou Xingchi turned out to be a world. The new art city that created the glory of the 80s film officially closed in 1990, marking the end of an era.
After the completion of the new art city, Wong Baiming started a new stove, and in 1991, in partnership with Macau businessman Roger Cheng, he reorganized the closed Debao Cinema Line to become the "Yonggao Cinema Line", and later formed the Yonggao Company, which was launched and was still regarded by the audience as a classic in the Hong Kong New Year comedy classic: "There is a Happy Event at Home".
In the framework of this film, it continues the characteristics of the 80s New Year comedy (around the family story), while the addition of Stephen Chow also brings nonsense elements into the New Year comedy.
The film opened the scoring for the Yonggao Cinema Line, grossing more than 48 million at the box office, setting a new Hong Kong box office record. But unfortunately, Yonggao's good times were not long, because Huang Baiming and Roger cheng had different opinions, Huang Baiming ran away, started a new stove again, and became the "Oriental Cinema Line" in 1992.
I have to say that on the New Year comedy alone, Huang Baiming is the most successful producer in the Hong Kong film industry. In the decade from 1982 to 1992, Huang Baiming broke five box office records, four of which were Lunar New Year comedies. After the establishment of the Oriental Cinema Line, he once again played to his strengths and continued to devote himself to the production of Chinese New Year comedies.
"Happy Affair in The Flower Field"
In 1993, the New Year comedy "Happy Affair in the Flower Field" was released. The New Year comedy extends to costume films, basically continuing the production team of "Family Has a Happy Event", director Gao Zhisen, screenwriter and producer Huang Baiming. The actor did not have Zhou Xingchi, but Xu Guanjie joined in and starred in the New Year comedy again. The "Happy Events" series replicated the successful model of the 80s New Year comedy, with a box office of more than 35 million, second only to Stephen Chow's "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang" ranking second at the annual box office.
In 1997, Huang Baiming shot again, "97 Happy Things" fought again in the New Year file, And Zhou Xingchi returned, breaking 40 million at the box office, slightly lower than the "God Eater" directed by Zhou Xingchi, who also broke 40 million box office.
"97 Happy Things"
The "Happy Events" series is undoubtedly a representative of the New Year comedy under the last glory of the Hong Kong film market in the 90s. Mainland audiences have come to know these Hong Kong Chinese New Year comedies through the annual Spring Festival TELEVISION replay. Later, Huang Baiming went north to develop, tried to open up the Mainland New Year comedy market, and successively transplanted the Happy Events series and "Eight Star Annunciation" to the mainland market, filming "Family Happy Event 2009", "Flower Field Happy Event 2010" and "Eight Star Hug Joy", but the market response was not as hot as in Hong Kong in the past.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Stephen Chow's nonsense comedy to celebrate the New Year</h1>
Stephen Chow is recognized as a comedy giant after Xu Guanwen. In the 1990s, Stephen Chow's nonsense comedy steadily occupied the top position in the comedy genre market.
In the decade from 1990 to 1999, Stephen Chow's nonsense comedies won the box office four times, and the comedies he starred in never fell out of the top three at the box office, including many New Year comedies.
In addition to Huang Baiming's two "Happy Things at Home", Stephen Chow's New Year comedies also include 1996's "Great Inner Secret Agent Zero Zero Hair" and 1998's "Luck a Dragon". These two films can be seen from the title as a typical New Year film, and they are also the masterpieces of Stephen Chow's nonsense comedy.
"The Great Inner Secret Agent Zero Zero Hair"
"Big Inner Secret Agent Zero Zero Hair" is a bit like the costume version of "Domestic Lingling Paint" in 1994, spoofing spy films, showing the nonsense style of Xingye. It was released in the Lunar New Year file that year and achieved a box office of more than 36 million. The story of "A Dragon of Luck" revolves around the family of the tea restaurant owner, and Xingye once again plays the takeaway boy He Jinshui in the film, the difference is that this time He Jinshui is not only a takeaway boy, but also a love saint.
"A Dragon of Fortune" He Jinshui became a saint
Both films were the third highest grossing films of the year. However, at that time, Hong Kong films had begun to decline. In 1997, the top three hong Kong box office movies were all over 40 million, and by 1998, only the champion "The Storm" exceeded 40 million. In 1999, Stephen Chow's "The King of Comedy" was released in the Lunar New Year file, and the film finally grossed only 29 million, but this was already the box office champion of the year.
"The King of Comedy" won the annual box office with 29 million that year
Although "The King of Comedy" is a New Year comedy, it is different from Stephen Chow's past New Year comedies. This semi-autobiographical personal work is like a summary of himself by Star Ye. Since then, into the new millennium, stephen Chow's works have not appeared in the Hong Kong Spring Festival New Year file, 2001's "Shaolin Football" is in the summer vacation file, and 2004's "Kung Fu" is the Hong Kong mainland's synchronous year-end Christmas New Year file.
In the 21st century, Stephen Chow's film production has gradually shifted north, "Shaolin Football" and "Kung Fu" have been filmed in the mainland, and he has gradually retreated to the background. At the same time, the mainland films in the early 21st century were gradually marketized, the awareness of the schedule was getting stronger and stronger, and the New Year file was gradually formed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Feng Xiaogang opened the door to mainland Chinese New Year comedy</h1>
In the broad sense of the New Year file, in fact, it includes Christmas stalls, New Year's Day stalls, Spring Festival stalls, Lantern stalls and even Valentine's Day stalls. The concept of the real Chinese New Year comedy in the mainland is undoubtedly because of the emergence of Feng Xiaogang's comedy.
Before 1997, Feng Xiaogang did not have a smooth situation, and the three films he participated in the production were "killed", resulting in tens of millions of investments being adrift, and many people regarded them as "investment black holes". Later, Han Sanping, then director of the North Film Studio, saw that he was pitiful, so he helped him find an opportunity to make a commercial film and let him try his hand.
I didn't think that this attempt would change the fate of Feng Xiaogang and even the Chinese film industry.
On Christmas Eve 1997, Feng Xiaogang's "Party A and Party B" was released and earned 36 million at the box office, ranking ninth in the mainland box office list that year. More profound than its box office performance, this film is that it is the first Chinese New Year film in mainland China to shoot for this specific period of the Lunar New Year.
In the following years, Feng Xiaogang has successively directed "Not Seen, Not Scattered" (1998), "Endless" (1999), "Big Names" (2001), "Mobile Phone" (2003), "No Thief in the World" (2004), which is not only prolific, but also acclaimed.
Big Names (2001)
However, in the early years of the mainland Chinese New Year, the focus was still on Christmas and New Year's Day, and Feng Xiaogang's New Year comedies were also released in the December Christmas file. The performance of the Spring Festival stalls in the mainland at that time was not eye-catching.
But the market potential of the Spring Festival file is obvious to all, in 2011, "The Strongest Thing", "Wulin Wai Biography" and "Panda Story" and other films gathered in the Spring Festival file, 7 days box office reached 329 million, in 2012, "Sherlock Holmes 2" and "Mission Impossible 4" two Hollywood blockbusters stationed in the Spring Festival file, boosting the total box office of the year to reach 411 million, a record high.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > igniting the mainland Spring Festival stalls still depends on Zhou Xingchi</h1>
It is no one else who really ignites the Mainland Spring Festival stalls with The New Year comedy, it is the king of comedy, Stephen Chow.
In 2013, Zhou Xingchi directed "Journey to the West to Descend the Devil" and returned strongly, sweeping away the frustration of "Yangtze River No. 7" 5 years ago. The Spring Festival file won 530 million yuan in seven days, breaking the box office record of more than 20 domestic Chinese films in one fell swoop, of which 122 million on the fifth day of the Chinese New Year (February 14), becoming the first Chinese film in film history to gross more than 100 million yuan in a single day.
The success of "Journey to the West" raised the total box office of the entire period to 780 million. The enthusiasm of the Audience for watching movies during the Spring Festival was mobilized, and the momentum of the Spring Festival stall was out of control. In 2016, Stephen Chow continued to work hard, and "The Mermaid" became the first film in the history of Chinese films to gross more than 3 billion yuan.
The Spring Festival stall market has been fully activated, and the focus of the mainland New Year stalls has gradually shifted from Christmas and New Year's Day to the Spring Festival. During the Spring Festival, it has become a habit for everyone to go into the theater to watch movies and celebrate happily, and the audience's demand for New Year comedies is increasing.
After several years of exploration, mainland filmmakers have gradually tested the comedic tastes of mainland audiences. "Detective Chinatown", Happy Twist, "Crazy" series of comedies, 囧 series of comedies, the mainland has gradually formed its own comedy IP and aimed at the New Year file.
In 2018, "Detective Chinatown 2" broke 2 billion in the 7 days of the Spring Festival file, and finally won the second place of the year at the box office of 3.3 billion. In 2019, Ning Hao's "crazy" comedy entered the Spring Festival file to celebrate the New Year, and the final box office was 2.1 billion, which proved that the New Year comedy is still one of the most popular genres for the public.
The development of Chinese New Year comedy in the past 40 years has witnessed the shrinking of the Hong Kong market and the rise of the mainland market. The focus of the Lunar New Year stall shifts from Christmas new year's day to spring festival.
This year, the two major mainland comedy IPs of "Tang Detective 3" and "囧Mom" gathered for the Spring Festival, which was once again considered by the industry to be the strongest New Year file in history (there is no strongest, only stronger). As of this morning, the two films are currently ranked first and third in pre-sale, and "Tang Detective 3" is the first pre-sale within 24 hours to break through 100 million, which reflects that the audience still gives comedy priority in the choice of Spring Festival New Year movies.