Hua Yuhan | wen
As the first Chinese mainland Film and Television Group to land on nasdaq, Bona Pictures officially launched the "China Victory Trilogy" in 2021.
The trilogy is "Chinese Doctor" with the anti-epidemic as the background story, "Chosin Lake" with the Battle of Chosin Lake as the background, and "No Name" with the unsung hero on the hidden front as the background.
On July 9, 2021, "Chinese Doctor" was first released publicly and achieved a good result of more than 1.3 billion yuan at the box office.
On September 30, 2021, "Chosin Lake" was officially released, and in just 2 days of release, it achieved an astonishing box office performance of more than 400 million yuan.
This "Changjin Lake", co-directed by Chen Kaige, Xu Ke and Lin Chaoxian, cost more than a billion yuan and is a standard heavyweight blockbuster.
It also set a record in the history of Chinese cinema, with the film's total duration reaching 3 hours (176 minutes).
Although this has exceeded the playback time of ordinary movies, it has not reduced the audience's enthusiasm for this main theme movie.
From the perspective of the inheritance of the master-apprentice form, Lin Chaoxian, one of the three directors of "Changjin Lake", can be regarded as Chen Jiashang's apprentice, and Chen Jiashang can be regarded as a teacher under Xu Ke.
In this way, this "Changjin Lake" can be regarded as the first cooperation between ShiGong and His disciple Sun in addition to director Chen Kaige.
Speaking of director Xu Ke, if you are a fan who is familiar with and likes Hong Kong-made films, you should not be too unfamiliar with him.
Director Xu Ke can be said to be a representative figure in the glorious period of Hong Kong films, although he also fell silent for a while with the decline of Hong Kong films.
But after 2010, with the rise of co-productions, director Xu Ke once again shined.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="113" > the main theme of the film style change</h1>
In 2014, director Xu Ke based on "Lin Hai Snow Plain" and adapted the film "Wise Tiger Mountain".
And this "Wise Tiger Mountain" has also become a key node in the shooting method of the main theme movie.
Because in this movie, in addition to the elements that are common in the previous main theme movies, xu Ke's own pursuit of technology has more and richer content.
When Xu Ke decided to take over the filming of "Wise Tiger Mountain", if it is full of expectations for "Wise Tiger Mountain", it is more like a curiosity and wait-and-see.
A Hong Kong-made film director known for making martial arts action films to make a main theme movie? How does it look like a combination of four or six?
Unexpectedly, Xu Ke used a new shooting idea on "Wise Tiger Mountain".
This is exactly the innovative spirit of Xu Ke, which brings more entertainment film content to the slightly dull main theme film.
It is also these changes that make more young people willing to go into the cinema to watch and share the new experience and cognition brought to them by these movies.
As a traditional Hong Kong film director, Xu Ke will always encounter some conceptual troubles when shooting films with the main theme of "Wise Tiger Mountain".
But fortunately, when Xu Ke filmed "Wise Tiger Mountain", he had Huang Jianxin, who had participated in the filming of "The Great Undertaking of the Founding of the People's Republic", as a producer.
Such a combination makes Xu Ke have a sense of water.
With the help of Huang Jianxin, Xu Ke sublimated and changed the style of his previous film "Uncle Cai's Sweeping Thousand Armies".
In a style with a comic texture, "Wise Tiger Mountain" was made into a martial arts film.
The audience was very pleased with this change in style, and eventually achieved a good result of more than 800 million yuan at the box office.
Although Xu Ke rarely dabbled in the main theme film after that, Bona Pictures saw the new direction of the main theme film from "Wise Tiger Mountain".
On September 30, 2016, "Mekong Action" directed by Lin Chaoxian was released publicly and achieved a good result of more than 1.1 billion yuan at the box office.
On February 16, 2018, "Red Sea Action", also directed by Lin Chaoxian, achieved an impressive result of more than 3.6 billion yuan.
It can be said that "Wise Tiger Mountain" can be regarded as the initiator of today's main theme film style.
If there is no bold attempt by Xu Ke that year, if it is not the success of "Wise Tiger Mountain" at the box office and evaluation.
There will be no great shine in today's main theme movie, and there will be so many young people who are willing to go into the cinema to understand and feel.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="112" > more about bootstrapping and subtlety</h1>
After Xu Ke finished filming "Wise Tiger Mountain", he did not take on the main theme movie until the short time of "Changjin Lake".
However, his apprentice Lin Chaoxian inherited his style and slowly developed his own style.
Compared with Xu Ke's shooting method with a strong martial arts style, Lin Chaoxian's main theme film shows more of a hard bridge hard horse kung fu style.
This kind of film shooting style that pays more attention to hard-hitting has almost become the main style style in the main theme films shot by Lin Chaoxian for a long time.
In fact, before Xu Ke's "Wise Tiger Mountain", there were also many films with the main theme of the strong Hong Kong film style.
For example, "The Wind Listener" directed by Mak Zhaohui and Zhuang Wenqiang, "October Siege" directed by Chen Desen, "Escape from Heaven" directed by the Peng brothers and so on.
Although these movies are considered to be superior works, they are still a little worse than "Wise Tiger Mountain".
Since 2014's "Wise Tiger Mountain", the main theme of the film has begun to change and sublimate to a large extent.
It will be a heroic film presentation method, no longer naked preaching the big truth, but integrating these contents into the plot of the movie.
For example, 2016's "Mekong Action" is displayed in front of the audience in the form of a police film, and the content of the main theme is promoted in a subtle way.
In some main theme movies, the protagonists or characters of the story are no longer all "tall" glorious images.
It shows more of the heart and growth process of an ordinary person, and this shooting method that fades the hero's aura has also been recognized by many viewers.
For example, Chen Jiashang's "The Storm of The Swinging Kou" shows us a national hero Qi Jiguang who can also make mistakes.
Slowly, driven by the official media and social platforms, the main theme of the movie is no longer the image of sitting on the edge of the box.
He is getting closer and closer to the average audience, more and more like an entertaining movie.
This relaxing movie-going experience is also increasingly making young people willing to go into the cinema and draw those positive energy from them when enjoying these movies.
Although more and more Hong Kong film directors have joined the shooting of the main theme films, these main theme films have become more and more developed in the direction of commercial blockbusters.
But there will be some different styles, such as Liu Weiqiang's "The Great Cause of Building the Army" in 2017, which is more inclined to the style of four flat and eight stable.
But even so, "The Great Cause of Building an Army" is constantly praised for its cruel portrayal of the struggle.
As a movie, the first and most important task is how to attract more audiences into the theater, only more people to watch him, in order to publicize the connotation.
Therefore, which form to use to shoot the main theme of the film has become the director's primary task.
For example, in "Operation Mekong", various confrontations and gun battles are staged almost all the time, and "Operation Red Sea" is more blue than blue, and the blood flowing shot is better than the former.
The reason why it is filmed in this way is precisely because the traditional action movies and gunfight police films can arouse the audience's interest in watching movies.
For example, "Extraordinary Mission" directed by Mak Siu-fai and Pan Yaoming in 2017 is a police film, "My War" directed by Peng Shun in 2016 is a war film, and "When is the Bright Moon" directed by Xu Anhua in 2017 is also a war film.
Look at the directors of these main theme films, everyone sees a lot longer is this kind of film shooting.
For example, almost all of the martial arts films directed by Xu Ke are classics, director Lin Chaoxian started with action films, and director Peng Shun is famous for making horror films.
Liu Weiqiang's "Ancient Puzzle Boy" series, "Wind and Clouds" and "Infernal Affairs" are all classics in hero shaping.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="111" > "Chosin Lake" is integrated</h1>
This 3-hour long "Chosin Lake" was jointly completed by Chen Kaige, Xu Ke and Lin Chaoxian.
There were two important battles of martial arts, which together with a pre-war mobilization of the literary drama.
Such a story content of two weapons not only carries the story of the film, but also greatly shows the entertainment of the film.
At the same time, let the audience deeply appreciate the cruelty of the war and the enthusiasm of the volunteer army to defend the homeland.
The part of the literary drama should be directed by Director Chen Kaige, which can be seen with a strong 90s theme film style.
In the martial arts part, perhaps more is led by director Lin Chaoxian.
From this, we can see the shadow and shooting style of "Red Sea Action", those ultra-realistic scenes and shooting methods, it is difficult to see Xu Ke's martial arts style.
For a film of up to 3 hours, whether it is a main theme movie or not, it is difficult for the audience to stare at the big screen with wide eyes from beginning to end.
But "Chosin Lake" did it, he not only let the audience understand the historical appearance of that period from the literary drama, but also let the audience deeply feel the cruelty of war and the difficulty and difficulty of the beginning of the founding of New China when enjoying the "stimulating" martial arts.
In any way, "Chosin Lake" is a success and plays a role model.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="83" > the main theme of the film road of seeking innovation and change</h1>
Everything has a rise and fall, and the main theme of the film that takes the commercial route is no exception, before 2018, there were many works that made people acclaimed and popular.
For example, in 2007, Lin Chaoxian's "Shining Red Star", in 2011, Zhao Chongji's "Hero Blood", in 2011 Zhang Li and Jackie Chan's "Xinhai Revolution", in 2011 Qiu Litao's "Jingxiong Girl Qiu Jin", in 2013 Peng Dan's "Nanniwan" and so on.
However, after 2018, the main theme of this genre has become much less, and most of them are not as satisfactory as before in box office and word-of-mouth.
Perhaps the audience has aesthetic fatigue, so the main theme of the film has begun to explore and expand in the theme.
No longer limited to the historical themes of the past, I began to try to tell some people or things that moviegoers may have experienced.
For example, in 2019, Chen Guohui's "Heroes of Fire" is a movie with the theme of firefighters.
In 2020, Chen Kexin's "Win the Championship" is a film based on the Theme of the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team.
In 2019, Li Rengang's "The Climber" is a film with the theme of climbing Mount Everest.
In 2020, Xu Hongyu's "Arriving Home at One Point" is a film with the theme of returning to his hometown to start a business.
In 2019, Liu Weiqiang's "Captain China" is a film based on the forced landing of Sichuan Airlines aircraft.
This "Captain China" directed by Liu Weiqiang is also a classic of the main theme of the film in recent years.
The performance of this "Captain China" did not disappoint us, and he eventually got a box office result of 2.8 billion yuan.
"Chinese Doctor", which was released on July 9, 2021, is also directed by Liu Weiqiang, which is also based on real events, and also obtained box office results of more than 1 billion yuan.
"Chosin Lake" can be described as a double harvest at the box office and word of mouth, plus the previous "Chinese Doctor" also has good results.
This makes people look forward to the official release of the last film of the "China Victory Trilogy", "No Name".
Although there is no way to know how "Chosin Lake" will eventually get a good result, there is no way to know how "No Name" will show us those unsung heroes.
But at least we know that after "Chosin Lake", there are more exciting main theme movies waiting for us.
For example, "The King of Chinese Soldiers" directed by Zhong Shaoxiong, "The Storm" directed by Chen Jiashang, "Procuratorial Storm" directed by Mak Zhaohui, "Jedi Pursuit" directed by Qiu Litao, "Amazing Rescue" directed by Peng Shun, and so on
The times are advancing, people's appreciation and understanding of movies is also changing, let us look forward to the main theme of the new era of movies getting better and better, together look forward to those upcoming main theme movies!
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