Will there be a second remake of "Manslaughter"?
"Manslaughter" has been released for 6 days, although the box office is dismal, but this Indian film with a Douban score of 8.6 points has had a relatively successful adaptation in China. In 2019, the Chinese remake of "Manslaughter" achieved a box office of 1.333 billion and a Douban score of 7.5.
In fact, Indian cinema has been an "old friend" of Chinese people since "Wanderer" more than sixty years ago. In 2017, WrestleMania! "Daddy" hit a box office of nearly 1.3 billion yuan in China, breaking distributors' expectations for a 30 million box office for small language films, and then set off a "hot" Indian film in China, "Little Lori's Monkey God Uncle", "Starting Line", "Tuner" and co-production "Mysterious Superstar" have performed well.
This boom has fallen a bit in recent years. This year, "Indian Girl", which has been released for more than a month, has no star blessing, and the quality is relatively average, and the newly released "Manslaughter" is an old film from seven years ago, and pirated resources are everywhere, and it has not set off too much splash.
However, Indian films are rapidly recovering from the epidemic. Since the end of March, the Indian film "RRR", which has been released worldwide, has grossed $81.542 million at the local box office and $11.113 million in North America.
It is also a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, populous ancient country of oriental civilization, China and India are learning from the West and developing genre films at the same time, they are trying to maintain their own national characteristics, then, the development of the Indian film industry, is it really of reference significance for Chinese films?
Unique local market
According to the annual report of the Indian Media and Entertainment Industry published by KPMG India, from 2010 to 2019, the annual production of feature films in India increased from about 1300 to 2446, and from 2014 onwards, it was around 2000 per year.
Tan Zheng, editor-in-chief of Film Art and researcher at the Film Art Center of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, told Poison Eye that India's local market, which has long been the single market with the largest number of viewers in the world, has now decreased and was surpassed by China in 2018, and there are still more than a billion local audiences entering the cinema every year.
In 2020, the number of feature films produced in India decreased by 26% year-on-year to 1,800, with 441 films released throughout the year, compared to 792 in 2019. According to Fortune magazine, India's cinema revenue plummeted to $377 million, down 80% year-on-year, and cinema attendance was only 39 million, down to a quarter from the previous year. In 2021, only 471 films were released in India, far from returning to pre-pandemic levels.
"But they still recover faster than we do," He Wei, deputy general manager of Yimei Xinghai Film and Television Media, told Poison Eye (ID: DomoreDumou), "because the environment and natural climate in various places, north and south Of India are much worse, and the traffic is not convenient." Some big cities have been severely affected by COVID-19, but maybe the people in the villages and mountains are fine."
Compared with China, the indian film market is more fragmented. The Indian film industry consists of more than twenty regional film industries of different sizes, the most important of which are several "docks", the most well-known to Chinese audiences is Bollywood, centered on the largest port city of Mumbai, shooting Hindi films; followed by Colle dock, centered in the southern bay city of Chennai, shooting Tamil films; and Tollywood, mainly Telugu films; Mollywood, shooting Malayalam films; and Sandwood, mainly Kannada films. The Hindi book "Manslaughter" is adapted from Mariwood's "Contest".
Tan Zheng mentioned: "The Indian film market is not as unified as China, although there are also national theaters, but there are not many, there are only about 5 influential, and the blocking of film distribution is more obvious." "This is also determined by India's national conditions. At present, there are as many as 22 official languages in India, and different regional films are aimed at audiences of different language families.
But a unified national market remains. Tan Zheng told Poison Eye: "Bollywood movies are mainly aimed at the national market, and if you want to distribute them to the whole country, you generally have to translate them into Hindi. However, the content of the movies in various places is shared, and the respective actors will also communicate with each other, but the actors of general local movies can only play supporting roles in Bollywood. So Indian cinema is a multilingual, multi-base ecosystem. ”
According to statistics, in 2019, among the top 10 films at the Indian domestic box office, Bollywood producers occupied 8 places. In Tan Zheng's view, Indian films have also played an important role in strengthening the national identity of the Indian people, because they have many languages, belonging to more than twenty states, although mainly Hinduism, but also many religions such as Islam.
Indian Religious Film "Baahubali: The Beginning"
In addition, the level of education of Indian nationals is highly polarized. In The home of Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon, 40% of foreign-born technicians come from India, and according to 2019 data, there are still 313 million illiterate people in India, of which 59% are women.
Therefore, in terms of film genre, some audiences prefer strong plots and exaggerated movies, which is why many Indian films look like "dog blood".
The multilingual environment and special aesthetic habits have created a large and unique Indian film audience. Indian cinema firmly grasps the tastes of local audiences, coupled with less government intervention, so the degree of marketization of the industry is very high.
Most of the annual output of 2446 films in 2019 before the epidemic was a genre film with local characteristics for the market. Indian films have a unique narrative style, long length, some narratives are more exaggerated, more than 70% of the films have song and dance scenes.
Tan Zheng mentioned that Indian audiences have the habit of spending on long stories, their first feature film is relatively long, about 1 hour, and the first one in other countries is generally a short film.
"The Indian film industry is completely market-oriented, and they start by making movies that audiences love to watch, following the fun narrative of the public's appreciation. Indian cinema has always been relatively smooth, with some crisis during World War II, and although it also suffered from television and piracy, it did not shake the fundamentals. Unlike some countries, the film industry has not formed a continuous development based on the market because of the war, different film concepts, and so on. ”
The special local situation also makes it difficult for foreign films to completely open the Indian market. In 2021, the top 10 annual box office films in the Indian market are all Indian films, and the highest-grossing imported film "Godzilla vs King Kong" ranks 14th.
He Wei told Poison Eye from another perspective that other Indian companies in cooperation with films are also different from the situation in China, these large companies will give money to different production companies, as equity investment or direct investment for a year or two, rather than investing in a specific project.
In this way, the professionalism and autonomy of the creators are guaranteed.
He Wei also observed that more than 95% of Bollywood's new generation of directors and production teams have worked in Hollywood, or other advanced industrial systems in Europe and the United States, and they have brought advanced experience back to China and raised the level of the entire industry. In the process of the rapid development of the Indian film industry, talent has played a huge role.
However, under the impact of the epidemic, the film industry around the world has shrunk to varying degrees. At this time, the streaming media that took advantage of the void also gave India a hammer. PwC estimates that the Indian streaming (online movie) market will grow by 31% between 2019 and 2024, with revenue estimated at $2.7 billion.
In 2020, the number of subscriptions to Indian cable and satellite TV channels decreased by 20 million, coupled with the fact that platforms such as Netflix not only launched Indian movies, but also shot Indian films, and drastically reduced subscription prices, it is obvious where viewers have turned.
However, the impact of streaming is still fermenting.
"China's streaming media (mainly) is a newly developed Internet company operating, several major domestic film giants have not developed their own streaming media, but India has not chosen so open, large film companies such as Eros International, Xinshi have developed their own streaming media." Tan Zheng told Poison Eye, "There are also some companies that have long known the importance of copyright and have begun to buy the rights of some films. There are many film companies in India, and some companies will buy the films of small companies, put them in their own film libraries, and then operate the copyright. ”
He Wei also believes that the current impact of the Internet on India's traditional media is not as great as China's.
Indian movie tickets are cheap, the people have bad internet speeds, bad transportation, and there is not much other cultural life to choose from. Movie watching is an activity that all ages can participate in, and for young people who are more likely to be attracted to other entertainment, a ticket for a few hours of movies is cheaper than playing games in an Internet café, watching singing and dancing, stars, and intermissions.
Indian films that strive to go to sea
Indian films with unique styles are not satisfied with being limited to the domestic market, and have long set their sights on overseas.
In the 1990s, under the domination of neoliberal political economy, the Indian film industry began to open up to the outside world and seek a way to expand its capacity.
It is generally believed that since 1995's "Courage to Win the Heart", India has officially started the journey of "going out". Since the 21st century, the European and American markets have been the main front of Indian films, starting from 2017's "Wrestle! Before the beginning of "Daddy", China became India's largest overseas market.
WrestleMania! "Daddy" grossed $193 million in Chinese mainland, more than double India's $773.19 billion, and the film also grossed $12.391 million in North America. In 2016, of the 46 foreign-language films that grossed more than $1 million in north America, 29 were Indian. In the list of the top 10 box office, Indian films occupy 6 seats, and the first place is this film.
Films such as "The Tuner" and "Starting Line" were still Chinese mainland to earn $47.111 million and $32.712 million, both three times the Indian box office. The co-production "Mysterious Superstar" grossed thirteen times that of India with a mainland box office of $117 million.
In contrast, in 2019, the four domestic films that sold well in the mainland broke through the North American box office, "The Wandering Earth" was 5.87 million US dollars, "My Motherland and Me" was 2.356 million, "Nezha's Devil Boy Descending" was 3.695 million US dollars, and "Young You" was 1.92 million US dollars, although there was a breakthrough, but obviously not as good as Indian films.
Tan Zheng told Poison Eye that India's reform and opening up began in 1991, almost since then, their film narrative has been exported, which also meets the needs of a large number of overseas Indians, Indian films have been using overseas space as a story scene since the 90s, but the mainland probably only emerged in the past decade, such as "Global Love", "Beijing Meets Seattle", "Chinatown Detective" and so on.
Part of the reason why Indian movies can become popular overseas is that those Indians also like to watch Indian movies, compared with Chinese audiences in the 90s and early 2000s, they prefer to watch Hollywood movies, and their preference for domestic films has only been cultivated in the past decade, while the preferences of overseas Chinese in Chinese movies must be well explored.
In the early 1990s, the economic strength of Indians living abroad increased, giving Indian films the possibility of overseas box office growth, and investment from these Indian immigrants also became part of the overseas financing of Indian films.
In order to promote Indian films to go overseas, the Indian government has signed the "Film Co-production Agreement" with many countries, which stipulates: When Indian films are co-produced with foreign companies, they can not only fully exchange and cooperate in terms of funds, ideas, technology, markets, etc., but also enjoy tax incentives, financial assistance and priority screening quotas.
"They have been targeting overseas markets since the 1990s, and even some films have made higher earnings overseas than they have at home. We have only begun to market the overseas market as a market in the past decade, but only as a supplement. Tan Zheng observed: "They are more market-oriented, more meticulous, and use a lot of market forces to promote, for example, many of their companies have branches in the Uk and the United States." Reliance and DreamWorks have a partnership. They have the strength, and the number of companies with an international vision is more than ours. ”
As for the current situation of streaming media, He Wei analyzed: "I think that online media, including Amazon and Netflix, will have a very big impact on the industrial cluster of Indian films in the future. Because Indians all over the world are fixed consumers of Indian film culture, the copyright of movies and songs can be sold for tens of millions of dollars. Their open overseas markets have always had the shadow of overseas giants, some overseas companies will invest in local companies, some will jointly distribute production, and the degree of cooperation is much deeper than that in our country. ”
Compared with traditional films, Indian films that go abroad show a new style, generally starring big stars, with intensive plot twists, song and dance more in line with the overall narrative, mostly filmed abroad, and using advanced photography and post-production of the same level as Hollywood films. In recent years, new films have paid more attention to the social reality of India.
Chinese audiences are more familiar with the Bollywood superstars Three "Khans", Amir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan have been developing new Indian films.
Shah Rukh Khan starred in the movie "Bollywood Life and Death Love"
Ho believes that India's commercial genre films are the best in the whole of Asia. For example, films based on realistic themes have become a mature system.
These films turn some of the bad aspects of society into crime, inspirational, family movies, and integrate them into Indian values. This kind of film can reason for ordinary audiences who do not have a high level of culture internally, and can show cultural self-confidence in self-criticism and establish a big country style externally.
The 2015 Indian film "My God" popularized India's complex religious problems, telling how lovers who were opposed by their families due to different religious beliefs solved the problem with the help of an alien. The film draws on a lot of Hollywood film content, including E.T. Alien, supplemented by a lot of American humor.
The film eventually became the Indian box office champion that year, earning more than $100 million at the overseas box office, breaking its international box office record. The film was not only loved by Indian immigrants, but also recognized by american audiences.
In the co-production film "Mysterious Superstar" for Chinese audiences, it is not difficult to see family, family affection, and these themes that Chinese audiences are more concerned about. The film did not perform well in India, but was very successful Chinese mainland.
"China and India have similarities in some traditional concepts and social values. For example, in "Mysterious Superstar", there is a scene of domestic violence by the father to the mother, if the American child or the Japanese child saw it, he would not deal with it this way, but Chinese and Indians will understand it at a glance. In the context of the understanding of some behaviors, the two countries have something in common. He Wei believes that Indian films have certain advantages when they enter China.
Tan Zheng also holds a similar view. WrestleMania! "Daddy" has the same ethical system between China and India, such as the emphasis on children's education, the hope of jackie chan, the emphasis on the family, the traditional concept of son preference, and so on.
Based on this similarity, He Wei believes that communication with Indian filmmakers is cheaper. "They also have more respect for partners like me, who have a close relationship with them. Pay more attention to some of our opinions and feedback, and are not as arrogant as Hollywood companies. ”
He Wei's previous company, Genesis Star, has cooperation agreements with more than 80% of Bollywood's directors, producers and actors. However, due to the impact of the epidemic and the international situation, after leaving Genesis Star, he mainly engaged in the planning and promotion of domestic projects, and suspended overseas film-related business.
Recall Wrestling! The success of "Daddy", which he believes represents the success of this genre and Amir Khan. But he believes that even if you watch Wrestling again today! Daddy", everyone will still like it. This has nothing to do with aesthetics, and people's empathy and feelings do not change with the change of time.
In the past two years, Indian films released in China have not received much attention, but the Douban high-scoring movie "Jay Beam" that 40,000 people have seen shows to a certain extent that Chinese audiences are still paying attention to excellent Indian films.
Regarding the Indian import film and co-production projects that have been temporarily shelved due to the epidemic, He Wei said, "In the future, the timing is right, for example, when you can freely communicate, you will continue to complete the work that has not been done before."
Excellent Indian films have explored a path to a wider world, but what about excellent domestic films?
Text | Three hi
Edit | Zhang Youfa
Resources:
1. Development, Observation and Enlightenment of Indian Film Industry in the Past Ten Years, Chinese Film Market
2. Cultural and Commercial Strategies for the International Dissemination of Indian Films since the New Century, Media Arts
3. Internationalization seeks under the indian new film phenomenon, foreign films