January 20, 2023 issue | Total No. 3122
At the beginning of this week, a series of films were officially announced. In addition to the postponed "When the Wind Rises" and "King of the Long Sky", the most eye-catching are "Black Panther: Long Live Wakanda" (hereinafter referred to as "Black Panther 2") scheduled for February 7, and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Frenzy" (hereinafter referred to as "Ant-Man 3") released simultaneously on February 17.
This is the second release of Marvel movies in mainland theaters after three and a half years. After "Avengers 4" and "Spider-Man: Far From Home" in 2019, Marvel's fourth-phase works (such as "Black Widow" and "Doctor Strange 2") have all missed the mainland big screen due to company and content disputes.
Recently, due to Disney's personnel changes and the adjustment of mainland film management methods, the probability of overseas films being released simultaneously in the mainland has greatly increased. The return after three years has also made many Marvel fans boil again, and even revived their chartering enthusiasm.
However, three years later, Disney's superhero endurance and the mainland's enthusiasm for Hollywood movies are no longer what they used to be. Although the emotional influence is still there, it is certain that in the short term, Marvel's golden signboard will not be able to reproduce the highlight of the 6.7 billion box office in 2019.
Marvel soul Kevin Feige lacks skills in multiple film and television projects, and the time point of the end of the original hero is too concentrated. In the fourth phase of Marvel, there was varying degrees of weakness in the exploration of super-British diversified styles, and the average Douban score of the 5 movies was only 6.2. The company, which used to be the best at selling heroism through stories, now struggles to tell even the basic logic of good stories.
"Black Widow" and "Thor 4", which continue the original character line, seem to be in order to catch up with the script temporarily put together by the actor's contract deadline, the character motivation is insufficient, and the transition attribute of the handover of new and old heroes is too obvious.
The worst thing is the fragmentation of value expression. Black Widow finally showed her own female power in a solo movie after many years, and the subsequent release of "Thor 4" immediately smashed female expression, proving that the destination of female characters in superhero movies is always to become a tool to promote male growth.
The fall in word-of-mouth directly led to the failure of the box office in the fourth stage. Of the seven works released by Marvel last year, only one "Spider-Man: Homeless" exceeded $1 billion at the global box office.
Film and television blogger "City Link Crisp" sorted out Marvel movie ratings and box office
Although the logic and character collapse of "Spider-Man: Homeless", in order to create a villain, he did not hesitate to mold the Dutch bug as the Ignorant Virgin, but because of the invitation to Toby and Garfield, the film relied on the feelings of three generations fighting in the same frame, which triggered a nostalgic frenzy of bug fans, and finally won nearly $2 billion at the box office without a mainland market. Based on this, this movie has also become one of the few bright colors in Disney's bleak earnings report last year.
This is probably the influence of world-class IP. At the beginning of the millennium, when Marvel lived by selling character copyrights, it was thought that "no one cares about other Marvel characters except Spider-Man", and years later, the company still relies on Spider-Man to boost the market's confidence in superheroes.
Many fans believe that Marvel's fourth phase of loss lies in the lack of China's ticket office.
In fact, the mainland box office of Marvel movies is inseparable from word-of-mouth fermentation and visual effects standards. Marvel fans are different from ordinary dinner circles, most of them are attracted to the story, rather than just obsessed with the individual actors.
What's more, several popular and high-appeal actors of the first generation have ended their contracts with Marvel. At present, Marvel Superhero is in the development stage of youth and yellow, and the characters who have launched single-player movies such as Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel, who is expected to meet us this year, are not "top" compared to the popularity of the original generation.
"Ant-Man 3"
"Black Panther 2" was released in North America last November, and the current IMDB score is 7.2, which is basically the same as the word of mouth of "Black Panther" released in 2018, but the former's box office is nearly $500 million less than the latter. "Black Panther" was released in the mainland with a box office of less than 1 billion yuan, and the mainland box office of the second part must not be too optimistic.
What's more, the reputation of "Black Panther 2" is not good, as a family story around the original Black Panther's sister Su Rui (Letitia Wright), there are even fans crudely summarized as "Wakanda: The Way of Water", with a current Douban score of 6.3. The story is mediocre, and the film source is online in advance of streaming media, the domestic box office results of "Black Panther 2" must not be too good.
Black Panther 2
The real test of Marvel's mainland box office appeal is actually "Ant-Man 3" released on February 17.
As the first work of the fifth phase of Marvel, it shoulders the mission of breaking the fatigue of super-British aesthetics, and whether it can reverse the impression of Marvel's gradual collapse in the hearts of the audience over the past three years. To some extent, its story color and visual style are also the weather vane of the fifth stage. If "Guardians of the Galaxy 3" can also be released simultaneously in the mainland, the reputation of these two works will basically set the level of Marvel's fifth phase and affect the subsequent scheduling of the entire superhero genre.
With the weakening of the epidemic and the warmer weather gradually returning, in addition to Marvel, the sequel to "Aquaman" and "Thunder Shazam" produced by DC next door will also be released within this year, will this year become a year for superheroes to rejuvenate and superheroes to reshuffle? Let's wait and see.
【Text/Kwai Chung】