Text | Ling Hu Boguang
Director Guo Fan, Wu Jing, Andy Lau, Li Xuejian and other starring "The Wandering Earth 2" has been released. The quality of the film is excellent, the reputation is bursting, and it is not difficult for the box office to exceed 1.5 billion on the 4th day of release.
The success of "The Wandering Earth 2", director Guo Fan has a huge role in promoting Chinese special effects blockbusters, the Chinese film industry, and Chinese films, and is similar to Tsui Hark to Hong Kong films in the Chinese-language film industry, but I think Guo Fan is more like George Lucas's "Star Wars" series to American films.
This is an analysis of Guo Fan from the perspective of Chinese commercial blockbusters and the Chinese film industry. But the contribution of "The Wandering Earth" to Chinese films is often overlooked, that is, the amount of investment in the film is compared with the Chinese film industry behind it.
From more than 100 million, 500 million to 1 billion, why is China's film investment more and more "pompous"
Advance statement: Unless the entertainment product is an annual report made public by the company, film and television works are often falsely advertised for the purpose of selling money and other reasons. This article is based on some companies that have clearly advertised, online rumors and analysis of industry understanding, and the data is certainly not very accurate.
Chinese film investment took off after Xu Zheng's "Thai" in 2012, because the box office of Chinese films exceeded the 1 billion era, then 2 billion, 3 billion, and then directly skipped 4 billion to 2017's "Wolf Warrior 2" 5.7 billion process.
At the same time, after 2012, the "traffic economy" prevailed, and then the gambling agreement, and the financial problems caused by the entry of the Internet into the entertainment industry. Everyone recall, I believe you should remember that around 2017 was the most exaggerated period of investment in Chinese film and television dramas.
For example, in the TV series "Ruyi" broadcast in 2018, Penguin spent 810 million yuan to buy the exclusive broadcast copyright, and the production fee was 500 million. Because of the number of episodes sold by domestic dramas, it has been stretched to fifty or sixty episodes and eighty or ninety episodes at every turn, and because of the exclusive broadcast rights, the gambling agreement and the traffic economy have coaxed up the price of stars, resulting in sky-high salaries for stars, and eventually leading to soaring film and television production costs.
Domestic films and domestic dramas are also a truth, investment amount and production are two sides of the same coin.
The popular Chinese films in the market after 2012, such as Guo Jingming's "Small Times" series of typical traffic movies. But the investment itself is not too high, the cost of the first two films is 45 million, the two films 700 million box office, and the four-part series 1.5 billion box office.
Guo Jingming and the investors made miserable profits, so even if Guo Jingming was controversial, he could make "Jue Trace" and "Yin-Yang Master", and because of this, Guo Jingming cried anxious when the box office of "Jue Trace" was not good. Of course, "Small Times" is not the kind of special effects blockbuster that the public thinks, and there are two mainstream commercial blockbusters in China in this era.
First, the films of big mainland directors such as Zhang Yimou, Feng Xiaogang, Chen Kaige, etc., the highest investment reached its peak around 2015.
Zhang Yimou's "Jinling Thirteen" publicity preparation invested 600 million yuan in 4 years, Feng Xiaogang's "1942" invested 210 million yuan, "Fang Hua" invested 130 million yuan, and Chen Kaige's "The Legend of the Demon Cat" invested 1 billion yuan.
The investment in "Jinling Thirteen" must have water, not only to add propaganda, but also to have serious false propaganda. Because this movie was released in 2011, Xu Zheng's "Thailand" was released in 2012, and the box office of Chinese films exceeded 1.3 billion.
In 2011, the Chinese film market accommodated 600 million investment movies, do you pull? There is almost no foreign market for Chinese films.
In 2012, Feng Xiaogang's 210 million investment in "1942" lost money at the box office of 364 million, usually 3 times back to 600 million, Feng Xiaogang will shoot "Private Order" to pay back. Chen Kaige's "The Legend of the Demon Cat" includes the money for Jianxiangyang Tangcheng, anyway, the investment in the first two films is about 200 million, and the "Legend of the Demon Cat" in the later years should be a little more expensive.
The second is the costume magic blockbuster of Hong Kong directors of the same time, and the investment amount can also reflect the situation of the Chinese film market at that time.
Tsui Hark's "Di Renjie" series, the second part had a publicity investment of 200 million, and the investment cost of the third film was rumored to be 300 million, considering that the investment cost of the domestic film market at that time was relatively normal.
Stephen Chow's "Journey to the West: Devil Falling" and Zheng Baorui's "Journey to the West: The Great Trouble in the Heavenly Palace" were established at the same time, with an investment of more than 100 million. Because the investment in the series after the first big sale was higher, in 17 years, "Journey to the West" began to exaggerate, and the investment cost was as high as 400 million yuan, including 120 million yuan in publicity expenses, which has increased by 3 times.
In 2016, the investment of 450 million yuan in "Three Dozen White Bone Essence" was okay, and the investment of 550 million yuan in "Daughter Country" in 2018 began to exaggerate.
"Monster Hunt" cost 350 million yuan, and the second part invested 650 million yuan in publicity. The investment cost of the movie version of "Three Lives and Three Lives and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" is 150 million, "Rescue Against Time" is 300 million, and the most exaggerated is that "Asura" has an investment of 750 million and so on. Is it that around 2017, the investment in Chinese films is becoming more and more exaggerated.
Which Chinese film has the highest investment in the past 5 years? The answer was somewhat surprising
So when did the amount of investment in Chinese films change? Believe me, Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior 2" in 2017 is a watershed for domestic films in the new era, a watershed in all aspects.
The cost of "Wolf Warrior 1" Wu Jing selling a house and filming is 12 million US dollars (about 70 million), and the investment of "Wolf Warrior 2" is only more than 200 million points (look at how much water this is).
"The Wandering Earth" has no experience in science fiction films in China, and the investment and production experience is quite twists and turns. It was publicly advertised that China Film investment was 50 million US dollars (about 300 million), Wanda had an investment but later withdrew, Guo Fan pressed his entire net worth into it to invest nearly 10 million, and later the "empty glove wolf" Wu Jing did not ask for a salary and invested 60 million.
All in all, the total investment in "The Wandering Earth" is around 400 million (probably not yet).
At this time, the project was set up for shooting at almost the same time, but the "Shanghai Fortress" publicity with traffic stars invested 360 million yuan. In other words, "The Wandering Earth" and "Shanghai Fortress" are Chinese sci-fi blockbusters with the same investment scale. This is the result of the flow and water removal of "Wolf Warrior 2" and the film industry, that is, around 2017, Chinese film investment began to normalize.
There are several directors whose blockbusters are in line with the level of the film industry, the feedback of the market box office, and then the trinity of investment amounts.
For example, "Operation Mekong" directed by Lin Chaoxian invested 200 million yuan, and the box office was a great success of 1.18 billion. To this end, the investment of 500 million "Operation Red Sea" was leveraged, and the box office was as high as 3.3 billion, which allowed Lin Chaoxian to wave a shot of "Emergency Rescue" with an investment of 700 million, and the box office failed.
In 2022, Bona announced that "Outsmart the Tiger Mountain Prequel" plans to invest 245 million yuan, "Red Sea Action 2" 250 million yuan, "Blood Battle on Ganling" 250 million yuan, and "Nameless" with an investment of 70 million. Of course, this is the amount of money dominated by BoeNex, and there must be other companies participating in a film, but the investment amount is much healthier than in previous years.
The other is Ning Hao, Xu Zheng and Huang Bo Iron Triangle, the latter two have not made super blockbusters. Ning Hao's supervising production of "Medicine God" cost less than 100 million and a box office of 3.3 billion, so he leveraged the investment of 400 million "Crazy Alien", and he supervised, Lu Yang director, the investment should also be 300-400 million between 300 million costume fantasy blockbuster "Assassination of a Novelist".
Zhang Yimou's Sino-US collaboration "The Great Wall" was later reduced to a medium-sized investment director, but his films are quite exaggerated in publicity like Chen Sicheng. "Shadow" invested 400 million, "Above the Cliff" less than 200 million, "Sniper" 400 million, and now "Manjiang Red" is rumored to be 500 million, except for "Above the Cliff" other is somewhat difficult to describe.
Chen Sicheng's "Tang Detective" series is typical, the first part has an investment of 80 million, the second publicity investment is 400 million, and the third publicity has a total investment of 600 million, 1.1 billion and 1.3 billion, anyway, they are very high. Guan Hu's "Eight Hundred" invested 550 million, which is a war blockbuster with normal investment. "King Kong River" does not mention, there are official platforms behind the two "Changjin Lake" to integrate various resources, and it does not make much sense to talk about the investment amount alone.
"Tang Detective 3" 1.3 billion, "The Wandering Earth 2" 1.1 billion? How low the investment in domestic films is
Why was the previous investment in domestic films so high? I think there are two important reasons.
1. China has not perfected the film and television industry chain and has not mastered high-end core technologies, resulting in a serious investment premium, and the money is not earned domestically but earned by foreigners.
Before the 2000s, the fifth generation of great directors in the mainland and the sixth generation of great directors made literary and art films. In the era of "Heroes", art, service and action guidance were solved by Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers, and big scenes relied on industry to concentrate manpower to do big things. Around 2010, the Korean film industry rose, and because of the environment at that time, it often cooperated with Hollywood, remembering that it was the core team.
In the era of globalization, the backwardness of your entire industrial technology is not like Hollywood and South Korea's core technology doing it themselves, outsourcing other marginal work. Backward countries invite developed countries to do it in terms of core technology, and the cost is absolutely high.
For example, "Crazy Alien" and "The Wandering Earth" both invested 400 million yuan (Wu Jing has not yet entered the game in the early stage), and Ning Hao and Guo Fan went to find the American Industrial Light and Magic at the same time. But the latter because the scale of the industry is too large and there is no money to afford it, the former can afford to make a spacesuit, the spaceship and the monkey with the heaviest proportion of the special effects of the entire movie.
2. Traffic economy, gambling agreements and other chaos, this is a financial problem and a social problem, it is not a movie problem.
In those years, Chinese films invested 500 million or 600 million at every turn, and you suddenly found that the investment in "Wolf Warrior 2" was only 200 million, the investment in "The Wandering Earth" was only 400 million, and "Mekong" invested 200 million to successfully leverage the 500 million "Red Sea", which is the ceiling of domestic modern war films, so where is the money spent on other films?
In addition to the very expensive foreign companies making a wave, the gang borrowed the middlemen of foreign companies to make another wave, and the hot stars and other aspects made another wave. Again, this is not a film problem, but a financial problem and a social problem.
The first part invested 400 million, and the second part invested only 500 million? What the investment in The Wandering Earth says
When "The Wandering Earth" was released, Guo Fan said in an interview that he had trained 7,000 people for Chinese films. And from the core team, special effects companies and the full set of industry chains. Previously, mainland directors began to work with Hong Kong and Taiwan teams, and later with Korean teams and Hollywood teams.
After 2012, due to various reasons, the investment in movies has become higher and higher, but the level of special effects of many blockbusters is also like that.
Here is another example, the Hong Kong film industry has always been the strongest Chinese, you will find that Hong Kong commercial blockbusters after 2012 are bombarded at every turn, but a check of the top blockbusters investment of 200-300 million (or Hong Kong dollars). Hong Kong films have mastered the core technology and the full set of industrial chains, and it is not expensive for directors, screenwriters and actors to support each other.
Of course, it is understandable that the investment in police and bandit blockbusters is not high enough, so Gu Tianle Stud said that when the box office of "Tomorrow's War" with an investment of 450 million yuan was not good, he was anxious, he was anxious-
All in all, cross-strait and three-place directors + Hong Kong and Taiwan behind-the-scenes teams + blockbusters of Korean or Hollywood teams. The most exaggerated is about 17 years, and at every turn it is invested five or six billion or even higher, but the level is just like that.
This continuation of the model also has a top-notch, "Fengshen Trilogy" directed by Wuershan. The trilogy claims to invest 3 billion and one to invest 1 billion, and as a result, the company died in a thunderstorm.
This publicity should be a little watery, and it is possible to invest $100 million in a single department. Because Wuershan's previous work "Finding the Dragon" invested 250 million yuan and the box office was 1.7 billion, it is reasonable to leverage a film of 100 million US dollars. But even if the investment of 100 million US dollars is still higher than "The Wandering Earth 2", if it is 1 billion, it is even higher.
Guo Fan's team relies on "The Wandering Earth" to master their core technology and establish a complete industrial industry chain. The cost of "Walking on the Moon Alone" and "Thousands of Miles Home" participated in by the same production team is between 300 million and 400 million (including publicity fees), these two films are domestic top blockbusters in the industry, how much cheaper do you think?
In 2022, China Film issued an "Announcement" listing specific investment plans, and China Film plans to invest 1.72 billion yuan to lay out 3 key blockbusters such as "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Walking on the Moon Alone", with an average investment of 573 million yuan each. Although these three parts are average, it is obvious that "The Wandering Earth 2" is the most expensive, and the current investment threshold is rumored to be 500 million.
I predict that the success of the first film is reasonable to leverage more than 500 million investment ("Operation Red Sea" is the same level). A large number of domestic film companies have invested in the opening credits of the movie, and more than 100 million US dollars is definitely quite stable, I think with the peak of publicity of about 7-800 million, the 1.1 billion rumored on the Internet should not be so high.
The film has already been released, and the film and television industry has reached the level of Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters before "Avatar 1", and the money is well spent.
The largest industrial scale of "Tang Detective 3" is to build a Japanese Shibuya station, the other is to shoot Japanese landscapes, and the same construction of the entire city "Ten Thousand Miles Home" invested 350 million. One "Tang Detective 3" can make three "Thousands of Miles Home", where does this money go?
PS: The film side of "Tang Detective 3" has refuted rumors that it has not invested 1.3 billion, and there has been an announcement that it is an investment of 438 million yuan, plus the publicity fee is about 600 million, which is still too high, after all, what industrial level is your film.
"The Wandering Earth 2" saved domestic movies? No, but it makes Chinese movies healthier
I believe that many people understand what Guo Fan's team represents, not only opening the door to China's hard sci-fi blockbusters, but also building a complete industrial chain is a reason for many domestic real industries.
The first is to promote and establish the progress of China's film industry and Chinese films.
Second, foreigners will not take away most of the investment, and the domestic master of its own core technology to occupy its own market, and can train a large number of domestic industrial workers.
The third is to cultivate their own product brands, and they will definitely compete internationally after starting at home.
Finally, based on the previous points, if the official suppression of the "traffic economy" is regulated from the outside, then "The Wandering Earth" and Guo Fan's team are the leaders of internal self-innovation. The two complement each other, at least in the past two or three years, domestic blockbusters look much healthier in investment.
The Spring Festival file in the same period just relied on the script and a bunch of stars, and the filming scene was a compound The film publicity investment was 500 million, but the box office became the first.
The movie does not mean that the box office of commercial blockbusters must be the highest, and it is normal for the script to be good and in line with the audience's taste. But what is the situation of Chinese films, and what situation they come out of is still needed. Therefore, the box office of "The Wandering Earth 2" does not go up, which makes the audience who care about the movie feel anxious.
At the same time, there is no comparison in the establishment of the film industry, the promotion of the film industry, or even from the perspective of cultural export.
"The Wandering Earth 2" for the domestic film and television industry, just like the lunar phase matrix nuclear weapons in the movie, from the periphery to the inside of the nuclear fusion that detonates the moon in a circle, and the earth that finally successfully set sail is a Chinese movie.
Finally, I hope that "The Wandering Earth 2" will not only return to the book but make more money, so that Guo Fan can shoot "The Wandering Earth 3" and support more young directors like Kong Dashan of the "Space Exploration Editorial Department". There are more explorations for China's science fiction and film and television industries, leading Chinese pop culture to stand on the top of the world more healthily.