Who would have thought that Deng Chao also fell into the "box office circle".
Not long ago, "Chinese Table Tennis Jedi Strikes Back" was released, and the box office on the first day was only 8.2 million (hereinafter referred to as "Chinese Table Tennis").
"Ant-Man 3", released on the same day, has a box office 5 times that of "Chinese Table Tennis", and even "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Manjiang Red", which were released for 27 days, have a single-day box office of 6-8 million higher.
Netizens sighed: "Chinese Table Tennis" "again" pounced.
Why say "again", because it has already pounced once.
This year's Spring Festival file, "Chinese Table Tennis" was released once, with a box office of 30 million on the first day, ranking at the bottom of the new film in the Spring Festival file, and the box office the next day was even surpassed by "Avatar: The Way of Water" released for 41 days.
Under pressure, the film party announced that it would be withdrawn and released again at a later date.
The box office and the arrangement of films will be withdrawn, and the last time this was done was "Asura" starring Wu Lei, and after the movie was withdrawn, it was never released again.
But "Chinese Table Tennis" does not seem to believe in this evil.
Avoiding the turbulent tide of the Spring Festival stall, he changed a poster and made a comeback, only to encounter a crit again.
If it's a bad film on the street, this situation is normal.
But strangely, "Chinese Table Tennis" is not only not a bad film, but even has a good reputation.
Looking at the composition ratio of Douban scores, more than 52% of people scored 8 or 10 points.
In other words, more than half of the people think that "Chinese Table Tennis" is a good film with excellent quality.
This is a bit confusing.
As its name suggests, the film tells about our national ball table tennis, and it is reasonable to say that the audience is extremely wide.
The story is also based on real events.
From 1992 to 1995, China's men's table tennis was at a low ebb, and Cai Zhenhua returned to China as the head coach.
He took Ding Song, Ma Wenge, Wang Tao, Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui "Five Tiger Generals" to fight back at the Tianjin World Championships and lead men's table tennis back to the peak.
Familiar names, bloody stories, strong patriotic feelings, these are the passwords to unlock the box office.
The film starring Deng Chao, Mr. 10 billion box office, starring in "Villain Angel" that year received 640 million box office in the case of bad reviews, this heart-to-heart work broke 1 billion, it should be easy.
After the film was released, it did have a good reputation, Maoyan 9.4, Taobao Ticket 9.3, Douban 7.0, which can be regarded as a domestic film masterpiece.
Many viewers said: "No preaching, talking, blood to the end, I want to apologize to Deng Chao."
But so many favorable factors, added together, the box office still pounced.
Not only did he pounce twice, but the second time was worse than the first.
01、
On the surface, the reason lies in the movie itself.
First of all, sports-themed movies and TV series are difficult to make.
Because sports themselves have their own charm, it is difficult to show it in film and television.
For example, make a "Bolt Biography".
No matter how good actors you find, shoot many times, do wonderful editing, and the final effect is not as wonderful as Bolt's own game video.
Therefore, if sports movies want to be filmed well, they must either be filmed as the struggle history of ordinary people, or focus on shooting stories outside the arena.
Secondly, the theme of "Chinese table tennis" is not pleasant.
Table tennis is a highly engaging, but ornamental sport, relatively average.
Most Chinese people, just during the Olympic Games, focus on it, and usually rarely watch the games.
China's table tennis mass base is so good, but the "Table Tennis Super League" is not big, which is the best proof.
Not many people watch Chinese table tennis competitions, who wants to watch "Chinese Table Tennis"?
And Guoping has ruled the world for so many years.
If you shoot "Chinese Table Tennis Jedi Strikes Back", it is similar to Hollywood filming "American Dream Team's Jedi Strikes Back", Brazil filming "Samba Football's Jedi Counterattack".
Do you think you are remembering suffering, but is the audience willing to spend dozens of dollars to accompany you to remember bitterness and watch a story that knows the end at the beginning?
For table tennis fans, this movie is not necessary to make.
An important characteristic of fans is that they like to watch the live broadcast of the game, and once the results of the game are revealed, they are not even willing to open the replay.
The movie is clearly not a live competition.
So fans can go to the theater and reminisce about the history of National Table Ping?
"Chinese table tennis" did have a trough, and that journey was indeed exciting.
But if you want to recall this gloomy episode in the middle, these fans would rather watch a documentary, watch a game video, than watch an acting movie.
Finally, this kind of movie is easy to offend people.
Because in order to highlight the protagonist, sports movies will definitely dwarf some supporting roles and even set up several "villains".
These dwarfed character archetypes will definitely be dissatisfied and even obstruct the shooting.
In order to calm the matter, the main creator either cuts, beautifies, or obfuscates.
The end result is that the movie itself is warm as water.
These problems have been encountered by "Chinese Table Tennis".
The film started after last year's Winter Olympics, originally intended to please a good omen, but it was still frequently frustrated.
The film was originally planned to be scheduled for the 2022 National Day, but it was unsuccessful due to review reasons.
Later, for some reason, the title of the film was changed from "Chinese Table Tennis" to "Chinese Table Tennis Jedi Strikes Back".
However, the film side understands design.
The four words "Jedi Strikes Back" on the poster are reduced to the corners, and "Chinese Ping-Pong" is bold and black, standing in the center of the poster.
Even after encountering a series of storms, the film is still set for the first day of the Chinese New Year, and "Manjiang Red" and "The Wandering Earth 2" fight bayonets head-on.
Deng Chao also put a lot of effort into publicity, running road shows, doing live broadcasts, and his footsteps did not stop;
Most of the people in the entertainment industry also forwarded and promoted his new movie, and the scene was spectacular.
But before the Spring Festival, the film party suddenly received a notice that real names must not appear in the film, not even homophony.
The film side had to rename the character.
Cai Xinhua (Cai Zhenhua) changed to Dai Minjia, Liu Guoliang (Liu Guoliang) changed to Hou Zhuoxiang, Kong Shuai (Kong Linghui) changed to Dong Shuai, Huang Tao (Wang Tao) changed to Huang Zhao, and Ma Wenhe (Ma Wenge) changed to Bai Minhe.
Pronounce how the mouth shape is similar, change it, and then seize the time to quickly re-dub.
After a rush to work, the film also missed the golden release period of New Year's Day.
The film side was unwilling, changed the file to the third day of the Lunar New Year, and shouted the slogan on the poster, "To everyone who is not optimistic."
During this period, the film party also engaged in 2 screenings, wanting to rely on word-of-mouth to counterattack, but the word-of-mouth reputation did not ferment out.
Coupled with the fact that "The Wandering Earth 2", "Manjiang Red", "Nameless" and "Deep Sea" released at the same time all had good reputations, the "word-of-mouth strategy" of "Chinese Table Tennis" failed.
The film side began to "sell miserable mode" again.
Deng Chao and Yu Baimei ran all over the major cities for propaganda, their faces written with tragedy and their attitudes extremely humble.
But pulling down the face publicity did not promote a significant increase in the box office.
After the film was withdrawn, the film side changed its strategy again.
Previously, it focused on "family fun", but now it focuses on "youth and blood", wanting to attract young people who have returned from the holiday.
Even Wu Jing, who made a cameo appearance, appeared in a prominent position on the poster.
As a result, the sound of the waves remained.
Except for the first-day screening rate of 11.8%, it basically hovered around 6.5% after that.
Unfortunately, the market was very cold during this time, everyone was reluctant to go to the theater, and the average attendance rate of "Chinese Table Tennis" was even less than 5%.
Now, the "Resurrection A" has run out, and "Chinese Table Tennis" has completely lost the opportunity to turn over.
02、
The movie itself failed to win in the first step, which is not the deadliest thing.
Because Chen Kexin's "Winning the Championship" has also encountered almost the same problems.
It was filmed on the Chinese women's volleyball team.
It also changed its name from "Chinese Women's Volleyball" to "Winning the Championship";
It was also opposed by the parties and the film was modified.
It has also undergone several shifts and withdrawals.
Even the rating, the two films are Douban 7 points.
But "Winning the Championship" also won 830 million at the box office in the end, and after "Chinese Table Tennis" tossed around, the final box office may not exceed 100 million.
There is only one core problem, that is, Deng Chao.
Deng Chao's previous years were smooth.
He participated in some high-popularity variety shows, and his acting did not seem to be greatly affected, relying on "Scorching Sun" to win the actor and enter the 10 billion box office club.
In life, he is a husband and wife, children are both complete, and he is recognized as a winner in life.
But in recent years, everything that should have come has come.
You find that no, Deng Chao is gradually losing audiences.
Deng Chao's last box office hit movie was 2016's "Mermaid", and that movie hit was mainly the credit of Stephen Chow.
After "Mermaid", Deng Chao's real blockbuster movies were almost nonexistent.
Wu Jing and Shen Teng, who are the same age as him, have the ability to carry 1 billion box office alone, and he has withdrawn from the first echelon.
Deng Chao is also losing the director's trust in him.
In the early years, Deng Chao worked with many top directors and had good performances.
For example, he collaborated with Chen Kexin on "Chinese Partner", with Cao Baoping in "Scorching Sun", with Stephen Chow on "Mermaid", and with Zhang Yimou on "Shadow".
These big directors have a characteristic that they will cooperate with actors who are comfortable working with many times, which is also the biggest affirmation of the actors' acting skills.
For example, Chen Kexin has cooperated with Jin Chengwu 4 times, and actor Wang Yanhui is Cao Baoping's golden supporting role and has appeared in his works many times.
Zhang Yimou has also cooperated with Zhang Yi and Yu Hewei many times in recent years, and he is extremely partial to Zhang Yi.
On the other hand, Deng Chao, it seems that no big directors are willing to be "repeat customers" in recent years.
And after 2018, other big directors did not choose Deng Chao when shooting commercial blockbusters.
There are always people who have been asking, why is Deng Chao always tied to Yu Baimei now?
It's not that Deng Chao owes Yu Baimei money, perhaps, it's that he has no choice.
The first to recognize this dilemma was Deng Chao's wife Sun Li.
She said frankly in an interview:
"I watched his play and felt that I saw Deng Chao, but I didn't see that character, and sometimes my criticism of him may be sharper than the outside, because I am too familiar with him."
When Sun Li said this, Deng Chao was standing next to him, his face a little ugly.
Deng Chao himself obviously understood this.
Sun Li: "Sometimes everyone looks at him crazy and fearless, it's just a shell, he is actually very anxious, his background is apprehension and lack of confidence." ”
This can be seen from Deng Chao's recent performance.
This year, Deng Chao appeared on the Spring Festival Gala again, and he and Wang Erni cooperated in singing the song "Good Luck All Comes", only to see him bouncing and constantly waving to enliven the atmosphere.
The trance is reminiscent of his participation in "I Am a Singer" many years ago, and his energetic performance helped his friend win the finals.
But off the stage, Deng Chao was tired for "Chinese Table Tennis".
Recently, I couldn't hold back because the box office was not ideal, and I apologized directly to the audience and to my crew colleagues because I "didn't do a good job as a director."
Once these negative effects accumulated, they were all concentrated on "Chinese Table Tennis".
Many people were dissuaded to quit as soon as they saw the combination of "Deng Chao + Yu Baimei";
Many people know that the film is not bad, and they are unwilling to support it, and bluntly say that Deng Chao should pay off the debt;
Others hit the nail on the head and pointed out that it was good that the movie failed miserably, and "the most deadly thing is that the era belonging to Deng Chao is over."
03、
Every time Deng Chao's problem is discussed online, everyone will say one sentence:
"He has a handsome face, but he has a comic heart."
This understanding of the connection between "Deng Chao and comedy" is actually only half right.
Deng Chao does have an "indissoluble bond" with comedy.
When he was also studying in Chinese opera, he starred in Yingda's sitcom "Happy Youth".
This drama could not be broadcast in China because of copyright issues, otherwise Deng Chao could have cut off the idea of acting in comedy earlier.
The graduation drama "Green Flowers on Sauerkraut" starring him is his famous work.
This comedy made him mistakenly think that he was very talented in comedy, and the final result was that the drama was sued in court for suspected plagiarism.
It was no one else who sued him, it was Yu Baimei.
At that time, Yu Baimei was already a well-known screenwriter and participated in the creation of the sitcom "Northeast Family" and "Idle Sister Ma".
After he took Deng Chao to court, the two did not fight or know each other, and because of the comedy, they became friends.
After that, Deng Chao also guest starred in Yu Baimei's drama, and in his heart, he is the next "king of comedy".
Later, Deng Qiedao acted in a formal drama, and at the beginning he was positioned as "the emperor's professional household".
Because of his handsome appearance, he successively played the emperor in "Young Tianzi", "Young Kangxi" and "The First in the World", and gained a certain popularity.
In 2005, he starred in "Happiness Like a Flower" hit, he not only met Sun Li during the filming, but also perfectly transformed into a "professional household for high-level cadres", and then played high-level children in "Women Don't Cry" and "Sweet Honey".
With these two labels, Deng Chao's fame has become more and more and favored by the film industry.
In 2006, he starred in Feng Xiaogang's "Rally" and was nominated for the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actor;
In 2007, he starred in Cao Baoping's "Li Mi's Conjecture" and won the "Golden Phoenix Award";
In 2008, he starred in Zhang Wuji in "The Legend of Relying on the Sky and Slaying the Dragon", and in the same year, he also participated in the movie "Love Call Transfer 2".
In 2009, he was favored by Hong Kong capital and starred in Tsui Hark's "Di Renjie's Babel Empire".
Then there was "Painting the Wall" in 2010, "Chinese Partner" in 2013, and in the same year he also filmed "Scorching Sun".
According to the normal script, Deng Chao should soon become the leader of the "Mesozoic Generation Actors".
But Deng Chao, who had reached this stage, had a broader vision and a new blueprint in his heart.
This blueprint is the "world of capital".
When you see a movie with hundreds of millions of box office profits, and all parties get paid more through a variety of trading methods, it is difficult for you to be satisfied with just being the performer itself, taking a salary of several million, up to 100 million.
You will definitely want to get more returns in the world of capital.
At this time, film is not only a movie, but also a special tool.
So, in 2013, Deng Chao teamed up with Yu Baimei to create an orange image together.
One is responsible for writing, the other is responsible for acting, plus several actors from Pak Mei Studio to form an industrial chain.
The road itself is understandable, and many big-name actors do.
But cooperating with Yu Baimei is definitely a stinky move.
Yu Baimei was indeed a gold medal screenwriter for sitcoms before, but his aesthetic of comedy was relatively backward, which can be seen from the first season of "Happy Comedian".
His work feels like a cliché comedy of the last century, with a distinct shell and not funny.
Deng Chao knew Yu Baimei earlier, but he didn't see this.
In his heart, Yu Baimei was tempered by a real knife and a real gun in a sitcom, and he was a high-level literati like Liang Zuo.
Making movies with him, at least in the field of comedy, must have a lot to offer.
So after the orange image was established, the two couldn't wait to collaborate on "Breakup Master" and "Villain Angel", with Yu Baimei serving as both writer and director.
Both sold well at the box office, with the former 665 million and the latter 596 million.
However, those bad reviews of Qi brushing, Pi Ge believes that Deng Chao will not turn a blind eye.
After that, the two did not plan new comedy projects in the field of film.
Deng Chao returned to his identity as an actor and threw himself into the famous director, and the result shined.
In 2016, Deng Chao's comedy film "Mermaid" broke the box office record of domestic films.
In 2017, he starred in "Riding the Wind and Waves" was a box office hit, and he also won the Golden Rooster actor with "Scorching Sun".
In 2018, he played two roles and starred in Zhang Yimou's "Shadow" with his wife Sun Li.
At that time, Deng Chao was in the limelight.
If at this time, he can stick to it with a bang, maybe he will stand in his own era.
But Deng Chao made the wrong choice again.
He returned to Yu Baimei and started his own company's project, "Galaxy Tuition School".
This "Galaxy Cram School" can actually clearly see Deng Chao's "sense of crisis".
No more croaking, no more pompous performances to pursue hilarity, the story also has a core, although very old-fashioned.
It's just limited by its own story and production level, and the quality of the film can only be said to be average.
From the perspective of word of mouth, "Galaxy Tuition School" is actually the end of the strong crossbow of the combination of "Deng Chao and Yu Baimei".
The patience of the masses has reached a critical value.
But the box office of 870 million still gave Deng Chao great confidence.
After "Galaxy Cram School", Deng Chao took a bigger step.
This time, he wants to shoot "Chinese Ping-Pong" with Yu Baimei, completely detached from comedy, focusing on blood, patriotism and inspiration.
Pulled the investment of Hengye Pictures, the cost was carefully calculated, Deng Chao, Sun Li starred, Wu Jing showed his face and simply made three cameo appearances, and the other actors are basically not famous.
Only this time, he miscalculated the domestic market of sports themes, coupled with the audience's discouragement with the combination of "Deng Chao and Yu Baimei".
This gamble ended in failure.
04、
In fact, looking back at Deng Chao's acting career, we can find that he is more suitable for being chosen than for himself.
When other directors approached him and tailored roles and labels for him, he was able to perform well.
His drama path is also very wide, costume, modern, crime, love... There are no characters that can't be grasped.
If he can be an "obedient" actor, his upper limit should not be like this.
But who can resist the great charm of the capital market, personally form a group to go it alone, and have to be tied to their good buddy Yu Baimei, this is a problem.
Of course, the combination of Deng Chao and Yu Baimei is not the kind of combination that does not want to forge ahead.
Judging from the relationship between the two for more than 20 years, they are both people who love the stage and both have an almost paranoid pursuit of film and television art.
It can also be seen from their works that despite being scolded all the time, the two have been slowly improving.
"Villain Angel" 4.4 points, "Breakup Master" 5.1 points, "Galaxy Cram School" 6.2 points, "Chinese Table Tennis Jedi Strikes Back" 7.0 points.
This curve of progress, although gentle, has been steadily rising.
The two are also learning lessons.
In the early years, he would only shoot that kind of farce that scratched and squeaked, and later the audience scolded more, and began to take the initiative to cut away and try other themes.
This time's "Chinese Table Tennis" can also see that they really have intentions.
But capital markets are brutal.
Already given you 10 years of trial and error, it is impossible to give you the next 10 years.
Now, the two are progressing, but this progress is like the story of "wolves are coming".
You shout "the wolf is coming" several times, the audience is deceived several times, and when the "wolf" really comes, the audience no longer believes it, and the market has given up on you.
05、
In fact, sometimes, choice is more important than strength
At the moment, Deng Chao is already in a rather awkward position, but he has also embarked on another big road outside the actor and won a spring.
He is not as good as Shen Teng and Wu Jing, and in the next few years, there will be no heavyweight blockbuster.
If Deng Chao still wants to fight back a Jedi, he should learn from Dapeng.
Dapeng also filmed "Dicky Men" in his early years and accumulated a certain amount of popularity, with the illusion of "I can make blockbusters".
Later, the filming of "Pancake Man" collapsed in word of mouth, but the box office sold 1 billion yuan.
His subsequent "Sewing Machine Band" is similar to Deng Chao's "Chinese Table Tennis", which has a good reputation, but the box office failed miserably, which is to pay off his previous bad films.
The key point is here, how did Dapeng Jedi fight back?
He did not continue to fight with the audience by making comedy, but changed a track, filmed the literary film "Auspicious Ruyi" and won the Golden Horse Award, reversing his reputation.
After turning around and coming back, he filmed "Keep You Safe" again, and the comedy side, the realism, all at once.
Deng Chao's situation is much better than that of Dapeng.
His performances are always online, and in the Mesozoic era, no one dares to say that he is stable.
In this "embattled" situation, it is better to find another way.
As some viewers commented:
Let go of Yu Baimei, let go of the audience, and let go of yourself.
Leave reality TV, make a few profound movies, win a few high-profile acting awards, and re-prove your skills in acting.
If the box office does not go up, first precipitate, resist the temptation of capital, change your noisy public image, and suppress your impetuous temperament.
Fortunately, after the box office fiasco of "Chinese Table Tennis", Deng Chao did not complain or cry.
Instead, he calmly examined his own problems, blaming everything on "disappointing the audience before."
This kind of rational thinking is still very rare, which also proves that he has really walked out from his blind confidence and persistence in himself in the past and embarked on another real road other than an actor.
In general, Deng Chao lost the box office this time, but the reversal of the movie's reputation also allowed Deng Chao to save the audience's trust in his work and win a spring for himself.
In terms of career, in fact, Deng Chao did not lose to the box office, but lost to not resisting the temptation of "capital", and constantly chose the wrong direction.
I believe that after waking up, Deng Chao will find the positioning that suits him, continue to adhere to word of mouth, and the next work will usher in a real Jedi counterattack.
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Office: A Chicken
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