After waiting for 6 years and huge investment, "Fengshen Part I" was finally finalized
The author of this article is @NorthS of the Xiaowan family
Find everyone's spiritual nook in the movie
Yesterday, the official micro of the movie "Fengshen Part 1" issued an exciting trailer message - "Cold plowing and summer, see you tomorrow"
Subsequently, director Wu Ershan forwarded and attached the text "Mai is ripe, see you tomorrow!" ", which means that the first part of the "Fengshen Trilogy", which has been waiting for three years, is about to be finalized
This morning, the news arrived as scheduled, and "The First Part of Fengsheng" released a final trailer and poster, officially announcing its release on July 20.
In the new trailer, Jiang Ziya, Yin Shou (King Jun), Ji Fa, Ji Chang, Shengong Leopard, Queen Jiang, Bi Gan, Lei Zhenzi, Su Daji, Nezha, Yang Jian and other characters have appeared, and more big battlefields have also been exposed for the first time
The first part of this domestic magical epic series officially landed in the summer file, which really gave the industry and fans a shot in the arm
As one of the most expensive film projects in China (with an investment of about 3 billion yuan), "Fengshen Trilogy" has aroused the expectations of countless fans since the release of the first pilot trailer at the end of 2019.
The film is adapted from the classic Chinese novel "Romance of the Gods", based on the historical war between the tyrant King Jun and King Ji Fa of Zhou Wu, incorporating myths, ghosts and other fantasy elements, composing a magnificent and strange epic masterpiece.
The story of the Romance of the Gods has been widely circulated among the people, and related TV series have been repeatedly remade, such as the 1990 version of the mainland and the 2001 TVB version of "The List of Gods".
Chen Haomin's TVB version of "God Sealing List"
The film version of "Fengshen Trilogy" has attracted much attention since its launch, in addition to the novel and its derivative works have a very high mass base in China, another big reason is its huge ambition and high-standard production team.
The film is helmed by director Wu Ershan, who has directed two blockbusters "Painted Skin 2" and "Dragon Hunting", and stars such as Huang Bo, Fei Xiang, Li Xuejian, Xia Yu, Chen Kun, Yuan Quan and so on.
The poster previously released by "Fengshen "
It's a pity that after the initial announcement of the 2020 schedule, "Fengshen Trilogy" has undergone many changes and postponements, and the official Weibo was once ridiculed as a "solar term blogger", and after waiting for 6 years, it finally ushered in today's official finalization.
The twists and turns taken by the first part of the "Fengsheng" series and its behind-the-scenes story are also worth reviewing and combing.
In 2008, director Chen Jiashang kicked off a Chinese fantasy blockbuster with a "Painted Skin".
In the following years, domestic magic blockbusters such as "Painted Skin 2" and "Monster Hunt" emerged one after another, creating box office records while also allowing us to see the market potential of magical themes.
2015's "Monster Hunt" set a box office record of 2.4 billion
However, behind the box office boom, there is a deteriorating word-of-mouth crisis. Domestic fantasy movies with Douban scores below 6 points abound, and the audience's patience is quickly worn out.
For example, the "Journey to the West" series directed by Zheng Baorui originally planned to invest 3.5 billion yuan to shoot 8 blockbusters on the theme of Journey to the West within 15 years.
However, when the third episode of "Journey to the West: Daughter's Country" was filmed, the audience no longer bought it, not only the box office fell sharply, but the Douban score even reached 4.4 points, the worst in the series.
The main reason why magical blockbusters are sought after by audiences is that they build a real and different world, allowing the audience to experience novelty and shock that cannot be touched in real life.
However, many inferior fantasy blockbusters only focus on special effects and fighting, but neglect the construction of the underlying world view, resulting in the world presented is completely unbelievable, and the story is messy and cannot be empathized.
The "Fengshen Trilogy", which has made a big investment again, obviously does not want to repeat the mistakes of the past.
In order to create this Chinese "heroic mythological epic" with a huge world view, "Fengshen Trilogy" brings together the top creative team of current Chinese films.
In addition to Wuershan as the director, the film producer invited Mr. Jiang Zhiqiang, the owner of Anle Pictures, who created "Monster Hunt", the screenwriting consultant included James Shams, who wrote "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and the production consultant invited Barry Shams, the producer of the film history magical classic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. M. Osborne.
Wuershan intends to create a Chinese version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy
For a magical blockbuster, in addition to the director, screenwriter and producer, art direction is also very important.
In order to set the tone for the art of "Fengshen Trilogy", the film invited Tim Yip, who won the Oscar for Best Art Direction for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and he also designed a style based on "black and white" and "yin and yang".
For example, in the previously released "Yin and Yang War" poster, a three-dimensional, flowing and changing "Fengshen Universe" is constructed in black and white, creating a deep and magnificent epic sense for the film.
In addition, Tim Yip and director Wu Ershan, together visited many museums and sites in Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places, and collected many materials about the Yin Shang period for reference.
Based on ink painting, it integrates bronze, yin and yang five elements, classical mythology and other elements to create a unique aesthetic system of "Fengshen Trilogy", which is thicker and more real.
It can be said that "Fengshen Trilogy" not only captures the realism of the history of the Shang and Zhou reform period, but also presents the magnificent national style magic in the novel "Fengshen Romance", and its difficulty can be imagined.
Therefore, since the establishment of the project, the film has faced a series of twists and turns.
The first is the special effects puzzle.
The art team of "Fengshen Trilogy" has carried out detailed digital design of gluttony, ink qilin, thunder Zhenzi and other mythical creatures in ancient Chinese fantasy.
However, if you want to really implement these imaginative designs, you need a long CG production cycle and a huge amount of calculation, which is beyond imagination.
Lei Zhenzi, Su Daji some special effects
Secondly, there is the difficult problem of acting and shooting.
The "Fengshen Trilogy" uses a large number of newcomers to play important roles. For example, roles such as Nezha and Ji Fa were selected through national auditions.
After being selected by the crew, the young boys had months of physical and martial arts training before entering the filming session in order to present the masculine beauty of the original wild.
As China's first trilogy filmed back-to-back blockbuster, "Fengshen Trilogy" was announced in 2012, prepared in 2014, officially launched in 2018, and originally scheduled for the summer of 2020.
However, due to various reasons such as special effects production and epidemic problems, this huge series has been delayed in progress.
At the beginning of 2023, the news that "The First Part of Fengshen " is scheduled for this summer, and now it is finally finalized, only waiting for July 20, to meet in the summer.
At this point, the "fancy urging" of fans under the official micro has finally come to an end, and a decade-long ambitious masterpiece is about to be revealed
It is hoped that in the future, the next two sequels of the "Fengshen Trilogy" can also be completed and finalized as soon as possible, giving Chinese audiences a complete and magnificent domestic magical epic trilogy.