The box office on the first day was 5.86 million, and after watching "Indiana Jones 5", I want to say: Hollywood blockbusters are really outdated

Audiences have long known that Hollywood blockbusters cannot be sold in the mainland market.

This is not alarmism.

From 2023 to now, there is only one "Fast and Furious 10" among Hollywood blockbusters, with a box office of 971 million.

"Transformers 7" smashed $200 million, and the box office in 23 days was less than 600 million.

"The Flash" invested $220 million and had a box office of less than 200 million in 16 days.

The box office of "The Little Mermaid" is 26.5 million.

But who would have thought that "Indiana Jones 5", the classic farewell of Hollywood adventure action movies in the minds of a generation of Chinese audiences, the curtain call of the 80-year-old Harrison Ford bidding farewell to the classic role of Dr. Jones -

The mainland box office on the first day was only 5.86 million.

In contrast, "Disappearing Her" is still strong and invincible, both in terms of arrangement and box office proportion, it is far ahead, and the box office has reached 1.7 billion in 9 days of release.

A medium-budget suspense film, nine days after its release in the mainland market, still easily completed a Hollywood super blockbuster with a cost of $295 million.

In the North American market, Jones Sr. also felt the change of times, "Indiana Jones 5" North America reported $7.2 million in advance on Thursday, less than the recent "The Flash" $9.7 million, the media predicted that its North American first-week box office was only $60 million, far lower than the previous one's $100 million, and the world's first-week box office was only $140 million.

As the most expensive "Indiana Jones" movie to date, the film must reach $800 million at the box office to recoup its cost, so the film is likely to become another loss-making work by Disney this year.

In comparison, the first part of the 1981 series cost $20 million and grossed $389 million worldwide.

The second part grossed $333 million, the third rose to $474 million, and even the poorly rated fourth still won $790 million.

And this time the trump card didn't work.

The problem is that "Indiana Jones 5" is not a bad movie.

The film shot by the director of "Wolverine" is not perfunctory at all, the production is very sincere, all kinds of classic elements Easter eggs, 80-year-old Harrison Ford is even more desperate, whipping, galloping, riding horses in the film, the same has not fallen.

Although the film did not have a good reputation at the Cannes premiere, it has recently reversed its reputation, with the critic rating rising from 43% to 66%, and the Rotten Tomatoes audience rating reaching 89%.

What's the problem?

The Harrison Ford and Indiana Jones series are certainly old, but more importantly, no matter how gorgeous Hollywood blockbusters are, it's time for a gorgeous turnaround.

"Indiana Jones 5" is just an elegy for Hollywood blockbusters in the mainland market.

01 Classic trilogy

Due to the subject matter, none of the first four films in the series have been released in the mainland.

But it cannot be said that mainland audiences have no feelings for this series.

Because in the video hall era, the first three films of this series can almost be said to be the enlightenment of Hollywood blockbusters among domestic audiences.

In 1981, the first "Indiana Jones" was released, and the story was set in 1936 during World War II.

When you find the magic cabinet, the fantasy adventure turns into realistic special effects on the giant screen.

That shock and excitement have made countless viewers unforgettable to this day.

Indiana Jones' gorgeous debut.

Thrilling and fun raiders of the lost ark.

There is also Jones' brilliant pen to kill the sword god with one shot.

and the scene where the finale magic cabinet is opened and a force uncontrollable by humans gushes out, melting all the German troops present.

A thousand words all come together in one word -

Refreshing!

In 1984, the second part of the series "Legend of the Magic Palace" was released, and it was still a great success.

The 12-year-old clever little ghost in the film is Guan Jiwei, who won the Best Supporting Actor at this Academy Award for "Instantaneous Universe".

In 1989, the third part of the series, "Jihad Raiders", was released, which was also the favorite of many mainland audiences in the entire series.

In addition to the perfect cooperation of Sean Connery and Ford, the film has reached the peak of the series in plot design, historical integration, action scene setting and comedy humor.

Does anyone remember Dr. Jones and everyone else watching himself fall off the cliff?

It is the "Indiana Jones" series, which combines action, romance and drama, that has spawned a large number of imitators, and the masterpiece is "The Mummy" in 1999. "National Treasure", "Tomb Raider" and "Uncharted" are also somewhat influenced by it.

I have to say that the success of the "Indiana Jones" series is inseparable from the two heroes of the series -

Spielberg and George Lucas of the Star Wars franchise.

The production process of the first part of the film was actually not very smooth, because Spielberg's last "Third Contact" seriously exceeded the budget, the film became a science fiction classic but did not earn much, and the film company was not willing to lose money and make money.

At that time, only Paramount's CEO Michael Eisner was interested in the project, and he gave Spielberg a budget of 20 million, and the contract said that Spielberg would be responsible for overspending.

Spielberg took Eisner to Skywalker Farm to meet George Lucas, and finally Spielberg became the director, Lucas produced, and the 20 million budget shot 80 million effect, directly opening the golden age of action movies in the 80s.

However, Hollywood ace directors also have times when they get old.

In 2008, the fourth part of the series "Crystal Skull Kingdom" was finally released after 19 years, but its reputation has been declining, and the legendary Harrison Ford's successor LaBeouf also released himself soon after, becoming another hope star in Hollywood.

And another legendary Xing-jue who will take over the Ford leather whip did not end up taking this hot potato.

So 80-year-old Harrison Ford had to put on the battle again, and for the last time he played the classic role that once made him popular all over the world - Indiana Jones.

02 Heroes are old

As mentioned earlier, the fifth part was not badly filmed, at least better than the fourth.

At the beginning of the fifth part, with the help of special effects, the audience sees an Indiana Jones in the prime of his life, this World War II-era train chase is thrilling, and when the iconic theme music plays, the audience seems to return to the classic Hollywood adventure blockbuster time across the world.

But this is just an introduction.

The real story takes place in the 1960s, when the elderly Dr. Jones is still teaching at the university, but is no longer keen on adventure, until Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character comes to him to find the "Disc of Destiny" that he found in the opening credits.

So the old professor, who retired on the front foot, was involved in a conspiracy on the back foot, and could only regroup and embark on an adventure to find the mysterious compass of Archimedes, the ancient Greek sage.

This time, Mr. Harrison's opponent is the villain played by Uncle Mai, who is dressed in a German uniform.

Obviously, under the supervision of Spielberg, the director did not let the film slide off the track of the series, this is still a familiar treasure adventure film, and there are even many details that pay tribute to the previous ones, and even the old actors in the first part have reappeared.

The setting of the film is also wonderful. The turntable in the movie can complete the time travel, and the film naturally allows the protagonist to travel through time and space and witness history with the great figures in history.

The ending is even more divine, originally Uncle Mai they were going to travel back to 1939, but they directly traveled back to the era of Archimedes more than 200 BC, and what is more contrary to the sky is that Archimedes also predicted that there would be future people to cross over, and personally gave Jones a wheel of fate.

In addition to the ingenious plot, the action scenes are also filmed carefully.

Car chase drama in a narrow alley in Morocco, burning.

Battle Nazi officers on the train, bomb.

Random scene Jones riding a horse in a subway tunnel, little meaning.

Luxury cars and horseback chases in downtown New York, small meaning.

Jones and the heroine fell from a high altitude from the plane, small meaning.

They are accompanied by passionate music that has hardly stopped from beginning to end.

It must be said that the action design of the director of "Wolverine" is very interesting, and these big scenes are not burning money indiscriminately, but have a lot of ingenious and intentional design.

In short, this can never be an ugly adventure film.

But why do most viewers think it's OK, and so many filmmakers don't like this movie?

The reason for this, first of all, lies in the plot and action scene routines, which greatly reduce the interestingness.

Even if elements such as time travel and historical modification are added, these new elements have long been seen by the audience.

As for the action scenes of the film, although they are not bad, they are no different from the current Hollywood action blockbusters.

And the main reason why people are fascinated by "Indiana Jones" is the magical and interesting adventure world built in the film.

The first three parts of the series that year can also continue to use pyramid wars, magic domain wars, etc., to contribute some freshness.

By the fifth part, the novelty is gone.

All the stories are like stacking up one routine after another.

The final final battle, with special effects stacked and no surprises, is inevitable in the end.

03 Goodbye, Dr. Jones

Another big problem with this film is the aging of the characters.

Compared with our top domestic entertainment who receive high salaries but use various literary substitutes, the 80-year-old Harrison Ford old man is still filming action scenes in person.

Including the downtown area of New York, audiences who have seen the movie should admit that Harrison Ford's own charm remains.

However, no one can deny that the most exciting part of the movie is still the first 20 minutes of Jones' "getting younger" version, and the remaining two hours, the audience watches the 80-year-old man subway horse racing, street running, underwater exploration, plane skydiving, dedication is really dedicated, but also really pinch the sweat for the old man.

More importantly, when the characters age, they naturally no longer have the delicate and vivid character shaping in the first three parts of the series.

In the previous game, he was a very reassuring adventure hero from beginning to end.

In him, he always maintains a dashing and cheerful and responsible temperament.

Not only the bearer of the exploration class, Hu Bayi's predecessor, in terms of intelligence, is also a series ceiling.

Leading the way, dashing, courageous and intelligent.

In the fifth part, he is still so wise and brave, and he still overcomes dangers again and again. But Ford is really too old, so old that he constantly ridicules his old age in the film, and he is out of touch with the times.

So when the film finale, the aging Jones and the heroine of the first film kissed warmly, and the happy ending, of course, the old fans will be satisfied, but ordinary audiences will still miss the heroic history professor in the 80s, the Jones who calmly coped with Hitler and galloped in the sunset.

After all, the film should have found a new successor long ago. Just like the 007 series did.

But the film was not found.

The overall temperament of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who became popular with "London Life" in this film, is very compatible with the film and performs well, but she obviously does not look like she can take the whip of Dr. Jones.

It can be said that the fourth part of the "Indiana Jones" series can sell well, and it is inseparable from the word "feelings".

When the classic characters reappear, even if the film has a mediocre reputation, the moment Dr. Jones appears, the strong sense of dreaminess will make people feel extremely excited.

The problem is that the young people of the '80s who once cheered Dr. Jones are now aging alongside Harrison Ford.

And the new generation of audiences naturally has little emotional resonance with the film.

The film is still struggling to keep up with the times, but when Dr. Jones gallops in New York Square, there is no longer the real novelty of "Indiana Jones 1", carefully taking down the magic cabinet, like a blood spur.

And as at the end of the first part, the throbbing of the huge magical item storage warehouse.

When a new generation of superheroes saves the world again and again.

"Indiana Jones", which has veteran heroes, has involuntarily become streamlined and cookie-cutter.

This may not be a problem for the main creator at all, but when "Capture 4" was reborn, everything is inevitable now.

Because "Indiana Jones" has never attracted the audience only with bells and whistles, but also with the imagination that breaks the rules and subverts common sense.

04 Hollywood blockbusters, overdone

In fact, since the box office fiasco of "The Mummy 3" joined by Jet Li, the old-school adventure stories that were once popular have been in decline in Hollywood.

But it's not that simple.

Because even with all its shortcomings, Lao Ji Futou's "Raiders of the Lost Ark 5" is still a qualified Hollywood blockbuster.

The real problem with Hollywood blockbusters in the mainland market is that they are outdated.

Some viewers may say that Indiana Jones is the sentiment of people over forty and fifty, how many of this age group will go to the cinema to watch movies?

The new generation of viewers don't know Jones, and after watching it, they can't play girlfriend terriers like "Disappearing Her", send a short video or something!

This type of adventure, no one has the patience to watch it for a long time.

The problem is that this summer, we have witnessed the box office crash of "The Flash", "Transformers 7" "The Rise of the Power Warrior Failure" and a series of Hollywood blockbuster failures, and "Indiana Jones 5" just raised the box office decline of Hollywood blockbusters to new heights.

It can be said that it is not only the Indiana Jones series that sinks, but the entire Hollywood blockbuster.

There is a saying that "superhero movies are devouring Hollywood", so Tom has to play life again and again to shoot Mission Impossible, because if he does not play with his life, even if it is a Mission Impossible series, it is by no means the opponent of superhero blockbusters.

However, superhero films that have been eating dividends in the mainland market for more than a decade have now encountered bottlenecks.

This year's two new films from DC, "Thunder Shazam 2" and "The Flash", are far from expectations.

"Guardians of the Galaxy 3", with a Marvel Douban score of 8.5 points, has a box office of 604 million in the mainland;

"Spider-Man: Across the Universe", which exploded in word of mouth, had a Douban score of 8.6 points, and the box office only exceeded 300 million after its release.

Not only is Dr. Jones aging in the mainland market, but even super-British films have become synonymous with outdated in the eyes of mainland audiences.

Chinese audiences have become disdainful to go to the cinema to see familiar characters, stories and big scenes.

When the audience's consumption habits were completely changed, those "watchable or not" movies were decisively abandoned.

And the first to bear the brunt is Hollywood blockbusters.

Because not only domestic blockbusters such as "The Wandering Earth 2" have created the same level of visual effects as Hollywood blockbusters, but the audience empathy created by "Disappearing Her" is not something Hollywood blockbusters can do.

To add insult to Hollywood, when they engage in political correctness and turn "The Little Mermaid" into a black mermaid, and the documentary "Cleopatra" all find black actresses to play Cleopatra, even the American audience can't watch it themselves, how can mainland audiences get used to them?

The collapse of Hollywood is comprehensive, Tom can't save, superheroes can't save, and Dr. Jones, who comes and goes, is even more powerless.

For audiences who are tired of the aesthetic fatigue of superhero movies, they may be pleased to see a rare adventure blockbuster with an ancient taste, while completing a big-screen farewell to Dr. Jones.

But for most audiences who have lost interest in Hollywood blockbusters as a whole, Dr. Jones is still too old for them.

This is probably the fate of every movie series.

They have all accompanied us on a lifelong adventure.

And the heroes grow up and eventually grow old.

Our memories are stuck in their brightest moments.

Never forget about each other.

And now the Chinese audience seems to forget about the entire Hollywood blockbuster.

Well, farewell, cowboy hat cowboy whip.

Goodbye, Dr. Jones.