In recent years, the box office of action movies has been miserable, and no matter who shoots it, the audience will not buy it.
For example, this year's most anticipated martial arts action movie "No One in My Eyes 2" has a total box office of only 21.715 million yuan, which is about the same as the investment cost, basically losing money and making money.
This film has a good reputation, starring the most popular hit star Xie Miao, who is known as the "successor of Jet Li", and is the hope for the re-emergence of Chinese action films. But the dismal box office has cast a shadow over the prospects for the development of Chinese-language action films.
There is no harm if there is no comparison, and the total box office of a weight-loss film that recently appeared in theaters is 3.46 billion.
The box office of "No One in My Eyes" is less than a fraction of the total box office of weight loss-themed films, and the box office gap is so desperate that it is desperate.
The total box office of several other action movies this year is also miserable, "Strange Knife" is only 6.67 million, "Poison" is 16.487 million, and "Blocking the Horse and Snatching the Knife" is only 7.165 million.
Fortunately, these films did not make it to theaters, otherwise the box office would have been lower and they would have lost even more.
The box office of action movies in dozens of days is only a few million, while the box office of other types of movies is hundreds of millions a day, and there is really no harm if there is no comparison.
The same is true of Jackie Chan, who was once popular all over the world, the box office of action movies is not as good as year by year, the box office of "Kung Fu Yoga" in 2017 is 1.748 billion, and the pre-sale box office of "Dragon Horse Spirit" in 2024 is only 578,000.
Even the movies made by kung fu superstar Jackie Chan are not cared for, who would dare to make them again.
and Donnie Yen, the successor of Jackie Chan Jet Li, is the same, the "Ip Man" series is his last glory, and no one cares about the next action movies.
Donnie Yen saw the decline of action movies clearly, so he was very smart to find another way, since it was not possible to shoot martial arts, he would shoot literary dramas.
But his first film, "Search and Rescue", suffered a tragic box office defeat and disappointed investors.
In the hearts of the audience, Donnie Yen is an action actor, if he transforms into filming, he will almost lose his attraction to the audience, even if the script is good, it is useless.
"No One in My Eyes" starring Xie Miao is even more indescribable, although it won word of mouth but lost the box office.
On June 3, 2022, "No One in My Eyes 1" starring Xie Miao received rave reviews after its release on iQiyi Cloud Cinema Network, and the fight scenes in the film were very exciting, fist-to-flesh, so it received a high score of 7.0 on Douban.
After the completion of "No One in My Eyes 2", netizens strongly demanded that the theater be released, and the investor also planned to go to the Ruan line, and the official announcement was set for the first day of the Lunar New Year, but the result was changed again, and on February 10 this year, the first day of the Lunar New Year was launched on iQiyi Cloud Cinema.
Netizens are puzzled, why can't the word-of-mouth "No One in My Eyes 2" be released in theaters, but "Spicy and Hot", which uses weight loss as a gimmick, can be sold in theaters after its release?
Obviously, it's not that the filmmaker doesn't want to go to theaters, but that the box office may be miserable after going to theaters.
If "Nobody in My Eyes 2" is released in theaters, it may not even be able to do the cartoon bear haunting.
Why is it so pessimistic? There are three reasons.
First of all, "Nobody in My Eyes 2" is an action movie for men, and it will lose female and child audiences.
Secondly, the cast is not strong, even the popular Xie Miao is not even a second-tier in the circle, and the leading actors of several other films in theaters are domestic first-line actors (Shen Teng, Lei Jiayin, Jia Ling, Zhang Yimou, Andy Lau, Peng Yuchang).
The third reason: there is no market for action movies anymore and there is no audience.
In fact, the third reason is the main reason.
Speaking of action movies, we can't fail to mention Hong Kong, China, because action movies took root here, thrived here, and slowly declined here.
Chinese-language action movies have been popular in Hong Kong for decades and have become the only benchmark for action movies in the world.
Especially in the 70s, 80s, and 90s of the last century, Hong Kong action movies prospered for decades. Since the rise of Shaw Brothers films, Hong Kong action movies have begun to beat the world.
At that time, only American blockbusters could compete with Hong Kong action movies, but American blockbusters were mainly science fiction films and disaster movies, and if you compete with action movies, the United States is far behind, even now, Hong Kong action movies are still the object of imitation and learning by Hollywood.
Hong Kong action movies are industry leaders, becoming an existence that others have always wanted to imitate, but can never surpass, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Yuan Heping, Sammo Hung, Wu Siyuan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen and others have made great contributions, and it is their hard work that has pushed Hong Kong action movies to the peak of the times.
Jackie Chan's "Serpentine Trickster", "Drunken Fist Series", "Police Story Series", Jet Li's "Wong Fei Hung Series", "Fang Shiyu Series", Tsui Hark's "New Dragon Gate Inn" and other classic films are never tired of watching because the action design is too exciting.
In 2000, Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" once again amazed everyone, and deservedly won 10 nominations at the 2001 Academy Awards, including four awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is very popular in Europe and the United States, and the box office in Europe and the United States far exceeds the box office in China. European and American audiences were stunned by the film's fluid action design.
At that time, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" only invested $17 million, and what the investors did not expect was that the global box office was as much as 213 million US dollars, of which 128 million US dollars was sold in North America, setting a record for the all-time box office of a Hollywood foreign language film.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" sold $128 million in North America, which was already a very high box office in 2000.
25 years have passed since 2000, and in these 25 years, many Chinese films have been screened in North America, but none of the films have surpassed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" at the box office, which is a remarkable achievement.
Many people think that the reason why action movies are declining is because of the lack of actors who can play, Jackie Chan Jet Li is old, Donnie Yen and Zhao Wenzhuo are also getting old, and the lack of action movie actors is the main reason.
In fact, there are many young actors in the circle who shoot action movies, although these young people are unknown, their actions are smooth, no worse than Jackie Chan Jet Li. It's just that they lack a stage to display their talents, and they have always been in a situation where there is no drama to film.
In fact, there are not very few young people who can fight, but many, many people, such as the family class, the Hong family class, and the Zhen family class, there are many young people with extraordinary skills, if there is enough opportunity, there is no problem in spelling out a few kung fu superstars among these people. Unfortunately, the action movie market is getting smaller and smaller, and without filming, there is no chance to get ahead.
For dreamers, the industry itself has no future, and even having to worry about three meals a day has no motivation to dedicate themselves to this industry.
Ordinary dream chasers are like this, and stars who have become famous are no better, no matter how good their skills are, what's the use of filming.
Shi Xiaolong can fight, An Zhijie can fight, Fan Shaohuang can fight, Zhang Jin can fight, Xie Miao can fight, Wu Jing can fight......
The result?
It is said that Wu Jing is a box office guarantee, as long as he is invited to participate, he will definitely be a box office hit, but no investor dares to fund him to make an action movie, and Wu Jing himself does not dare to risk making an action movie.
Even if Wu Jing's action is well designed, ten times as exciting as "No One in My Eyes", the box office will not be much better, because Chinese action movies, like Hollywood sci-fi films, have already made the audience aesthetically tired.
I used to be super excited to watch action movies, but now watching action movies is an insensitive mood, just like the CCTV Spring Festival Gala once a year, the more I watch it, the more boring I feel.
Moreover, the current Chinese action movies are not a unique show, and action movies in many countries have made rapid progress, especially after the rise of action movies in the United States, Thailand, Indonesia and other countries, Chinese action movies seem to be no different from action movies in these countries, and they naturally lose interest in watching.
For the audience, the current action movies are like chicken ribs, and it is a pity to abandon them if they are tasteless.