On the eve of May Day, the cinema movies with a little gimmick have avoided the edge.
Therefore, the mainland film market has been a little silent during this time, and recently Brother Brown has turned his attention to online movies.
The latest release of "Embroidered Spring Knife: Infernal Purgatory" caught my attention.
Because this film uses the name of the Luyang series of martial arts movies "Embroidered Spring Knife".
So, what is the origin of this movie, is it purely Zhang Zhen? What is the box office of this kind of online movie? What is the quality of the film?
Don't worry, let's listen to Brother Brown's analysis as follows:
1. Split the box office.
At 17 o'clock on April 21, the box office of online movies was newly released, and the market received a total of 2.35 million on April 20, nearly 900,000 higher than the previous day.
Ranking fifth is "No One in My Eyes 2" launched during the Spring Festival, starring Xie Miao and Yang Enyou, is a pure martial arts film, with a total box office of 17.31 million in 71 days, and has achieved profitability.
"Suit Thugs" starring Chen Guokun and Mu Qimiya ranked fourth.
It can still get a box office of 110,000 in 94 days after it was launched, and the total box office is currently 20.59 million, which is the third online movie in 2024 after "Black and White Sneaking" and "Python Disaster", with a box office of more than 20 million.
The third place in the single-day box office was Zhang Jin's "Strange Knife", which was not good at the box office in theaters at the beginning, and the filmmaker decisively went through streaming channels, and the total box office was only 8.7 million in 50 days, and the production cost has not been recovered.
The runner-up was the monster movie "Sky Swallowing Giant Shark", with a box office of 990,000 in five days.
The premiere of "Embroidered Spring Knife Infernal Purgatory" won 990,000 yuan, and won the single-day box office championship without any suspense, and it was full of gold, which was five times the result of the runner-up.
It is learned that the budget cost of this film is 10 million to 15 million, and according to its trend, the final box office will not be less than 20 million, which will definitely make a lot of money for online movies.
Second, the budget cost and series IP of "Embroidered Spring Knife".
Before talking about this movie, let's take a look at this IP.
Lu Yang has created a total of two "Embroidered Spring Knife" cinema movies.
In 2014, "Embroidered Spring Knife" scored 7.7 points on Douban, and the starring lineup included Zhang Zhen, Liu Shishi, Wang Qianyuan, Li Dongxue, Nie Yuan, etc.
The budget cost is 50 million, and the mainland box office won 93.19 million, with a small loss of 20 million.
In 2017, "Embroidered Spring Knife II: Shura Battlefield" scored 7.2 points on Douban, and the cast includes Zhang Zhen, Yang Mi, Zhang Yi, Lei Jiayin, Xin Zhilei, etc.
The budget cost was 110 million, and the box office increased significantly to 265 million, but in the end it still lost about 20 million.
In other words, with a cost of 160 million, the total box office was only 364 million, plus peripheral income, and the final 2 movies lost 40 million.
Therefore, so far, "Embroidered Spring Knife 3" has not been approved, and there is news that Zhang Zhen may not be able to continue this IP.
So what to do?
Although this series of movies did not make money, Douban has a good reputation and has accumulated a large number of loyal fans.
Nowadays, there are too few martial arts genre films that can still leave footprints on the theater line.
The "Embroidered Spring Knife" series of movies created by Lu Yang has formed an IP value effect.
Once the IP is formed, it can continue to be developed and become bigger and stronger around the IP.
For example, Chen Sicheng's "Detective Chinatown" series of IPs is like this, with cinema movies and online dramas cooperating in development to expand the "Tang Detective" universe.
As a result, the online movie "Embroidered Spring Knife Infernal Purgatory" came into being.
There are many fans who say that this must be a rubbing of the "Embroidered Spring Knife" movie.
In fact, this film is not an IP of "Embroidered Spring Knife", but an online movie authorized and participated by Lu Yang.
But the film can't be summarized in the series IP, because it lacks the role of Shen Lian, it can only be regarded as a side story in the same background, the same routine as "Greedy Wolf" in Louis Koo's "Slaying the Wolf" series.
3. Film reviews.
"Embroidered Spring Knife Infernal Purgatory" is the only online movie that can be watched in recent times.
The film is directed by Jiang Xuanyi, starring Li Chenhao, Yang Yi, Mei Na, Yuan Xiangren and others, among which Yang Yi, who plays Lu Jianxing, has starred in the "Embroidered Spring Knife" series of movies.
In the second part, he was drunk and talked nonsense in a wine shop, and faced Shen Lian on the boat, and Yin Cheng, who had to cut himself, was him.
The movie is set between the first and second parts of "Embroidered Spring Knife".
Zheng He went to the West and found a strange thing in Southeast Asia, called dragon marrow incense, which normal people can hallucinate when they smell this fragrance.
At the same time, hallucinations can cause loss of mind, like the walking dead.
Beizhen Fusi Jinyiwei and his party escorted from Quanzhou into Beijing.
The nine-thousand-year-old Wei Zhongxian wanted to lean the government and the opposition, and wanted to seize this thing, so he sent a Qimen warlock to intercept it.
You Kou Jixian unexpectedly obtained the dragon marrow incense, he wanted to change his way of life, pretended to be the brocade guard Qi Yinchuan, and went to the capital.
Passed all the way, and successively beheaded the insect master, the blood burial master, the thousand-handed mud boy, and the woman who played with the snake.
When I came to the capital, it turned out that there was a villain who was more powerful than Wei Zhongxian behind him.
Where should Ji Xian go?
The whole movie is a shell of "Embroidered Spring Knife", which is basically detached from the Embroidered Spring Knife.
and then use the way of upgrading and fighting monsters, so that the actor can complete the transformation from Liukou to the official position of Beizhen Fusi.
The first half is the same as "Qimen Dunjia", the middle part of the reversal plot is the same as "Di Renjie", and the last is the routine of the Korean drama "Kingdom".
Brother Brown will first talk about the advantages of "Embroidered Spring Knife Infernal Purgatory".
That's the scale and the ending.
In terms of scale, the audience can feel it personally, the horror and thriller atmosphere of the film is very well done, and the scale is very large, if this is graded, it may become an R rating, and children under the age of 14 are not recommended to watch the movie.
The main creator made a double ending version, like Nolan's "Inception", and the second ending doesn't seem to be the final ending, because the villain was stabbed and still laughing.
I estimate that the actor is still in the illusion, there may be a third ending, and the biggest villain has not yet hung up, preparing for the sequel.
Let's talk about the cons.
The inside and outside of the imperial city of the Ming Dynasty became the "Kingdom", and it didn't explain how to govern, and it was over at once.
If you make a sequel, it won't be martial arts, and like "The Walking Dead", you have to go for horror and thriller.
The description of human nature is too superficial, and it doesn't feel brotherly love at all, it's very abrupt.
There was a scene of kicking pine cones in the field in the front, and the brothers were all wiped out in the back, and he was crying and shouting there, which was too fake.
and my sister also made a picture in front of it, and the emotional aspect was not foreshadowed.
If you make enough time and make it into a 6-episode TV series, like "Kingdom", it will definitely be a big hit.
Overall, the script is good, the details are not in place, and the director's control ability is too weak.
It's worth two to three stars, and when you look at it as a cool film, it's not bad, but if you dig deeper, it's all slots.
Especially compared to the previous work, it is simply two levels.
In Lu Yang's "Embroidered Spring Knife", the male protagonist Shen Lian is played by actor Zhang Zhen.
tells the story of the protagonist Shen Lian who is involved in a series of intricate disputes, he not only has to face powerful enemies, but also solve one puzzle after another, and finally reveal the truth behind it.
The core of the film is loyalty, righteousness, and righteousness.
The chivalrous spirit on the rivers and lakes, the brotherly righteousness between colleagues and the deceit in the court, use the embroidered spring knife in his hand to show the righteous and awe-inspiring chivalrous demeanor.
The biggest attraction of the "Embroidered Spring Knife" series of movies is the struggle of human nature and emotional entanglement, the first part is played by Liu Shishi as Zhou Miaotong, and the second part is the painter Hokusai played by Yang Mi.
What "Embroidered Spring Knife Infernal Purgatory" lacks is human struggle and emotional entanglement.
After watching the "Embroidered Spring Knife" fans, they will definitely complain violently.
Fourth, Lu Yang and Wu Jing.
Speaking of which, Lu Yang is quite unlucky, and he can't compare with Wu Jing, Guo Fan, and Jia Ling.
You see that Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior 2" sold 5.6 billion at the box office, Guo Fan's two "The Wandering Earth" sold 8.7 billion, and Jia Ling's "Hello Li Huanying" and "Hot and Hot" hit 8.8 billion at the box office.
Lu Yang made two "Embroidered Spring Knife" before and lost 40 million, "Assassination of a Novelist" had a budget cost of 400 million and a box office of 1.035 billion, which was almost the same.
His films are all very good and have a strong quality of film, but they are not always very profitable.
Over time, for industrial films, Lu Yang's adventure still has a long way to go.
Therefore, we must be cautious when investing in movies.
Now, Lu Yang asked Wu Jing to invest in the new version of "Embroidered Spring Knife", and finally made money.
There are a total of 9 investors and producers of "Embroidered Spring Knife Infernal Purgatory", of which Luyang's Beijing Freedom Cool Whale Film Co., Ltd. ranks third, and the second place is Wu Jing's Dengfeng Pictures.
Lu Yang and Wu Jing are not only friends in reality, but also partners at work.
The two filmmakers often support each other, such as Guo Fan's "The Wandering Earth" series, and Wu Jing also asked Lu Yang's Free Cool Whale Pictures to inject capital.
Since Lu Yang still wants to do the "Embroidered Spring Knife", Wu Jing, as a friend, how can he excuse himself?
During the production stage of "Embroidered Spring Knife: Infernal Purgatory", Wu Jing also visited the class several times and gave a lot of good suggestions.
With Wu Jing's escort, Lu Yang's new version of "Embroidered Spring Knife" finally made money.
V. Conclusion.
Pure martial arts cinema movies, when was the last time you went to the cinema?
It is Tsui Hark's "Di Renjie's Four Heavenly Kings", or Wang Baoqiang and Donnie Yen's "One Man's Martial Arts", or Peng Yuyan's "Huang Feihong's Heroes Have Dreams".
Or Zhang Zhen's "Assassin Nie Yinniang" and "Embroidered Spring Knife"?
Martial arts films disappeared from theaters, sounding the alarm for domestic films.
In fact, for Wu Jing, for this level of online movies, he doesn't care whether he makes money at all.
His investment is completely to see Lu Yang's face.
But for Lu Yang and fans of "Embroidered Spring Knife", the meaning is completely different.
Because the previous two films hit the street at the box office, the shrewd filmmaker will definitely not continue.
But now Wu Jing's Dengfeng Pictures is stationed, and this online movie is still making money.
So, will the orthodox "Embroidered Spring Knife 3" be far away?
Think about it, if you do a good job in the details of "Embroidered Spring Knife: Infernal Purgatory", strengthen the emotional foreshadowing and special effects, and invite an all-star cast, is it a very good theatrical movie?
Do you have anything to say about this new version of "Embroidered Spring Knife"?