Author: Zhang Xiaoxue
Among the films released in China this year, "Detective Chinatown 3" (referred to as "Tang Detective 3") has unsurprisingly won a high box office. According to the data released by Maoyan, the total box office of "Tang Detective 3" has reached 4.519 billion yuan, far exceeding the box office of the first two "Tang Detective" series of 823 million yuan and 3.397 billion yuan. However, compared with the first two films, "Tang Detective 3" hit a new high at the box office, but the film's reputation continued to decline. Judging from the Douban score, the "Detective Chinatown" released in 2015 has a score of 7.7, the "Tang Detective 2" released in 2018 has a score of 6.6, while the "Tang Detective 3" released in 2021 has a score of only 5.6.
There are many similar situations. The 1986 version of Journey to the West received a high score of 9.6, with 2000's Journey to the West (Sequel) scoring 8.8; 2008's "Breaking into Kanto" receiving a score of 9.2, 2009's "Breaking into Kanto (Novella)" with a high score of 7.0, 2013's "Prequel to Kanto" scoring only 6.2 points, and the popular "Ode to Joy" in 2016 receiving 7.4 points, followed by 2017's "Ode to Joy 2" with only 5.4 points.
In fact, the excellent reputation of the original film and television series and the reversal of the sequel are a regular phenomenon in film and television creation. The continuation is not satisfactory, but there is always someone shooting, like a rollover that was determined in advance.
Continued shooting, dance in shackles
However, in the works that are renewed, the original series has basically achieved great success in story innovation, actor performance, shooting methods, etc., and has become a classic in similar film and television works. Therefore, for the continuation of the classic, although it is necessary to stand on the shoulders of giants, it is also subject to the influence of the classic aura, becoming a dance with shackles and facing great challenges.
First of all, the appendage of the storyline became the first shackles of the sequel shooting. The reason why film and television works attract audiences is often first and foremost because the story content is attractive. Clear main purpose, complete meaning, and undulating plot are the basic conditions that a good film and television work should have. In this regard, it seems easier to make something out of nothing than to continue to write a classic. Take the 2000 edition of Journey to the West (sequel) as an example. The 1986 version of "Journey to the West" has been filmed from the birth of the Monkey King until the four masters and apprentices have obtained the True Scriptures, and the whole work is completely structured, and the audience is very familiar with and loved. However, due to the conditions of that year, there were still a few classic stories that were not filmed, leaving the audience with regrets. The filming of the 2000 edition of Journey to the West (Sequel) is also a kind of compensation for this regret. But how the story of the sequel relates effectively to the previous 1986 version of the complete work became a conundrum. In the end, the crew chose to start by telling stories to the Tang King by Tang Monk's apprentices after returning from the scriptures. The traces of this design appendix are too obvious, so that the entire sequel is a flashback work, which is difficult for many viewers to accept.
There are similar problems with the entire "Breaking into kanto" trilogy. In order to take care of the plot of the previous part, the flashback added a part of the plot design of the appendix, which makes people inevitably feel blunt. Professor Zhang Bin of the School of Film and Television of Shanghai University believes that the story is thin, lifeless, and has a single structure, resulting in the "meaning fracture" of the film and television sequel, while the plot is water-injected and the logic is not clear, resulting in the "difficult to find rhythm" of the sequel. How to have continuity in the story with the previous classics, and at the same time, it is not blindly attached but a separate article with a complete meaning, and it is not too much to say that it is a "death disease" that is difficult to overcome in the sequel shooting. This is seen most clearly in the classic sequel "The Godfather" series: after the great success of the first part of "The Godfather", the second part is one of the few masterpieces that can basically maintain the same level as the original, but thanks to the fact that, like the first, the plot is born out of the original novel, taking full advantage of the large number of story bridges that were not involved in the first part. By the third part, the original novel had been excavated and could only make up another plot, so it was still difficult to appear.
The change in actors and characters is the second shackle for the sequel. The original team filmed the sequel, which can give people a sense of continuity, and it is of course best to do this. However, in reality, many actors are often unable to continue to participate in the performance either because of the schedule or because of other reasons. Changing the actors, especially the main actors, will add a certain degree of difficulty to the presentation of the work, after all, everyone's grasp of the scale of the character performance is different. In this way, there may be deviations in the personality and personality of the characters in the work. Specifically, the character's ideological realm and various abilities will change with the richness of experience, but the character's personality, language, behavior and other characteristics need to maintain a unified style. After the actor of Xiao Xue in the third part of the sitcom "Family with Children" was changed from Yang Zi to Ning Danlin, many changes have taken place in all aspects of the character performance, and many viewers have reflected that they cannot accept it after the broadcast, which is the reason. The 2000 edition of Journey to the West (sequel) is even more evident in this regard. In the 1986 edition of Journey to the West, the characters who played the main characters have portrayed the main characters deeply and are almost irreplaceable. In the sequel, Xu Shaohua, Chi Chongrui, and Zuo Dayue are still playing Tang Monk and Guanyin, but no matter how much makeup is made, they are obviously much older; the six-year-old child wearing a mask is still the irreplaceable Monkey King, but the hands and feet are no longer so flexible; the Pig Eight Precepts and Sand Monk played by Cui Jingfu and Liu Dagang are obviously judged compared with the previous version... In the absence of a clear transcendence between the performance and the plot itself, it is emotionally difficult for the audience to accept this change in personnel.
Generally speaking, from the perspective of the law of creation, the success of the original version has often reached a peak, which itself has a certain degree of accident. In front of the pearl jade, trying to transcend itself is a small probability event.
Spending the original bonus "earn another vote"
Although the prospects are not good, the sequel is always on the way. This is another layer of the meaning of "predetermined rollover". Where does this "certainty" come from?
First, success makes people conceited: the shooting of each sequel is based on the great success of the original series, but it also promotes the conceit of the creators, and subconsciously forms the idea that "the previous shooting conditions were simple and the funds were insufficient, and then the conditions were good, the funds were sufficient, and the work should be better". Compared with the investment of about 80 million yuan in "Detective Chinatown" in 2015, the investment of hundreds of millions of yuan in "Tang Detective 3" has indeed doubled several times, with larger scenes, more special effects, and larger actors, all of which have satisfied the appetite of the audience. However, when there are various flaws in plot design, character performance, language expression, etc. that cannot meet the audience's expectations, the audience's disappointment will be magnified, the word of mouth will be discounted quickly, and the creator can only regret the "fatal conceit".
The more decisive factor lies in the creator's consideration of consuming the original dividend: the success of the original version will give rise to higher requirements and psychological expectations of the audience and the market for the sequel, which is equivalent to prepaying the box office guarantee for the sequel in advance, at this time, the artistic standard is secondary, and "earning another vote" has become the main goal of intentional or unintentional, this example is not uncommon: in 1998, "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" was fired, and in 1999, "Huan Zhu Ge Ge 2" was launched; in 2008, "Breaking into Kanto" was on fire, and in 2009 , "Huan Zhu Ge Ge 2" was launched. Breaking into Kanto (novella); in 2016, "Ode to Joy" was on fire, and "Ode to Joy 2" was launched in 2017... This rapid realization of dividends will inevitably shorten the polishing of scripts, shots, language, performances and other links, and even reduce them to simple mechanized reproduction. The result is that the audience can't help but "complain", but the creators have received a full pot, which is even a kind of "seeking benevolence".
Obviously, driven by a variety of factors, the sequel fever of film and television works will continue. For the audience, perhaps the only thing that can be done is to be more rational, from the original version of the infatuation more sober and less drunk, do not happily "Dao'er", because the sequel and the original version, after all, are two different dramas.
(The author is a teacher at the School of Journalism and Media, Shandong Normal University)
Source: Volkswagen Daily