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Wen 丨 深火 (ID: shenrancaijing), author 丨 Wanqi, editor 丨 Li Qiuhan
Another Hollywood blockbuster was released on the mainland. On October 29, the latest "007" series of movies "007: No Time to Die" showed its true face, and "don't expect too much" became the feeling of most viewers after watching the movie.
"The '007' series has been filmed for nearly 60 years, in fact, it is difficult to have a breakthrough, maintain a consistent basic level, you can watch, but don't expect too much." A post-90s veteran film fan said to Shen Yan after watching the movie that it should all be consumed by feelings.
The decline of Hollywood blockbusters in the domestic market has been discussed many times by the media in 2021, and the data will not lie. Recently, two Hollywood blockbusters that are seen as boosting the cinema market have been released in the mainland, "Dune", which is regarded as a science fiction masterpiece, and Maoyan Professional Edition predicts that the mainland box office is only more than 200 million. As a classic IP that has 24 works, the latest "007" was released for 3 days, with a box office of just over 180 million, and the predicted box office is only more than 400 million. Compared with past Hollywood blockbusters, these two have performed mediocrely in the domestic market.
After 95, Xiaowen told Shen Yan that when he was in college, he was amazed by a series of Hollywood blockbusters, but now, he has not noticed that "007: No Time to Die" has been released.
The younger post-00s are even more indifferent to this super long standby series of movies. High school student Liu Liu said that he was pulled into the movie theater by his parents. He felt that the beauty of the fragrant car looked exciting, and the plot did not feel inconsistent because it was a series, but he did not want to participate in his parents' discussion of the stars and past stories that appeared in the movie. Liu Liu said bluntly, "That was the youth of the previous generation, not mine." ”
Many industry insiders said to Shen Yan that the appeal of Hollywood blockbusters to audiences is weakening. According to consultancy Artisan Gateway, Hollywood's share of the Chinese box office market had plummeted by 9.5% as of August.
Once DreamWorks Hollywood, it is no longer attractive to today's young people?
<h2>Young people are no longer obsessed with Hollywood? </h2>
"007: No Time to Die" as the finale of the starring Daniel Craig, the plot still follows the path of the classic 007 series, the legendary agent 007 fights to save the world, for the safety of his girlfriend and daughter, and finally sacrificed himself. The film continues the routine of watching drag racing, watching fights, and watching beautiful women, and carries the fierce battle gun scene to the end.
A netizen gave an evaluation without mercy, after watching it, it was lengthy, boring, procrastinating, and the viewing process frequently looked at the watch, and occasional highlights could not save the overall mediocrity. Similar dissatisfaction voices are not in the minority in the comments of Douban and Weibo.
The "007" series began with 2012's "007: Breaking the Sky", and after two films in a row turned to a deep literary and artistic route, it did not meet the tastes of young audiences.
One of Boehner's theater managers told Shen Yan in frustration that he observed that young audiences were not very enthusiastic to support the Hollywood blockbuster in the cinema, and the crowds of people who came to see the movie were mostly office workers or middle-aged people. Judging from the box office performance in the first week, according to the data of Maoyan Professional Edition, the audience over 30 years old who watched "007: No Time to Die" accounted for 33%.
This may be related to the long time of this classic IP, the impact on the post-95s and post-00s is not as far-reaching as the post-80s and post-90s, but behind this also reveals a significant change, and the domestic young audience's respect for Hollywood blockbusters has indeed been loosened.
Chen Ren, a post-90s film fan, told Shen Yan that he only began to watch movies in the cinema after he went to college. The first time I saw it was The Avengers. "I was like being opened up to a new world, amazed by the visual effects of the film. The current movie-watching habits are also developed by Hollywood films. ”
However, he also admitted that hollywood movies will soon find the pattern after watching too much, and it is difficult to be attracted now. For example, watching a movie like "Transformers", he can guess the general plot and basically does not want to go to the theater to see it. Daniel Craig's "007" series he watched all the way because he liked the starring role, as for the plot, it was still the same fight routine.
"Hollywood movies are caught in the trap of endless sequels, such as 'Fast and Furious', the first few are OK, and the later super-7, super-8, super-9, one is more boring than the other, pure consumer feelings." Fan Xiaowen's evaluation of Hollywood movies is even sharper.
"For the audience, Hollywood blockbusters are big productions, big investments, strong lineups, and they will be highly evaluated in terms of special effects." Theater manager Li Xiang said to Shen Yan that in his view, the middle-aged group is more tired at work, relax and "cool" after work, do not need to burn too much brain, and do not want to be moved by emotions, Hollywood blockbusters are more decompressing. "However, it is difficult to say for the post-95s and post-00s." He said.
Deep Fire counted the top five Hollywood blockbusters in the domestic box office in 2018, 2019 and 2021, and the average proportion of audiences under 30 years old was 58.26%, 63.52%, and 54.86%, respectively, such audiences are still the main body of Hollywood blockbusters, but the proportion has declined after the epidemic.
And Hollywood blockbusters are no longer box office elixirs, and there are already traces to follow.
According to Maoyan Professional Edition statistics, in 2018, four Hollywood movies entered the top ten at the domestic box office, by 2019, there were only two, and as of October this year, there were only two "Fast and Furious 9" and "Godzilla vs King Kong". Back in 2011, there were 6 Hollywood movies in the top 10 grossing films, and 14 Hollywood movies in the top 20 films at the box office in 2012.
According to the statistics of the film pocket Jun, from the perspective of box office proportion, since 2012, the proportion of Hollywood blockbusters in the mainland box office has been decreasing year by year, as high as 55% in 2012, and in 2019, the proportion has shrunk to 37%, and by 2021, as of October, there is only about 11%.
In addition to the decline in box office, word of mouth has also declined significantly. In the top ten Hollywood movies in 2019, 2020 and 2021 (as of October), the average score of Douban was 7.22 points, 7 points and 6.79 points, respectively, and the Douban score of highly anticipated blockbusters such as "Fast and Furious 9" and "Mulan" in 2021 was only about 5 points.
Source: Maoyan Professional Edition Drafting / Deep Burning
Shen Yan sorted out the data related to the "Fast and Furious" series, and in the four films from 2015 to 2021, the domestic box office fell from 2.423 billion to 1.392 billion. In terms of word of mouth, the Douban score also fell from 8.4 points to 5.2 points.
Whether it is word of mouth or box office, Hollywood is tired.
<h2>IP aging, feelings are difficult to continue, what happened to Hollywood blockbusters? </h2>
Hollywood's overall creation has entered a period of weakness and is becoming a consensus.
Film critic Lily mentioned that compared with the same series of movies, Hollywood blockbusters have entered the trough of the growth cycle curve, a very important reason is that the Hollywood film and television industry modularization pays more attention to the development of sequels, classic IP remakes, resulting in a decline in the quality of the comprehensive level, which is an inevitable process.
In addition, in Lily's view, in addition to showing visual effects, the setting of Disney's family fun determines to a certain extent that it will not do deep digging of content. This year's explosive Disney doll "Ling na Belle" is even more unsupported by the content story, directly relying on the appearance to become popular.
Li Xiang told Shen Yan, "For films like "007", eating is feelings, starring Daniel Craig has accumulated a certain fan base, this is his last "007" series of movies, more emotional plus points. ”
For Hollywood films similar to the "007" series that focus on emotions, it has profoundly affected the post-80s and post-90s, but in the process of cultural migration, it is difficult for the post-95s and post-00s who gradually occupy the mainstream of consumption, it is difficult for this type of film to maintain its former glory. Swallow describes himself as a "retro pie". She feels that hollywood blockbusters rarely see high-scoring and classic films like Titanic and The Godfather.
At the same time, the chinese people's feelings for Hollywood movies have also become subtle.
On the one hand, domestic films are enhancing their internal strength. "For Chinese audiences, the choices are increasing." Li Xiang said that this is the most important reason for the decline in the influence of Hollywood films in China. Looking forward ten years, the domestic production industry system and Hollywood have a big gap, and now the level of domestic domestic films is indeed improving, and there will be some dark horse movies every year, squeezing the market space of Hollywood.
At present, in the total box office list of Chinese movies, only "Avengers 4", which was released in 2019, entered the top ten list. The domestic movies "Wolf Warrior 2", "Hello, Li Huanying", "Nezha's Devil Boy Descending", "The Wandering Earth", coupled with this year's National Day file", "Chosin Lake", steadily occupy the forefront of the domestic box office rankings.
Avengers 4 poster
In addition to perceiving the fatigue of domestic audiences for Hollywood blockbusters, an industry insider lamented that domestic audiences have begun to no longer respect Hollywood's American personal heroism narrative, and even began to question. Li Xiang said that the emergence of this trend of thought cannot be quantified into the actual impact on the box office, but it cannot be ignored.
Borrowing the view of "movie juice" of netizens, young audiences are still the main body of the current movie, and the early audiences after 70, 80, and 90 are in the era of change in the domestic economic transformation, when there are few domestic blockbusters, and there is a fresh sense of Hollywood blockbusters, "But now, the young group of the post-90s and post-00s generations, from birth, live in a variety of visual effects environments, and are not strange about the things in the blockbusters." If they are not stimulated, there is no desire to consume. ”
Hollywood is reluctant to give up the domestic market this cake, not without action.
As early as 2017, there were reports abroad that Hollywood was pleasing the Chinese market. The main way is to integrate Chinese elements, invite Chinese actors to star, and even appear "Chinese specials". In "Transformers 4", in the domestic version, there are a few seconds of footage of the artist Han Geng, which is not in the original version.
This is also present in the plot setting. In "The Martian", which was released in 2015, the plot is set in China to save Matt Damon, which is seen as a gesture of favor to China. Subsequently, Matt Damon did appear in the "Great Wall" film directed by Zhang Yimou.
In recent years, Hollywood has increased the use of domestic actors to cater to the Chinese market, and many of them are no longer just small roles in cameos. For example, the movie "Mulan" released in 2020 starred Liu Yifei, and in the same year, according to US media reports, Universal Pictures created an action comedy film "Saigon Bodyguard", inviting Wu Jing to star with "Star Lord" Chris Pratt. In 2021, "Fast and Furious 9" directly chose to be released in China first.
Spending time on Chinese elements, but the real effort in content, sincerity is indeed not high. The most direct example, "Mulan" Douban score is only 4.9, the box office is only 280 million, the performance is not commensurate with this big IP.
Some foreign media have bluntly said that in China, Hollywood is being eliminated by domestic films.
<h2>Will Hollywood blockbusters become a thing of the past? </h2>
Looking back, since the first Hollywood blockbuster entered the Chinese mainland in 1994, it has occupied the absolute main force of the domestic box office.
Li Xiang has worked in the cinema for more than ten years and has organized thousands of fan events. He recalled that in the 90s of the last century, a very boring joke in Hollywood blockbusters, "everyone laughed at the scene", because there were not many movies to choose from at that time.
According to the data of The Movie Pocket Jun, between 2012 and 2014, hollywood accounted for 50% of the total domestic box office. Li Xiang said that at that time, the domestic film box office champion once relied on Hollywood blockbusters to pull.
The turning point occurred around 2015, when "To Catch a Demon" grossed 2.421 billion, only 0.05 billion lower than the top 20 of that year's "Fast and Furious 7", and only 7 of the top 20 box office hits that year were Hollywood blockbusters.
Fast & Furious 7 poster
After the epidemic, the decline of Hollywood blockbusters in China has accelerated. According to maoyan professional edition statistics, as of October this year, the annual box office of mainland movies was 42.2 billion, of which hollywood movies grossed 5 billion yuan. Among the reasons for the introduction of imported films is less, it also contains the feelings of domestic audiences for Hollywood blockbusters.
However, at present, many theater managers and film critics have told Shen Yan that whether it is a global theater or a domestic theater, hollywood blockbusters are still needed. Under the epidemic situation, "there are no films to put on" and "introducing blockbusters" are regarded by theater managers as one of the solutions.
"Cinema has its uniqueness, and watching at home is two completely different concepts. Whether it is sentiment or influence, for the theater, Hollywood's basic disk still occupies an advantage. Li Xiang said.
That's because Hollywood visuals complement each other in movie theaters. Chen Ren mentioned that many Hollywood war movies can make him have an immersive feeling, and after the release of "Decisive Midway", he also went to the cinema to brush it 5 times. Hollywood's industrial model is indeed made for the cinema.
Li Xiang said that if the quality of the Hollywood films encountered is not satisfactory, "basically a week or so, the box office will end", but as long as one film can "explode", "it can support the cinema for two or three weeks or even a month".
Hollywood blockbuster fans are still a huge audience group, but the trend of Hollywood blockbusters in China is becoming smaller, and it is difficult to recover.
On the one hand, the far-reaching impact of the epidemic has penetrated into the audience's viewing habits. During the epidemic period, according to statistics, at present, more than 15 Hollywood blockbusters, including "Mulan", "Black Widow", "Dune" and so on, have chosen to be broadcast online or "theater network synchronization" to release. A film critic said that the film was launched on streaming media and divided the theater box office abroad, and the resources were easily leaked to the country, which also directly affected the theater box office.
Li Xiang told Shen Yan that the piracy and word-of-mouth caused by the launch of "Black Widow" after the streaming media were launched, and even if it could return to the domestic market, the ceiling of the box office would not be high. After 95, Swallow said very clearly that she would go to the cinema before the epidemic and watch it at home after the epidemic, and "Black Widow" was watched online. "Of course, it is better to go to the cinema to see it, but there are resources on the Internet that will give priority to watching it online." She said.
The ongoing release of "Dune" is also a typical case, director Dennis Villeneuve said that "Dune" is his love letter to the big screen, but it was launched at the same time in North American theaters and streaming media platforms, and the visual effects are very different, and it also affects word of mouth to a certain extent.
In 2019, Li Xiang, who organized the premiere of "Avengers 4", said that you can never imagine the fanaticism and madness of this group of fans. Some viewers wear superhero costumes to watch the movie, the first day of zero, every Easter egg appears in the movie, every hero appears, almost all the fans are screaming unconsciously.
He looked forward to the return of such a carnival, but "the days of such revelry are far away." Li Xiang sighed.
Note: At the request of the interviewees, Xiaowen, Liuliu, Chen Ren, Yanzi and Li Xiang are pseudonyms.