As of press time, "White Snake 2: Green Snake Robbery" has accumulated 281 million at the box office
In the 6 days after its release in 1905, the box office of "White Snake 2: Green Snake Robbery" (hereinafter referred to as "Green Snake Robbery") reached 273 million. Compared with the box office of 75.5 million in the first "White Snake: Origins" in 6 days of release, it can be said that the performance is quite outstanding. However, the predicted total box office of "Green Snake Robbery" has been decreasing, from the initial over 600 million to the current 500 million, only about 100 million higher than the previous game.
But at the same time, this year is also a well-deserved "year of "The Legend of the White Snake", a rather niche Cantonese opera movie "White Snake Legend " with a strong reputation, the box office continues to counterattack, and finally won more than 20 million yuan. As a well-known mythological theme, "The Legend of the White Snake" has been filmed according to countless movies over the years. The performance of two related films this year will also raise a small question: Do we still like to watch the white snake story now?
"White Snake Legend " Has a cumulative box office of 20.773 million
"White Snake" hit the year from 20 million to 200 million at the box office
The box office of the Cantonese opera movie "The Legend of the White Snake" of more than 20 million can be said to be a surprising little dark horse this year. An opera film, and a Cantonese opera that is only popular in Guangdong, can get such a box office nationwide, and people have to sigh that "The Legend of the White Snake" is really a household name and the charm is undiminished.
It can be said that "The Legend of the White Snake" just caught up with the popularity of the national tide in recent years. The ink background with Chinese style, the small bridges and flowing water and pavilions created according to Song paintings all attract young people who love traditional Chinese culture nowadays. Judging from the portraits of users who want to see provided by the ticketing platform, the proportion of female audiences reached 59.5%, and the proportion of 20-24 years old reached 32.5%.
"White Snake Biography " wants to see user portraits
Comparing this data with the "National Tide Consumption Report" released by a platform in 2021, it can also be seen that the main force of national tide consumption is precisely the audience of this movie. According to the report, the proportion of female consumption increased by 5% in 2020, and the proportion of consumption after 95 in 2020 increased by 10%.
According to Accenture data, China has nearly 400 million female consumers aged 20 to 60, which controls up to 10 trillion yuan of consumer spending every year, which is enough to constitute the world's third largest consumer market, close to the european retail markets of Germany, France and the United Kingdom combined.
From this, we can judge that "The Legend of the White Snake" has precisely touched the female audience who loves the national tide and loves traditional Chinese culture. They also became strong supporters of the film at the box office, so that a niche opera film could achieve a box office counterattack in the second week of release, breaking through the miracle of the first week.
In fact, the same is true of Whitesnake: Origins, which was released 2 years ago. The portrait of this film is very similar to "The Legend of the White Snake". After the film was released, it also relied on word of mouth to continue to go up against the wind and achieve box office breakthroughs week after week.
Whitesnake: Origins wants to see user portraits
In "The Green Snake Robbery", the film's portrait of wanting to see is more inclined to female audiences and young audiences. However, the film is no longer the national style they love. When the white snake and the green snake change out of the wide clothes and belts, as a short dress, visually they are also moving closer to the steampunk and wasteland aesthetics, aesthetically away from the female audience. Therefore, it can be inferred that the story of "The Legend of the White Snake" is still valid, but it is still necessary to consider what kind of cultural context the story should be placed in.
The two White Snake movies released this year are so different in volume, and there is also a significant gap in the ratio of input to output. Compared with the previous work, "Green Snake Robbery" has only a slight increase in the box office, and it does remind the light-chasing animation that it needs to readjust its thinking in the future creation.
More than 60 white snake film and television works How will the white snake IP be developed in the future?
According to incomplete statistics, since the black-and-white film "The Legend of the White Snake" directed by Wang Tianlin in 1952, there have been at least more than 60 film and television and animation works based on the story of the White Snake. It can be said that each era has given birth to a rather classic and can be represented by the "Legend of the White Snake".
Stills from the black-and-white movie The Legend of the White Snake
In 1958, Japan filmed the country's first color animated feature film based on the theme of "The Legend of the White Snake". As early as 2 years before the advent of this "White Snake", "The White Lady's Demon Love", starring Li Xianglan and co-produced by the Shaw brothers in Japan and Hong Kong, has been released.
The cartoon "The Legend of the White Snake" is more family-oriented, adding a lot of animal supporting roles to fill the plot, becoming a more common animal reward mode in Japan, and the opening chapter is that Xu Xian picked up a white snake at a young age. The final Yongzhen Leifeng Pagoda was also changed to a reunion plot. The live-action version of "The White Lady's Demon Love" is a large-scale special film of that year, and the whole film is filled with a kind of "demon atmosphere", which is different from the themes of past life karma and retribution, but it is about obsessive infatuation.
Stills from "The White Lady's Enchanted Love"
In fact, most of the early White Snake films remain stuck to the legend itself, basically telling the whole story according to the structure we are familiar with. In 1972, musician Pan Dihua, together with Gu Jiahui, Huang Xia, and others, adapted the story of the White Snake into a musical "White Niangniang". Although the box office was not good that year, the word of mouth was very good. The song "Love You Become Harmful to You" has also become a classic.
The musical closely revolves around the emotions of the two, and the famous song "Love You Become Harmful to You" written by Huang Xia also sings that "ten thousand kinds of grace become disasters." It can be said that the emergence of this version of the musical has also laid the foundation for the emergence of today's "White Snake Legend and Love".
From the initial complete restoration of this legendary story, to the later beginning of the exploration of the emotions in this story, 1993's "Green Snake" became a peak of the White Snake story. The film not only shifts the perspective from the traditional protagonist White Snake to the Green Snake, but also profoundly discusses the two rather heavy topics of "what love is" and "what is a person".
"Green Snake" not only created a new way of telling the story of the white snake, but also "ended" the novelty of other creators, becoming an insurmountable peak in the story of the white snake.
Stills from "Green Snake"
In 2011, "The Legend of the White Snake" was released, and although the film invited Jet Li, it failed to save the film's reputation. Compared with the previous white snake story, the perspective of "The Legend of the White Snake" is more Westernized, adding a lot of elements such as the demon world and demons, and the image of Fahai is more positive, and it is also closer to the image of the Western exorcist.
It is only in recent years that the creation of the white snake story has returned to the environment of the national style aesthetic. In the front, "White Snake: Origins" and "White Snake Legend " are more about standing on the shoulders of predecessors and climbing another floor.
"White Snake: Origins" chooses to open up the Chinese literary record of snakes, and combines the story of the white snake with Liu Zongyuan's "TheOry of the Snake Catcher" to form a new narrative. But such a legend story, after several shootings, it is really difficult to tell a new idea again in a short period of time. Therefore, after the end credits of "White Snake: Origins" were told in the ending subtitles of "White Snake", "Green Snake Robbery" chose to open up a new space, from the identity of white snake, green snake and reincarnation.
Although the wasteland style has replaced the aesthetics of the national style, it is believed that such a brave breakthrough will also bring new creativity to the story of the White Snake in the future.
After all, the owner of Baoqingfang in the Easter egg finally found his broken tail, which also makes us more curious, in the eyes of the current creators, what are the possibilities of white snakes and green snakes?