New Age Artists

Chapter 647: I’m here to take you away!
"1937" reversed the decline in the second week and the box office is likely to exceed billion.

Compared with the blockbuster movies of Santong Entertainment, this box office is not phenomenal, but for this genre, it is definitely phenomenal.

It shocked many people, including Shen Santong.

Three Links Building.

The window is shrouded in haze, and the glass display cabinets are filled with movie posters, records, and interesting props and souvenirs. Unlike the old-fashioned calmness, Shen Santong's office is full of sports and vitality.

"The algorithm is biased, and big Vs are leading the trend. The way of pushing the flow should be smart, not too rough, and it should be done little by little until a big discussion based on the movie is set off!"

Shen Santong keenly captured the arrival of the public opinion node and ordered the executives of platforms such as Weibo and Dongtian to guide this wave of emotions.

There is something wrong with the situation and people's hearts!

After years of struggle, we finally achieved a stage of victory.

The box office success of "1937" shocked the audience the most.

It turns out that even without hype, passionate scenes can still be box office, it turns out that suffering can be turned into strength, it turns out that not only myself, but also many people support such movies
When thinking to this level, the trend of thought changes further.

It has always been the audience who has to reflect and take the blame.

This time, the audience began to identify with the characters.

First, "1942" was scrutinized by the audience.

This film is hailed as the most conscientious film in Feng Xiaogang's artistic career.

It was released nationwide on November 2012, 11, two weeks earlier than "29".

It tells the story of how 40 million people in Henan suffered from hunger and were displaced due to war and natural disasters in the 300s.

Feng Xiaogang poured countless efforts into this film, with a huge investment, and dozens of stars including Zhang Guoli, Chen Daoming, Li Xuejian, and Zhang Hanyu joined.

As a result, the box office performance was not ideal.

The box office on the first day was approximately RMB 3600 million, and the box office in the first week was approximately RMB 1.6 million.

According to the box office performance in the past two weeks, the box office forecast for "1942" is that the total box office will eventually be approximately RMB 3.9 million.

The film's production cost exceeded 2.3 million yuan, and including publicity and promotion costs, the total cost exceeded 3 million yuan.

The box office must be three times the cost to make a profit. Calculated based on the profit-sharing ratio, the film company's actual revenue was about 3 million yuan, which is obviously a loss. Taking into account publicity and promotion, the loss is over 1 million yuan.

Even if you remove the water, there is still a loss of tens of millions.

If we fail, we naturally have to analyze whose fault it is?

This was a simple question before 1937 was released.

Theme pot.

heavy.

Focusing on the tragic history of the Henan famine in 1942, the film has a depressing theme and lacks commercial entertainment elements, which contrasts with the "relaxed movie-watching" needs of the audience during the Lunar New Year period during the same period.

Audiences' reviews of the film were polarized, with some recognizing its historical weight and artistic value but others criticizing its slow pace and overly cruel emotional impact.

In addition, the competition is fierce during the same period. On Singles' Day, on November 11, "Love Is Not Blind 9" directed by Wang Ran will be released.

Before the Lunar New Year holiday, on November 11, "Life of Pi" directed by Li An was released.

At the same time, Lu Chuan's "The Banquet" was also released. The two historical films caused internal friction and distracted the audience's attention.

Audiences have limited acceptance of "narratives of suffering", especially during the Lunar New Year period, when they prefer comedies or commercial blockbusters, such as Feng Xiaogang's previous "If You Are the One" series.

There were also problems with the film’s promotion and marketing, as it emphasized “national suffering” and audiences didn’t like watching it.

It cannot be effectively converted into market appeal, but instead increases the psychological burden of the audience's viewing experience.

As the film involves corruption of the Kuomintang regime and sensitive historical issues, some viewers have controversial interpretations of history, which indirectly affects the communication effect.

All of the above factors led to "1942" becoming the Waterloo of Feng Xiaogang's directorial career.

Compared with his previous work, "Aftershock", which had a high box office, "1942" became a rare commercial failure in Feng Xiaogang's career.

get conclusion.

Chinese audiences don't like serious historical themes and have no aesthetic ability.

The main audience of movies has changed from those born in the 80s to those born in the 90s. This group of children and young people do not understand the pain of the older generation and only know how to entertain themselves to death.

No audience!

The artistic value and historical significance cannot be appreciated.

The Chinese film market is not doing well!

There are limitations on the view of serious historical subjects.

However, Xiao Gangpao is courageous and daring to try, and he has realized the transformation of his personal creation from commercial comedy to historical drama.

Despite the cold market, it left a profound mark of realism on Chinese films.

In the future, everyone should stop doing thankless work and stop making such films. The national suffering should be left in the memorial hall and not be spread.

then.

"1937" is here!
Although both films are serious historical themes, the historical memory of the Nanjing Massacre is no less relaxing than the Henan famine, but its first-week box office revenue exceeded that of "1942" during its entire cycle.

It seems, maybe, highly likely.
Isn't it that the audience lacks aesthetic ability?

It’s not that the film market doesn’t buy into this?
Is it possible, just possible, that the movie is not good, or there is something wrong with the practitioners?
It's not about questioning anyone.

For the same subject matter, the audience will naturally make comparisons.

There are obviously huge differences between 1937 and 1942 in terms of historical perspective and narrative angle. 1942 is lifeless and carries a tone of historical cyclicalism and fatalism.

It shows how disasters such as famine, corruption, and popular suffering repeat themselves throughout history, suggesting that social problems are rooted in structural illnesses that are difficult to change through individuals or single events.

The Nationalist government's slow disaster relief and corruption among officials led to the spread of famine.

The victims gradually lost hope while fleeing, and some even resorted to extreme practices such as “eating their own children”.

The ending subtitles mention that "Henan had another bumper harvest in 1943", suggesting that the suffering has been forgotten and the problem has not been solved.

The whole film is filled with a sense of depression and powerlessness, and ultimately does not provide a clear way out.

All that is conveyed is the pessimistic view that "history is a rigid dynamic cycle."

The top-down bird's-eye view shows the full picture of the disaster through multiple perspectives such as victims, governments, journalists, and foreign missionaries, but the fate of individuals is diluted by the grand narrative.

Most of the characters are passive recipients, such as the old boss Fan Dianyuan, who eventually lost everything and was full of powerlessness, without any personal active influence on the course of history.

White's photographs revealing the truth contrasted sharply with the Nationalist government's indifference, further suggesting the futility of individual efforts in the face of systemic corruption.

It is obvious that the historical view of "1942" is closed, and history has become an unbreakable cycle.

The harvest and forgetfulness at the end hint at the recurrence of suffering and the lack of possibility of change in the future.

The film exposes historical scars, criticizes power corruption and human alienation, but does not provide a solution.

Whether it is Feng Xiaogang or the original author Liu Zhenyun, their historical perspective is that history is just a mirror.

It's out there, and that's the end of it.

While using the same serious historical subject matter, "1937" highlights the dynamism of history.

Through the survival and awakening of ordinary people, it emphasizes that people are the main body of history and hope is born out of suffering.

The Lu Dachuan brothers survived in desperate situations by means of disguise, bribery, and organizing self-rescue.

In the city of Nanjing, collective power was awakening, and civil organizations such as the Salt Gang and the Coffin Shop formed a mutual aid network.

In the movie's post-credits scene, workers at the New Fourth Army Arsenal supported the war of resistance through technological innovation.

It demonstrates the inevitability of historical progress.

Through images of industrial rise and national awakening, it implies that organized people can rewrite their destiny.

Although the film directly faces blood and despair, it is always interspersed with clues of hope.

Not deconstruction, but construction.

It ultimately comes down to the positive theme of reconstructing the national spirit.

The perspective is bottom-up, focusing on ordinary people, with printing brothers as the core, reflecting the big history through their microscopic survival details.

Gradually sublimating from the individual to the collective, Lu Shuisheng grew from a fugitive to a technical backbone of the arsenal. His personal awakening also symbolizes the transformation of the grassroots people from survival to awakening.

"1937" is not only about "learning from history" and "looking in the mirror", but also about "correcting one's attire" and "facing the future".

The historical perspective is open and dynamic.

From the beginning to the end, we have emphasized that suffering is the cornerstone of reconstructing the national spirit, and historical pain can eventually be transformed into cohesion and action.

Through the artistic expression of film, historical suffering is sublimated into a carrier of national spirit.

Moreover, the audience's resonance is quietly achieved through the viewing rhythm, story presentation, and audience-friendly narrative.

This forms the narrative division between "1942" and "1937".

From a historical perspective, 1937 was a darker year.

Why did Wang Jingwei's "curve to save the country" have such a great and bad impact? Because it was truly hopeless and pitch black.

By 1942, people were also in despair, but the Japanese invaders were already showing signs of decline.

At the same time, the power of the Communist Party was also revealed.

But these are not presented in "1942". The film is filled with powerlessness and silence, which is completely opposite to "1937".

To put it more bluntly, "1937" is "My Difficulties". Through the people's historical perspective and artistic sublimation, it has completed the leap from denouncing suffering to reconstructing the spirit.

And "1942" is "his suffering", which stops at the cold gaze on the cycle of history and stands on the shore.

The difference in narrative naturally leads to a difference in box office results.

"1937" received support from the audience, and its box office in the first four days was higher than that of "1942" after more than half a month of release.

If there was no "1937", the audience would have to bear the blame for "lack of aesthetic ability" and this subject would have become unpopular.

However, when we expose the self-righteousness of the film and media circles, we will find that Chinese audiences are friendly and have aesthetic abilities.

"1942" has a hopeless subject matter, a hopeless narrative, and a poor sense of rhythm, but it still has a lot of audiences supporting it, and the box office is not low, but it is low compared to Feng Xiaogang's sketch comedy and its cost.

This shows that as long as the film has merits, the audience will support it. There are no such good audiences in the world. However, some directors and companies have failed them again and again.

Not only will they let the audience down, but the dirty water will also be thrown on them.

It's a waste of money!
Similar things have happened more than once. The audience has no idea how many times they have been PUA'd. Even a clay man would still have some temper. The audience is really angry!

"We can't let Lu Chuan get away. We have to speed up the pace little by little." Shen Santong's eyes fell on "The Banquet" which was still in theaters, mainly because Colonel Lu Chuan had a movie with the same theme and type.

Some viewers have already made comparisons, but there is a lack of orderly guidance and the impact is not strong.

Shen Santong wants to increase the strength of Colonel Lu Chuan.

(End of this chapter)