China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 200 The first science fiction film

"Although Wang Shu is talented, you are still better at directing."

Chen Ting said with a smile when she heard this.

There was light in her eyes when she looked at Zhang Yimou. When she said this, she was sincere and not superficially flattering.

Zhang Yimou smiled knowingly after hearing this.

But he didn't answer the call.

He has previously seen Buried Alive, The Tuner, and now The Time Traveler.

Three film works of different types, all of which are excellent films.

This already shows how terrifying Wang Shu’s talent is.

Although he has many years of experience in the industry, with these three films in front of him, he dare not say that he is better than Wang Shu in directing.

In particular, the scripts for the three films "Buried Alive", "The Tuner" and "Space Traveler" were all written by Wang Shu.

All of this adds up. Even though Wang Shu is only a new director who has only made his debut two years ago, he would not dare to say these words.

Talent is really a scary thing.

In his eyes, Wang Shu is the most talented director he has ever seen.

With such talent, he may be able to go beyond the country in the future, go internationally and venture into Hollywood.

Chen Ting saw that Zhang Yimou did not answer the question and asked instead: "Listen to them. Wang Shu's "Space Traveler" is the first commercial science fiction film in China. Is that true?"

Zhang Yimou listened happily and explained with a smile: "If we just say that "Space Traveler" is the first commercial science fiction film in domestic theaters, although this is controversial, it is not a big problem."

"If you say "Space Traveler" is the first science fiction film in China, you are just deceiving some people who don't understand."

"In 1980, our country filmed its first science fiction film, "Death Light on Coral Island."

"Death Light on Coral Island" was adapted from Tong Enzheng's novel of the same name. It was directed by Zhang Hongmei and starred by Qiao Qi, Ling Zhihao, Qiao Qin and others. It was released in 1980.

In 1977, the science fiction classic "Star Wars" was released around the world. Audiences all over the world rushed to see it, and the box office was sold out, setting off a worldwide climax of science fiction films.

Driven by this trend, China, which had just reformed and opened up, began to try the creation of science fiction movies.

"Death Light on Coral Island" is adapted from the novel of the same name that won the 1978 National Outstanding Short Story Creation Award.

The film tells the story of Professor Zhao Qian, a patriotic Chinese scientist who successfully trial-produced a high-efficiency atomic battery in W City, a certain country. He rejected the attempts of major consortiums to purchase the atomic battery patent rights with large sums of money and decided to take all the samples and data back to the motherland.

That night, Professor Zhao was assassinated. In order to fulfill the professor's last wish, Professor Zhao's future son-in-law, young scientist Chen Tianhong, fled in a plane with battery samples.

On the way, the plane was shot down by a strange aerial weapon, and Tianhong fell into the sea.

He struggled to swim to a nearby island, and a shark swam towards him. At this critical moment, a flash of fire flashed, the shark died immediately, and Tianhong swam to the island.

This is a mysterious island where only an old scientist, Professor Zhao's friend Dr. Matthew, and his mute servant Aman live. There is a complex and magical experimental center on the island, where Dr. Matthew passed through 10 The laser was successfully trial-produced in . It was Dr. Matthew who used the laser to rescue Tianhong in the laboratory just now.

When Tianhong learned that Dr. Matthew had not solved the power problem of the laser, he handed over the high-efficiency atomic battery to Dr. Matthew.

When they realized that Venus Company was trying to combine the research results of Professor Zhao and Dr. Matthew to create a new type of weapon that threatened human peace, they were determined to stop this evil act.

Venus Company was afraid that the conspiracy would be exposed, so it sent people to the island to obtain information and to blow up the island to eliminate evidence of crime.

After a fierce fight, the warship escaped with the information and the island was about to be bombed. At this critical moment, Tianhong cooperated with the dying Dr. Matthew to use a newly successfully trial-produced laser and a high-efficiency atomic battery to sink the warship. The island exploded. .

Although the scientists' new inventions failed to survive, they defended human peace with their blood and lives.

At that time, the team that produced this film had only seen one "science fiction film", which was the American film "The World to Come" that was screened as an "internal reference film".

Robots appeared in "Future World", and the concept of robots came into being.

Later, when making "Death Light on Coral Island", the robots in "Future World" were also imitated.

And this is why Wang Shu’s words about Hollywood and even the world’s movies being there, watching more and thinking more, and learning from each other’s strong points made many people break their guard.

In 1978, when the first science fiction film was produced in China, the production team all knew about it and learned from it.

Now, on the other hand, we are doing nothing every day.

After Zhang Yimou said this, he paused for a moment, then looked at Chen Ting and said: "The 1986 "Dislocation" is also a science fiction film."

"And 'Thunderbolt Babe' from 1988, those are all."

"If you include Hong Kong Island, the Shaw Brothers produced a science fiction film called "Superman of China" in 1975."

"Our mainland's first commercial film was "Death Light on Coral Island" in 1980."

"However, whether it is "Death Light on the Coral Island", or "Dislocation" and "Thunderbolt Babe", the science fiction elements in it all revolve around robots, aliens, and future visitors."

"As for "Chinese Superman", it is very similar to those films. It is made through the mutation of ancient viruses and is similar to the American Captain America."

"But "Time Traveler" is different. Its science fiction elements lie in time and space travel, as well as changing life through time and space travel and triggering refutation, etc."

"Although these films are all considered science fiction films, Wang Shu's "Space Traveler" is still very different."

"There are very few movies of this type in China."

"The release of "Time Traveler" is also eye-catching."

"Although Zhou Xingxing's "The Gambler" also travels through time and space, coupled with the special function elements, it can also be regarded as a science fiction film."

"But there are fundamental differences between "The Gambler" and "Time Traveler."

""The Gambler" just takes advantage of the time travel at the beginning of the movie, and then the story unfolds differently."

""Time Traveler" is a film shot around time travel."

"The focus of the two movies is completely different."

"If you want to say which of the two movies is more like a science fiction film, then it is naturally Wang Shu's "Time Traveler"."

Chen Ting listened to Zhang Yimou's talk from the side, with an adoring smile on her face. She said: "So, is Wang Shu's "Space Traveler" the first commercial science fiction film in China?"

Zhang Yimou smiled and answered: "I have just said that I think "Space Traveler" is the first commercial science fiction film in China, and there is not much problem." Calculate."

Seeing the confusion in Chen Ting's eyes, he then explained: "In our country, there have actually been several changes in the film field."

“1949-1966是一个阶段，1966-1976是一个阶段，1977-1991是一个阶段，1992-2001是一个阶段，2002到现在又是一个新的开始。”

"Counting from the beginning of the cinema chain reform in 2002, "Space Traveler" should be regarded as the first commercial science fiction film in China."

After the founding of China, the film industry studios, distribution companies and theaters were all state institutions. Production and screening were all assigned tasks by the state, and funds were invested for unified acquisition and screening.

In the 1990s, the domestic economy, society and culture were in a period of transformation.

Although Zhang Yimou made "Alive", Chen Kaige made "Farewell My Concubine", Tian Zhuangzhuang made "Blue Kite", and Jiang Wen made "Sunny Days", the "market" was in this period keywords.

In fact, the “market” has been heating up since the late 80s.

Shao Mujun, who is proficient in the history of Western films, stated in his famous "Introduction to the History of Western Films" that those personalized films that only focus on their own artistic practice and ignore the audience will lead the film into a dead end, and film must eventually restore it. A face that is close to the public.

The concepts of commercialization and industrialization have been mentioned again and again.

It's just that the "mediocrity" revealed in the subsequent wave of entertainment films has lowered the quality of the film and aroused dissatisfaction among the audience.

From a supervisor to a theoretician, he is more like a "rooster that crows too early" and is under considerable pressure.

On the other hand, the prospects faced by domestic films are also extremely grim.

With the popularization of television and the rise of karaoke bars and video halls, a large number of audiences have been diverted.

By 1992, the number of domestic movie viewers dropped to 105 billion, the movie market shrank significantly, and the box office in 1992 plummeted to 19.9 billion yuan.

Many county and city cinemas are struggling to survive and have been converted into dance halls and billiard halls to find other ways to make a living.

Reform is urgent.

In January 1993, the Ministry of Film and Television issued "Document No. 1", namely "Several Opinions on Deepening the Current Mechanism Reform of the Film Industry" and its "Implementation Rules", which broke the "monopolized purchase and underwriting" distribution model of China Film Corporation and allowed the production of Studios sell films directly to distribution companies in various provinces and cities.

This took the first step towards opening up the national market.

Since August 1994, China Film Corporation has imported "ten blockbusters" every year on a box-office split basis. At first, not many people were optimistic about this move, thinking that it would only make the struggling national films worse, but it turned out to be Products that comply with market development needs and trends.

因为从1994年至2008年10月，中国市场过亿票房的30部影片中，分账影片是14部，国产大片占16部。

This shows that split-account films have not caused the death of domestic films, but have activated the sluggish market, allowing people to see the huge energy contained in movies.

In addition, split-account films have forced state-owned studios with backward systems, serious lack of investment, and rife with bad habits to carry out reform like a hero breaking his arm.

At this stage, traditional films ushered in their final glory, and Chinese films also completed the difficult transformation in the context of globalization.

China has a clearer judgment on the role that movies can play and the identification of the essential characteristics of movies.

That is, market mechanism and competition mechanism.

Prior to this, the domestic film model was actually theoretically feasible.

It's just that people implement this theory, and it slowly decays.

Many filmmakers are holding golden jobs, and they don’t have to worry about whether the market will buy it or whether they will be eliminated at the bottom, which breeds many superficial worms.

It can be said that the fundamental reason why movie box office is so sluggish that county and city theaters find it difficult to survive and have turned to other entertainment venues to make a living is that the movies produced by many filmmakers in this era are not good-looking.

The reason why it doesn't look good is that "life is too comfortable."

So, in 2002, theater chains in the film field were reformed.

In addition to the comprehensive introduction of market mechanisms and competition mechanisms, the State Administration of Film and Television, in the form of a decree, stipulated that relevant provincial and municipal institutions must establish theater chains before June 2002, 6, and implement resource reorganization in the distribution and screening fields nationwide.

In this way, theaters will be separated from the original film companies as operating entities, the industrial structure will be optimized, the distribution levels will be reduced, and distribution costs will be reduced, thereby benefiting the producers and theaters.

In addition, the competent authorities allow social, individual and foreign capital to enter the field of film production, distribution and screening.

In the past, not everyone could make a movie. There was a threshold, and the threshold was quite high. Only registered state-owned studios had the right to make movies, and there were quotas for how many films they could shoot.

With the advancement of the market-oriented mechanism characterized by equal competition among multiple ownerships, making movies is no longer a privilege for certain people.

This initiative had immediate results. Of the 2003 films shot in 197, 60 were produced by private companies.

In other words, if Wang Shu was reborn before 2002, regardless of his age, he would not be able to make a movie if he wanted to make a movie based on his wild ways from the countryside and no preparation.

He doesn't have the qualifications.

Nowadays, with the reform of theater chains, market mechanisms and competition mechanisms have been introduced, making movies all rely on their ability to earn box office results whether they are selling films or entering theater chains.

Many older generation filmmakers have become increasingly vocal in their opposition.

This is because, before this, many gangsters were holding a golden rice bowl, and they could have a stable status and food by hanging around casually.

Nowadays, whether a movie can go to film festivals or sell films at film festivals, or whether it can enter movie theaters and earn box office depends entirely on the quality of the film.

And this is what kills them.

When it comes to making art films, it’s hard to even qualify for film festivals, let alone sell the film.

Even if it goes to film festivals, the film won't sell.

If you make a theatrical movie, the box office is so low that it can be ignored.

This time, the true level of many people was exposed.

Status and interests become unstable.

"Is that so?" Chen Ting was stunned when she heard this and said with a smile, "So, is it correct to say that "Time Traveler" is the first commercial film in China?"

"If you don't look into it carefully, you can say that." Zhang Yimou answered with a smile.

"Have you ever considered making a science fiction film?" Chen Ting became interested and asked instead.

"Me?" Zhang Yimou was stunned when he heard this, and then said softly, "Although I'm not good at directing science fiction films, if I have a good script, I might try it."

(End of this chapter)