Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 595 Reflection and Unwavering Progress

The success of "Swords of Shushan" can be considered a breath of fresh air for the current film industry.

If the success of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe was seen by the older generation of Chinese entertainment industry as merely an imitation of Hollywood sci-fi commercial films, then "Sword of Shushan" is a resounding slap in their face.

This proves that even without adopting Western story cores, and without using fantasy styles, costumes, props, and modeling that conform to Western aesthetics, deeply exploring traditional Chinese culture and classical atmosphere to tell Chinese fantasy stories will still be welcomed by domestic audiences.

It wasn't just domestic audiences; ten days after its release, "Swords of Shushan" was also released in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and some Southeast Asian countries, arranged by the overseas distribution department of Galaxy Group.

On its opening day, the film became a huge hit in neighboring countries.

In South Korea, "The Sword of Shushan" was released simultaneously in 127 theaters in major cities such as Seoul and Busan. With its fantasy story full of oriental charm and stunning special effects, it attracted nearly 18.6 viewers and became the second highest-grossing film in South Korea that day, second only to popular domestic comedies.

In Japan, the film opened in 56 theaters across 8 cities including Tokyo and Osaka, grossing 1.2 million yen.

The sword-wielding techniques and sword energy depicted in the film particularly amazed young Japanese audiences.

Because of the profound influence of Chinese culture here, coupled with the prevalence of sword battles in Japanese anime, the Japanese are not unfamiliar with the concept of sword energy.

Similar content can be found in the three most famous shonen manga: Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach.

For example, the chakra sword wind in "Naruto", the flying slash of the great swordsman in "One Piece" that can split mountains and seas, and Ichigo Kurosaki's Getsuga Tenshou in "Bleach" are all similar forms of expression.

However, given that the Japanese have only a superficial understanding of the essence of traditional Chinese culture, their expressions of sword energy and similar techniques often have more power than artistic conception.

In Chinese parlance, it's "skilled but lacking in principle." In terms of aesthetics and presentation, it falls far short of renowned director Tsui Hark's "The Sword and the Mountain," leaving these foreigners with no choice but to admire it.

Similar reactions were seen in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries, where the release of "The Sword of Shushan" also generated a huge response.

Within half a month of its release, the film grossed over $3000 million overseas, setting multiple records for Chinese films abroad.

At the same time, this craze for fantasy and martial arts has even driven the development of upstream and downstream industries in China and the spread of Chinese culture overseas.

Sales of Hanfu (traditional Han clothing) with a fantasy theme, handcrafted Han swords, and movie-related figurines have surged on overseas e-commerce platforms.

Chinese traditional culture seems to be reaching the world in a more three-dimensional way, and Chinese films, apart from science fiction films, have thus opened up a more distinctive new path in the international market.

When this news reached China, it sparked another round of widespread discussion, igniting a sense of national pride among many moviegoers and also arousing great interest from other companies within the industry.

So it turns out they have other options besides making science fiction movies like Galaxy Group.

At least in terms of creative concepts, more and more filmmakers are beginning to re-examine the potential of traditional themes such as fantasy, martial arts, and mythology.

For example, the novel "Investiture of the Gods" was a subject that major film and television companies were reluctant to use because of the terrible film "League of Gods".

But now, the idea of ​​remaking "Investiture of the Gods" has been brought up again by several companies.

Just because other companies can't do it doesn't mean they can't.

In addition, "Water Margin" seems to be good as well. After all, the original novel is not only about rebellion, but also involves gods, demons and Taoist magic.

If we change our approach, we might as well elevate the form of power and create a high-martial-art version of "Water Margin" or a mythological version of "Water Margin".

In addition, there are many fantasy and martial arts novels on the internet, which can also be adapted.

For example, the novel "Zhu Xian" which Xinghe Group has always held is quite well-known, but it has never been adapted into a novel.

Previously, because it was in the hands of Xinghe Group, other companies didn't pay much attention.

Seeing the immense popularity of "Swords of Shushan," many film and television companies have turned their attention to it and expressed their intention to jointly develop the work with Xinghe Group.

In their view, now that Xinghe Group has the big IP of the "Shushan Cinematic Universe", similar games like "Zhu Xian" are probably not in their development plans.

Since that's the case, it's not that we can't give it a try.

As they had anticipated, Xinghe Group's copyright department readily agreed to these companies' request to purchase the adaptation rights to the novel "Zhu Xian" and collaborate with Xinghe Group on its development.

After a series of back-and-forth negotiations, Alibaba Pictures ultimately bought the film and television adaptation rights to "Zhu Xian" for a high price of 1600 million yuan, which has once again made many domestic film and television companies pay more attention to scripts with the fantasy genre.

November arrived amidst the retro Chinese style sparked by "Sword Echoes in Shushan".

At the beginning of the month, Marvel Studios' "Thor: Ragnarok" was released in China, ending the box office success of "Sword of Shushan".

However, as the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Ragnarok was already showing signs of decline, with both its ratings and box office performance falling short of expectations.

Then, in the middle of the month, DC's Justice League followed closely behind Marvel's, and its momentum was almost on par with Marvel's Avengers 2.

After all, this is considered the finale of the first phase of the DC Extended Universe, and the Justice League members, including Superman and Batman, are quite famous overseas.

However, this Justice League film ultimately failed to deliver a satisfactory result to the eagerly anticipating moviegoers.

The change of directors resulted in a distinct stylistic shift in the film, while the uncontrolled narrative pacing and the lack of individual hero segments made the film extremely bloated.

In addition, the villain Steppenwolf was poorly developed. His strength was built up in the early stages, but he was defeated by Superman with a single punch in the final battle, making him the "most perfunctory BOSS".

All of this has become the main focus of criticism from DC comic book fans and moviegoers regarding Justice League.

These viewers' dissatisfaction ultimately manifested in the film's box office performance.

The film grossed 6.91 million RMB in China and approximately 6.57 million USD worldwide, a result that was far below Warner Bros.' expectations.

Compared to Marvel's Avengers series, Justice League's failure is particularly stark, making it a prime example of a box office and critical flop within the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). It was through these two films, Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League, especially Justice League, that Chinese audiences suddenly realized this.

It seems that Hollywood blockbusters are nothing special, far inferior to some domestic films.

In fact, this kind of demystification of Hollywood movies has already happened in the country.

With every film produced by Xinghe Group and Wang Hao becoming a box office hit, repeatedly surpassing Hollywood films and breaking domestic box office records, consistently holding the top spot, the Chinese people's confidence in domestic films and their self-assurance in Chinese culture had already been unconsciously built up.

Previously, such changes occurred quietly, gradually and imperceptibly.

Now that Hollywood movies are also declining in quality, this accumulated huge gap is finally being noticed by movie fans.

Why are Hollywood movies getting worse?

This question has garnered considerable attention and praise on Zhihu, with many professional and non-professional users attempting to provide answers from various perspectives.

Some respondents said this is because Hollywood has become increasingly commercialized and pragmatic, and no longer has the same attitude of pursuing artistic quality as before.

Some respondents said this is because people are tired of Hollywood movies that keep making sequels, and they've developed aesthetic fatigue.

Some respondents said this is because the political correctness portrayed in Hollywood movies has become increasingly obsessive, and various external issues have severely interfered with film and television works.

Other respondents offered conspiracy theories, suggesting that the declining performance of Hollywood films was entirely due to manipulation by certain companies behind the scenes.
Of course, some respondents also pointed out that it's not that Hollywood movies are no longer good, but rather that the quality of Chinese films is improving too quickly, narrowing the gap with Hollywood.

In just over a decade, China's film industry has achieved a qualitative leap.

The film market is expanding rapidly, with blockbuster movies emerging one after another, and box office revenue for individual films is also rising steadily.

Chinese films are truly making great strides and climbing higher, while Hollywood has already reached the summit, unable to advance any further, which gives domestic audiences the illusion that Hollywood films are regressing.

Various answers and opinions kept appearing under this question until one evening, a person named "Wang Hao," with the note "science fiction director," gave his own answer to this question.

My fans should know that I've been busy preparing for my new film recently.

The script was already written, but just a few days ago, a young man from the team suddenly approached me.

He is one of our newly recruited undergraduate students this year. At such a young age, he has already published several science fiction web novels with more than a million words each. He is an outstanding post-95s generation.

He asked me then, saying he had a different opinion on the plot of the new movie, and that the emotional tension in the movie was too deliberate and lacked "exciting moments".

They also said that the values ​​presented later were too rigid, describing how things were portrayed in the movie and how they are reflected in reality, which young audiences would definitely not like.

As he said these things, I suddenly realized that I, who prided myself on being one of the younger generation in the Chinese film and television industry, was already over thirty and approaching forty.

Regarding the viewing interests and preferences of young people in the market, I am also becoming like those directors I hated when I was young, starting to become complacent and detached from the audience, and unable to grasp the preferences of the new generation of young people born in the 95s, 00s, and even 05s.

It was only then that I realized how fast China is developing. Whether it's the economy, technology, or culture, we seem to be moving forward at a breakneck pace.

In the past, when we talked about the generation gap, it was in units of ten years. But now, when we talk about the generation gap, the time frame has been shortened to five years or even two or three years.

Just realizing this puts a lot of pressure on me.

Even I'm not sure if young audiences will like the film ideas and concepts I think are good, or if I've been too stubborn and self-indulgent during the creative process.
Do my fellow directors, who are the same age as me or even older, realize this?

And Hollywood, can Lucas and Cameron, whom I once admired, still keep up with the times?
I think the audience is clearly more aware of these issues than I am.

So, returning to the original question, "Why are Hollywood movies getting worse and worse?"

My answer is that artistic creation should originate from life, and even more so from the masses. It needs to come from the masses and go back to the masses, centering on the masses and patiently listening to their opinions.

In this respect, Hollywood filmmakers, or rather their controllers, are becoming detached from the masses.

Whether it's the so-called excessive commercialization or the interference of political issues in film creation, it's nothing more than an outward manifestation of being detached from the masses.

Of course, if you were to say that this is a problem with Hollywood creators, I wouldn't think so.

The reasons for this problem are certainly multifaceted and systemic, and far from being the problem of any one person or group in Hollywood.

These include the disorderly expansion of capital in the entertainment and cultural industry, the decline of the country's overall strength, the ideological confusion brought about by cultural pluralism, and the information pollution caused by the development of the internet...

The specific content is even enough for me to write a valuable paper, so I won't go into detail here.

It's an undeniable fact that the quality of Hollywood films and television shows is declining.

However, there's no need to underestimate it because of this, or even clap and celebrate, shouting "We won!"

Even a camel that starved to death is bigger than a horse, let alone a camel that is still alive.

I wouldn't even dare say that my company has surpassed its Hollywood counterparts. Domestic film and television industry practitioners should also continue to maintain a humble attitude.

At the very least, we should learn from the predicament Hollywood is currently facing and realize that the best way to maintain creativity is to stay connected with the masses and truly put that into practice.

I welcome everyone to actively offer suggestions. I often read your comments on my work on platforms such as Weibo, Douban, Douyin, and Zhihu.

I hope I can continue to learn and grow together with everyone, and create more works that everyone enjoys.

Believe me, and believe in us, we're always on the journey!

(End of this chapter)