Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 659 China Film Group changes leadership, National Day begins

Is there a domestically produced mecha/monster movie?

Yes, you heard right, Galaxy Pictures will be releasing just such a film during the 2019 National Day holiday.

It is precisely because of the unique nature of its subject matter that it has been able to attract the attention of the vast majority of movie fans, becoming a more popular film this year than "Detective Chinatown 1900" and with higher pre-sale box office.

Moreover, the trailer for "Operation Red Sea" had already been released on major platforms several months ago. In the first trailer, the huge monster emerged from the red ocean.

When the monster wreaked havoc in coastal cities, and then the members of China's Jiaolong Special Forces team fought against it in red mechs that were over ten meters tall, viewers who had seen the trailer were thrilled.

No one doubts Xinghe Pictures' strength, after all, the "Xingtian" exoskeleton already appeared in "Wolf Warrior 1".

In the subsequent films "Wolf Warrior 2" and "Wolf Warrior 3", individual mechanical exoskeletons almost became standard equipment.

The only problem is that the exoskeletons are not big enough; they are all small mechs.

Of course, even so, with Galaxy Pictures' current special effects technology, making a large-scale mecha battle monster movie would still be a piece of cake.

However, before the movie was released, everyone was somewhat worried, which is only natural, as they were all scared off by those terrible domestic science fiction movies in the past.

But after the trailer for "Operation Red Sea" came out, everyone was completely relieved.

The details and textures of the mechs and monsters shown in the trailer alone are enough to rival those of similar Hollywood special effects blockbusters.

As the National Day holiday release date for "Operation Red Sea" approaches, and with more trailers, posters, and related materials being released, everyone's anticipation for the film is gradually rising.

It’s rare!
While other works in the Galaxy Cinematic Universe are also good, they ultimately feel like something is missing.

Not cool or sci-fi enough!
The stories of "Detective Chinatown" and "Inception" are wonderful, the visuals of "The Core" and "Mars" are realistic, the battles in "Wolf Warrior" are thrilling, and the themes of "The Wallfacer" and "The Three-Body Problem" are grand. However, these are all too realistic. They can't compare to the simple, straightforward, and clear sci-fi thrill of giant mechs battling monsters.

However, similar themes have always been the domain of Hollywood, and then there are many Japanese anime that involve this element. Apart from that, it is difficult to find any other film or television works with related elements worldwide.

Mecha and monsters are fruits that can only be harvested after the film and television industrial system has been established and perfected to a certain extent.

Now, China, like Hollywood, has the ability and conditions to reap these rewards.

The only concern now is whether the story of "Operation Red Sea" is plausible enough.

It doesn't necessarily need to be excellent in terms of plot. As long as it reaches a passing grade or above, coupled with special effects comparable to "Transformers" and "Kong: Skull Island", the box office of "Operation Red Sea" is expected to explode.

Of course, during this process, there were also media outlets, individuals, or online trolls from other companies who disagreed and poured cold water on the project.

In particular, some people with overflowing jealousy and big-spreading tendencies reacted strongly to the fact that Galaxy Pictures' promotional materials claimed that "Operation Red Sea" was comparable to Hollywood blockbusters and surpassed "Transformers," and criticized and attacked the film that had not yet been released.

Especially since the director of this film was not Wang Hao, but Zhang Yang, they were particularly bold in their attacks.

Full of craftsmanship, lacking in cinematic language, thin in emotion, mediocre directing, and relying on currying favor with Wang Hao to get ahead...

There are all sorts of comments online.

Fortunately, Zhang Yang has matured over the years and is no longer in a state where negative online comments can ruin his mood.

In his words, what's wrong with currying favor with Wang Hao? Countless people would love to curry favor but don't even have the chance.

Moreover, as the director of "Operation Red Sea," Zhang Yang has the confidence that no one knows better than him just how excellent the film is.

Just as everyone was eagerly anticipating "Operation Red Sea," a major event also occurred in the domestic film and television industry.

Yes, from the perspective of a leading film and television company like Galaxy Group, this is certainly a big deal.

On September 26, 2019, China Film Co., Ltd. announced that it held its first extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the second board of directors that day and approved the proposal to elect the chairman and vice chairman of the company.

Following the election, Jiao Hongfen was elected as the chairman of the second board of directors, and Fu Ruoqing was elected as the vice chairman of the second board of directors. In addition, the board of directors agreed to appoint Fu Ruoqing as the general manager of the company, with a term of office from the date of the election to the expiration of the current board of directors.

So, to put it simply, the domestic film and television industry has undergone a major upheaval. China Film Group has a new chairman, and many things have changed again.

Wang Hao, for example, went to pay his respects to Jiao Hongfen after he came to power.

After all, although Xinghe Group is a leading private enterprise in the domestic film and television industry, it still has to deal with China Film Group, which represents the government.

Fortunately, Wang Hao himself has a certain background and a powerful backer in the cultural sector. In addition, his company's strength is among the top in the country. Therefore, this personnel change at China Film Group will not have too much impact on his family.

In comparison, this is truly bad news for Huayi Brothers, adding insult to injury.

The personnel changes at China Film Group and its superior authorities mean that the benefits enjoyed by the Wang brothers in the Beijing film circle are gradually diminishing and declining.

A new emperor brings a new court. The privileged children of the old compound are no longer effective after a decade or two. Now, new compounds and new circles are gradually replacing them. Capital is gradually replacing the closed-off circle system.

The Wang brothers and Huayi Brothers are already out of touch with the times.

Because of this incident, according to information Wang Hao obtained from other sources, the eldest son of the Wang family has completely lost his former spirit and vigor.

It's fair to say that his ambition has almost completely vanished, and his current approach to running the company is purely out of habit.

In contrast, the second son of the Wang family is still reluctant to give up his days of being a big shot in the entertainment industry and is still somewhat unwilling.

But no matter how unwilling he was, the times would never tell him when they were about to abandon someone.

After learning about the Wang brothers and Huayi Brothers' situation, Wang Hao learned some lessons and became secretly wary. On the one hand, one must have a clear slogan and goal when pursuing a career. This slogan and goal can be grand and ambitious, but it must never be absent.

On the other hand, it is necessary to be connected to politics, but it is best not to get involved in politics. If conditions permit, although transnational development is difficult, it can undoubtedly give the group more choices and value.

From these two perspectives, Xinghe Group is undoubtedly on the right track.

In addition, due to the change of leadership at China Film Group, the intensity of film promotion competition in the early stages of the National Day holiday was significantly reduced.

A new broom sweeps clean, and this person has just taken office at a crucial time, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Making a scene would only embarrass him.

As a result, the entire National Day holiday period was quite peaceful, and audiences and movie fans were finally able to enjoy a rich cinematic feast at this time.

On September 30, Xinghe Group's "Operation Red Sea" was released along with several other films. The vigorous promotion by major cinema chains across the country during this period resulted in cinemas being almost full.

Among these, "Operation Red Sea" and "My People, My Country," as the most important tribute films, had almost the same number of screenings, but in terms of the viewing experience, the latter was clearly inferior to the former.

As a newly emerging film commentary and review blogger with millions of followers, "Big Eyes Watching Movies" bought tickets for all the movies today and watched them from morning till night, preparing to record enough video material for this National Day holiday and make sure his comments are substantial.

The first movie he saw was "The Climbers," drawn by Wu Jing's name, as he is a big fan of the "Wolf Warrior" series.

However, while watching "The Climbers," he couldn't help but shake his head and wrote down many of his criticisms in his notebook.

In his opinion, the biggest problem with this movie is the director's incompetence, which wasted such a thrilling subject matter and a cast of actors with solid acting skills.

It was a subject that could have been brilliant, but it was made first by a mediocre director, and it turned out to be very bland.

What "The Climbers" should present to the audience is how ordinary people conquer nature and reach the top of the world, and how we demonstrate China's strength to the world amidst doubts.

However, excessive repetition and over-the-top old-fashioned plot points completely ruin the expression of this emotion.

The first two-thirds of the movie basically fell apart. The director had no idea where to focus his efforts. He could have just filmed the mountain climbing scene properly, but instead he messed it up with several awkward and undevelopable love stories.

Furthermore, the film's abrupt and jarring editing shattered the emotional connection between the actors like an avalanche; the endless, deafening soundtrack even drowned out the howling wind on Mount Everest.

Clearly, the director tried to create atmosphere with all sorts of fancy (in fact, incredibly clumsy) methods, but rarely focused the camera on the climbers on Mount Everest in a straightforward manner—not even on the final summit attempt.

Not to mention the common-sense errors in the film and the problem of some dubbing not matching the lip movements, in "Big Eyes'" opinion, this movie is extremely poorly made.

One could even boldly speculate that this director completely lacks the ability to manage a large project, to the point that from the very beginning of the film's preparation, he may have been led by the nose by various factors.

It can only be said to be a pity.

As he walked out of the screening room of "The Climbers," "Big Eyes" took advantage of the break before the next movie started to find a seat and quickly jot down his initial impressions of the film, and also checked his video footage.

After finishing all that, he went through the ticket check again and entered the theater to watch the second movie of the day—"The Captain".

Like the previous film "The Climbers", "The Captain" is also a film adapted from a true story.

它主要讲述的是2018年5月14日四川航空3U8633航班机组成功处置特情并迫降的事情。

In the movie, the flight crew encountered an extremely rare and dangerous situation at an altitude of 10,000 meters when the cockpit windshield suddenly shattered and detached, causing cabin depressurization. In this life-or-death moment, they remained calm, acted decisively, and handled the situation correctly, ensuring the safety of all passengers and crew and creating a miracle in the history of civil aviation.

The viewing experience of "Big Eyes" was much better than that of "The Climbers".

However, this movie also has many problems, mainly that it is heavily padded.

The real event itself only lasted 42 minutes from takeoff to emergency landing, while the cinematic adaptation clearly demonstrates the screenwriter's lack of creative ideas during the adaptation process.

Therefore, the film could only try to piece together time by using very formulaic sentimentality and stereotypical supporting characters.

In fact, using documentary techniques to recreate the event can be impactful enough, and the use of professional industry terms at the beginning is quite appropriate.

However, the movie insisted on including a spectacular thunderstorm, which is completely contrary to scientific common sense. Of course, it's not bad, after all, the special effects were done by Starlight Spectacular, which is very realistic. And it's a movie adaptation, so a little exaggeration is fine.

The addition of another storyline featuring aviation enthusiasts would be completely superfluous and would have no impact on the film even if it were cut.

It can only be said that this kind of adaptation was a bit too hasty and opportunistic, which weakened the original event's sense of realism to the point that it became a genre film dominated by the screenwriter, which is also a pity for the real subject matter.

"From 'The Climbers' to 'The Captain,' I've found that the real weakness in the current Chinese film and television industry has shifted from outdated film shooting techniques, equipment, and behind-the-scenes work to the directors of the films."

As the driving force behind a film, with our film shooting technology becoming more and more advanced, equipment becoming more and more sophisticated, and behind-the-scenes personnel becoming more and more skilled, their own abilities are gradually falling behind.

After some weaknesses were addressed, the storytelling ability of some directors became an even more obvious weakness.

Directors of films like "The Climbers" and "The Captain" are unable to accurately grasp the narrative rhythm of commercial films, and they also fail to understand the deeper elements behind certain events during the creative process. They are confined to their comfort zones, applying the logic of their past filmmaking to new commercial films, completely disregarding the problems of cultural incompatibility and being out of touch with the times.

It can only be said that in this new era, the Chinese film industry still needs more new young directors; perhaps only they can better grasp market trends and the needs of young audiences.

The video and review that "Big Eyes Watching Movies" posted on Douyin during his lunch break after watching "The Captain" quickly appeared in front of a large number of movie lovers due to his millions of followers and received a huge number of comments.

Most of the young film enthusiasts agreed with his views and discussed who else among the younger generation of directors, besides Wang Hao, has a better directing ability.

After reviewing the two films in the morning and finishing lunch, "Big Eyes" went back to the cinema to watch the third film of the day, "My People, My Country".

(End of this chapter)