Topping the global box office, the movie industry adopts various innovations to keep viewers on the edge of their seats, Xu Fan reports.
A visitor examines a prop spacesuit at an exhibition themed on the movie The Wandering Earth in 2019 in Beijing. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)
To paraphrase a silver screen classic, to boldly go where no one has gone before could be the mission statement for the Chinese box office. As of June 23, China had grossed more than 27.10 billion yuan (US$4.18 billion) in the first six months of this year－cementing its position as the world's largest movie market in terms of yearly box office－as local talent was encouraged to explore new frontiers in diverse genres.
Propelled by iconic auteur Zhang Yimou's first espionage thriller Cliff Walkers, ticket revenue in May came to 4.90 billion yuan, a record, according to the national film industry development special fund management commission, which is operated by the country's top movie and finance authorities.
Eight of the 10 highest-grossing films this year are Chinese blockbusters, with female comedian-turned-filmmaker Jia Ling's directorial feature Hi, Mom in the top slot with stunning box-office takings of 5.40 billion yuan. It propelled the smash hit to become this year's highest-grossing blockbuster so far, according to trackers Beacon and Box Office Mojo.
The success of Hi, Mom－a sleeper hit－marks the seventh consecutive year of dominance for domestic blockbusters at the top of the country's annual box-office chart, highlighting a watershed period for the expansion of the Chinese film industry.
Before China's cinemas were closed for the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the nation's yearly box-office receipts expanded from 29.60 billion yuan in 2014 to 64.10 billion yuan in 2019. Last year, despite the six-month closure of theaters nationwide, China still managed to gross 20.30 billion yuan, becoming the world's first major movie market to stage a robust recovery from the pandemic.
Screens and cinemas have also seen a huge rise in numbers over the past decade. In 2014, there were 23,600 screens in the Chinese mainland, but that figure surged to more than 75,000 this year, the highest in the world.
An example that sums up the evolution of the nation's cinematic facilities is James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar. When it was first released across the mainland in January 2010, the country at the time had fewer than 1,000 3D-capable cinema screens. When Avatar was re-screened on the mainland in March this year, there were 60,000.
"We are living in an unprecedented era," says Zhang Hong, deputy head of the China Film Association. "What the domestic film industry needs the most is innovation, ranging from filmmaking formulas to screening platforms, in preparation to handle future demands from the viewing public."
People show their e-tickets to see the film My People, My Homelandlast October in Shanghai. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Breakthrough
An enduring genre perhaps distinctive to Chinese cinema, zhuxuanlyu (mainstream theme)－referring to films revisiting revolutionary chapters of the Communist Party of China or eulogizing role models and patriotic heroes－is one of the categories that has enjoyed the biggest improvement in terms of innovation in recent years, say experts and insiders.
The term was first raised during a meeting of China's top movie regulators in 1987, ushering in a decadeslong period of creating such films. Getting the incredible story out to the public in cinematic form was initially a challenge.
But with blockbusters tailored for significant anniversary celebrations, such as the marking of reform and opening-up, the founding of People's Republic of China, and the founding of the CPC, the genre has found a way to reach a wider viewership, says Yin Li, vice-chairman of the China Film Directors' Guild.
"Nowadays, insiders and researchers are more willing to call such films 'new mainstream blockbusters', as those tales not only convey the mainstream values of our society, but also achieve remarkable success in the market," adds Yin, an award-winning director.
Widely regarded as a watershed blockbuster to redefine such films, the movie The Founding of a Republic－which was produced to mark the 60th anniversary of New China's founding－gathers a cast unprecedented in star power, packed with more than 170 big names, including Jackie Chan and Jet Li in cameo roles. The movie grossed 450 million yuan, topping the country's box office in 2009.
Following the success, The Founding of a Party, a second installment of The Founding trilogy to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, again employed a similar formula. Gathering together more than 100 stars to retell the Party's early history, it also earned critical acclaim and commercial success, becoming the second highest-grossing Chinese film in 2011.
After Tsui Hark's The Taking of the Tiger Mountain became a hit in 2014, mainland studios realized that Hong Kong talent could help China's zhuxuanlyu films adopt a more appealing perspective. Their profound knowledge and skill in dealing plot twists and action were honed in Hong Kong's fast-paced and prolific film industry.
A greater number of directors from Hong Kong have since joined projects retelling the tales of Chinese heroes, exemplified by Andrew Lau's The Founding of an Army (2017), as well as Dante Lam's Chinese Navy-themed Operation Red Sea (2018) and The Rescue (2020).
Exemplifying the public's rising appetite for such films, Tsui and Lam have also joined hands with renowned director Chen Kaige to shoot the patriotic film, The Battle at Lake Changjin. This focuses on the Chinese People's Volunteers who went to the Korean Peninsula to fight in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53). It is set to be released this year.
Lau has also been recruited to direct Chinese Doctors, a movie about medical staff battling against the pandemic in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province, the Chinese city hardest hit by the COVID-19 outbreak earlier last year.
Approaching the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, which will fall on July 1, a clutch of revolutionary films will be shown, with the celebrity-studded 1921 being one of the most anticipated.
Another format that has proved successful for filmmakers in the Chinese mainland is the one employed in My People, My Country (2019) and My People, My Homeland (2020). These two blockbuster anthology films, comprising several stand-alone stories based around a single theme, have set a successful example for domestic filmmakers about assembling top talent and resources to tell zhuxuanlyu stories through the perspective of ordinary people.
"This year has set a trend that sees more renowned filmmakers and A-list stars moving to shoot such films," says Zhao Ningyu, a professor with the Beijing Film Academy.
"We believe that using ordinary people as protagonists, from college students to soldiers and farmers, could become a new way of doing things in the future," adds Zhao.
Wang Changtian, president of the Beijing-based studio Enlight Media, predicts that, over the next five years, the film industry will shoot around 50 zhuxuanlyu films with a total budget up to 20 billion yuan. He made the prediction during a forum at the recently concluded 24th Shanghai International Film Festival.
A total of around 200 such films have been screened since 2007, drawing a box-office revenue of more than 52.5 billion yuan, according to the National Business Daily.
People walk by a poster of Hi, Momat a cinema in February in Shanghai. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Game changers
In 2019, two Chinese smash hits－the animated feature Ne Zha and sci-fi epic The Wandering Earth－earned 5.04 and 4.69 billion yuan, respectively, to take both the No 1 and No 2 positions on that year's box-office charts. They were both hailed as game changers.
Unlike some Western sci-fi blockbusters that depict individual heroes single-handedly rescuing the world or defeating alien invaders, The Wandering Earth conveys values and emotions distinctive to Chinese people, thus resonating more with locals, according to critics.
Director Guo Fan explained in an earlier interview that the film showcases Chinese people's deep bonds to the land, rooted in the country's thousands of years of agrarian endeavor, so the characters want to move the Earth to save it from an all-devouring sun.
In 2020, the China Film Administration and China Association for Science and Technology issued a joint guideline to boost the sci-fi film sector, with policy measures ranging from visual-effects enhancement to training. The move is seen as State-level support to encourage sci-fi filmmaking, according to insiders.
"Sci-fi film is a significant genre in the global film industry," says Wang Hongwei, also deputy head of China Film Directors' Guild. "It can propel the innovation of cinematic techniques, broaden filmmakers' imagination as well as raising interest in exploring the unknown."
Interestingly, the development of sci-fi films is usually related to the advance of science and technology in the country, signaling its ambition and power in the most advanced scientific sectors, adds Wang.
China's feats in space exploration, exemplified by the first Mars rover Zhurong and the country's recent deployment of three astronauts to the core module of what will become China's new space station, have laid the foundation for filmmakers to conceive their own sci-fi stories with a more localized perspective, he explains.
Scriptwriter-director Dong Runnian, known for the 2019 sci-fi film Gone With the Light, says the change of lifestyle caused by the rapidly expanding internet sector can also be used as an inspirational source for Chinese filmmakers.
"China has developed very fast in recent decades," he says. "In some sense, the transformations taking place in China are a bit like a sci-fi tale. I believe our story writers and filmmakers can pay more attention to, and dig out more interesting, materials from which to produce films."
Ne Zha's unexpected success in the summer of 2019 has also given animators a boost, drawing more talent to portray the subjects inspired by Chinese myths and cultures.
Films in the category include the likes of Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification and New Gods: Nezha Reborn. They are among the highest-grossing films of 2020 and 2021, respectively. These blockbusters are inspired from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novel Fengshen Yanyi (The Investiture of the Gods).
The 2019 animated feature White Snake－a retelling of one of China's most popular folk tales about the love between a snake spirit and a handsome man－is another hit that exemplifies the rise of the domestic animation sector.
Currently working on a sequel to White Snake, director Amp Wong says the animation industry is struggling with a shortage of talent and he hopes that more youngsters will join the sector to help develop animation applications that will assist in producing scenes which reflect typical Chinese aesthetics.
With the people's rising confidence and interest in culture and history, Huang says that he believes domestic animators will figure out better means to visualize traditional values and philosophical thoughts, helping grow a greater appreciation of animated works among cinemagoers.
"We all know that our country is experiencing a great change," says Ma Ping, director of the China Film and Television Photographers Association. "This can also influence cinema. Boosted by the development of new techniques and the potential of China's huge market, we believe the domestic film industry has a promising future."
Contact the writer at xufan@chinadaily.com.cn
