Text | Zhou Xiangyue
Editor | Dong Yuqing
At around 10pm on a weekend at the end of October, a movie "The First Incense", adapted from Zhang Ailing's novel, was playing in a theater near Sanlitun, Beijing. The theater is not big, with about 70% of the audience sitting in the auditorium with less than 100 seats.
Many of them came for Zhang Ailing, the original author of the film. Unexpectedly, I was embarrassed by the "youth pain literary style" in the film.
There are also two leading actors who are far from the original work. Ge Weilong's actor Ma Sichun , and Qiao Qiqiao's actor Peng Yuyan have become a sour point for the audience. At this time, the movie was coming to an end. After getting married, Ge Weilong and Qiao Qiqiao were arranged on three sides of a dining table with their aunt, enjoying the food leisurely. Suddenly, a phone call broke the silence of the room - "Uncle's call needs to be answered by the young lady." "Which young lady, tell me clearly" "The younger one, the new young lady" "Mrs. Liang or Mrs. Qiao?" "Mrs. Qiao" ...The smell of gunpowder was about to break out. Ge Weilong, played by Ma Sichun, immediately got up and went out, bringing back news that an "uncle" asked him to accompany him to Shanghai to help with translation, and said, "It's rare for an uncle to ask for help, it's not good." Rejected."
In fact, "The First Incense" has a luxurious lineup. It is originally written by Zhang Ailing, directed by Hong Kong director Hui Anhua, Alibaba Pictures assisted in the production, and this work has been very popular since the official announcement. But the performance of "The First Incense", which was supposed to be highly anticipated, was not really outstanding. More than a week after
was released, with 28,000 people rating it, "The First Incense" had a Douban score of only 5.5 points and a box office of less than 50 million yuan. It has been on hot searches many times, but unfortunately, none of them have good reviews. On October 26, a topic "What's the problem with the first incense?" quickly became a hot search topic on Weibo . In just a few hours, the number of views exceeded 200 million and the number of discussions exceeded 20,000.
Behind the controversy, what exactly went wrong with "The First Incense" and what were the gains and losses of Alibaba Pictures, the largest producer behind it?
(Photo/Photo by Zhou Xiangyue)
Did the first incense fail?
On May 22, 2019, a lively power-on ceremony was being held on Gulangyu Island in Xiamen in the hot summer. The 73-year-old director Xu Anhua brought the actors of "The First Incense" such as Ma Sichun, Yu Feihong, Peng Yuyan, Zhang Junning, Fan Wei, Liang Luoshi and other actors to appear, and as usual, he sent a message to everyone on the scene. The red envelope is a bit of a blessing for "a good start and a big box office sale".
As a movie adapted from Zhang Ailing's 1943 novel of the same name, "The First Incense" has been highly anticipated by book fans since it was rumored to be adapted into a movie a few years ago. There have been several rounds of guessing about the suitable starring role. I finally waited for the official announcement, and the popularity is naturally enough.
Passionate book fans are generally satisfied with the behind-the-scenes configuration of "The First Incense". Director Ann Hui is an ivy in the Hong Kong film industry. During his more than 40 years in the industry, he has produced many classic films such as "Woman, Forty" and " Sister Tao ", and has won numerous best director awards; screenwriter Wang Anyi , photography director Du Kefeng , art director Zhao Hai, music producer Ryuichi Sakamoto, and costume and styling designer Wada Emi are also top names in the industry.
(Director Xu Anhua)
But what no one expected was that there was a huge controversy on the first day of the production of "The First Incense". What's the problem? On casting.
On that day, as the opening photos of "The First Incense" quickly spread to the Internet, questions about the inconsistent casting of male and female protagonists immediately spread.
The general view among netizens is that the appearance of both Ma Sichun and Peng Yuyan is similar to the "plain and beautiful little convex face, slender nose, and fat round mouth" of the heroine Ge Weilong in Zhang Ailing's original work, as well as the hero Qiao It is far from the description of Qiqiao as "bloodless, even her lips are pale, like a plaster statue".
In addition to the appearance, the review of Ma Sichun's article "The First Incense" published in December 2018 was once again reminded by netizens, and it quickly aroused netizens' comments on the article "Zhang Ailing's humbleness cannot be exchanged for her lover... Because of love, It's not the humbleness of one person, but the bravery of two people." Ma Sichun questioned whether he could play Ge Weilong well.
Regarding this experience, Xu Anhua later said in an exclusive interview with "One Article", "I was too ignorant. I didn't know that every time I appeared in the media was so important, and I didn't know that the power of netizens was so powerful... I didn't care. But Ma Sichun is so miserable, she was scolded for two years because of this."
But obviously, this is just the beginning. The high starting point of "The First Incense" is destined from the beginning that it will always become the focus of public discussion. This is indeed the case. From the announcement of filming in 2019 to completion, to the release of the first trailer in September 2020, and finally to its official release on October 22, 2021, "The First Incense" has been controversial.
If the complaints before the release were still mainly concentrated in one or two areas such as casting, after October 22, they began to diversify. On October 23, "The First Incense" even relied on a Weibo hot search "I was laughed to death by the film reviewers of The First Incense", achieving the goal of making headlines on the second day of its release with the help of netizens' fancy complaints. "achievement".
The issue of casting was brought up again. After the first trailer was aired, netizens who contributed hot memes such as "The First Furnace of Steel" and "Huniu and Xiangzi " were once again flooded with ideas, jokingly joking about the scene in the movie where the two people are sitting on a tree trunk talking. , not like flirting, but fitness coach selling fitness cards to female college students.
(Picture source: screenshot of the trailer of "The First Incense")
Another clip that has been criticized a lot is Qiao Qiqiao's sister warning Ge Weilong: "No matter how good the mixed-race boys are, they will be a little gloomy and a little bit... "Girl is angry." As soon as she finished speaking, Qiao Qiqiao with bare arms, obvious muscle lines, and dark skin came into the picture. The aunt played by Yu Feihong made many netizens sigh, "Yu Feihong is so beautiful and alluring, but he actually wants Ma Sichun to help attract men?"
In addition to casting, the earthy marketing and the "youth pain literary style " in the movie It is also criticized by many netizens.
According to the synopsis of the movie "The First Incense", the movie tells the story of Ge Weilong, a female student from Shanghai who studied in Hong Kong and took refuge with her aunt Mrs. Liang. However, she was used by Mrs. Liang as a bait to attract men, and she gradually became addicted to the wealthy and wealthy playboy Qiao Qiqiao. In the false love story, he eventually became a money-making tool for Mrs. Liang and Qiao Qiqiao.
Judging from the synopsis of the story, the movie "The First Incense" is not much different from the original work, but many netizens said that the movie focused more on "love" and simply changed the story into "love" "But not", but lacks Zhang Ailing's insight into human nature and the cruel reality of how a woman sinks into the hypocrisy of the upper class step by step and becomes corrupted in that context at that time.
In fact, from the official slogan in the summer when the movie was initially scheduled to be released, "Love while it's hot, see you this summer", to later "Give love without an anniversary", "21.10.22 = love you, yes, love "But not allowed", as well as subsequent short video marketing, poster material release and other series of publicity actions, "The First Incense" has been criticized more than once as " earthy love words " and "youth pain literature".
And in the main film, "Why are you staring at me? Could it be that I am a thorn in your side?" "I can promise to give you happiness" "It's just that his love is a little different from yours, his love cycle "Short, in a flash" and the ending lines such as "I love you, you heartless one" made netizens burst into bursts of laughter. Some netizens even commented that "The First Incense" is at least a golden line of love. Made a considerable contribution.
In addition, netizens complained about the actors' acting skills, Xu Anhua's adaptation, and the sudden transition.
But at the same time, "The First Incense" is not without its recognition.
"There are shortcomings, but the advantage is that the camera language is better handled. For example, in the scene where Ge Weilong negotiates with his aunt, the two go from sitting to the aunt standing up and sitting down again. The tug-of-war between the status and momentum between the two is well displayed. ", an audience member told Caijingtianxia Weekly, "In the end, the two people sat face to face again, which also paved the way for Ge Weilong to follow the same path as his aunt."
Other netizens believe that the veteran actors’ acting skills, music and scenes in the film can be seen to have been carefully thought out. Therefore, on October 28, after many "negative" hot searches, "The First Incense" finally received a neutral Weibo hot search such as "The First Incense Comments Are Polarized".
However, it is obviously difficult to predict whether the belated "polarized" comments can save the reputation and box office of "The First Incense".
Alibaba Pictures lost reputation and box office?
"The First Incense" has been controversial, and the production company behind it, Alibaba Pictures, is likely to "lose both its reputation and the box office."
According to the Maoyan professional version, as of 5 pm on October 30, the cumulative box office of "The First Incense" was 46.66 million, and the total box office in the mainland is predicted to be 63.007 million.
However, according to the information disclosed in the online trading market of "The First Incense" at the 73rd Cannes Film Festival, the total investment in the film is approximately US$10 million to US$25 million. Even based on the middle figure, the total investment in this film has exceeded 100 million yuan, which means that in order to recover the cost, "The First Incense" must obtain at least 300 million yuan in box office.
In fact, this film had high hopes from Alibaba Pictures. According to public information, "The First Incense" is a new masterpiece of Alibaba Pictures' "Jincheng Co-production Plan". It is produced by Alibaba Pictures, Hehe Pictures, and Jade Bird Pictures, and is sponsored by Dongtai Yichi Culture, Star Charming Film and Television, and It is jointly produced by Wo Culture, Lihexin Culture, Lechaocheng Film and Television, Emei Film Group, and Taohe Pictures, distributed by Taopiaopiao, and jointly distributed by Hehe Pictures. In 2020, it was also shortlisted for the non-competition section of the Venice Film Festival, the 25th Busan International Film Festival and the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival.
(Source: Visual China )
The "Jincheng Co-production Plan" is a blockbuster plan released by Alibaba Pictures on November 9, 2018.
This year, Alibaba Pictures, which was once labeled as a "bad movie maker", because of its continuous bets on " Operation Red Sea ", " Chinatown Detective 2", " I am not the God of Medicine ", " Many top-notch, highly popular films, including "The Richest Man in Xihong City ", "Monster Hunt 2", "Wushuang", etc., have become the "hit harvesters" that everyone envies. According to incomplete statistics from the "Financial World" weekly, Alibaba Pictures produced, co-produced or distributed, and co-discovered 9 of the 17 1 billion-rated movies that year.
It was also in this year that Alibaba Pictures realized the truth that "whoever controls the top content and obtains the secret of creating hit movies will have more say". First, in June of that year Shanghai International Film Festival At the Jinjue Forum, it was announced for the first time that it would implement the two-wheel drive strategy of "high-quality content + new infrastructure" and defined Alibaba Pictures as "a brand-new content company with an Internet-based platform."
Immediately afterwards, In November 2018, the "Jincheng Co-production Plan" was launched, announcing that 20 co-produced high-quality films will be released in four major schedules in the next five years. Among them, Alibaba Pictures will upgrade from its previous participation in investment to the status of main investor, main control or main publicity. It will cooperate with a first-class production team. Alibaba will be responsible for the entire publicity and distribution services, budget management, and industrialization support, etc., and shoot The films will be released during the four most popular movie schedules - Lunar New Year, Spring Festival, Summer and National Day.
is trying to dominate the screen in every major period throughout the year. Alibaba Pictures’ ambitions are not small.
As a result, the first to appear in the "Jincheng Co-production Plan" is the family-oriented IP animated film "Peppa Pig Celebrating the New Year", which is scheduled to be released for the 2019 Spring Festival. Although "Peppa Pig Celebrates the New Year" has a poor reputation, with a Douban score of only 3.9, it achieved a bumper harvest at the box office with the mature IP of Peppa Pig. It took less than 4 days to exceed the 100 million box office, and finally The box office also reached 125 million yuan.
In 2020, four movies in the "Jincheng Co-production Project" series "I'm Waiting for You at the End of Time", " Get Home at One O'clock ", " Bathing King ", and " Bomb Disposal Expert 2" also appeared on the The summer, National Day and Lunar New Year movies have grossed a total box office of 2.535 billion yuan, and their themes cover many fields such as love, youth, comedy, and action.
In the same year, Alibaba Pictures announced that it would upgrade the "Jincheng Co-production Plan" to version 2.0. Based on the four major schedules, it would once again expand the film's release to five schedules: Valentine's Day, Qingming, May Day, Chinese Valentine's Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. , achieving full coverage of the header content. According to reports at the time, in terms of film investment performance, the three works "Peppa Pig Celebrates the New Year", "I'll Wait for You at the End of Time" and "Home at One O'clock" all achieved profitability.
Coincidentally, during the 2021 Spring Festival, Alibaba Pictures' newly launched fantasy and suspense theme " Assassination of Novelist " and the hot-blooded Chinese comic "New God List: Nezha Reborn" were released on the same day, each earning 1.035 billion yuan. , 456 million yuan box office. The White Snake series "White Snake 2: The Rise of the Green Snake" rushed into the summer season and won 580 million yuan at the box office.
As for "The First Incense", as the ninth film released under Alibaba Pictures' "Jincheng Co-production Plan", it has already entered the "Jincheng Co-production Plan" film list as early as 2019. No matter in terms of investment, IP, production team, or cast, it can be regarded as top level. But judging from the current results, "The First Incense" can indeed be regarded as one of the "Jincheng Co-production Plan" carefully created by Alibaba Pictures, which has lost both reputation and box office.
And if the box office of more than 60 million is as expected, "The First Incense" may become the lowest-grossing film so far released under Alibaba Pictures' "Jincheng Co-production Plan".
However, for Alibaba Pictures, although "The First Incense" failed at the beginning, as the sixth largest producer, the National Day movie " Changjin Lake " has gained a lot. So far, its Douban score With a score of 7.4, the box office has reached 5.44 billion yuan, surpassing "Hello, Li Huanying" and temporarily ranking second on the box office list in Chinese film history.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that in addition to the recently released "The First Incense", Alibaba Pictures' "Jincheng Co-production Plan" film list also includes a crime drama "" starring Bai Baihe and Bai Ke. " door lock " will be released in November 2021. Currently, Maoyan shows that 121,000 people have marked "want to watch". "Mozart in Outer Space" directed by Chen Sicheng, "National Carnival" directed by Yan Fei, Peng Damo, Shen Teng starring, "Ondel Wandering" directed by Tian Yusheng and many more There is no clear release date for this film yet.
This article was originally produced by AI Finance and Economics, an account of "Financial World" weekly. Please do not reprint it on any channel or platform without permission. Violators will be prosecuted.
