"Big Stupid Elephant" won awards overseas. (Archive Photo)
10 local movies released in 2017, with the most impressive box office: "The Legend of the Recruitment 4" directed by Liang Zhiqiang, and the most rewarding award was "The Big Stupid Elephant" by new director Chen Jingyin.
The 10 local movies released in 2017 are comparable to last year. The most powerful box office is "The Legend of the Recruitment 4" directed by Liang Zhiqiang, and the most rewarding award is "Pop Aye" by new director Chen Jingyin.
TV and movie artist Zhu Houren once said that if only Liang Zhiqiang's movies make money, then our movies should be called "Liang Zhiqiang movies", not "Singapore movies".
Zhu Houren's words are very thought-provoking. Just looking at the numbers, it is really only Liang Zhiqiang's movies are beautiful. "New 4" locally as of December 20, Malaysian is about RM7 million (about 2.3 million SGD), and Malaysia also set a new high for Liang's movies. However, compared with the first two episodes, "New 4" has not had that good reputation, and the local box office of "New 4" is not as much as 7.8 million yuan as "New 4". The "prolific" Liang Zhiqiang should take this to settle and think carefully. If his movies collapse in the box office in the future, it will be detrimental to local movies because investors will be discouraged. No one wants to return to the predicament of " is not enough for "!
In 2016, Wu Junfeng's "Punishment" became famous overseas. This year it was "Big Stupid Elephant". It accumulated 4 awards at the American Japanese Dance Film Festival and Polish and other places, but it did not return home in glory, and the box office was only 96,348 yuan. Local filmmakers have always had such self-deprecation: winning overseas awards is a hidden concern for local box office. As a non-mainstream commercial film, the fate of "Big" is not much better than that of the biggest winner of this year's Oscars, "Moonlight", when it was released locally. Hollywood commercial blockbusters often have more than 100 copies, "Moon" is released one copy, and "Big Stupid Elephant" has only 5 copies. There are many film festivals in Singapore throughout the year. Locals have a high chance of getting in touch with non-mainstream overseas movies, but their acceptance of high-quality non-mainstream movies from their own local products still needs to be improved.
grant allows creators to see hope
Chen Jingyin is a new director. In other words, there is a chance of exposure. I have to thank the "New Talent Feature Grant" issued by the Information and Communications Media Development Bureau (IMDA) for setting a booster for the start of the movie. With this grant, Abbas Akbar, who once directed the TV series for new media , also launched his first feature film directed by Chennai2Singapore. The audience of "True" is mainly Indian, with a local box office of about 10,000 yuan. Li Diwen was promoted to director and director Wonder Boy, who was jointly directed by Ren Jintian, Wu Peishuang's "Doll" and Xia Youqing's "Meeting the Nobles", both received "Production Assitance Grant". Although the local box office of "Sound for Love" is only 100,000 yuan, the copyright sold to other platforms at home and abroad makes investors profitable. I believe that there are many stories that hope to express through the big screen. Li Diwen also has a lot of encouragement, and also allows investors to see the business miracle of film combining with other platforms. "Doll" has a box office of 451,000 yuan; "Meeting the Noble Man" has 1.4 million yuan; and the domestic New Year film "The God of Wealth" has 1.1 million yuan. "The God of Wealth", "Meeting the Noble Man" and "New 4" both entered the top ten Asian films in 2017.
The 2017 release also saw local artists working hard to explore overseas markets. Malaysian director Zheng Jianguo's comedy " Trouble Bert " used Fang Weijie, while the Golden Horse Awards competition film - the Taiwanese thriller " Witness " and Gao Zhisen's love comedy "Women Are Always Right" used Li Mingshun . Li Mingshun played the role of the radish in these two films, but he did differently. Although he was not the protagonist, he still left an impression on the audience.
The documentary "In Time To Come" by local female director Chen Binbin also made a breakthrough. In addition to the enthusiastic response from overseas film festivals, it also won the favor of screenings of mainstream local theaters. From the media to the audience's reputation, Chen Binbin fought beautifully.
Local movies next year will feel lively, and there are many "old brands", including "Wang De Fu Liang Ximei", "Mr. Afraid of Losing" and the sequel to the ghost film "23:59".I hope that local movies will achieve results next year, both in terms of quality and box office.
