"Villain Angel" stills.
is being filmed and about to start filming. At first glance, at least seven or eight of them are works by celebrities who change careers and become directors. It can be seen that this trend of career change or cross-border trend will continue to blow in 2016. Directed by celebrities, who is filming and who is making money?
text/Song Yan
At the end of 2015 (ah, it's already last year), Deng Chao's "Villain Angel" and Chen Sicheng's "Detective Chinatown" were released at the same time. It is inevitable that both celebrities can change their careers and become directors, and it is natural to be compared.
On the last day of 2015, I went to the cinema to watch these two movies.
In the commentary on last Saturday's "Please avoid the 2015 Ten Brain Domestic Films", some netizens reminded that "Villain Angel" was left on the list. I didn’t have time to watch the movie at that time. Now, I must say seriously that the opinions of netizens are special! Don't! middle! Yes!
Deng Chao's previous film "Breakup Master" has repeatedly entered the major "bad movie list". The movie itself is a farce, from the plot to the performance, it is in line with the public image he hopes to present to everyone in recent years: 2.
Stills from "Breakup Ambassador".
For me personally, Chen Sicheng's "Detective Chinatown" is a surprise work. His debut work "Beijing Love Story" is a big IP. There are few highlights when it comes out with four stories. It is basically a continuation of the thinking of the TV series, so it is not a bad movie, but there is no deep impression on it.
After watching "The Villain Angel", I became more sure that Deng Chao's directorial path has nothing to do with art or movies. His directorial works are an extension of his personal public image. He has established the "two" sign. This is what he and the entire team value the most at present.
This "Detective Chinatown" is a genre of comedy + suspense, and there are not many successful cases at home and abroad. "Two Big Guns" and "Hangover" are two benchmarks. The difficulty of this type of movie is that it must have a complete logical chain, and the audience's reasoning thinking cannot be interrupted by the comedy elements. It must be sometimes serious, sometimes lively, and always in a split state.
"Detective Chinatown" stills.
has released many suspense films this year, and the proportion of praise is higher than that of other types of films. But this type is destined to be niche, and the box office is more than 300 million. "Salvation of Mr. Wu" with Liu Tianwang in charge also failed to exceed 200 million.
comedy is a big box office player. But for the audience, this year's theater comedy films are a bit overwhelming, and aesthetic fatigue is inevitable.
Chen Sicheng combines comedy and suspense, probably half out of interest and half out of business considerations. What is rare is that he has grasped the rhythm of the film that combines suspense and comedy well, and the overall story is full of laughs. Compared with Deng Chao's "The Villain Angel", this "Detective Chinatown" is considered a work of conscience.
has several scenes that are very outstanding, such as the scene where several groups of people met at Axiang's house, such as the scene between the bad guy group led by Xiao Shenyang and the uncle and nephew of Wang Baoqiang, and for example, the design and preparation of Wang Baoqiang's character at the beginning.
Stills from "Detective Chinatown".
I personally think that Chen Sicheng is still a little out of control in the design of large-scale group scenes. Several chase scenes were a bit confusing and the design traces were too obvious. The whole movie has a lot of funny points, but it is not driven by big plots. It is more about small memes such as repetition and sudden emotional switching to create comedy effects.
At present, less than three days after its release, the box office of "Detective Chinatown" has exceeded 200 million. The good reputation of the movie will play a more lasting role, and there is no need to worry about box office sales.
I had nothing to do in the morning and looked at the list of films that are being filmed and about to start. At first glance, at least seven or eight of them were works by celebrities who changed careers and became directors. It can be seen that this trend of career change or cross-border trend will continue to blow in 2016.
analyzes the celebrity career change craze in recent years. In terms of movie genre selection, they basically focus on youth films and comedy films.Just as many young writers who are "strongly talking about worries about writing new words" at the beginning, they will take their own experience as the main reference, these young and middle-aged actors whose experience and reading ability are not enough to create large-scale movies have focused on "youth films".
"Left Ear" stills.
Su Youpeng and Zhao Wei, the former screen couple, have completed their directorial transformation in the past two years. One is "Left Ear" and the other is "To Youth", leading the market for celebrity styles of "youth films". Compared with the "Tiny Times" series, Mr. He used a ten-year IP movie "Gardenia Blossom", the overall quality of "Left Ear" and "To Youth" is much higher. Even if the shortcomings are obvious, it is by no means a play or a money-making work.
Comedy is the most popular, and the domestic comedy market is also obviously in a stage of supply and demand. At that time, Xu Zheng appeared. The success of "Lost in Thailand" has made more celebrities have the idea of becoming directors, which is an inspirational story. Last year, Xu Zheng's "囧" series released the second "囧" film. This film obviously incorporates more commercial elements and hopes to cover a wider audience, but the meaning of flattery is too obvious, and the design of laughter is not so resistant to scrutiny. Therefore, "Hong Kong Empress" won the box office and lost its reputation.
"Hong Kong Empress" stills.
However, at present, when it comes to being a director, Xu Zheng, who is not as stinky as a stinky person, is better than Deng Chao, who is "second" and "Hong Kong Empress" can crush "Breakup Master" and "Villain Angel".
In addition to these youth films and comedy films, there are also people who are opening up new fields. Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior" is a dark horse. This movie has a strong Wu Jing gene, with passion, action, and a strong root... The film's marketing strategy is the key to box office success. They mainly focus on second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities, and have won the reputation and money of young people in small towns.
Of course, there are also works by celebrities who are not popular and have no reputation, such as Yi Nengjing's "I Am the Queen". This state of quietly coming and quietly leaving is really worthy of the quality of the movie.
"I am the Queen" stills.
Chen Jianbin is an anomaly among all celebrity directors. His debut work does not have a common background in a large company, and there seems to be no gold medal producer or director senior behind it. It is completely uncommercial and follows the film festival route and is a rare emotional celebrity.
I always think that it will be a matter of time before Chen Jianbin becomes a director. When he was an actor, he was eager to try this job, working as an actor while working as a director and screenwriter. "A Spoon" won the award and won a reputation, and the box office was almost expected.
"A Spoon" stills.
Among these current celebrity directors, I still think that Xu Zheng and Chen Jianbin have the greatest significance. The former has opened up a brand new operating model for commercial films, while the latter has a very exciting effect on the independent film and art film circles.
It is said that Chen Jianbin's next movie will be a medium-produced commercial film. To be honest, I'm really looking forward to it.
This article was first published on WeChat on New Weekly.
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