The total box office of this year's Spring Festival movies exceeded 8 billion yuan, setting a record high, helping the total box office in 2021 to exceed 10 billion yuan.
This is an exciting achievement that has attracted the attention of the world, but at the same time, we have also seen that among these competing films, there are comedies, suspense films, fantasy films, animation films, but there are no martial arts films.
The former "Double Week" collective absence, the only Hong Kong film star (Andy Lau) involved in the film "Surging Crowds" is also in the fierce competition.
Pi Ge can't help but sigh that the "martial arts film", a unique film genre in the Chinese community, is leaving us; the influence of Hong Kong filmmakers is gradually disappearing.
Once upon a time, Hong Kong was the capital of Asian cinema, and martial arts cinema was an important part of Hong Kong cinema.
Wuxia films, starting from Shanghai Beach in the Republic of China period to the prosperity of Zhang Che, Chu Yuan and Hu Jinquan in the old Hong Kong film era, peaked in Hong Kong in the 80s and early 90s.
In the history of the development of Hong Kong martial arts films, 1993 was a very special year.
That year, more than 380 films were launched in Hong Kong, of which 33 were martial arts works, accounting for nearly 10%.
Of those 33 films, only a few grossed more than 10 million, while most of the others ended in box office failures.
Looking back at 1993, the "race against the deer" at the Hong Kong Film Market was actually more exciting than the martial arts movies themselves...
01、
The crossroads of Tsui Ke Film Studio
In 1993, Xu Ke did not have a good life-
From 1991 to 1992, the golden combination of Xu Ke and Jet Li made "Huang Feihong" and "Huang Feihong NO. 2: Boys Should Strengthen Themselves", and after their release, they all delivered satisfactory results.
Originally, they could work together to create a more glorious history, but Jiahe was unable to keep Jet Li in the end.
After filming "Huang Feihong's Three Lions King Battle" in 1993, Jet Li officially left Jiahe.
The sequel was a success, grossing HK$27.46 million, only slightly lower than the previous one.
However, after losing Jet Li, how to continue the IP of the "Huang Feihong" series has become a major problem in front of Xu Ke.
At this time, Xu Ke made a dangerous move, he completely entertained the "Huang Feihong" series -
First of all, he let the action director Yuan Bin turn right, directing "The Wind of the Four Kings of Huang Feihong", and let Yuan Heping develop the "Young Huang Feihong" series, the first episode is "Young Huang Feihong's Iron Horse", co-starring Zhen Zidan and Yu Rongguang.
Then, the "New Crane Needle" was handed over to the newcomer director Chen Musheng, who had just been promoted, and the final chapter of the "Smiling Proud Jianghu" series, "The Undefeated Rise of the East", was handed over to Li Huimin and Cheng Xiaodong.
And he himself was responsible for filming Li Bihua's work "Green Snake".
According to Xu Ke's prediction, "The Wind of the King" has intensive fighting, with this IP good reputation, it should not be a problem to recover the cost and make a small profit, "The Comeback" has Lin Qingxia, Wang Zuxian, Li Huimin and Cheng Xiaodong, and is also a confidence guarantee, and the "Green Snake" he wields is as stable as Mount Tai.
But the reality soon made Xu Ke lose his confidence, losing Jet Li's "The Wind of the King", losing the original sense of historical heaviness, adding too many fights, appearing violent and impetuous, and it was difficult to support the box office with Zhao Wenzhuo, and finally only sold 11.19 million.
"The Comeback of the Storm", "The Iron Horse of Young Huang Feihong" and "The New Crane Needle", which also took the entertainment route, also returned home.
"Green Snake", directed by Xu Ke himself, because of its eerie pictures and obscure story lines, was difficult for the audience to adapt at the time, and it also failed at the box office, only 9.5 million.
Xu Ke tossed and turned for a whole year, and only when he looked back did he find that only the "Lion King Battle" that he cooperated with Jet Li in the first year had made money, and the back was all bamboo baskets to hit the water empty, and the losses were heavy.
02、
Jet Li, Wang Jing, and Zhu Yanping broke through, losing more and winning less
Jet Li, after leaving Jiahe, he urgently needs to prove his strength with a new film.
In the face of the olive branch thrown by many companies besides Jiahe, after experiencing the murder of his agent, Jet Li finally chose to form his own Zhengdong Film Company and cooperate with Yongsheng Film.
At Zhengdong Pictures, his partner is the relatively low-key Yuan Kui in the Seven Little Fortunes.
At that time, most people in the Hong Kong film circle were not optimistic about Jet Li's own company, because he was a mainlander, and it was difficult to gain a foothold in Hong Kong without being attached to a large company.
The success of the "Fang Shiyu" series of two-part series hit everyone in the face, both directed by Yuan Kui and starring Jet Li, which sold 30.67 million and 23.01 million at the box office respectively, ranking 6th and 11th in the annual box office list.
The success of the "Fang Shiyu" series is due to two reasons:
1. The film takes the funny route, and Jet Li's transformation from the image of a grandmaster to a kung fu teenager makes the audience shine.
2. The joining of Xiao Fangfang and Zheng Shaoqiu has also gathered a lot of popularity.
Later, Jet Li filmed "Taiji Zhang Sanfeng", the director was replaced by Yuan Heping, and the response was average, with only 12.54 million at the box office.
In addition, Jet Li's two works under the umbrella of Yongsheng Film, Xiang Huaqiang handed him over to Wang Jing.
So Wang Jing let him continue his image of Huang Feihong and filmed "Huang Feihong's Iron Chicken Fighting Centipede".
Different from Xu Ke's "Huang Feihong" series, Wang Jing's "Iron Rooster Fighting Centipede" does not borrow the set of ancient irony and modernity, but only talks about action and funny.
This is very much in line with the appetite of Hong Kong people, so the film sold 18.18 million, which is better than "The Wind of Kings".
But then Yongsheng took out 80 million yuan of investment to create the "Demon Sect Leader of the Dragon Slayer", but only got 11.86 million box office, losing a lot of money, and the original sequel plan was stopped.
In 1993, this year is also called "Jet Li's Year", but for Jet Li, it is a bit of a tiger.
The previous "Fang Shiyu" series and "Huang Feihong's Iron Chicken Fighting Centipede" were successful, but the next two films were not powerful, and this decline directly continued into the following year.
Wang Jing herself also made two martial arts films, "Seven Princesses of Wuxia" and "Laughing Man Chu Liuxiang", the former with a box office of 9.82 million and the latter with only 3.16 million.
His "Nerve Knife and Flying Cat" with "Taiwan Wang Jing" Zhu Yanping only has 9.7 million.
Zhu Yanping's own "Sword Slave" is quite sincere -
The heroine is Chen Baolian, you will understand when you see her name, Mo Shaocong, Ni Shujun, Lou Xuexian, Chen Huilou are all powerful actors, filming the helplessness of red face and thin life in the chaotic world.
Unfortunately, the film was not satisfied with hong Kong, only 2.68 million box office, and the loss was even worse.
03、
Yuan Heping, Zhang Xinyan, Wu Ma, Hong Jinbao, and Du Qifeng became cannon fodder
Since the fire of "Huang Feihong" by Xu Ke and Jet Li in 1991, it has also brought about the boom in Huang Feihong and Qing Dynasty martial arts films in the Hong Kong film industry, which lasted until 1993.
That year, some directors, in order to create their own "Huang Feihong" movies or Qing Dynasty martial arts movies, they desperately tried their best, but they did not make good luck.
Yuan Heping found Jet Li's fellow disciple Wang Jue to play Huang Feihong, the image is completely Copy Jet Li version, and Zhen Zidan joined forces to concoct "Hero Haojie Su Qi'er".
This movie, although the story is not new, but both of them are hard and hard, playing very well, and only 7.01 million box office after the release.
Zhang Xinyan also followed the wind to shoot "Huang Feihong's Boy When He Serves the Country", starring Jet Li's master brother Wang Qun, Ji Chunhua and Qiu Jianguo are also familiar faces to the audience.
But the audience has aesthetic fatigue of the "Huang Feihong" movie, the lead actor is not Jet Li, the story is also full of loopholes, the quality is not good, naturally it is not interested, and the final box office is only 480,000.
Wu Ma's "Huang Feihong's Ghost Foot Seven" rubbed the IP of "Huang Feihong", in fact, there was no Huang Feihong in the film, only the ghost foot seven played by Yuan Biao.
Although the action scenes were filmed well, they only grossed 7.6 million in the end.
At that time, Luo Wei's Wanli film was in crisis, and Hong Jinbao took the initiative to ask for a Qing Dynasty martial arts film "A Knife In the City" for Luo Wei, and personally went to the mainland to discover Zhao Changjun, who was equally famous with Jet Li in the martial arts world.
Although it is a huge investment in conscience production, it is a pity that there is a lack of stars who can support the box office, the box office is only 1.98 million, resulting in the direct collapse of Wanli Film, and Luo Wei is depressed and dies after 3 years.
Longxiang Pictures is also very ambitious, and Du Shaojin, who is known as "Jet Li", starred in the "Late Qing Dynasty" series, telling the story of the three liangkuns of the Iron Bridge in the Ten Tigers of Guangdong at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Unfortunately, the ability of screenwriter Feng Ruixiong is insufficient, the opening "White Lotus Evil God" only collected 640,000, the sequel "Wuzhuangyuan Iron Bridge III" was only 430,000, and the next year's "Broken Arm of the Hero" was less than 170,000.
Du Qifeng made 3 martial arts films in this year, "Three Heroes of the East", "The Legend of Modern Heroes" and "Barefoot Boy", all of which ended in failure, plus "Jigong" cooperated with Zhou Xingchi was also a box office failure, which made him doubt his life for a while.
After a year of deep reflection, Du Qifeng stepped out of the shadows, formed a galaxy image of himself, and made a gunfight film with a strong personal style.
04、
Of course, in 1993, there were also cases of breaking through the siege -
For example, the two parts of the oriental film "The Legend of the White-Haired Witch" use the house goddess Lin Qingxia with the national idol Zhang Guorong.
Even if the story is not very powerful, the set is mostly a studio scene, with Lin Qingxia's domineering "Undefeated in the East", coupled with Zhang Guorong's handsome image, "The Legend of the White-Haired Witch" can also sell 19.87 million at the box office; the sequel also has 11.84 million, which can save money and make money.
Wong Kar-wai was forced to go to the palace by Taiwanese scholar film boss Tsai Songlin to find the "fast gunner" Liu Zhenwei, who took only 27 days to shoot "The Legend of the Eagle Shooter".
Because the main actors are all big stars and extremely funny, the movie was very popular after its release, easily received 22.38 million box office, and has become a classic in the hearts of fans.
Ke Shouliang found Liang Chaowei, the "Wei Xiaobao" in the original TVB TV series "Deer DingJi", Tang Zhenye, who was equipped with the "Wireless Five Tigers", plus Zhang Weijian, Wu Xuewen, and Ye Yuqing, and filmed the funny and "materialistic" "Zhengpai Wei Xiaobao's Fengzhigou Girl".
The word "genuine" clearly targets Stephen Chow, an extremely low-cost crossover film that still grossed 10.35 million at the box office.
There is also Li Lizhi, after the success of the "Huang Feihong Laugh" in 1992, the sequel "Huang Feihong to Huang Feihong" was launched in 1993. The lineup of Tan Yonglin, Zheng Yuling, Mao Shunjun and Wu Mengda are all stars who come purely for fun, do not talk about kung fu, and there are 10.56 million people who fight and make trouble.
However, these individual movies are only empty of the shape of "martial arts", losing the core of "martial arts", and can no longer be regarded as real martial arts films.
The story of the "Legend of the White-Haired Witch" series is strange and strange, and it is close to a fantasy film, and fans have often missed it when they look back at martial arts movies.
"East becomes West", "Fengzhigou Girl", "Huang Feihong to Huang Feihong" are essentially funny comedies.
Therefore, in 1993, in addition to Tsui Ke and Jet Li's "Huang Feihong" and "Fang Shiyu", Hong Kong's real martial arts films actually collapsed completely.
In the following years, it was even more sluggish, although there were masterpieces like "Knife" and the short victory of "Huang Feihong's Lion of the Western Regions", the market for martial arts films was still getting smaller and smaller.
05、
The collective collapse of Hong Kong martial arts films in 1993 is a microcosm of the decline of Hong Kong films
The blind pursuit of the trend has led to the saturation of the market, which is the direct cause of the overall collapse of Hong Kong martial arts films in 1993.
In fact, the top 5 annual box office films in Hong Kong that year were not martial arts films.
That year, Universal Pictures' "Jurassic Park" was released in Hong Kong at the box office of 61.9 million, which was the first time in 14 years since 1979's "Donkey Kong Braved the Space City" that it was once again grabbed by Hollywood movies.
The following "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang", "Flower Field Affair", "New Love" and "City Hunter" also show that the direction of the market has changed.
And those filmmakers who rush to follow the trend to make martial arts films cannot see these changes at all, resulting in a serious imbalance between social supply and demand.
The large number of shoddy works flooded by the market exacerbated this rout, resulting in the burial of good works such as "The Book of the Dragon Slayer", "Iron Horse", "A Knife In the City", and "Barefoot Boy".
The film market with more monks and fewer porridges has made the competition between major film companies as fierce as in the Jurassic era.
After entering the 1990s, the prosperity of the market finally encountered a bottleneck in 1993, after which small companies with thin foundations have collapsed, and large companies have also been seriously injured.
In the following years, the annual output decreased year by year, and the investment cost slowly decreased.
After 2000, a large number of Hong Kong directors went north, Hong Kong films gradually withered, and with the aging of Tsui Ke and Jet Li's generation, the glory of Hong Kong martial arts films eventually became the memory of a generation.
Nowadays, the genre of martial arts movies has become more and more difficult to find in recent years. Old stars like Zhao Wenzhuo, Fan Shaohuang, Xiong Xinxin, Yuanhua, and Qian Xiaohao have also shifted their positions and brushed their sense of existence in online movies.
Their persistence may be the proof of this group of filmmakers' "martyrs in their twilight years and their hearts"!
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Bloody Dan Heart
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