Tsui Hark, this name is thunderous in the Chinese film industry. In the 80s of the last century, he shocked the film industry with "Butterfly Change" and created a new era of martial arts films. In 1979, the young Tsui Hark boldly incorporated thriller elements into "Butterfly Transformation", although the technique was a little rusty, but the industry saw his potential.
1983's "New Shu Mountain Swordsman" was even more of a blockbuster, and Tsui Hark spared no expense to hire the "Star Wars" stunt team to participate in the production, presenting a breathtaking fantasy picture.
In the 90s, Tsui Hark's creative work reached its peak. The "Once Upon a Time" series he created with Jet Li has raised the expressiveness and artistic depth of martial arts films to new heights.
The series skillfully combines authentic modern Chinese settings with fictional heroic tales that are both satire of the past and the present, as well as thought-provoking. Tsui Hark's eyes flashed with love for movies, and each work was like an adventure, leading the audience through time and space to feel the charm of the martial arts world.
However, after 2000, Tsui Hark's road to filming in the north was full of thorns. In 2005, "Seven Swords" invested 140 million yuan, but only received 83.453 million yuan at the box office, which made Tsui Hark taste the bitterness of failure.
The originally ambitious trilogy plan was put on hold. Although 2011's "Dragon Gate Flying Armor" had a box office of 539 million yuan, it was far from meeting expectations. From 2010 to 2018, the "Di Renjie" trilogy was even worse, with "Tongtian Empire" 286 million yuan, "Shendu Dragon King" and "Four Heavenly Kings" only 600 million yuan and 606 million yuan at the box office respectively.
Looking at the box office data that has failed again and again, Tsui Hark's brows are getting deeper and deeper. The once high-spirited martial arts master now has to face the cruel reality of the market. He began to question himself, can he still achieve great things? This kind of anxiety and self-doubt made Tsui Hark never dare to touch the martial arts theme again in the five years after "The Four Heavenly Kings".
After nearly 50 years in the industry, Tsui Hark's life and career have gone through three ups and downs, and now he is standing at another critical crossroads. Looking back at the origin of Tsui Hark and Jin Yong's martial arts, I have to mention 1988's "Smiling Proud Jianghu".
At that time, Tsui Hark was full of expectations as a producer and invited martial arts master Hu Jinquan to direct, hoping to seek advice from this idol. Hu Jinquan was listed as one of the "Top Five Directors in the World" in 1978 by the British "International Film Guide" magazine, and also won the highest technical comprehensive award at the Cannes International Film Festival for "The Heroine".
Tsui Hark has always regarded Hu Jinquan as an idol, and even his habit of drawing movie storyboards with one stroke is also a tribute to Hu Jinquan's learning. However, after the filming of the movie began, the creative ideas of the two were as incompatible.
Hu Jinquan pursues the spirit of perfection and pays attention to slow work and meticulous work; As a representative of the New Wave, Tsui Hark pursues efficient industrial creation, paying attention to fast production speed, bizarre plot, and amazing expression techniques.
This huge difference in philosophy eventually led to the breakdown of the cooperation, Hu Jinquan left with the team, and Tsui Hark had to abandon most of the footage that had been filmed and reshoot with Cheng Xiaodong and Li Huimin.
Despite this, "Smiling Proud Jianghu" still achieved a good box office of HK$16.05 million in Hong Kong. However, the real turmoil broke out in the sequel "Smiling Proud Jianghu 2: Undefeated in the East".
Tsui Hark boldly used Lin Qingxia to play Dongfang Undefeated, and adapted the original plot to make Dongfang Undefeated and Ling Hu Chong fall in love. This completely angered Jin Yong, he thought that Tsui Hark had ruined the original work, and let go of the cruel words: "It's okay to ask me to drink in the future, and don't talk about my novel."
This experience left a deep impression on Tsui Hark. Although the movie is artistically recognized as a rare martial arts masterpiece, the estrangement with Jin Yong makes it impossible for Tsui Hark to touch Jin Yong's novels again.
Until Jin Yong's death, Tsui Hark was unable to adapt Jin Yong's works again. This experience also made Tsui Hark understand that adapting a classic work requires more wisdom and courage. He began to think about how to respect the original work and inject his own creativity to meet the needs of the audience and the market.
This kind of thinking also laid the groundwork for his future creative path. In recent years, martial arts movies have been declining in the mainland cinema market. The martial arts masters who once dominated the film industry have transformed: Wu Jing devoted himself to the main theme of war movies, Wu Yanzu returned to the United States to shoot martial arts mythological dramas, and Donnie Yen focused on kung fu movies and gunfight action movies.
Former martial arts stars such as Shi Xiaolong, Xie Miao, Qian Xiaohao, An Zhijie, Zhao Wenzhuo, Yuan Hua, etc., have turned to low-cost online movies. This phenomenon can't help but make people sigh, where are the once glorious martial arts films going now? Wang Jing once claimed to restart "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", but after nearly a year of hype, it was the online movies "Heaven and Dragon Slayer: Jiuyang Divine Skill" and "Heaven and Dragon Slayer: The Holy Fire Hero".
Donnie Yen's "The Legend of Qiao Feng" with Wang Jing during the Spring Festival this year, played Qiao Feng in his early 30s at the age of 60, and he can only choose streaming media distribution in the mainland, which shows that the filmmaker has completely lost confidence in the theater market.
The reasons for this situation are complex and varied. The first is the change in audience base. Martial arts culture has deeply influenced the three generations of the post-60s, post-70s and post-80s, but the awareness of traditional martial arts culture among young audiences born in the post-90s and post-00s has decreased significantly.
Especially after the 00s who grew up in the digital age, it is difficult to calm down and read the thick Jin Yong novels. Secondly, the proportion of female viewers has risen, and their interest in martial arts themes is generally not high.
These factors make martial arts movies difficult in the fierce market competition. However, there is hope. Last year, the online movie "No One in My Eyes" starring Semyon rekindled the audience's enthusiasm for martial arts films with its concise narrative and superb action design.
This martial arts movie, which is only 74 minutes long, amazes the audience with its "minimalist" narrative and sharp action design. Semyon has also returned to the public eye, and the production company behind it has taken advantage of the situation to launch "No One in My Eyes 2", which is planned to land in theaters.
This case proves that martial arts movies still have market prospects. "Chivalry culture" is deeply rooted in the genes of Chinese people and will not disappear easily. The key lies in how to interpret the spirit of traditional martial arts in a novel way, and how to make young audiences fall in love with this fascinating world again.
This is not only a challenge for directors, but also a test for the entire film industry. In 2024, the 73-year-old Tsui Hark will once again be in the public spotlight. was first photographed walking with his girlfriend Lele, whose lower abdomen was slightly bulging, triggering speculation that he was about to become a father.
Immediately afterwards, it was revealed by the media that he appeared in the hospital for many days in a row, and his face was haggard when he sat alone in the restaurant. This series of news makes people worry about the old director's physical condition.
However, just when people were still speculating about Tsui Hark's recent situation, an even more exciting news came out: Tsui Hark was going to shoot "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"! This news is like a bombshell and has caused a huge response among fans.
The movie "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" has been filed with the National Film Administration, the producer is China Film, and the screenwriter and director are Tsui Hark. What's even more surprising is that the filmmaker directly announced the starring lineup: Xiao Zhan plays Guo Jing, and Zhuang Dafei plays Huang Rong.
Xiao Zhan is a post-90s domestic entertainment "little fresh meat", debuted in 2016, became an instant hit with "Chen Qing Ling", and then starred in "Celebrating More Than Years", "Douluo Continent", "Zhuxian 1" and other works.
Zhuang Dafei is a post-00s charming actress, who debuted as a child star in 2012, and has been promoted to the heroine of a TV series in recent years, starring in "I Don't Want to Be Friends with You" has a good reputation.
The announcement of this lineup immediately sparked widespread discussion. Some people question whether Tsui Hark has "exhausted his talents" and worry that he will "destroy the original work"; Some people are skeptical about Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Dafei's acting skills, thinking that they can't interpret Guo Jing and Huang Rong in the audience's mind; Some people also think that at a time when the martial arts film market is shrinking, launching such a big production is "cutting leeks".
Tsui Hark, however, doesn't seem to care about these doubts. After experiencing the word-of-mouth accumulation of two top blockbusters, "Changjin Lake" and "Watergate Bridge", he regained his self-confidence. For Tsui Hark, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is the IP he has been thinking about for a long time, and it is also the sensitive topic that he once again touched on the sensitive topic of "Jin Yong's martial arts" after the "Smiling Proud Jianghu" series.
Despite his age, Tsui Hark still retains his love and passion for film. He knows that this may be the last important attempt in his career, and he wants to use this work to prove to the audience and himself that he, Tsui Hark, is still the "old monster" who can lead the trend of martial arts movies.
The announcement of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" immediately sparked widespread controversy. The online discussion focused on three main aspects: First, some people questioned whether Tsui Hark had "exhausted his talents".
They pointed out that after the successive failures of martial arts films such as "Seven Swords", "Dragon Gate Flying Armor" and "Di Renjie", Tsui Hark felt powerless. Moreover, Tsui Hark has not touched the martial arts theme for 5 years, and at this time, if he comes to shoot Jin Yong's classic IP "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", is he "frying cold rice" and "ruining the original work"? Secondly, the choice of the leading actor is more controversial.
Although Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Dafei are both popular stars, many people think that their acting skills need to be improved, and they are worried that they will not be able to interpret Guo Jing and Huang Rong in the audience's mind.
Some people are even worried that the 73-year-old Tsui Hark will be "late in life" because of these two young actors. Finally, some questioned the film's market prospects. In recent years, martial arts films seem to have come to the "end of the road", Wang Jing's "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", Donnie Yen's "The Legend of Qiao Feng" have all chosen to be released online.
In this case, Tsui Hark launched the theatrical movie "Shooting the Condor", is it in the name of feelings to "cut leeks"? In the face of these doubts, Tsui Hark seemed confident. According to the synopsis of the movie posted on the Internet, the story of "Shooting the Condor" will revolve around the Mongol army moving south and Guo Jingli defending Xiangyang.
This paragraph actually appeared at the beginning of the original work of Jin Yong's other work "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", and it is only a side description, explaining the ending of the final sacrifice of Guo Jing and Huang Rong.
This setting gives Tsui Hark a lot of creative space and will not be too constrained by the original book of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". Tsui Hark is confident that on this basis, he will create a new world of martial arts.
As for casting, Tsui Hark also has his own considerations. The 32-year-old Xiao Zhan's image and temperament are in line with Guo Jing in the Xiangyang period, and the 22-year-old Zhuang Dafei is a little younger, but he is full of heroism, which is very in line with the characteristics of Huang Rong's heroine.
Tsui Hark believes that under his own tutelage, these two actors will definitely be able to shine with different brilliance. For the martial arts scene, Tsui Hark is even more confident. As a master of martial arts films, he is confident in presenting stunning action scenes.
Standing at a turning point in his life and career, the 73-year-old Tsui Hark is facing great challenges and opportunities. He knows that to win back the hearts and minds of audiences, he must find a balance between tradition and innovation.
Tsui Hark is determined to use "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" to prove to the world that there are infinite possibilities for martial arts movies. According to the current information, Tsui Hark is likely to make this work into a series, possibly into a trilogy.
He hopes that through this series, he can not only reproduce the great artistic conception of "the great man of chivalry, for the country and the people", but also interpret the spirit of martial arts from a new perspective and attract a new generation of audiences.
Faced with a young audience, Tsui Hark knew he had to change. He began to think about how to integrate modern elements into traditional martial arts, how to use new technologies to enhance the visual experience, and how to make the plot closer to the life and thinking of contemporary people.
Tsui Hark believes that as long as he sticks to his original intention, he will be able to create a new world of martial arts movies. From the blockbuster success of "Butterfly Change", to the rise of "Smiling Proud Jianghu" and "Huang Feihong", and then to the failures of "Knife", "Seven Swords" and "Dragon Gate Flying Armor", Tsui Hark has been in the industry for nearly 50 years, and his life has experienced 3 ups and downs.
This "Legend of the Condor Heroes" is undoubtedly another important attempt prepared by him. As Mr. Lu Xun said: "In fact, there is no road in the world, and when there are more people walking, it becomes a road."
Even though the road to martial arts movies seems bumpy, Tsui Hark still chooses to overcome obstacles and open up a new path for the audience. In his opinion, this is not only a director's mission, but also a martial arts fan's persistence and inheritance of this culture.
Tsui Hark is convinced that "chivalrous culture" is deeply imprinted in the genes of every Chinese, and it cannot disappear or die. The key is to present it in a more novel way, with a new look.
He hopes that through his own efforts, martial arts movies will regain market recognition and make more young people fall in love with this charming martial arts world. Life is impermanent, but Tsui Hark always believes that as long as there is chivalry in his heart, he will never lose his way.