The Hollywood blockbuster "Dune" exceeded 100 million in the first weekend of Chinese mainland, once again proving the strong appeal of science fiction blockbusters in the Chinese market.
At the just-concluded Pingyao International Film Festival, the science fiction film "Cosmic Exploration Editorial Department" created by director Guo Fan, screenwriter Wang Hongwei and other core teams of "The Wandering Earth" unveiled the mystery, and the film was praised as "opening up a new path for Chinese science fiction films" at the same time, and won many awards such as "Fei Mu Honorary Best Film" with a hot posture, which aroused a lot of attention in the fan circle.
It can be seen that in the hearts of Chinese audiences, the "heat" of science fiction films has not decreased.
The last impressive sci-fi movie was 2019's The Wandering Earth.
It is worth looking forward to that "The Wandering Earth 2" has been officially launched in Qingdao, and producer Gong Geer said in an interview with us during the 2021 Qingdao Film and Television Expo that everything such as creation and funding are currently ready, which is enough to escort this highly concerned science fiction movie, "I hope it can meet with the audience in the Spring Festival of 2023!" ”
In addition, "Lone Moon" starring Shen Teng and Ma Li is also a science fiction comedy and is currently in the post-production stage. This is Happy Twist's first challenge to sci-fi comedy. Liu Hongtao, CEO of Happy Twist, revealed that the total investment of "Lone Moon" is 500 million, and the degree of hardcore science fiction is comparable to "The Wandering Earth".
Based on Liu Cixin's novel of the same name, "Full Frequency Band Blocking Interference" has been approved; Chen Sicheng directed "Mozart in Outer Space", Zhang Xiaobei directed "Star Pioneer", Gu Tianle partner Liu Qingyun's "Tomorrow's Battle" have all been completed and are waiting to be released... A large wave of Chinese science fiction movies is about to meet with you.
It is not difficult to find that more and more Chinese filmmakers are rushing to the field of science fiction films. The road of Chinese science fiction film exploration is getting farther and farther away, and it is wonderful. So, the era of Chinese science fiction movies is really coming?
Wu Jing returns to "The Wandering Earth 2"!
This news has attracted the attention of many audiences and media at the golden rooster film festival conference last year.
Gong Geer told us that "The Wandering Earth 2" is still born out of Liu Cixin's novel of the same name. It tells the story of humanity's search for a new home in outer space. Compared with the previous work, the two key points of the film are continuation and innovation.
There is a very close relationship between the two films. "The Wandering Earth 2" will expand on the worldview of the previous part, and strive to provide the audience with more imagination and freshness. In addition to "The Wandering Earth 2", the development of the "Wandering Earth" IP also has a certain plan, "as to whether the plan can be truly realized, it depends on the quality of the film and the acceptance of the audience."
"The Wandering Earth" producer Gong Geer
As Gong Geer admitted, if there is no audience support for "The Wandering Earth" and let more investors see the hope of Chinese science fiction films, "The Wandering Earth 2" may be far away.
After all, for Gong Geer and Guo Fan, at first they only hoped that "The Wandering Earth" would make money, "as long as we can make money, the world will pay more attention to Chinese science fiction movies." ”
In the end, "The Wandering Earth" won the fifth place in the history of Chinese film box office with a box office score of 4.686 billion yuan, becoming a watershed for Chinese science fiction films.
"The Wandering Earth" has accumulated 4.686 billion at the box office
Before that, China had briefly had films rich in science fiction elements such as "Thunderbolt Babe", "The Atmosphere Disappears", and "The End of the Island", but there were few "blockbuster" works that won the love of the whole people. Until "The Wandering Earth" turned out, Chinese audiences' expectations for Chinese science fiction movies were once again full.
Gong Geer still remembers the scene of participating in the science fiction film forum in 2018: when Liu Cixin came to the scene, the scene was immediately crowded with people taking pictures, after taking photos, Liu Cixin walked off the stage, and then the entire venue was empty. This picture left a deep impression on him and also made his mood shocked, "which means that the sci-fi filmmakers we go to the scene have little meaning to the audience." ”
At that time, Chinese science fiction movies were difficult. During the filming of "The Wandering Earth", there was a divestment, and the production process was full of twists and turns.
At that time, Guo Fan was helpless, the budget was insufficient, the props could only rely on borrowing, and the actors could only rely on "coaxing". Some of the capsules and spacesuits that appear in "The Wandering Earth" are actually from Ning Hao's "Crazy Alien" crew, and Wu Jing, one of the main actors of the film, is "bringing funds into the group".
The so-called Wu Jing "bringing capital into the group" is ironic to say.
When "The Wandering Earth" started, Guo Fan invited Wu Jing to make a cameo, stringing, and he said to Wu Jing, "Brother Jing, we are overspending!" Wu Jingyi, "Then I won't be paid!" Acting, Guo Fan said again, "Brother Jing, we are overdue!" Wu Jing had to stay in the crew for nearly a month.
During this period, he heard Guo Fan "complain" again that he had no money, so he simply paid for it himself, from a guest actor who did not receive anything to a starring actor who injected 60 million yuan into the film.
All the hard work and hard work is valuable, and the success of "The Wandering Earth" needs no further elaboration.
As far as the current stage of development of Chinese science fiction films is concerned, Gong Geer said that he expects Chinese audiences to be more familiar with Chinese science fiction, for example, at the science fiction film festival, he hopes not only to see the characters who come out of Western science fiction movies, but also to see the characters who come out of Chinese science fiction movies, which is also one of his wishes as a science fiction filmmaker.
In 2020, the National Film Administration and the China Association for Science and Technology jointly issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of Science Fiction Films", which put forward 10 policy measures to strengthen support and guidance for the creation and production of science fiction films, distribution and screening, special effects technology, talent training, etc., which means that the state gives strong support to science fiction films from the policy level, and Chinese science fiction films have since ushered in a "new spring".
Gong Geer observed that in recent years, there have indeed been more Chinese science fiction movies, but this number is not so large that it can be perceived. He pointed out that there are not many teams that actually do science fiction films, and the lack of talent may be one of the factors contributing to this result.
An interesting phenomenon is that "The Wandering Earth" has accumulated the first talents for Chinese science fiction films.
On top of it, "Lone Moon" gained the shooting experience and team foundation of "The Wandering Earth", and many production members in the hot shot of "The Wandering Earth 2" have just experienced the exercise of "Lone Moon". The backbone of the development of Chinese science fiction films has the meaning of mutual support and relay.
After the completion of science fiction films such as "Lone Moon", "Mozart in Outer Space", and "The Wandering Earth 2", this field may be able to harvest a group of outstanding talents and promote the development of Chinese science fiction films.
At the same time, science fiction films, as an important embodiment of film industrialization, have also made great strides forward with the progress of China's film industrialization in recent years.
Witnessing Chinese science fiction films along the way, Gong Geer deeply felt the changes in China's production chain. He shared that in addition to the set of props and spacesuits borrowed from "Crazy Aliens", the crew itself actually has 2 sets. But when the 3 sets of spacesuits are placed together, you will find that they look different, "because they are all handmade, it is difficult to achieve exactly the same." "Nowadays, the crew can quickly produce more spacesuits with very high technical standards in a short period of time through industrial cooperation."
In the process of the development of China's film industrialization, the maturity of the film and television industry base Oriental Film Capital has provided hardware support for Chinese science fiction films.
In 2018, the newly established Oriental Film Capital has provided a one-stop service for the two science fiction movies "The Wandering Earth" and "Crazy Alien" with relatively advanced equipment. Today, the facilities of oriental film capital have been further improved. 40 high-tech studios, 32 set workshops, indoor constant temperature underwater studios, outdoor shooting pools, full-process post-production digital audio-visual centers, film and television virtualization production platforms, etc., the leading digital assets and hardware facilities in the park can basically cover the production needs of the entire industry chain of science fiction films.
Taking "Lone Moon" as an example, 95% of the film's shots involve special effects, and the crew has used 15 studios totaling more than 40,000 square meters in Oriental Film. In order to restore the reality, 200 tons of sand and gravel simulated lunar dust were laid in a studio of more than 6,000 square meters, and a 100% real scene was built to build a lunar base.
As mentioned above, thanks to many favorable factors, the development of Chinese science fiction films is releasing positive signals.
Of course, the arrival of an era is not an overnight thing. The expansion of the film talent team, the improvement of the overall technical level, and the accumulation of production and publicity experience will all affect the in-depth advancement of the entire era. What we can believe is that with the continuous efforts of Chinese filmmakers, the budding era of Chinese science fiction films is worth looking forward to in the future.