What are the criteria for evaluating a film or a book?

With the box office data of the movies "The Promise" and "Riding a Thousand Miles" released one after another, the new year's PK victory or defeat of Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou has been decided. In this half-truths PK war, businessmen, directors and the media conspired to create momentum. Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige are both rivals, actors and possibly partners. The curtain is about to fall, who defeated who? This newspaper will conduct the most comprehensive analysis of the PK war between Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, and decide the outcome one by one. However, this PK battle is definitely not the ultimate PK of the two of them. Their confrontation will remain the highlight of China film industry for a long time to come, and it will also be a good way to make China film market bigger and stronger. The unprecedented box office of this year's Lunar New Year file proves that there are no losers in their PK war. They are rivals, actors and partners. The once depressed film market in China has become attractive through the careful cooking of these two top chefs.

Pre-competition strength PK

Status quo: language master VS visual master

Winner: Zhang Yimou.

Reporter analysis:

Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou worked closely together in the film Yellow Land. A director and a photographer showed their talents from the beginning: the former is a famous linguist and the latter is a master photographer. Chen Kaige is delicate and ambitious, and his words are as wise and infectious as guns. Zhang Yimou is good at seizing opportunities. Chen Kaige's eyes are cocked up. His films are his own and he wants to share them with the audience. He believes that "a good movie is a sincere movie"; Zhang Yimou's eyes are drooping. His films are everyone's films, and they are made for the market. He believes that "a good movie audience has the final say". Zhang Yimou accepts both movies and stage plays, and has many active fields. Zhang Yimou knows the market operation better. Chen Kaige seems to lack market operation. His previous films, such as Jing Ke stabbing Qin Wang, were all big, but they didn't sell well. Kill me gently, which was made for Hollywood, is also unknown, and With You has a general response.

As far as the competitive state is concerned, both of them are under great pressure this time. The widespread abuse caused by Hero and House of Flying Daggers made Zhang Yimou regard the reputation of Riding a Thousand Miles as his life. A vice president of Xintu Company once confirmed to reporters that "Riding a Thousand Miles" has the first reputation and the second box office. However, the pressure in Chen Kaige seems to be even greater. Only by beating Hero at the box office can we win a commercial victory and win an artistic victory with an Oscar statuette. Chen Kaige, which wants to give consideration to both business and art, and Zhang Yimou, which is relatively light, are facing greater challenges. Party language:

Chen Kaige: First of all, we are not players and we don't kill each other, so it's not called PK. We can only have a competitive relationship, and competition can promote the vigorous development of our films.

Zhang Yimou: I like the excitement. Let's compare it together and do some digressions outside the movie, which is good for the box office.

Investment: 300 million yuan vs 5700 million yuan.

Winner: Chen Kaige.

Reporter analysis:

The Promise is a key experimental project of China's film industrialization reform, and it is also "the film with the highest investment by China Film Group". It cost more than 300 million yuan in three years and became "the most expensive movie in China". Indeed, in terms of investment scale, a "commitment" can shoot five "riding thousands of miles". As far as the works are concerned, this is not a level of competition, but as far as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige are concerned, although they may not be willing to make their confrontation and competition world-famous, they can't help themselves in the Jianghu. When the PK concept became a popular marketing weapon and box office panacea for producers, Chen Kaige finally shouted "Who is afraid of who in this world!"

The PK war that attracted worldwide attention was a conspiracy of businessmen, directors and media, but the real origin was the opposition and competition between Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou for 20 years. In the early years, after Chen Kaige's literary blockbuster Farewell My Concubine won Zhang Yimou's coveted Cannes Palme d 'Or Award, Chen Kaige has been living in a temple and sticking to the literary camp. In 2002, Zhang Yimou's martial arts masterpiece Hero was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film again, which made a big profit at the box office and put Zhang Yimou on a successful commercial director platform. At the same time, Chen Kaige's literary work "With You" received a mediocre response and lost its market advantage. From then on, business thinking began to stimulate Chen Kaige's eyes. Under the pressure of competition, Zhang Yimou finally dragged him into the water, set foot in the commercial battlefield and participated in the "Olympic Games". After three years of hard work, he created The Promise, and directly challenged Hero with a larger scale of venture capital. From 300 million to 57 million, in terms of investment, the amount of resources used by Chen Kaige absolutely exceeds that of Zhang Yimou.

Party language:

Zhang Weiping: There is nothing wrong with their PK, but it can't be the PK of a literary film and a commercial film. PK should be equal, just like you can't let Tai Sen play the lightweight champion. If Promise and Hero PK, Riding Alone and With You PK are reasonable, this year's PK is unreasonable and unconvincing. In fact, if we have to compete, then the pressure of "Promise" will be great, because its investment is large, and "Riding a Thousand Miles" is a smaller production, not a big commercial theme. In this way, "The Promise" has a feeling of being caught in the crossfire. In front of Zhang Yimou, Hero and House of Flying Daggers have been doing well at the box office, and Riding a Thousand Miles has paid off handsomely. If the box office of Promise is not good, the pressure will be great.

Chen Kaige: I think making blockbusters is a fashion and a trend all over the world. There are several elements in this. One is that the actors are big, and the stars are more involved in investment; The other is that the production scale is large and more funds are needed. We should pay attention to the subtle changes in the film industry. The United States is the largest film country, and its choice of theme will affect the global market. In order to export or popularize technology, it is necessary to form an integrated trend through large films. Because small movies can't reflect the technical content, there is the arrival of the blockbuster era. The French director of "Angels Love Beauty" is also making such a big movie as "The Long Engagement". You can't turn a deaf ear to this in China movies. It's better to follow suit than to save the market.

Marketing PK in competition

Bomb marketing VS word-of-mouth marketing

Winner: Chen Kaige.

Reporter analysis:

In this film era where marketing is king, marketing determines the success or failure of a film more than the film itself. "Promise" has a certain meaning of "offering a gift" at the centenary of China film, and it is a landmark film of China film marketing model. According to Han Sanping, general manager of China Film Group, this commitment is actually a commercial attempt under the special attention of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. I hope I can explore the typical marketing model of China blockbusters with the help of Wuji.

Looking back at the marketing route of Promise, this work, which took three years to shoot, deliberately kept a low profile in the early stage and kept the role modeling strictly confidential, successfully mobilized the expectation psychology of the media and the audience. The film entered the promotion stage, and "The Promise" made a high-profile attack: the Cannes promotion conference was launched in a high-profile manner, the actors' modeling was fully presented, and the film representing China went to the Oscars. The screening security in Chengdu was tight, the right to adapt the novel fell to Beijing M. Guo, the swearing-in meeting was held, and the fans attending the premiere ceremony attended ... The intensive publicity was like a wave, and the next wave came again. The audience's expectations are mobilized again and again, just like a dam that stores water. When 65438+was released in February and 65438+May, the enthusiasm for watching movies was like opening the floodgates and turning it into huge box office profits. At the same time, Wuji is also in full bloom in the profit model, and the development of derivative products is at its peak. Jing M.Guo was invited to write the novel The Promise, and various games were launched one after another. Inspired by Zhang Yimou's Turandot, he tried to put the highlights and gorgeous costumes in the film on the stage, and cooperated with well-known performance companies to tour the world. It is estimated that the commitment of 340 million yuan has started the market share of nearly 2 billion yuan. Moreover, its investment was recovered as early as this summer, because its distribution rights in North America, Britain and Australia were sold to the Westin Brothers and IDG Asia, the top film distributors. The amount of this transaction is large enough for Chen Kaige to "get all the investment back".

Compared with the large-scale marketing route of Promise, Riding a Thousand Miles made a big fuss in word of mouth. At first, it was low-key, and later it was warmed up by Tokyo Film Festival. With 12 and 15, Wuji was officially put on sale in the whole country, and the long-term low-key riding solo suddenly launched an offensive and fought with Wuji almost face to face. Three days before the release of Promise in Guangzhou, Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles was released in Guangzhou, Chongqing and other places, and won the first prize with tears. June 5438+February 65438+June 6, just as "The Promise" was the most popular in the country and needed the media to create momentum, a thousand-mile ride attracted all-film reporters from all walks of life in the country.

It is worth noting that in the marketing cases of Promise and Riding a Thousand Miles, the PK-style marketing model has been brought into full play, just as world without thieves and Kung Fu once speculated on each other's box office. This PK battle between infinity and riding thousands of miles alone is not only for the market, but more importantly, it is used by Chen and Zhang. Party language:

Zhang Weiping: The entire premiere expenditure of Riding a Thousand Miles has exceeded 23 million yuan, accounting for 40% of the total investment of the film, and the proportion of this publicity expenditure is far higher than the previous record-setting Heroes and Households.

Zhang Yimou: The publicity, promotion and distribution of films are the weakest links in China's films, and the new film company tries its best to promote films in different ways, starting with Hero. I often tell Zhang Weiping that I grow radishes and he sells radishes. Now China seems to be the most important place to sell radishes, or even radishes will rot in their own homes. Especially now, under the pressure of Hollywood commercial films, I feel that publicity has gradually become a science. The new film company adopts different methods to promote films, which is a stimulus to the development of China films. If the films produced by any director can be packaged by the distribution company in various ways to meet the audience, it will have a very good prospect, which can enhance the popularity and attention of China films in the eyes of the audience and make the audience enthusiastic about China films.

Producer of Promise: As an industrial commodity, movies must eventually enter the market. Any director making any film must have commercial and market elements hidden in the blood of the product. No matter how experts evaluate movies, whether the audience likes them or not, the film art itself and the market cannot be uniform, which is also the essence of film operation. The significance of "The Promise" is that the film market can not only be contested, but also achieved.

PK after the game

Box office:1.400 million yuan VS unknown

Winner: Chen Kaige.

Reporter analysis:

By the end of last week, the national box office of Promise had reached 654.38+0.4 billion yuan, ranking first in the Lunar New Year file. In this new year's war, there is no doubt that the promise won. At present, it is no longer a "myth" that Promise hopes to reach 200 million yuan at the box office. However, it is worth noting that the box office of Promise in the second week dropped by 60% compared with the first week. Zhao Jun of Guangdong Film Company told reporters that half of the box office decline was due to word-of-mouth factors and the other half was due to "Riding a Thousand Miles" and

In contrast, the box office of Riding a Thousand Miles released on the 22nd is far from the box office figure of 74.52 million yuan in the first week of The Promise, but for a literary film with an investment of more than 60 million yuan, Riding a Thousand Miles has created a box office record for literary films.

As the directors and participants of this PK war hoped, the PK war between Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou finally achieved a win-win situation at the box office. In the process of competing for the box office, Promise and Riding a Thousand Miles are also making this box office cake bigger. As the New Year movie craze continues until early next year, these two films will once again hit their respective box office peaks. Party language:

Chen Kaige: Over the years, everyone seems to have a conventional idea about Chen Kaige. I can only make literary films to reveal profound truth, but this is not the case. I hope the media and the audience can have a correct understanding of me through "The Promise". My films have always had market considerations, because this is our foundation. Only by expanding the market can we talk about diversification.

Zhang Weiping: As far as I know, at present, more than 95% directors in China are making literary films, but 80% of them don't watch them. This is a fact, and the market for literary films is not satisfactory. I hope to enter the Lunar New Year file through "Riding a Thousand Miles" and create the best box office for literary films. After Zhang Yimou made achievements in two consecutive commercial blockbusters, his turn was a kind of courage.

Word of mouth: encounter popsicle VS win full tears

Winner: Zhang Yimou.

Reporter analysis:

"The Promise" reluctantly relives the fate of "Hero" in those days-eating candied fruit at the box office, drinking bitter tea by public opinion, overseas scenery and embarrassment at home. Although the two domestic directors have been fighting for a long time, they both suffered from the dilemma of high box office and poor reputation. And Zhang Yimou's wisdom is also a peek at the leopard. After dragging Chen Kaige into the thankless business, the old man turned and entered the literary film "Green Grass" which he was good at. In Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles, Zhang Yimou won the audience's tears with her most skillful and safest tenderness.

In fact, after Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Zhang Yimou knew that it was a thankless thing to shoot a martial arts blockbuster. He once lamented that "China people have a strong martial arts complex, and it is difficult to create a martial arts movie that suits most people's tastes." Unfortunately, this sentence has not resonated with Chen Kaige until today.

Yin Hong, a professor in Tsinghua University, said, "The Promise, Hero and House of Flying Daggers have been questioned, which is actually a problem that all countries' films will encounter when they go to the international market. Regardless of the evaluation, these action movies have created 40% of the box office of China movies in recent years. In order to attract high investment and have market appeal, the actor configuration, lines and plots have to bow to commercial factors, and the artistry will be reduced. However, Zhao Jun, the boss of Guangdong Film Company, thinks that from the perspective of "The Promise", China blockbusters are still immature, and the audience has already produced the law of love and hate: the deeper the love, the more flowers and sticks are added together, and the box office will rise together with abuse. Party language:

Chen Kaige: The Lord of the Rings Monoepisode invested 65.438+0.5 billion US dollars, and spent more than 50 million US dollars on computer special effects. Our total investment is only one fifth of it, so don't compare the special effects of The Promise with The Lord of the Rings.

Zhang Weiping: Chen Kaige scared everyone a little. His films are always packed, and there is a sense of speculation in them. Zhang Yimou is more simple and has a more direct way of thinking than he is.

Zhang Yimou: For all movies, the most important commercial element is that you should have feelings, have true feelings and let the audience have emotional resonance. Whether it is a large-scale movie or a small-scale movie, if you can make your feelings full and touch everyone present, you actually have the most important commercial element. Riding a Thousand Miles is a literary film. I hope it can sell money and have a good box office in literary films.

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Three blockbusters chased each other at the box office.

"Epilepsy Sage" became a "dark horse"

February 24th and 25th, 65438+February, are the two days that have the greatest influence on the box office of the New Year movie in 65438+February. Three films, Promise, Emotional Sage and Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles, have attracted the attention of many audiences. The Shinkansen of China Film South won a total of 4.5 million yuan, of which the subsidiary Yangfei Studios won a total of 904,000 yuan, becoming the box office champion of Guangdong films.

According to the box office statistics released by the film side last Thursday, the infinite box office of China Film South Shinkansen has exceeded 6.5438+million yuan, and the box office has been rising continuously on the 24th and 25th, and now the total box office is 6.5438+0.2 million yuan, which has steadily surpassed the total box office of Kung Fu by Stephen Chow, the box office champion last year. In addition to the infinite, the strength of the epilepsy sage can not be ignored. The funny movie "The Great Sage of Passion" has been enthusiastically sought after in Guangzhou. Many theater managers said that the box office space of this film is very large. Although there is pressure for multiple blockbusters to be released at the same time within a month, the box office strength really gives everyone a reassurance. In addition to the excellent reputation of the film, many viewers came to Nicholas Tse, Charlene Choi and other youth idols, and many viewers said that they just wanted to smile and relieve their work pressure. It is reported that "Epilepsy" created a box office success of150,000 yuan in the first week of its release, which confirmed its prediction of a dark horse in the new year. Zhang Yimou's literary film Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles has not been snubbed by the audience, followed by The Epilepsy Sage. The major film companies have placed great hopes on the film, and the excellent reputation of the film is believed to make the box office "polar counterattack" finally.

The coming New Year's Day in 2006 also coincides with the weekend. Managers of major cinemas in Guangzhou have expressed confidence in the box office results of New Year's Day movies. 1 month, the South Shinkansen of China Film will also show the North American box office champion movie King Kong, as well as comedies such as Decai Yang's Marriage, Natural Shoppers and Savage Killers, when the audience will have more choices.