Wen | No.7 (Luosi Film and Television Research Group)
"I’m counting on it in December." When the official announcement of James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water (hereinafter referred to as Avatar 2) was finalized, cinemas all over the country were waiting for it to save the market.
On December 16th, Avatar 2 was released in the mainland. After a week of release, the box office broke the 500 million mark, breaking the cumulative box office record of New Year’s adventure films in the past three years. However, compared with 13 years ago, the film did not reproduce the grand occasion of "one ticket is hard to find", and its reputation was not as good as that of the previous film. The comments of "full score for special effects and zero score for plot" were endless.
See the special effects or the plot? Box office failure or long tail effect? Can the movie market be saved by Avatar 2? These are all hot topics in the recent film market.
"Avatar 2" special effects 100 points!
“It’s not true, it’s true"
Avatar 2 supports many formats, such as 3D, CINITY, IMAX 3D, Dolby Cinema, China Giant Screen and so on. After comprehensive comparison, the laser IMAX version with "all-round" frame, frame rate, clarity and sound effect is selected.
Put on 3D glasses, the familiar Pandora planet is back, and the rainforest is still the same. After nearly an hour of plot preparation, Jack and Neytiri left the tribe with their children and sought refuge in the island reef family, thus unlocking the "ocean" map of Pandora.
Movies and the ocean are the love of Cameron’s life. How beautiful is his love letter to the ocean? The author is in a movie theater, but he seems to be in the sea. The magnificent and colorful "water world" is within reach, the light and shadow flicker and flow, the spray is delicate and soft, the marine life is lifelike, and the visual effect is realistic, which can be called a beautiful marine documentary.
The most eye-catching new species is the underwater overlord "Tukun". The scene of Tukun’s migration in the sea, accompanied by magnificent music, is an unprecedented visual spectacle, which can’t help but remind people of "Happy Travel": "There are fish in the north, and their name is Kun. Kun is so big, I don’t know its thousands of miles; Into a bird, its name is Peng. Peng’s back is thousands of miles away. "
On special effects, Avatar 2 can definitely get 100 points. The film critic "Electronic Knight" believes that the picture presentation of the film is top-notch at present. "Almost all the special effects of commercial blockbusters will be somewhat problematic, butAlmost every frame of Avatar 2 is very clear, true and stable.Whether it is CGI objects, physical special effects equipment, vehicles, or remote digital scenery, there is no flaw. "
A Douban netizen who painted Avatar 2 twice also said that there were no flaws in even the smallest side details. "For example, when Luoak was abandoned in Sanxiong Rock and was attacked by sea animals, the audience’s attention was focused on the character. As a result, I found a small coral on the left edge of the rock in a shot, which shrank and crawled slightly along the water flow in the picture … This is no longer a fake, but it is true."
For the audience who advocate "technology flow", only by choosing the special effects hall in the cinema can they feel what is the "ceiling" of the film industry.This is the irreplaceable charm of 3D movies and the unique technical aesthetics..
The script is automatically generated like AI?
"To have special effects, to have special effects on the plot"
After talking about special effects, let’s talk about the plot. "Avatar 2" Douban scored 8.4, and now it has fallen to 8.1, and its reputation is not as good as that of the previous work."Special effects are required, and special effects are required for the plot"-It is not difficult to see from the online hot reviews that the plot is the biggest flaw in the film..
Avatar 2 is set more than 10 years after the end of the first plot, and tells the story of Jack and his family Qi Xin working together to defeat the villain Colonel Kuric.Affection is the main thread that runs through the whole film, but it is evaluated by polarization.: the favorite audience thinks that the family element is sincere enough and moving enough; Disliked audiences spit, the contradiction between father and son, ethnic conflicts and other bridges are too old-fashioned, and the script is like AI automatically generated.
Indeed, if the 193-minute film is completely supported by visual effects, it will inevitably be exhausting. Investigate its reason,Perhaps it is related to the positioning of the second part in the "Avatar Universe". The characters are complex and the story has transitional properties..
Colonel Kuric was saved by his son "Spider", and the characters may be "blackened" or related to Avatar 3: The Seed Bearer; The growth of the youngest son and his acquaintance with Payakan are paving the way for Avatar 4: Tukun Knight. The mystery of the adopted daughter Qili’s life experience and the connection with the spiritual core of Pandora seem to be solved in Avatar 5: Pursuing Eva.
In the view of catching entertainment,Although Avatar 2 is not as urine point-free as the first film, it also has some merits.. The film’s humanistic concern for the environment and biology transcends family ties. Among them, the story about Tukun is the climax of the whole film, full of emotion.
In Cameron’s design, Tukun is a more intelligent creature than human beings. They have their own language, art, mathematics and music, but they never take the initiative to attack foreigners and treat external attacks and plunder with a defensive attitude. However, because there is a substance in its body that can delay aging, it is hunted by the Kun team.
In the film, the plot around Tukun contracted tears. First, Tukun Payakan was killed by humans and became a broken fin Tukun. In order to prevent humans from killing the same kind and protect their loved ones, it was misunderstood by ethnic groups and "left alone"; Second, Tu Kun’s mother was captured by Kun hunters in order to protect her children. Third, Tukun Payakan became friends with Jack’s youngest son. He took revenge in the decisive battle at sea and was called a "hero".
"I want to be friends with Tukun", "Man and nature have always touched me the most, and I also want to have a Tukun", "I cried at the moment when Tukun turned over and boarded the boat …" Weibo casually searched for the review of Avatar 2, and Tukun was the focus of hot discussion, which aroused strong resonance from the audience.The film appeals to people to protect the ocean and respect everything in the universe. As the film says, "water connects everything in the world", and the way of water is endless, with no beginning and no end..
"Retaliatory viewing" did not come.
New films are fixed and withdrawn.
Before Avatar 2 was released, the whole movie market was waiting for it to "save the market". So, how did the film perform at the mainland box office?
According to the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, up to now, the box office of the film has accumulated 540 million yuan, 126 million yuan on the first day and 398 million yuan in the first week.The "retaliatory viewing" expected by the cinema did not come in the first week of release.Since its release on December 16th, Avatar 2 has broken through 200 million box office in 18 hours, 300 million at 13: 00 a day and 400 million at 18: 00 two days. Subsequently, the growth rate of box office slowed down. At 10: 31 on December 22, the box office of the film broke through the 500 million yuan mark, from 400 million to 500 million, which took more than three days.
Previously, the industry predicted that Avatar 2 could reach the highest box office of 3-4 billion in the mainland, but the entertainment record was seen on the two platforms of Lighthouse Professional Edition and Cat’s Eye Professional Edition, and the box office trend forecast chart dropped significantly. Among them, the cat’s eye professional version is predicted to be 1 billion yuan, which is significantly smaller than before.
The global box office of Avatar 2 exceeded 600 million dollars today, and its performance was not as good as expected. The previous movie earned $2.923 billion at the global box office, which is still the first movie in the global film history, and this record has been maintained for more than 10 years.
Why is Avatar 2′ s box office appeal not good? There are many reasons.
First, affected by the epidemic, the willingness to watch movies is generally low.Some netizens teased and said, "Those who are yang can’t go out, and those who are not yang dare not go out." There are also "Yangkangs" who go to the movies, saying that "the cinemas are coughing one after another", which obviously hinders some potential viewers.
Second, affected by the fare, some viewers were dissuaded.There are many versions of Avatar 2, and the ordinary 3D version can’t get the best experience, but the tickets for special effects halls such as laser IMAX and CINITY are too expensive. According to media reports, the price of CINITY Hall in Beijing is around 200-300 yuan, while the price of CINITY Hall in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities is as high as that in 400 yuan. Although the fare has decreased, the CINITY Hall in China is generally about 100 yuan.
Third, influenced by ideas, fans no longer pay for special effects.Twelve years ago, "Avatar" brought fire to 3D viewing, which promoted the rapid expansion of IMAX screens in China. Now, the shooting technology of the second film has been completely advanced, but the audience no longer pursues "special effects are king", but pays more attention to good stories. Earlier, when Yu Dong, the chairman of Bona Film, attended a forum to talk about Avatar 2, he also said that foreign films began to slowly adapt to the viewing habits of China audiences.
However, it is not yet possible to conclude that Avatar 2 failed at the box office. At present, the film has no competitors in genre. As Christmas and New Year’s Day approach, the film is expected to usher in a wave of growth in North America and China. It’s just that the box office performance of Avatar 2 is not as good as expected, which also makes the movie market waver.
In the coming Christmas and New Year’s Eve, there are currently eight new films to be shown from December 23rd to 31st, namely, the Hollywood action comedy Agent Scared, and the cartoon Cat in Boots 2, Dragon Horse! Newborn tennis prince; The romantic film "I want to see you" and "Transformation Raiders" released on the 24th; The cartoon Journey to the West, which was released on 30th, and the comedy Desperate Husband and the cartoon Oak Restaurant, which were released on 31st. Among the eight new films, cartoons account for half.
However, the most anticipated comedy movie "Keep You Safe" chose to withdraw the file. On the evening of December 21st, Weibo, the official of "Keep You Safe", issued a document saying that after comprehensive consideration, it was decided to postpone the release, and the film was previously scheduled for New Year’s Eve.
After the adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies, cinemas have gradually resumed work, and the operating rate of the national film market has recovered to 72.2% (the latest data of Lighthouse Professional Edition). After three years of silence, the recovery of the film industry can not rely on a film to "save the market", and the recovery will also be a long-term process.
