1905 movie network feature Directed by,,,,, and other starring Xianxia fantasy movie was released on January 20, 2024. The film tells the story of the girl Hua Qiangu’s struggle with fate all the way, finally finding herself, and harvesting pure love. The movie continues the original play of the original work, preparing to evoke the memories of the whole people’s pursuit of this master-disciple sadomasochism.
However, the movie version of "Hua Qiangu" has been sluggish since the official announcement. After the movie was released, the box office on the first day was less than 3 million, and the predicted box office was only about 20 million. Audiences who have seen the movie do not buy the quality of the movie, and even call it the first bad movie in 2024. Many people say it is "the first bad year".
In 2015, the TV series "Hua Qiangu" adapted from the novel of the same name, once broadcast, triggered a ratings boom, with popular actors, and set off a "Xianxia fever" across the country. The average audience rating of the TV series broke 2, and the audience share of the finale was as high as 50%. It broke the viewing record of China’s weekly broadcast drama. Why did the movie version "Hua Qiangu" "Love Tribulation" resurface after 8 years but no longer have a good reputation?
What’s wrong with "Hua Qiangu"?
Film critic Wu Yanyu gave her own opinion. From all aspects, she did not feel the sincerity of the film version "Hua Qiangu" as a movie.
The first is that the "Hua Qiangu" IP is basically out of popularity in 2024.
Before 2015, our audience saw more pure fairy fantasy works. At that time, in the form of a fairy and idol, "Flower Qiangu" pioneered the vertical type of "fairy puppet" and became the favorite film and television genre of young audiences at that time. By 2024, the audience had seen too many "fairy puppet" dramas and too many handsome men and beautiful women, so they were not so "cold" for this type of movie.
Secondly, in the casting, the audience was not satisfied with the casting of the male and female protagonists, and was questioned as "not immortal, very down-to-earth".
As a well-deserved protagonist in "Hua Qiangu", when Zhao Liying played this role, she was very smart and immersive, including the blackened performance in the later stage of the series. Zhao Liying could also perform a sense of contrast and bring the role of Hua Qiangu to life. Compared with the TV version of "Hua Qiangu", the make-up of the female protagonist Chen Turin in the film version was not as smart as Zhao Liying back then, and her acting skills were also quite different from Zhao Liying’s.
The image of the male protagonist Baizi painting is a relatively silent, thoughtful immortal, which is very suitable for the image of a relatively cold person. However, the ancient costume shape of Li Chengbin in the film version is too different from the image of Baizi painting in the minds of many audiences.
In addition, because of the length of the movie, the plot progression of the movie version also appears more blunt and sudden.
The relationship between Hua Qiangu and Baizi’s master and apprentice in the film and television drama was described at a long length, from the fact that the two could not fall in love, to the process of the two from the taboo to the final break, the gradual progression of the feelings would make the audience feel so moved.
However, in the movie, these two people broke the principle of "master and disciple taboo" very suddenly. In the movie, Bai Zihua was injured, and Hua Qiangu went to save him. Why did Hua Qiangu save his master? Where did their relationship start to grow? What did Hua Qiangu endure during the process of saving her master? How did the two "blacken"? How did they return to the right track after "blackening"? The movie unfolded in a hurry for more than ten minutes, and the screenwriter of the related plot of the two people’s emotional changes did not explain it, so the audience was also confused.
In the end, the special effects production was also quite shoddy, unable to match the audience’s expectations. Some viewers even commented that "CG network is at a high level, and webcasting is recommended".
A good Xianxia movie definitely has a relatively high threshold in terms of special effects, but judging from the level of special effects in this movie, it seems to be stuck at the same level as five years ago.
Therefore, from the film version of "Hua Qiangu", we can see that the popularity of IP will gradually decline, and the capital boom will gradually subside. If the creators of the film are not attentive, then as the audience said, the film may not really need to appear in the market.
The way out of the drama?
How to successfully create a second-generation film based on the drama version has become a problem that plagues filmmakers. As far as the "drama-to-film" model is concerned, it was very popular in the past few years. It was a pity that they did not achieve good reputation and box office results, and also consumed the trust of subsequent audiences in the entire "drama-to-film" category.
It can be said that it is more difficult to adapt a TV series into a movie than to create a brand new story. Although adaptations have a certain IP effect and have more advantages in publicity and marketing in the later stage, for film creation, adaptations are often constrained by the story of the series, the character setting, the actors and other parties, and the requirements for screenwriters and directors are higher.
Therefore, in order to meet the audience’s expectations, it is best to keep the original starring role in the movie remake project, but you can choose the behind-the-scenes production staff who are more familiar with the rules of film creation. At the same time, for an IP to carry out secondary creation, it must have some dialogue and combination with the current era and the current audience, and treat it with the most sincere and rigorous attitude, in order to make a second creation that is no less influential than its own IP.
The big IP that should have been getting hotter and hotter was getting colder and colder, from the empty alley to the lonely opening. In fact, the era of relying on reputation and attention has passed, and it is ultimately up to filmmakers to create movies with their hearts!
