More than ten new films to be shown, can domestic sci-fi once again detonate the film market？

After the great success of The Wandering Earth in 2019, domestic sci-fi films have disappeared for more than two years. Recently, China science fiction movies have returned to the audience’s field of vision. At the just-concluded 5th Pingyao International Film Festival, the low-budget sci-fi film Cosmic Exploration Editorial Department, directed by newcomer Kong Dashan, won many awards, such as Best Film in Fei Mu, Best Film in Youth Awards and Fans’ Choice Honor. The film was "escorted" by The Wandering Earth’s core team, which attracted a lot of attention in the movie circle. At the same time, the much-anticipated Wandering Earth 2 was launched in Qingdao. Based on Liu Cixin’s novel of the same name, the films Three-body, Ball Lightning, Full-band barrage jamming and Supporting God are under development. In addition, Mozart in Outer Space, Pioneers and Tomorrow’s War have all been finished, waiting to be released … In the future, a large number of China science fiction films will meet the audience.

Various types of sci-fi movies are to be shown.

The Wandering Earth quickly raised the level of China’s sci-fi movies, and many fans are eagerly looking forward to the sequel. Recently, "Wandering Earth 2" was announced to be launched in Qingdao. Producer Gong Geer said in an interview during the 2021 Qingdao Film and Television Expo that everything is ready for creation and funding. "I hope it can meet the audience in the Spring Festival of 2023!" Gong Geer introduced that Wandering Earth 2 was still born out of Liu Cixin’s novel of the same name, telling the story of human beings looking for a new home in outer space. The film has two key points, one is continuity and the other is innovation.

The small-budget sci-fi film "Space Exploration Editorial Department", which was supervised by Frant Gwo, shined brilliantly in the 5th Pingyao International Film Exhibition held not long ago. In the form of mockumentary, director Kong Dashan tells the story of a down-and-out editor-in-chief of a sci-fi magazine who embarks on a journey to find aliens. Different from the sci-fi genre in the general sense, this film is a mixture of absurdity, black humor, road film and other elements. After the premiere of the film, Douban scored 8.7 points. As the movie poster said, it is "exploring another possibility of China science fiction movies".

Moon Man, a sci-fi comedy starring Shen Teng and Mary, is expected to be released in 2022 and is currently in the post-production stage. This is Mahua FunAge’s first challenge to science fiction comedy. Liu Hongtao, CEO of Mahua FunAge, revealed that Moon Man has a total investment of 500 million yuan, and its hardcore science fiction level is comparable to that of The Wandering Earth. Chen Sicheng’s first sci-fi film "Mozart in Outer Space" has also been finished. The producer Qian Chongyuan revealed that the film is still in post-production and invited famous Japanese musician Joe Hisaishi to score. The sci-fi action movie War of Tomorrow, co-produced by Louis Koo and Liu Qingyun, also started shooting as early as 2017, but it has not been released. There are also a number of sci-fi movies that have entered the post-production stage waiting to be released, including 749 Bureau directed by Lu Chuan, Pioneer, the first film of Zhang Xiaobei, a well-known film critic, Safe Evacuation from the 21st Century, and Heavy Metal Hunter, a sci-fi movie focusing on artificial intelligence.

"Please Answer When You Hear" starring Angel and Chen Sinuo is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2022. The film focuses on the future world in 2030, and tells the story that Molly, an introverted ten-year-old girl, and her loser robot grow up and find love and courage in their journey to find their father. The film was developed and produced for 4 years, and won the honor of China Science Fiction Conference Film Venture Capital Jury. On the list of films to be shown, there is also the film "Folding City" adapted from Hao Jingfang’s original novel "Beijing Folding", which won the Best Short Story Award in the 74th Hugo Award in 2016. Wanda Film and Television has released this film in the list of films in 2021-2022.

The sci-fi comedy "Mars Project" with Ning Hao as artistic director has also been put on record, directed by newcomer Zhao Dadi. Ning Hao revealed at this year’s Shanghai Film Festival that the "Mars Project" will continue the spirit of "Crazy Series", telling a story about a man with a dream of Mars. After landing on Mars, he found that Mars was far from what he thought, which triggered a series of jokes. In addition, the film and television investment production agreement for the military science fiction film "Satellite Rescue" was signed in Lanzhou, Gansu on October 29th.

Science fiction IP was "snapped up"

After The Wandering Earth’s great success, the previously neglected science fiction literature IP became a hot topic, and the minor sci-fi novels were snatched away, and the adaptation rights of almost all the works of science fiction writer Liu Cixin were bought away.

In 2014, Liu Cixin’s novel Three-body was bought by Kong Ergou at a very low price, and it was announced that it would be adapted into a movie. In June 2016, the film producer Shanghai Youzu Film Industry suffered personnel changes, and the entire organizational structure faced great adjustments. The release of "Three-body" was suspended. At present, the film has no following except some early stills and a shooting tidbit. However, in June 2020, the film version of Three-body directed by Tian Xiaopeng, the director of Return of the Great Sage, was put on the agenda; In addition, the drama version of "Three-body" produced by Penguin Film and Television has been finished, starring Edward Zhang; Netflix has also obtained the copyright of "Three-body" and announced that the first episode was directed by Ceng Guoxiang, director of Better Days’s "July and An Sheng".

Preview of drama version of "Three-body"

According to Liu Cixin’s novel, the film version and drama version of Ball Lightning have been approved. The drama version is supervised by Chen Sicheng and is expected to be launched in the first half of next year. Because the original is a hard science fiction work based on advanced physics theory, the adaptation of Ball Lightning is highly anticipated by the audience.

Another Liu Cixin work, Supporting God, was officially announced by Ning Hao as the producer, "Hello! Mr. Tree is directed by Han Jie. "Supporting God" tells the story that the God civilization that created life on earth in the universe has nearly declined, and what happened after God civilization wandered to the earth by spaceship.

Full-Band barrage jamming, about the future war, is adapted from Liu Cixin’s novel of the same name. The original work won the Galaxy Award for science fiction in 2001, and the film was approved in May 2020. It was shot by the Aggregation Film Association, which released Wolf Warriors 2, The Wandering Earth and other films, and Yi Changchun served as the screenwriter.

Rao Shuguang, president of China Film Criticism Society, told Variety Daily that China’s sci-fi novels are ahead of sci-fi movies. For example, Liu Cixin, who won the Best Novel Award in the 73rd Hugo Award for his Three-body, has worldwide influence. For the sci-fi IP being "snapped up", Rao Shuguang bluntly said, "Not all companies have the funds and resources to shoot sci-fi movies. Many people buy the copyright first and hold it in their hands, waiting for the right development opportunity."

Is spring coming for domestic sci-fi films?

It is not difficult to see from the above film list that China sci-fi movies have made a lot of moves in the past few years, but the dystocia rate is high. Generally speaking, they are still crossing the river by feeling the stones. However, the market and audience are still full of expectations for domestic science fiction films. In 2020, the National Film Bureau and the China Association for Science and Technology jointly issued "Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of Science Fiction Films", and put forward 10 policy measures to strengthen support and guidance for the creation, production, distribution and screening, special effects technology and personnel training of science fiction films, which means that the state gives strong support to science fiction films from the policy level.

"Science fiction movies have a huge investment, and the production difficulty is much higher than that of ordinary movies. The available schedules are limited to summer, National Day and Spring Festival." Rao Shuguang, when analyzing the current situation of domestic sci-fi films, said that on the one hand, China’s film industry has developed rapidly in recent years, which has provided certain material conditions for sci-fi film creation in terms of hardware, but its soft power is still weak, such as the lack of mature creative sci-fi film practitioners, including screenwriters and directors; On the other hand, the architecture of the whole sci-fi film has not yet taken shape, and it is difficult to meet the requirements of text presentation by upgrading the visual level technology. Therefore, there is still a certain distance from the mass production of sci-fi movies.

Rao Shuguang also mentioned that The Wandering Earth is a typical example of director Frant Gwo’s single-handedness and years of "death". "If you want to be a qualified director of science fiction movies, you need persistent enthusiasm for science fiction movies in addition to capital and technology."

The Wandering Earth stills

In addition, in terms of thinking mode, domestic sci-fi movies also have some problems to be solved. "Science fiction movies are essentially a world outlook and philosophical thinking, full of imagination and creativity. However, our way of thinking focuses on realism and rational considerations, which is different from the imagination aesthetics and imagination consumption required by science fiction movies. " Rao Shuguang said that how science fiction movies can have greater empathy with the current audience in China-this problem still needs to be explored and solved. "The sustainable and prosperous development of domestic science fiction movies, especially the’ explosion’ at the market level, is not only a test for creators, but also a test for China movie audiences."

After 12 days in China, the sci-fi masterpiece Dune only earned more than 200 million yuan at the box office, far below industry expectations. The audience seems to have lost interest in Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters. Can China’s sci-fi movies suddenly emerge and catch up? Rao Shuguang analyzed that in the past, due to the backward industrialization level of China films, domestic audiences were often shocked by the audio-visual wonders of Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters and deeply attracted by the world view behind the films; However, the current audience in China has gone through the blind worship period and has a more rational preference judgment. Talking about the creation and production of China’s sci-fi movies, Rao Shuguang thinks that there is no need to overemphasize China’s characteristics. "Our way of thinking and world outlook will definitely be reflected in the relationship between characters and story creation, and overemphasizing China’s characteristics will easily tie our hands and feet. When we look up at the starry sky, we should have more imagination and expression based on the common values of mankind. Such domestic sci-fi movies will not only be sought after by domestic audiences, but also be recognized by international audiences, opening up more space in the international communication level of China movies. "

Image source: Douban

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