In the just-concluded summer vacation, the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies is high, and the theater attendance rate has gradually increased. Correspondingly, the popularity of the summer movie market continued to rise, setting off a new movie viewing craze. In 2022, the total box office of the summer program will exceed 9 billion yuan, far exceeding the 7.381 billion yuan of last year's summer program, achieving a win-win situation between mainstream value and commercial value.

Realistic themes are full of human fireworks

With the strong return of the fine tradition of realism and the continuous upgrading of artistic creation concepts, realistic themes have not only become popular choices for creation, but also become the backbone of the box office. From "My Father and Me" in the National Day file in 2021 to stimulate the audience's strong feelings for their parents and even the motherland, to "Embrace You Through the Cold Winter" and "Miracle Stupid Child" leading the New Year's Day and Spring Festival market in 2022, the creators from While excavating materials in the bonanza of real life, we constantly innovate the artistic expression method to make the theme of the work more grounded, the audio-visual language is actively innovated, and the role modeling is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. These characteristics are particularly prominent in the reality-themed films that emerged this summer.

"Life events" stills

"Life Events", which was released on June 24, made a good start for the realistic theme with excellent box office and word of mouth. The film tells the touching story of the young Mo Sanmei and the little girl Wu Xiaowen from confronting each other to being better than their relatives. In the atmosphere of mixed joy and sorrow, the work explores the topic of life concept on a macro level, and pays attention to the living conditions of ordinary people on a micro level, so that the audience can think about the meaning of life after crying and laughing. "You Are My Spring", which also focuses on reality, takes the form of a platter-style short story, showing all living beings shrouded in the dark cloud of the epidemic. Whether it is a couple who broke up due to parental opposition, a father and son who usually neglect to communicate, or a piano girl who lives alone, these characters face the sudden epidemic even though they were caught off guard, even sad and painful, but they still face it with a smile and never only pay attention to it. Small love such as family affection and love has turned into a big love with family and country.

"You Are My Spring" poster

Although the styles of the films are different and the content is diverse, they are all filled with a strong atmosphere of human fireworks. The creators do not whitewash the reality, do not evade problems, focus on the ordinary life of ordinary people, and tell about their life experiences of persevering in difficulties, struggling in hardships, and full of awe and true love for life and life. Such warm stories make the seeds of love and hope take root in the hearts of the audience, and inspire every "you" and "me" who are working hard to move forward bravely.

Science fiction films explore the characteristic road of mixed styles

While creating on the ground and close to the people, we do not forget to look up at the stars and embrace the future. In the Spring Festival of 2019, "The Wandering Earth" made a stunning appearance, breaking the box office records of domestic films several times, and the critics even called this year "the first year of Chinese science fiction". In 2020, the State Film Administration and the China Association for Science and Technology issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of Science Fiction Films", proposing to make science fiction films an important growth point and new driving force for the high-quality development of films. These ten policy measures are regarded as the "Science Fiction Ten" to start a new journey of Chinese science fiction. These efforts to promote the development of Chinese science fiction films received a concentrated response this summer. Science fiction films such as "Lone Walk on the Moon", "Tomorrow's War" and "Mozart in Outer Space" have been released in turn, forming a unique landscape in the film market.

Stills of "Walking on the Moon"

Among them, "Lonely Walking on the Moon", which was the champion of the summer box office, integrates the comic style into the sci-fi narrative. The film contains both hilarious and funny one-man dramas and deep thoughts on the fate of human beings. high-frequency words that appear. "Mozart in Outer Space" runs through a family education topic under the theme of science fiction - when the rebellious period meets the menopause, it has always been a "difficult scripture" for every family. The film can not only provide children with a new sense of wonder, but also inspire parents with ideas, accurately grasping the viewing needs of summer audiences for family fun. "Tomorrow's War" integrates the elements of action scenes into the theme of mecha. When the future warriors fight with alien monsters, they will punch to the "iron", and the flow of water will be pleasing to the eye.

"Tomorrow's War" stills

From the lunar base to the world of mechas, the summer sci-fi films depict a magical and magnificent fantasy world for the audience with a wide-open space-time imagination and a grand vision of the universe. These works have explored the mix of science fiction narrative, comedy, action and other elements, opening up more imagination space for future creations.

Rich genres provide viewers with more choices

The summer file not only has realistic themes and science fiction films that complement each other, but also various types of works such as love and family shine, providing a wealth of movie viewing options for audiences with different needs. The romantic film "The Long Confession" does not have the pain of youth, nor does it force sensationalism, but depicts the emotional relationship between middle-aged men and women, either plain restraint or romantic reality. "My Extraordinary Parents", which also focuses on family relationships, and "The One Who Loves Me Most in the World" have very different styles. The former is adapted from the director's own experience and tells the growth story of a pair of blind parents raising a sighted daughter, while the latter is about It shows the process of single-parent fathers and mothers taking risks and fighting against fate in order to save their seriously ill daughter from the disease.

"New God List: Yang Jian" stills

Parents and children watching movies together is an important entertainment item in the summer vacation, and animated movies are also an important dish that will not be absent at the summer movie feast. This year's summer animation films also performed well: "New Gods List: Yang Jian" and "Farewell to the Monster in the Classic of Mountains and Seas" feature mythical characters as the main characters, and are based on classical masterpieces, so that the fine traditional Chinese cultural genes can be adapted to contemporary culture, In harmony with modern society; the TV animation IP series of film works "Pig Man Movie Ocean Diary" and "Small Column under the Sea: Cave Adventure" continue to use the original story background and characters to meet the needs of small fans on the big screen. A desire to meet your favorite anime characters.

This summer, the good news for Chinese films continues: the Beijing International Film Festival and the Changchun Film Festival have been held successively, and film talents have participated in the grand event to make suggestions for the high-quality development of the film industry; when the 2022 film consumption season is in progress, many The movie ticketing platform will issue a total of 100 million yuan of movie viewing consumption coupons to stimulate consumption enthusiasm; the State Film Administration and China Construction Bank Co., Ltd. signed a framework cooperation agreement on promoting movie viewing consumption, and China Construction Bank will invest a total of 50 million yuan within this year. It is used to directly subsidize audiences to watch movies and buy tickets... Under the stimulation of these "combination punches", the market space for Chinese films will be further opened up, and more excellent works that are well-received will continue to emerge. China is just around the corner from a movie power to a movie power.

(Wang Heite is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the Art Institute of Communication University of China, and Yang Yajie is a doctoral student of the Art Institute of Communication University of China. This article was originally published in the 15th edition of "Guangming Daily" on September 7, 2022)