On September 7, the 62nd day of the release of "Hidden in the Dust", the box office broke the 100 million yuan mark. This number is not uncommon in a blockbuster that can easily cost billions of dollars, but it is indeed a miracle for such a slow-paced and gloomy literary film.

"Hidden in the Dust" broke 100 million poster

This is a film that has been fermented entirely by word of mouth. Today's box office stories carry the desire from every "tap water" living in this land to "see" and "be seen".

"At first, I thought it might be a one-day trip, and it would be a big deal to have two or three million box office. I didn't expect the audience to spread the word and call the theater manager to ask for the film. The final result exceeded the expectations of the creative team." Even director Li Ruijun himself Said, "It was a total accident."

"Hidden in the Dust" was released on July 8, with 2.3% of the films on the first day, and only one person per game. Under the unique film aesthetics, the time when the two abandoned bottom people redeemed each other, the film's rating soared from 7.8 at the beginning of its release to 8.5, and more and more audiences joined the ranks of "tap water". Amway's movie on various social platforms.

"Hidden in the Dust" is currently rated at 8.5 points on Douban

The first 10 million yuan at the box office took 14 days, the second 10 million yuan, reached on the 43rd day, a week later, it broke 30 million yuan, and three days later, it broke 40 million yuan. With the film completely "out of the circle", after September, the film has a new 10 million level every day, and has beaten "Lone Walking on the Moon", "New God List: Yang Jian", and "Minions Big Eyes: Despicable Me" for four consecutive days "Prequel" and other Chinese and foreign blockbusters are firmly seated at the daily box office champions.

The literary films that "out of the circle" in those years

By placing the achievements of "Hidden in the Dust" in the development process of the literary film market, we can see the difficulty and the significance of it.

Since "Fireworks in the Day" in 2014 exceeded 100 million yuan at the box office and broke the ceiling of literary and artistic films, the "out of the circle" of literary and artistic films has more or less "tricky" or "painful" in different aspects. For example, in 2016, when director Wu Tianming's posthumous work "A Hundred Birds and the Phoenix" was released, the producer Fang Li knelt down and asked to arrange the film, which once became a phenomenal industry event of that year, and also gained 8692 million dollar box office.

Stills of "Hundred Birds and the Phoenix"

In 2017, a documentary titled "Twenty-two" was released during the summer vacation. It went out of the circle because of its heavy theme and broad national sentiment. Many young people bought tickets and invited strangers to watch the movie, hoping to practice it with practical actions. History should not be forgotten.

"Gang Rinpoche" stills

Also in 2017, "Gang Rinpoche" directed by Zhang Yang also created a memory of domestic literary films breaking the circle. However, upon closer inspection and comparison, its successful path is still "top-down" elite, and it also depends on the accurate and efficient publicity path at that time. Its project accurately targets senior movie fans, literary and artistic youths, people who are concerned about their beliefs, and people who like Tibetan regional culture, and become the main force driving core movie viewing. The movie chose Pu Shu's new song as the ending song and asked me to appear at the premiere to promote it. The topic of "300,000 Rinpoche in Chaoyang District" also surfaced through the movie at that time. Coupled with the introduction of the "crowdfunding" link, the group support and circulation of the entrepreneurial circle and the corporate circle, the blessing of the filter of Tibetan culture, etc., this film finally broke through the ceiling of the so-called art film in China, and also achieved It is a story of precision marketing that year. Benefiting from the movie-watching boom in the year of "Kang Rinpoche", another feature film "Seventy-Seven Days", which is also about the exploration of pilgrimage in Tibet, also broke the box office mark of 100 million yuan.

"Last Night on Earth" stills

At the end of 2018, "Last Night on Earth" took the "Kiss New Year's Eve" as its selling point, and the box office broke 200 million yuan within 7 hours of its release. , "New Year's Eve" has become a conventional movie schedule.

The most resonant comment from netizens for "Hidden in the Dust" is, "The whole film does not say a single word of bitterness, but it is bitter; the whole film does not say a single word of love, but it loves to the extreme." At present, the film has gained His empathy for suffering and love is reminiscent of another "extremely bitter" niche film "Why Home", a Lebanese film that earned 376 million yuan at the box office in mainland China in 2019.

"Hidden in the Dust" stills

"Hidden Into the Dust" is a movie without "starlight". Although Haiqing's "plastic surgery" acting bonus is added, it can be judged from the performance of the film at the beginning of its release that the joining of a well-known actor did not bring much to the film. Substantial box office appeal.

And most literary and artistic films of the same magnitude mostly require the creator's success and the "card face" of the main creator to achieve common achievements. Zhang Yimou's return to Cannes, "One Second" has a box office of 131 million yuan; director Cheng Er has gathered Zhang Ziyi, Ge You and other big names in the "Romantic Death History" 123 million yuan; Jia Zhangke, who has won awards from three major film festivals The highest-grossing movie "Children of Rivers and Lakes" was less than 70 million yuan; Lou Ye's "A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind", which had been expected for three years, was 64.99 million yuan; Gong Li and many international first-line big names joined "Lan Xin Grand Theater", but More than 20 million yuan; "Long Time", which won the best male and female protagonist at the Berlin Film Festival, was 45.23 million yuan... If you put aside the blessings of the main creators and rely only on the performance of new directors and non-professional actors, it will break 10 million yuan. "Heart Labyrinth" can already be regarded as "phenomenal" in the creative pedigree of the author's film.

A film's precious breakthrough

"Hidden in the Dust" has no "hidden". Its success is a coincidence that the right time, place and people are suitable. It may not be copied, but it has extremely positive significance for creators, audiences and the market.

After the online video website, the complete material has become the creative source of various short video bloggers and big Vs. Online movie viewing has not only failed to divert offline movie viewing enthusiasm, but has become the driving force for more audiences to enter the theater. Such cases have at least allowed the industry to see new possibilities for the tit-for-tat between movies and short videos, cinemas and streaming media.

"Hidden in the Dust" stills

Director Li Ruijun said in a recent interview with "Film and Television Monologue" that the success of "Hidden in the Dust" was "a response" to him. "Whether it's box office results or audience discussions, it's a kind of recognition for me, it brings confidence to my creation, and it also brings confidence to investors. It may also make the theater think about whether it will be necessary in the future. Kill a movie that doesn't seem to sell well. We often say that any movie has its audience, and the theater needs to give them a chance, and maybe there will be a good result."

On social networking sites, ordinary audiences are enthusiastically "confronting" whether such a suffering film really reflects life, and various common but ignored in daily life are connected with more similar experiences and resonances. The viewing of the film is conveyed and discussed, and the brilliance and warmth of humanity, which has become increasingly scarce, also makes many viewers feel a different kind of "healing" in addition to the cold reality.

Film scholar Dai Jinhua said in a conversation with Li Ruijun, "One of the social functions that films should have is to allow us to see those invisible people through the screen. Seeing those who exist in our surroundings like air, but are surrounded by various All kinds of social factors, social prejudices, and people who are obscured by the structure of society." She congratulated Li Ruijun, "It has obviously continued into the vein of our own film, and its real and film achievements are very valuable. ."

In 2012 and 2013, Li Ruijun was shortlisted for FIRST with "Old Donkey's Head" and "Tell Them, I'm Going on a White Crane", and Li Ziwei, the CEO of the film festival, was very emotional to witness the development of the literary film market, "At that time, literary films were 'three no's'. product', the market has not yet had a reasonable distribution system, and there is no path to be found... In the past 10 years, many people's efforts have not been in vain, but they have only received a visual response at this moment. Breakthrough of a film will not be the norm. , but it is indeed a clarion call for the author's film. It calls for more systematic policy support, a sounder film market, more investment to join, and more serious authors."