Special feature of 1905 film network At the 11th National Congress of China Film Association, Jason Wu was elected as the 11th Vice Chairman of China Film Association. As the mainstay of China films, Jason Wu has been paying attention to and supporting the development of the industry as a director and actor.
When he appeared in public activities earlier, he talked about it in combination with his own experience. "No one is watching kung fu movies now, and the breakthrough of martial arts movies has encountered difficulties." He mentioned a small-budget action movie, trying to hit the Spring Festival file, but he dared not, so he could only enter the online movie market.
Perhaps the film mentioned by Jason Wu is "Arrogant 2".
Douban’s 7.1-point "Arrogant" is one of the best online movies in 2022. The sequel is made according to the standard of cinema movies. It was originally scheduled to meet the audience in the cinema, but in the end it missed the big screen and chose to stream on the first day of the New Year’s Day.
The official blog statement of "Arrogant 2" is full of regrets: "Martial arts movies, as a unique genre in China, once went to the world and enjoyed great glory, but today they show a scene of withering creation and rare market. After sighing, we firmly believe that the revival of martial arts is not far away, but it needs everyone’s joint efforts. What we have to do is to survive first. "
As Jason Wu said, the dilemma faced by action movies now is that "the audience doesn’t want to watch it". Kung fu movies, in particular, seem to have not been popular for a long time. After Jackie Chan, Jet Li and other older generations left Kung Fu movies, few new forces emerged. Kung fu movies have been in trouble for a long time, and their future is covered with dust.
Kung fu movies, "old"?
Kung fu films originated in the 1920s, and have a history of one hundred years. To show the main division, they are divided into martial arts films and martial arts films. The former emphasizes showing the essence and connotation of martial arts culture, while the latter highlights the protagonist’s solid fighting skills.
In the 1970s, Bruce Lee set off a kungfu movie craze with a series of influential works such as The Raptors Crossing the River, Jingwumen and enter the dragon. In the following decades, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Pei-Pei Cheng, Kara Wai, etc. carried forward kung fu films through one masterpiece after another. Kung Fu movies were once the golden paint signboard of China movies. China Kung Fu is famous in the world.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Huo Yuanjia, Master Generation, etc. have created a number of chivalrous images with high martial arts skills, and the momentum of kung fu movies is still strong. But in recent years, the output and quality are not as good as before.
The last high-profile work can be traced back to "Ip Man 4: The Final Chapter" five years ago, with a cumulative box office of 1.181 billion, setting a new record for the highest box office of China film history kung fu movies, which has been maintained to this day.
There are many reasons for the decline of Kung Fu movies.
The fault of kung fu talents is an unavoidable dilemma. Although action actors have "real skills", they can’t stand the time and tide wait for no man.
Jet Li, 60, is in a state of rest. The 69-year-old Jackie Chan has rarely shown his skills on the screen, but has integrated his kung fu feelings into the Dragon and Horse Spirit. The same 60+ Kara Wai fought for "I love you! "My Extraordinary Parents" and other "literary dramas", Yang Ziqiong also faces new challenges such as "Instant Universe" in Hollywood. In the Mesozoic era, Jason Wu, Max Zhang and Wu Yue, which are nearly 50 years old, have also passed the "year of fighting", but Xie Miao, who is about to enter 40, can fight but is not hot enough to play in cinema movies.
Long training time, bitter training environment, easy to leave injuries and other factors weakened the younger generation’s desire to learn Kung Fu. The lack of "martial arts students" and "beating women" in the new generation also makes kung fu movies lose their "backbone".
Not only the actors are "old", but also the audience who loved kung fu movies. With the post-1995 s and post-00 s becoming the main force of movie viewing, China movie audiences gradually complete the iteration. According to the Survey Report on Movie-viewing Preference of Generation Z, comedy is the favorite movie type of Generation Z, followed by science fiction and youth, and action movies rank only sixth among young people.
Different from the post-80s and post-90s, Generation Z "missed" the glorious period of kung fu movies, and there are not many collective memories of such movies. It is difficult for Kung fu IP, which focuses on "sentimental killing", to arouse their desire to watch movies.
Jackie Chan, Jet Li and other world-renowned kung fu superstars still have a certain box office appeal in the Z era, but as mentioned above, they have rarely appeared in kung fu films. Even if the other less famous kung fu actors have new works, it is difficult to ignore the influence brought by the change of audience and market environment, or because of the box office pressure, they finally choose to give up the cinema.
For example, Wu Yue’s "Stop the Horse and Take the Knife" and Xie Miao’s "Arrogant" series only meet the audience in streaming media.
The new era is changing with each passing day, and the entertainment methods are more diverse. Movies have to "grab" the younger generation with offline entertainment such as exhibitions, performances and secret room scripts. Comedy, science fiction and youth movies, which are favored by young people, are undoubtedly the magic weapon for the film market to compete for favor, and have certain advantages in obtaining investment and grabbing the market. To some extent, this also reduces the living space of kung fu movies.
Kung fu movies, where is the way?
"There must be a market for China Kung Fu movies!"
Jason Wu was full of confidence when he founded "Shadow Martial Arts Hall", hoping to gather young people and explore a new path for China Kung Fu movies. "Yingwutang" keeps running training camps, and a group of young students have successfully "graduated".
Previously, Wu Yue, who is also enthusiastic about Kung Fu movies, also revealed that he has formed a "Tibetan Warrior" with a group of like-minded friends, and is dedicated to helping young actors complete interesting action performances.
The predecessors spared no effort to "teach and help", which made us see the hope of the new generation of kung fu actors to take over. It is reported that the Central Academy of Drama will also set up a special action performance class to train action film talents more systematically from the beginning of enrollment in 2024.
The back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves. The back waves are rolling forward, and the front waves are not stagnant.
Jason Wu plans to shoot a series of action movies "Knife, Gun, Sword and Stick are Long in South Pacific", with a total of seven films, and the script of "Knife" is already in the polishing stage. Donnie Yen announced that Ip Man 5 was put on the agenda at Cannes International Film Festival last year. Ang Lee’s "Bruce Lee", which was staged by his father and son, came out earlier that it was about to start. Tsui Hark’s The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Man of chivalry is expected to be unveiled this year.
Guo Jing, whose left hand is full of dragons and his right hand is empty fist, is skilled in "fighting between left and right". Fu Ruoqing revealed earlier that Sean Xiao, who plays Guo Jing, had a variety of training before deciding to star in The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Man.
In addition, Bruce Lee takes the movie enter the dragon as the central axis, trying to reproduce the unique actions of a generation of superstars on the screen. Mason Lee has been trained in martial arts for five years in order to play the role of Bruce Lee.
It remains to be seen whether young actors who have not practiced martial arts since childhood can perform kung fu movies well through training the day after tomorrow.
It is worth noting that The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Hero of the Chivalrous Man was born out of Jin Yong’s masterpiece The Legend of the Condor Heroes. Jason Wu’s Knife is intended to pay tribute to Tsui Hark’s film of the same name, and IP Man 5 is the continuation and expansion of the series of Ip Man. At present, kung fu movies are mostly keen on rooting in classic themes or taking advantage of the situation to make IP popular. How to open new flowers in old bottles is also a problem that creators need to consider carefully.
Kung fu movies have a long way to go to regain their glory. Fortunately, China filmmakers never give up, unite and cooperate, work together, and believe that Kung Fu movies will still usher in the next "spring"!
