Why did Oppenheimer’s ＂Bruce Lee＂ hit the biographical film？

Special feature of 1905 film network Nolan’s latest film, Oppenheimer, has topped 922 million dollars at the box office, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody and becoming the highest-grossing biographical film in the world.

The film was released in mainland China on August 30th. As of press time, the box office closed at US$ 54.796 million (equivalent to RMB 400 million), making it one of the top ten biographies of film history in mainland China.

Biographies have never been the "main course" of the film market. But it does not prevent this kind of film from being favored by famous directors.

In the past, The Last Emperor was born under the lens of bernardo bertolucci. Wong Kar-wai worked on "A Generation of Masters"; Infernal Affairs and Gemini Siu Fai Mak and Zhuang Wenqiang jointly directed Guan Yunchang; Chen Kaige made Mei Lanfang. These are all works that have experienced market tests and achieved certain results.

Next, Bruce Lee’s life experience will be put on the big screen by Ang Lee, and Ang Lee’s son Mason Lee has been training for five years to play Bruce Lee. Danny Chan’s half-life legend will also be made into a film, escorted by Wen Weihong, director of The Apostles 2. Continuing the series of Ip Man, Donnie Yen admitted at Cannes International Film Festival earlier that Ip Man 5 was under development.Biographies and movies are coming one after another. Is it so "fragrant"?

Biographies are not popular in China market?

You can’t just rely on the fame of the characters and the feelings of the audience to break the circle.

Biographical films are not particularly popular in China market. At present, the most popular movie is Wrestle! "Dad", the China mainland box office closed at 1.299 billion, becoming the first non-Hollywood imported film with a box office of over 1 billion. 1.299 billion, which is also the highest box office record of biographical films in China mainland market for the time being.

Oppenheimer’s global box office is as high as 922 million US dollars, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody to become the highest-grossing biographical film in the world’s film history, but China is not its biggest ticket warehouse.

The release time of the film in mainland China was more than one month later than that in North America. It has attracted much attention before it was finalized. On the one hand, Nolan has released a new work three years after Tenet, and the image quality brought by IMAX and 65mm film carries the expectations of many fans. On the other hand, the ups and downs of Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, are really interesting.

There is no doubt that Oppenheimer is a world-renowned physicist. But it must be said that most China audiences don’t know it well.

Perhaps it is because of the threshold of watching movies. The audience in China, Oppenheimer is concentrated in first-and second-tier cities, with 42.3% white-collar workers and 21% students. Even if the douban score is as high as 8.8, there is no large-scale circle in the end.

As of press time, the film’s box office in mainland China totaled US$ 54.796 million, far lower than the US$ 319 million in North America. Compared with Germany and France, which have relatively small population bases, it is only a few million dollars higher.

Biographies are different from ordinary feature films, and the plot structure is restricted by the deeds of the characters themselves. Because of the differences in viewing aesthetics and habits brought by cultural differences, the audience of biographical films will have certain limitations. In other words, even if the reputation of a biopic bursts, it may not have brilliant box office results.

In Douban 8.6, Bohemian Rhapsody paid tribute to Queen, legendary lead singer Freddie Mokuri and their music. The film’s global box office closed at $9.13, but its total box office in China was $13.612 million, far lower than that in North America, Japan, Britain and South Korea.Douban 8.5,The darkest hourIt tells the story of the important trial faced by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during his tenure as Prime Minister. The global box office of the film received $150 million, but the cumulative box office in China was $5.127 million, far lower than that in North America, Britain, France and Australia.

In terms of Chinese movies, Anita Mui focuses on the legendary transformation of "Hong Kong daughter" Anita Mui. The film once set a new box office record in Hong Kong, closing at $8.003 million. Although the total box office in China has successfully exceeded $15 million, it is not enough to rank among the top three in the box office of biographies.

Biographical film stories are based on real characters experience, and the audience’s understanding and feelings for the characters will be the reason for them to pay the bill. However, if a biographical film wants to go out of the circle, it can’t rely solely on the arc of the characters and the feelings of the audience. Instead, it breaks the cultural gap by emotional resonance and arouses the interest of more viewers.

"Wrestle! Dad is adapted from the story of Indian wrestler Mahavia Singh Perdy. Most China audiences are not familiar with Mahavia Singh Perga. At the beginning of the film’s release, the film was not dominant, but its follow-up relied on the reputation of Douban 9.0 to sink into the market, and the audience covered almost all ages, so the box office continued to fall.

The reason why I can break the box office record of biographical films in mainland China, "Wrestle! Dad no longer relies on the tortuous experience of the prototype or the fame of the protagonist, but the core of the film conveying inspiration and blood, which has aroused public resonance.

The world is big and the cultures are different, but it doesn’t hinder the emotional connection.The cumulative box office of the four films of Ip Man series exceeded 2.2 billion yuan, of whichIp Man 4The box office exceeded 1.1 billion yuan. This series not only shows the legendary life of IP Man, but also shows the charm of China Kung Fu Wing Chun to the fullest. Many audiences are attracted by this unique China culture, and have entered the cinema.

Ip Man series is not only popular at the box office in China, but also has made great achievements in overseas markets. Ip Man 4 once won the overseas box office champion of Chinese films in 2019.

The humanistic value of biographical films can not be ignored.

"Big things are not empty, small things are informal" becomes a creative consensus.

As mentioned above, although there are many excellent biographical films with a double harvest in the word-of-mouth market, on the whole, the box office ceiling of such films in China market is not very high.

Oppenheimer, which is now 400 million yuan in sight, and The Pioneer and Anita Mui, which have successfully exceeded 100 million yuan in recent years, are already quite good works in this field.

Compared with the market value, excellent biographical films bear more heavy humanistic value. This is also an important significance that cannot be ignored in this kind of film creation.

Looking back at ancient history, Confucius and Su Dongpo have brought us back to the long river of the times and felt the living conditions of the people below.

Bearing in mind modern heroes, Sun Yat-sen, Deng Xiaoping Trail and Zhou Enlai The Pioneer told us to inherit the indomitable spirit and unswerving faith with the story of revolutionary ancestors actively exploring ways to change China and save the nation.

When it comes to model workers, Yuan Longping, Jiao Yulu, Liu Qing and Shen Jilan HUANG WENXIU make the experiences of ordinary heroes amazing, and let us remember the mission of struggle.

In addition, Ruan Lingyu, Anita Mui, Mei Lanfang, Mom’s Pastime and so on, let us feel the wonderful life of legends in different fields.

There are models and heroes in every era, and their deeds deserve to be remembered and passed down by everyone.

Ang Lee said in an open interview that Bruce Lee, as a bridge between China and the West, introduced China Kung Fu to the whole world and made innovative contributions to martial arts and action movies. This is also an important reason that drives him to create a biographical film for Bruce Lee. It is reported that this work will give up the direct narrative with time as the axis, and adopt unconventional expressions to show the dribs and drabs of Bruce Lee’s life with enter the dragon as the starting point.

It is worth mentioning that for the creation of biographical films, directly restoring the magnificent life of the characters and focusing on restoring the highlights of the turning point of the characters’ fate are two completely different expression modes.

Whether it’s works like Bruce Lee, Oppenheimer and The Pioneer, which skillfully select characters at an important stage, or works like The Last Emperor and Anita Mui, which narrate the magnificent life of legendary figures in many directions, it seems to be the consensus of creators to practice the principle of "big things are not empty, small things are not arbitrary" and restore the highlights of characters to the greatest extent.

In Oppenheimer, Nolan not only set up a "trinity" nuclear test site in reality, but also chose to shoot the scene with IMAX film camera to make the audience feel immersive as much as possible.

In "Anita Mui", the creative staff collected many cars from 1980s through various channels, trying to restore the appearance of Hong Kong streets as much as possible. Anita Mui’s real experience of wearing a wedding dress to the concert stage has also turned into a famous scene with climaxes in the film.

In terms of quality, an excellent biographical film can never be separated from the development of realistic character arc and clever expression, which is the foundation and core of biographical film.

As for the market, whether an excellent biographical film can break the circle to the greatest extent depends on whether the film can make the hero’s brilliant experience "deeply rooted in the hearts of the people" again in the context of the rapidly changing times.