Chinese film has now ushered in the era of the "Big Five Directors". Has the era of Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige really passed?

In that era, great directors represented reputation. The audience at that time watched movies and nothing else. It didn’t matter what genre or starring role it was. What mattered was whether the movie was made by Zhang Yimou. How much box office did "Heroes" achieve that year? 250 million, which is only 250 million in 2002. The box office for the whole year was only over 900 million. The movie "Hero" accounted for nearly 30% of the box office for the whole year. What a terrifying figure.

Currently, our country’s movies have a box office of 60 billion a year. If any movie accounts for even 20%, it would still be 12 billion. Let us remember the highest single-day box office in 2002. On December 24, "Hero" premiered with 18 million. Zhang Yimou opened up the commercialization of Chinese films. A film director with box-office appeal?

Chen Sicheng, who was born as an entertainer, has now become the film director with the most box-office appeal in my country. If the jointly directed "My Homeland and Me" is included, Chen Sicheng is the most popular film director in my country. The first director in film history to earn tens of billions at the box office.

As an artist, Chen Sicheng is well-known for "Soldier Assault", but Chen Sicheng's ambition does not stop there. In 2012, he directed and wrote "Beijing Love Story" and gained a good reputation. This TV series also became a springboard for him to enter film work. With the exclusive IP of "Beijing Love" in hand, he launched the film version of "Beijing Love Story" in 2014.

Now watching the movie version of "Northern Love" is indeed a bit immature, and the four stories are very familiar, but with a box office of 450 million and the discovery of Liu Haoran and Ouyang Nana, we can also see that Chen Sicheng is about Commercial movies, about the acumen of shopping malls. Perhaps Zhang Yimou's "golden age" has passed?

But I don't know when it started. Chinese films no longer serve as "scar literature" or "tell stories about ancient times and that era." , no longer facing the loess but back to the sky. Chinese films have begun to become younger and more energetic, fun and interesting, with comedies, commercial films, and science fiction films emerging one after another, and are widely loved by young people.

Times are changing, but Zhang Yimou is always filming stories of "that era". In the new era, Zhang Yimou suddenly seems "outdated" and "anachronistic". Perhaps, the "golden age" attributed to Zhang Yimou has passed. Are Chen Kaige's biggest strengths and weaknesses too "romantic"?

Similar to Zhang Yimou, there is Chen Kaige, but Chen Kaige is a little better. Chen Kaige likes to shoot ancient stories, especially the more famous prehistoric stories. , such as "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin" and "The Orphan of Zhao". Chen Kaige's biggest advantage and flaw is that he is too "romantic". This kind of romance of his can attract a group of literary youth in any era. For example, "Legend of the Demon Cat", which has received mixed reviews, has a group of loyal supporters.

Chen Kaige is a very "narcissistic" person. He has some talents, but he is always immersed in his own romantic world and cannot extricate himself. Everyone knows that as long as Chen Kaige is only a director, he is not a screenwriter. , everything is easy to say. It can be seen that in our minds, we still have expectations for Chen Kaige.

In fact, Zhang Yimou's era was still an era of planned economy filming. Then Chinese filmmakers represented by Zhang Yimou suddenly entered the era of market economy. This period of transformation for Chinese films was accompanied by countless chaos and confusion. , and at the same time, it is threatened by the rising wave of consumption. On one side, there are all kinds of unstoppable growth, and on the other side, there is new power like the sprouting of weeds.

Up to now, we can say that my country’s film market has basically matured, and it has reached an era where it is completely determined by the audience’s word-of-mouth. Is there anything you would like to say about this?