Finally came to North America, of course, I couldn't just attend the American Music Awards, at the initiative of Zhao Zhenghao, Wang Yulan arranged a few talk shows for him, and there were also several year-end activities of endorsement manufacturers to participate.

Of course, everywhere he went, Yu Yabin was inseparable from him.

Zhao Zhenghao, who has just won 11 awards at the American Music Awards, is a superstar everywhere he goes, even though he is in the distant North American continent.

Moreover, the title of international superstar on his head is genuine, unlike some people in China, who dare to call themselves "international superstars" after rubbing a few red carpets, participating in several high-level cocktail parties, and playing soy sauce in several big-budget movies.

Of course, Zhao Zhenghao's influence in Europe and the United States is still only limited to the music circle, although "A Chinese Ghost Story" and "Journey to the West" have also been released in these regions and have achieved good box office results, but there is still a long way to go before they truly integrate into the film circle in Europe and the United States.

The European and American film circles are more conservative and xenophobic than the music industry!

Although now, the film market of the Dragon Kingdom has surpassed North America and become the world's largest film market, and filmmakers all over the world can grab the head in order to compete for a place to be released in the Dragon Kingdom theaters, but the film forces led by Hollywood, at present, only regard the Dragon Country Film Market as a place to make money, and have not really accepted it.

Not to mention anything else, just one point can prove Hollywood's contempt for Dragon Country filmmakers - the leading actor in Dragon Country, in Hollywood, at most he can only serve as the leading actor in B-level small and medium-sized productions, and in A-level big productions, he can be the second male lead at most, and the actor is not those internationally renowned superstars, just a fledgling B corner.

The actresses of the Dragon Kingdom are better than the male actors in this regard, and they can play the heroines of some Hollywood A-level big productions, but they are all vases, and there is not much room for display.

In terms of directors, there are several directors of Dragon Country who have directed several Hollywood A-level productions, and the box office results are also good, but that's it.

What really controls the right to speak in Hollywood are those old stubborn forces!

Even in recent years, with the prosperity of the Dragon Country film market, more and more hot money has poured in, and Dragon Kingdom's film capital has gone abroad, invaded Hollywood, and acquired shares of many top Hollywood production companies, but this has not shown obvious help to the promotion of Dragon Country filmmakers' voice in Hollywood.

To give a most intuitive example: a director from the Dragon Kingdom, so far, he has only been nominated for "Best Director" twice at the Oscars, the highest stage of global cinema that best represents the direction of Hollywood, but he has failed.

So far, an actor from the Dragon Kingdom has never been nominated for an Oscar for acting! Even at the Golden Globe Awards, which are one level lower than the Oscars, an actor from the Dragon Kingdom has only been nominated for three acting awards, but none of them have been temporarily won.

Even in the three major European film festivals with literary films as the main position, in recent years, the performance of Dragon Kingdom films has also been lackluster, and the last time Dragon Country filmmakers won the highest award at the three major European film festivals was eight years ago!

In the first 11 months of 2016, the total box office has accumulated as much as 160 billion dragon coins, exceeding last year's historical record, and this year is expected to exceed 170 billion dragon coins!

However, the market is booming, the box office is good, and there are fewer and fewer good movies!

The good movies referred to here are not high-grossing movies.

The 2016 Dragon Kingdom movie, the highest box office is 6.8 billion, although it is not a small distance from the historical high of 8.1 billion, but in the longitudinal comparison, it is also very good.

However, the box office has gone up, but there is not much left of the ideological connotation of the movie.

Looking at the movies that have grossed more than 5 billion yuan in the Dragon Kingdom film market in recent years, the highest rating by professional film critics and audiences is "Journey to the West"! "A Chinese Ghost Story" also ranked third.

Now, the professional critic score of "Journey to the West" is 8.1 points, and the audience score is as high as 8.3 points, and the score curve shows a strange inverse growth, which is higher than the instant score during the release process!

This is because, after the film was drawn, many viewers brushed it twice and three times, or even four or five times, on the major video websites that purchased the online copyright of "Journey to the West", and the interpretation of the film reached the level of cooking.

"Journey to the West" is essentially a popcorn movie, without too profound ideological connotations, but compared with other pure popcorn movies with a box office of more than 5 billion, its theme stands out from the crowd.

Not only are the big-budget popcorn movies lacking ideology, but even some literary and artistic films that should have profound warning significance have been affected by the increasingly impetuous market environment, embarked on a fork in the road, and became nondescript.

Now, in the Dragon Kingdom film industry, there is a general confusion mentality.

Hot money continues to pour in, and people with a little bit of directorial foundation can make money by pulling up a grass stage team at will, as long as they put a little effort into telling a story that can justify themselves.

And those directors who really have the pursuit and ideals of movies, in order to show their independence, the works they create deliberately seem a little high and low, and the audience reacts "I can't understand it", so they reply with "My movie is not made for you people who can't understand it!"

This makes Dragon Kingdom films fall into a dead circle - directors who know how to be flexible go straight to the broad road of making money, only considering the commercial value of the film, not considering the artistry of the film;

What's even more terrifying is that those directors who know how to be flexible are soft in making money and don't want to change; those directors who don't know how to be flexible, due to the improvement of the general environment of the film, in the territory of the Dragon Kingdom, specialized art theaters have also achieved rapid development, and those literary and artistic films with high and low music can also achieve some box office, and most of them will not lose money, and they will not lose much.

Both sides are alive and well under the existing system, and neither has any intention of changing the status quo.

As a result, the number of films that can take into account both commercial and artistic properties in the current Dragon Country film market is extremely rare, and "Journey to the West" can be regarded as a representative, which shows its sadness.

Zhao Zhenghao also knows that it is very difficult to change the status quo by relying on his own strength.

However, it just so happens that his follow-up plan and changing the status quo have formed a certain degree of fit, and he doesn't need to do it deliberately, he just needs to follow the trend.

With the development of the Dragon Kingdom film market gradually maturing, fans' requirements for movie quality are also gradually improving.

After the release of "A Chinese Ghost Story", some production companies also noticed that "Strange Tales from Liaozhai", a treasure trove that was not in their sight, selected a few well-known stories that were conducive to adaptation, and rushed to produce a few films, but the purpose of those films was just to make money, the script was written casually, the director was directed, and the actors acted perfunctory.

However, the eyes of fans are bright, even if there are some fans who don't know the truth and are easy to be fooled, when they enter the movie and watch those movies, the viewing experience is very poor, and they complain and even abuse on personal social media.

Those works that follow the trend, none of the audience scores on the three major film review websites are higher than 5 points, and the lowest one has an audience score of only a pitiful 1.3 points, which is not only listed as the "Top Ten Bad Movies" of the year, but also included in the "Top Ten Bad Movies" in the history of Dragon Kingdom films, shouting and scolding.

The follow-up film with an audience score of only 1.3 points is said to have a shooting cost of up to 300 million, and the actual production cost may have to be discounted by a half, plus tens of millions of publicity expenses, the total cost is at least 200 million, and its box office performance in theaters in the Dragon Kingdom barely exceeded 100 million, even if you add the overseas box office and other copyright income, the total income is only 200 million.

The production company of the famous bad movie in history, in this film, has a net loss of more than 100 million, and the loss is so bad that the underwear has to be lost.

has this famous experience from the past, after the release of "Journey to the West", the popularity of following the trend is much lower than that of the previous two years, even if it follows the trend, the movie does not dare to shoot too perfunctory, for fear of repeating the mistakes of the past.

The increase in the audience's viewing requirements is not only reflected in the pickiness of the works that follow the trend, but also in the demand for the diversity of the types of films released.

In the past two years, those super productions with a shooting cost of more than one billion dragon coins and big IP, all-star lineups, and cool special effects as the selling points, have shown a trend of decline in box office potential.

Taking 2016 as an example, in the first 11 months, there were nine films with a single box office of more than 5 billion, of which only three were filmed with a cost of more than 1 billion, and two of them were imported Hollywood blockbusters.

In 2015, the number of super-production films with a shooting cost of more than one billion and a final box office of more than five billion was five, of which three were imported blockbusters and two were domestic blockbusters.

Going back further, in 2014, seven of the eight films with a single box office of more than 5 billion yuan were super productions with a shooting cost of more than one billion, and the only film with a small and medium-sized cost and a final box office of more than 5 billion was "A Chinese Ghost Story".

The box office performance of super productions with a shooting cost of more than one billion has gradually declined, but the number of films with a single box office of more than 5 billion in the past two years has not declined, and has been stable at about nine, which is very illustrative.

If you rank these films with a single box office of more than 5 billion yuan together, you can find a common denominator, that is, their scores on the three major film websites are not less than 7.5 points, and a large part of them have audience scores even higher than 8 points.

It is difficult for fans to reconcile, no matter how well a movie is made, it is impossible to win everyone's hearts, so the base audience score of 100,000 people can exceed 8 points, which is enough to prove the overall quality of this movie!

This common point shows that the quality of the film itself must first be excellent, not to satisfy all fans, but also to win the support of eighty percent of fans.

What kind of movie can be considered to be of excellent quality?

The cost of filming is definitely not the primary condition, the actor's coffee position should also be ranked after the actor's acting skills, and the most important thing is to tell a good story with clear logic and relaxation!

On the basis of a good story, if the actors' acting skills can meet the requirements of the film, the cost of shooting, and ensure that the story is presented vividly, then it can be called a good movie.

A good movie with a good reputation may not necessarily have a box office of more than 5 billion and become a masterpiece of fame and fortune.

However, every masterpiece with a box office of more than 5 billion, without exception, must be a good movie with a good story, good actors, and guaranteed cost!

Even if it is such a good movie with all three elements, it will be divided into three, six, nine and so on in the selection of awards.

A film like "Journey to the West", where the director and main actors are all cross-border non-majors, even if the reputation is good, the film also has a certain ideological connotation, and it is also at the lowest end of the chain of contempt for film awards.

In addition, the genre of "Journey to the West" is still comedy and magic, which is the most unpleasant in the selection of film awards.

Therefore, from this aspect, it is reasonable that "Journey to the West", which was popular at the box office, was cold at the film awards ceremony.

Looking at the three largest film festivals in recent years - Beijing International Film Festival (Golden Dragon Award), Magic City International Film Festival (Golden Goblet Award), and Yangcheng International Film Festival (Golden Goblet Award), almost all of the films that won the "Best Film" are films of this type.

This type of film is not easy to be a box office hit, but it is not too difficult to get a box office of more than one billion or even more than two billion under the condition of proper publicity and reasonable scheduling.

If Zhao Zhenghao wants to make a breakthrough in these film awards dominated by old-school filmmakers born in the fifties and sixties of the last century, it is the safest to shoot this type of film.

However, Zhao Zhenghao is not very interested in this type of film for personal reasons, even if he wants to compromise with the old-school filmmakers who control the right to speak in the film industry in order to win awards, Zhao Zhenghao is not willing to completely lose his principles and make movies he doesn't like.