The rare trend of the literary film ＂Into the Dust＂, who did the literature and art win？

If we talk about phenomenal movies, then Into the Dust should be counted as one.

From the first day of the release, it only won 350,000 box office, and it took 58 days to get nearly 15 million at the daily box office. Up to now, the total box office has exceeded 87 million. A literary film with a production cost of only 5 million (say 2 million), from few people interested to becoming a phenomenal film, is mostly summarized by the media with "perfect counterattack".

The thought of "Into the Dust" from few people to the fire is not limited to the film itself.

01

Why did a small investment literary film get widespread praise?

In the view of "Ivey Movie", as a movie describing the life and love of ordinary people at the bottom, the theme of "Into the Dust" should not have the potential of explosion. This includes film investors, directors and starring actors who have such psychological preparation.

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According to some media reports, its investors are not experts who are well-funded and specialize in film investment, but also invest money in a mentality that is due to face or power. Wu Renlin, the actor of first hero’s old four, Ma Youtie, is also the uncle of director Ruijun Li (it is not important to say that he is a uncle, and even many cast members are relatives of the director);

Christina, the actress of Cao Guiying, the No.1 female in the film, is a first-class actress in China, and actually promised to appear at zero appearance fee; From the shooting and production of the film, there is neither big scene construction nor grand post-production, which is the embodiment that the film has not considered profit and thus greatly reduced costs.

It seems predictable that a film that shows that the rural areas in northwest China are relatively backward at the beginning of this century, lacking modern urban elements and comedy and entertainment characteristics is obviously contrary to the current mainstream audience’s value orientation and attention, and it is difficult to gain the recognition of the mainstream audience and will not have a good box office performance.

The miracle happened after August 25th. The Baidu index, Tik Tok broadcast volume, WeChat WeChat official account trend and Weibo popularity of "Into the Dust" all increased greatly, even the related topics in the circle of friends increased.

For a time, "Into the Dust" became a hot topic that many media rushed to report. Correspondingly, the daily box office of cinemas increased rapidly from 1 million to more than 14 million on September 3, and the total box office reached 87 million on September 5. On August 31, the number of topics broadcast on Tik Tok platform alone reached 325 million, and accumulated to more than 3.1 billion on September 4.

"Ivy Movie" seems that after a long period of silence and extensive publicity by social platforms and public opinion, a movie finally fermented into a phenomenon, which is by no means a simple successful marketing event, but has its internal reasons.

First of all, the film is about two characters at the bottom of China society.One is Ma Youtie, the hero who has never been the center of attention and has become an old bachelor, and the other is Cao Guiying, the heroine who has been abandoned, disabled and suffering from urinary incontinence. They are not afraid of the heavy pressure of life, are full of optimism and look forward to a better life in the process of fighting against fate and hard work. The story is true and heavy, and it is not deliberately sensational. The more people look at it, the more they feel that their soft feelings are touched, and they feel heartache and tears.

"The whole play does not mention a bitter word, but it is bitter out of the sky; Love is not mentioned in every sentence of the whole play, but it enters the bone marrow. "

The comments of netizens can be seen as touching.

Secondly, the reality of the film triggered people’s on-the-spot feelings about the rural areas and working life scenes in northwest China.Plowing fields, sowing seeds, cutting wheat, harvesting, feeding chickens, beating bricks, etc., are all records and reappearance of local rural life. What is even more touching is that Ma Youtie bargained for Guiying to buy a coat, waited for Ma Youtie to drive the donkey back with a water bottle on the roadside at the head of the village, Guiying had a cold and a fever, and cooked the first egg laid by a hen for her. Guiying was repeatedly pushed to eat with iron, and moved three times and hung the word "Xi".

The director told a tragic story in plain language. We didn’t see a trace of affectation or hear a word of love in these scenes, but we were really moved.

It is said that truth is the life of art, and the truth of the scene and the truth of the actor’s performance can be said to be the greatest feeling of "Into the Dust". No matter which era, society and individual will pay attention to it and accept it, it will be moved.

In addition, the film "Into the Dust" chose more warm colors to contrast the gloom of life;With a large number of backgrounds such as the blue sky and white clouds desert in the northwest desert and more real-life shooting, it highlights the theme reflected in the film and the hero’s character of being aloof from the world, kind and hardworking, leaving a distinct impression on people.

These are the fundamentals that support the film’s box office rising day by day.

02

Why is the market trend unprecedented

At the beginning of this year, there was a wave of news about the film "Into the Dust".

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On the one hand, it is the only China film that has been shortlisted for the European Berlin Film Festival, and it has been nominated for the Golden Bear Award and Best Picture. On the other hand, it was originally scheduled to be released on February 25th, but it was later officially withdrawn. After more than four months of silence, it is scheduled to be released on July 8 of the summer file.

In fact, even if the film was nominated for an international prize, it still didn’t attract the public’s attention through the publicity of screening and the event of file-withdrawing-file-fixing. No wonder, it only won less than 18 million box office in a month when it was shown in commercial theaters.

So the film was launched on the streaming media platform on August 9, and it was not until August 26 that it was warmed up by the streaming media platform and social platform for more than two weeks before it improved and attracted the second wave of public opinion. The almost unanimous praise of public opinion and the fermentation of audience’s word of mouth eventually produced fission.

Starting from the daily box office of more than 1 million, it has been growing against the trend for many days, even in non-weekend periods. Finally, it reached the top of the box office list on September 2, and achieved the highest daily box office of 14.37 million and 12.8 million on September 3 and 4, and this achievement was achieved under the background that the market did not exceed 70 million and the national cinema operating rate dropped to more than 70%.

What can’t be ignored is that this film appeared when the summer file ended, the domestic streaming media platform went online and members could watch it for free.

The emergence of this rare trend does not rule out the mysterious marketing power of the film, but more importantly, it is probably its good reputation. Since then, the relevant comments and reports of major media and the topic interaction of social platforms have undoubtedly played a role in fueling the situation. At present, there has been a bold prediction that the final box office of "Into the Dust" will hit 150 million.

The film’s daily box office chart has recently seen a rare steep peak. It seems that no second film has such a box office trend. At present, the proportion of films arranged in national cinemas has exceeded 15%, the box office has exceeded 20%, and the attendance rate is around 6%.

03

Why does streaming media become a booster for the audience to enter the cinema?

Earlier, Xiao Ai mentioned the fact that the recent box office trend of the film in commercial theaters was accompanied by the online streaming media platform, which was unprecedented.

Streaming media platform has always been a strong competitor of commercial cinemas, and commercial cinemas have always wanted to keep the window period of early screening. Although this window period is getting shorter and shorter, it has never disappeared. Although there have been attempts to synchronize cinemas and networks abroad, they ended up damaging the interests of the film. In China, they are either sold to streaming media platforms and not shown in commercial cinemas, or they still keep the window period of commercial cinemas giving priority to business.

But this time is an exception, and it is a win-win exception. On the one hand, it has gained a lot of traffic online, on the other hand, the cinema has also gained a high box office.

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In the view of "Ivey Movie", besides the popularity of the movie and the low ticket price, the more important thing is the conclusion of "Ivey Movie" through investigation: although many streaming media viewers are also used to paying attention to cinema blockbusters, the online audience and offline audience do not completely overlap, which is not only reflected in their age, hobbies, but also in their inconsistent demands for watching movies.

The former pays more attention to the plot trend and time consumption of the film, and then pays more attention to the feeling of the scene and atmosphere of the film and the experience of the whole viewing process, including ticket purchase, travel, film and television effects, environmental feelings and related processes and arrangements. Although it costs money and time, the charm and experience advantages of the big screen undoubtedly make them feel acceptable.

Interestingly, this time, "Ivey Movie" made a simple understanding and statistics on the situation of some people watching "Into the Dust", and found that those who expressed neutral and negative comments on "Into the Dust" accounted for more than 70% on the streaming media platform, and some even said that they could not watch it anymore; On the contrary, 90% of the people who express neutral and positive comments on "Into the Dust" watch movies in cinemas.

And then to a detail of the film:

At the end of the film, after the death of his wife Guiying, Ma Youtie still harvested all the crops in the field, and then returned the two bags of potatoes owed by the original house. Sell grain for money and settle the accounts of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides owed at the beginning of the year; Return all the eggs borrowed from neighbors; The next scene is that Ma Youtie is looking at Guiying’s portrait on the kang, holding a grass donkey woven by Guiying and inserting a hermaphrodite ear of rice on the kang, waiting for something calmly. When the camera turns, the nephew with iron pulls away all the things in his house and receives 15 thousand demolition expenses, and then the house turns into smoke in a short time with the roar of machinery.

When asked if he saw the blue bottle of pesticide and if Ma Youtie’s nephew took everything away from his house, including whether a pig behind the car was dead or alive, people watching online said they didn’t pay much attention, but those watching in the cinema said they noticed.

This is the gap, because in the dark room of the cinema, the audience will be immersed in the plot of the movie and see it really. Don’t look at these two details, what the director actually wants to tell the audience is that Ma Youtie wants to go with Guiying and continue to be together in another world.

At the end of the film, there is a subtitle that is so small that it can hardly be seen: "In the winter of 2011, with the help of the government and enthusiastic villagers, Lao Si Ma Youtie moved to a new house and lived a new life."

But unfortunately, due to the environment, people who watch movies on streaming media (mobile phones, computers or TV sets) are ignored. And this is exactly what the film wants to imply to the audience. It can be said that this is the key point.

Therefore, there will be the above very different results.

A film "Into the Dust" has attracted wide attention both inside and outside the industry and has become a successful example of literary films. But it is meaningful to think about the problems behind this phenomenon.

(The relevant data source of the film in this article: Cat’s Eye Professional Edition; Source: Network)