CATDOLL: Sun Lijun: The inspiration brought to us by the high box office of "The Return of the Great Sage"

In the summer of 2015, a Chinese animated film, "The Monkey King: Hero is Back", became a sensation across China, and has grossed over 900 million yuan so far, becoming the highest-grossing animated film. In response, Tencent Animation interviewed Mr. Sun Lijun, a famous Chinese animation critic, to share his thoughts on the "Monkey King: Hero is Back" craze.

Introduction: Sun Lijun graduated from the Animation Department of Beijing Film Academy. He has been engaged in teaching since 1988. He is currently the dean, professor, and master's supervisor of the Animation School of Beijing Film Academy, executive director of the China Animation Society, director of the Cartoon Art Committee of the China Television Association, and chairman of the Comics Branch of the China Oriental Culture Research Association.

Question 1: Do you think the success of “The Return of the Great Sage” was accidental or inevitable?

Sun Lijun (hereinafter referred to as "Sun"): This is a difficult question to answer, because in China there is neither chance nor inevitability. Its success must be both accidental and inevitable. Just like "Pleasant Goat" and "Boonie Bears" back then, there are both chance and inevitability. Even the team of "The Return of the Great Sage" did not expect such a success.

Teng: There have been interviews with their team online, and it is indeed true.

Sun: Why do you say it is inevitable? Because it seized a so-called opportunity period. First of all, it has a good work itself, and then it chooses a relatively good release date, including various other opportunities, including online marketing, etc. So success is inevitable, and it is possible to succeed if both are present. In addition, the sharp increase in the number of screens is also an important factor in the birth of this high box office. Ten years ago, when we only had 10,000 or 20,000 screens, how could such a result be possible?

Question 2: What impact do you think the success of "The Return of the Great Sage" will have on the entire Chinese animation industry?

Sun: I think in the long run, the overall impact is not that big. This is the inevitable development. Just like when I made the first "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" ten years ago, although it was not released, the 2005 "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" has shown that in addition to the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, there are many more production companies and private companies that can make animations.

Teng: Do you mean that the success of a company doesn’t mean much to the entire industry?

Sun: Yes. And now our media has a problem: as long as it has good box office, it is considered a success. I think this idea is too one-sided. It has not promoted the Chinese animation industry, and it will not make Chinese animation films any different because of this one. We also need to reflect on whether the current market environment is scientific and standardized. For example, if it has good box office, other movies should give it a green light and extend its secret key period, etc., which is actually not right from the perspective of marketization.

Question 3: After The Monkey King: Hero is Back became popular, the Central Propaganda Department and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television officially praised it. What do you think of this?

Sun: I hope that the Central Propaganda Department should not praise this film, but the unknown and creative team behind it. Because this film is not driven by one or two people or one or two films. It is actually the result of the efforts of all links in the entire animation industry for more than ten years. It is the accumulation, continuous growth, and continuous progress of many people (to achieve today's results). It is not enough to praise only one person.

Question 4: Regarding the success of the remake of Journey to the West, some people believe that the domestic choice of themes has always been rehashing old ones and that nothing truly national and innovative can be produced. What do you think?

Sun: I do feel that way. On the one hand, we have a rich cultural history, with so much accumulation and material. But on the other hand, I am worried that everyone is still only focusing on these things. In fact, it is the problem of "Chinese culture becoming fashionable" that I often talk about. If we can't solve the problem of cultural fashion, it will be difficult for Chinese animation to take the lead. So I still prefer to see works with a truly innovative spirit.

Question 5: In your opinion, what direction should domestic animation take? What goals should be achieved to be considered an improvement and advancement in the entire domestic animation field?

Sun: Animation and animation industry are two different concepts. Animation is about the animation works themselves, while the animation industry is about the animation product from the perspective of the market.

First, from the perspective of animation, the emergence of an excellent animation work is a sign of the maturity of the animation film industry. For example, "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf", "Boonie Bears", "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" and other excellent works, only when more companies with their own healthy creative production capabilities emerge, can it be proved that China's animation industry as a whole is developing, mature, or stable, just like Pixar DreamWorks. Since it is a production organization, it must have the sustainable production capacity of excellent works. You can't produce one every seven or eight years, and then another one every two or three years. That means your creative team, market operation, planning ability, and artistic quality are all unstable. You only have the first generation, not the second or third generation, and your factory does not have the qualifications of a century-old store.

Second, I pay more attention to the audience. Our audience is a consumer group cultivated by Japanese and American animation. So I hope to make long-term plans in the cultivation of the market, so that those young audiences under the age of 12 can also see excellent domestic animation earlier, so that when they grow up, or become real consumers, they will consume their own original animation. It is unrealistic to talk about originality today. The cultivation of taste and consumer groups still requires a long process.

Third, we know that animation is the most "international" and has the least clear national boundaries. Unlike our own Chinese feature films, which are all yellow-skinned and yellow-faced, the images in animation can easily be internationalized. How our animation faces the future of internationalization and promotes Chinese works to the international market is also an important sign of maturity. Our works must learn to go abroad, and if they go abroad, they will naturally have Chinese characteristics. If they don't go abroad, there will be a big gap between our vision, subject matter, and ability and those of the first-class ones.

Fourth, we need to make changes to our policies, such as the stability of talents in the industrial chain. I have said before that animation creators are now busy working overtime every day, and they feel empty when they are idle, facing the dilemma of not being able to support their families. Therefore, some policies should be formulated for creative talents, such as personal income tax reduction and exemption, personal assessment, and tax reduction and exemption for original enterprises, rather than just reducing personal or corporate income tax. Because their income is unstable, they may receive 100,000 yuan in the first half of the year and pay 30,000 yuan, but not a cent in the second half of the year. How can they make a living? There are also companies that develop subsequent products that are also facing problems such as logistics, combating piracy, and strengthening intellectual property protection. Policies in these areas should be strengthened, not just the current formal subsidies.

Teng: Thank you, Professor Sun Lijun, for accepting our interview.

An analysis of the high box office of "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" (Author: Sun Lijun)

Without accumulating small steps, one cannot reach a thousand miles; without accumulating small streams, one cannot form a river or sea. This summer, the Monkey King won a great deal of applause, ignited the animation enthusiasm of many people, and set off a small wave of attention to Chinese animation. The box office of "Journey to the West: Hero is Back" exceeded 500 million in ten days after its release, and the key was extended for one month. The box office has exceeded 900 million, creating many high points for Chinese animation. For a while, the remarks of "Chinese animation has returned strongly" and "Chinese animation has bloomed gorgeously" also surged out. "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" is like a bright fruit. Everyone wants to pick it and eat it, but few people explore how the fruit grows and what kind of pruning it has undergone during its germination and fruiting period. Few people have also verified whether this seemingly mature movie fruit is a real delicacy or a flashy one. After all, it is not enough to just bloom brightly, but you must concentrate your energy on one place and exert your strength for a long time. Reading the Monkey King also requires talking about many aspects.

1. Cultivation of fertile soil

With strong support from national policies, funds, university investment, and base construction, China's animation content production capabilities have been rapidly improved, and the cultivation of animation production clusters and industrial zones has begun to emerge. At present, there are more than 4,600 animation companies in my country, with more than 500,000 employees. The animation box office is also increasing rapidly year by year. In 2014, the total box office of domestic animated films exceeded 1.1 billion yuan, which is twice as high as the annual total box office of more than 660 million yuan in 2013.

In recent years, the number of students majoring in animation in my country has grown rapidly to about 300,000. By the end of 2013, there were 468 art colleges and comprehensive colleges offering animation majors in my country, 1,251 colleges and departments offering animation majors, and 143 colleges and universities offering undergraduate animation majors. The training of animation professionals in colleges and universities has played an important role in the development of Chinese animation. With the establishment of the major of digital media art and technology, the number of colleges and universities related to film and television animation majors is still increasing.

At the same time, an unwritten rule of "domestic film protection month" has been formed from June to July every year, aiming to encourage the broadcast of domestic films. It helped "House of Flying Daggers" to earn 160 million yuan at the box office in 2004, protected "Seven Swords" and "Initial D" in 2005, and launched "Tiny Times 3" and "See You Tomorrow" in 2014. The unwritten "protection month" also provides fertile soil for the box office blowout of movies. Looking at this year's summer season, "The Return of the Great Sage", "Monster Hunt" and "The Pancake Man" are all created by domestic films, accounting for more than 95% of the box office, and the extension of the key. Under the nourishment of this fertile soil, the strong eruption of the box office of an animated film in this summer season seems to be something that is bound to happen in a surprise. But behind the gratifying results, how competitive are our domestic film industry products compared with similar films in the world? It remains to be studied.

2. Digital technology + classic IP makes it possible

The development of digital technology has promoted the rapid growth of the film industry. Film is a composite audio-visual art of time and space. From "Avatar" to "Life of Pi", and to many commercial visual effects films in recent years, the application of mature digital technology has made great contributions to their box office breakthroughs. The magnificent and gorgeous space experience, the smooth fighting scenes, the mottled colors, compared with film movies and traditional 2D pictures, can capture the hearts of the audience, narrow the distance with the audience, and make them immerse themselves in it and imagine. Looking at the summer movies that created box office miracles this year, whether it is "The Return of the Great Sage" or "Monster Hunt", they all used a lot of digital special effects technology without exception. As a standard 3D animation, "The Return of the Great Sage" was produced using digital technology throughout the process.

At the same time, Journey to the West itself is a classic story rooted in the hearts of Chinese people. Whether it is the first Chinese color animated feature film "Havoc in Heaven" directed by Mr. Wan Laiming in 1961, or the popular TV series "Journey to the West" broadcast by CCTV later, it has to be said that every Chinese has a plot of Journey to the West. If you ask Chinese people if there are heroes in their hearts, eight out of ten people will say the name "Sun Wukong". "Journey to the West: Hero is Back" is based on the classic Journey to the West theme and has a certain fan base. It is also worth mentioning that with the development of digital technology, the film has reached international standards in art, story, animation, and audio-visual. The emotional portrayal of Sun Wukong, who has been sleeping for five hundred years, and the little monk Jiang Liuer is pleasing and charming. At the same time, the plants, rivers, characters' ways of speaking, and the portrayal of scenes in the film also show unique Chinese elements, which also allows many viewers to naturally integrate into it. The compact plot and the nirvana of the Great Sage are both quite exciting and mysterious, laying the foundation for the good reputation of the film.

3. Internet+ Distribution Model

In this year's hot summer movie market, the Internet+ distribution model has indeed made a great contribution to the record-breaking box office, and "Journey to the West: Hero is Back" is also a beneficiary. It is reported that "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" had unlimited previews across the country on July 4 and 5 before it was released on July 10, breaking through the distribution model of traditional animated films. The overnight surge of good word-of-mouth laid a solid foundation for the subsequent box office explosion. At the same time, at the Chinese Film New Force Summer Season Promotion Ceremony at the end of June, many film and television stars, led by Internet representative Jack Ma, John Woo, Huang Xiaoming, Feng Xiaogang, etc., took photos with the Monkey King doll, which also caused a great response on the Internet. The popularity of derivative products before the film was released also played a positive role in promoting the growth of the movie box office.

With the popularity of online platforms, many cartoons have been preheated online simultaneously or in advance, either through the works themselves or through derivative products, which has become a new development form. At the same time, crowdfunding and other models have also been reflected in film distribution. During the film release period, continuous word-of-mouth marketing, emotional marketing, and a series of topic marketing have made a great contribution to the surge in the film's box office.

4. The subsequent effects of the Monkey King

As of now, the box office of "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" has exceeded 900 million yuan, and the number of viewers has exceeded 1.7 million. The second part of this movie, which took 8 years to produce, has been confirmed. In recent years, with the development of Chinese animation, the number of series of movies based on the original brands has continued to increase. Taking DreamWorks Animation and Hollywood Animation as examples, the time to launch a sequel is generally 3-5 years after the release of the previous one. In contrast, most of China's "sequel" animated films have been released at a frequency of one per year or two years. Unhealthy methods such as poor quality and excessive marketing have overdrawn the audience and exhausted the development power of a brand that originally had potential. There are almost no high-quality film brands that have been around for more than 10 years. Although "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" created a temporary glory, can it continue? Or whether there will be strong animation works to take over, it is still worth our continued exploration. At the same time, according to the current investment return ratio of Chinese films, the box office is not directly linked to the creators. How to better protect the enthusiasm of original animators and enable animation professionals to better contribute to Chinese animation is also something we need to continuously improve and think about.

The super high box office of "The Return of the Great Sage" can be said to have come into being under the current good animation form. Although the results are gratifying, it should not become an exception in the history of the development of Chinese animated films. Excessive praise and extreme trampling are not suitable for the healthy development of Chinese animation. We should have more original animation works competing for it. Although there is still a gap between my country's animation and that of the United States, Japan and other countries, the strong support of national policies, the rapid development of digital technology, the continuous talent training of colleges and universities, the increasingly profound theory, the continuous development of original content and brand competitiveness, and the continuous improvement of the market all indicate new opportunities. Animation, with its unparalleled charm, is also attracting more and more people to join in and contribute their strength. I believe that in the future development, Chinese animation will also accumulate small steps to a thousand miles, merge small streams into rivers and seas, go international and shine.