Chinese version ‘Lord of the Rings’ I had a dream… but the result was disastrous.

[Reporter Kim Seong-ho]

How much money does it cost to film a movie? Blockbusters that feature multiple top stars and have a long filming period generally have high production costs. <Aliens + Humans Part 2> was made at a cost of 37 billion won, <Noryang: Sea of ​​Death> was made at a cost of 30 billion won, and <Spring in Seoul> was made at a cost of 23 billion won. As a result, it was only possible to break even if the audience exceeded 5 million people. Among them, the break-even point for <Aliens+Part 2> is known to be a whopping 7 million people. It is no easy task to get 7 million out of a population of slightly over 50 million to watch a movie.

The size of the market is directly related to the scale of film production. If there was a market that could easily attract more than 10 million viewers, there could be a lot more movies with an investment of about 30 billion won. The reality in Korea, where works with high production costs, such as science fiction and epic historical dramas, are not easily produced cannot be explained simply by the absence of high-quality writers.

▲ The movie <Bongsin Yeon-i: Jo Jia Pung-un> posters

ⓒ Studio HL

A mega-blockbuster costing 540 billion won

China is unrivaled in terms of number of audiences.

What to rely on in a lacking scenario is, of course, a classic. This is because classics created by condensing a country’s culture and history have the power to appeal to today’s readers beyond eras and formats. In particular, since China has the longest and widest culture and history in East Asia, it is true that its classics also have considerable power.

<Feng Shen Love: Zhao Jiafengun> is a blockbuster blockbuster made with a production cost of close to 3 billion yuan. Calculated in Korean money, it is a masterpiece worth 540 billion won, and it can be said that it is the result of pouring the money needed to film dozens of Korean movies into one film. As you can see from the title, it is a dramatization of the Chinese classic

As is widely known, <The Love God Love> is the story of the replacement of China’s ancient dynasties, the Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty. As a novel written during the Ming Dynasty when works such as <Journey to the West> were popular, the process of Taoists and monsters appearing and intertwining with the human world provides unique fun. Previously, <Journey to the West> The filmmaking work attempted by the series and others effortlessly transferred the worldview in which humans and countless monsters coexist onto the screen, while also creating an Eastern version of

▲ ​Movie <Bongsin Yeon-i: Jo Jia Pung-un> Still cut

ⓒ Studio HL

Dreaming of a Chinese version of The Lord of the Rings

The story, like the original, begins with the birth of the tyrant King Zhou. Born as the king’s younger son, he grows up to be a soldier wandering the frontier, unlike his older brother, who became the crown prince. In particular, the Yangtze unit he leads is renowned for its high military discipline. The Shang Dynasty, an early feudal state, had a policy of holding the sons of feudal lords in the capital as hostages in order to control them. The unit that was created by training those sons as white generals was the Yangtze unit. The reason for the name is that Prince Eunsu, who later became King of Zhou, adopted the children of feudal lords who were sent as hostages.

As the reign of the Shang Dynasty gets longer, absurdities become more severe in various places. Among them, a rebellion breaks out in Giju, and Eunsu leads his elite soldiers to attack Giju and defeat the rebels. The surviving rebels flee high up in the mountains, but Eunsu eventually tracks them down and kills them all without leaving a single one behind. In the process, he captured the daughter of a rebel leader and named her Dalgi.

What’s interesting is that Dalgi is not just a human being. During the bloody battle between the rebels and the suppression forces that unfolded on the mountainside, the monster sealed in the mountain awakened and entered Dalgi’s body. Dal-gi, taken prisoner by the victorious suppression army, is actually a fox monster that harms humans. He approaches Eun-su in Dal-gi’s body and makes her an offer she cannot refuse. In other words, it is a promise to give the world to him, not his legitimate son.

From then on, the movie begins with the story of Eun-soo gaining control of the Shang Dynasty and being seduced by a monster, leading to tyranny. Naturally, there are people who try to stand against the tyranny, and the movie, like the original, depicts the collapsing Shang Dynasty in an exciting way.

▲ ​Movie <Bongsin Yeon-i: Jo Jia Pung-un> Still cut

ⓒ Studio HL

Fantasy where humans, monsters, and immortals are intertwined

When a country is shaken, the lives of its people become impoverished. The Primordial Heavenly Father, who takes care of all people in the sky, feels sorry for the human world that will suffer from Eunsu’s atrocities and tyranny. In this way, he attempts to unseal the secret secret weapon of all time to save humans, “Bongsinbang,” and hand it over to the one who will become the master of the world. Among the immortals in the sky, the one who was singled out as the one who would receive this important responsibility was Kang Ji-ah, a Taoist who entered the world of immortals after 40 years of training. The plot of the movie is about how he comes down to the human world with his two disciples and searches for the person who will become the owner of the vassal room.

The movie clearly reveals the characteristics of an epic fantasy blockbuster from beginning to end. Starting with the siege over Gijuseong Fortress, the prince’s plot to usurp the power of the Shang Dynasty, his tyranny of exterminating his loyal subjects, and their efforts to defeat the monster unfold continuously. In the process, colorful monsters that have never been encountered before appear, and the process of characters with strong personalities advancing toward their respective goals is also depicted.

What’s interesting is the novelty. <Lord of the Rings> Just as the series depicts the adventures of a world where various races coexist, including not only humans but also hobbits, dwarves, elves, ogres, and dragons,

However, the unfortunate thing is that the movie is merely a confirmation of possibility. It only grew in size without being able to take a step forward from the great potential of Oriental fantasy that Stephen Chow had previously shown through

▲ ​Movie <Bongsin Yeon-i: Jo Jia Pung-un> Still cut

ⓒ Studio HL

The shabby appearance of a Chinese blockbuster that only grew in size.

The action in <Bong Shin Love: Zhao Jia Fung-un> is extremely crude, putting to shame the action of the Hong Kong film industry, which once led world cinema. The weapons that appear are as simple as a bronze sword and a catapult, and the actors are simply chosen for their appearance and popularity and are rather crude, as if they have no martial arts skills. The story, which does not go much further than the structure of the novel written during the Ming Dynasty, does not feel new in this era, from the suppression of rebellion to treason, tyranny, and judgment. Considering the money spent, the big battle, which appears just as the list-based plot without any novelty becomes boring, is disappointing as it fails to provide anything special.

Even though it received advice from famous Hollywood giants on production and script,

The Chinese film industry has already seen John Woo’s

Additional post | It is also featured in critic Kim Seong-ho’s Spotted Cow (https://alook.so/users/LZt0JM). You can find more articles by searching ‘Kim Seong-ho’s Cine Long Live’.