Refer Report

A patriotic film about the Korean War ranked first in box office sales in theaters during China’s National Day holiday (October 1-7). Some say that enthusiasm for patriotic movies is no longer what it used to be.

According to the movie information platform Dengta on the 4th, director Chen Kaige’s earned 400 million yuan (about 75.612 billion won) as of 2:37 p.m. the previous day, three days after its release, taking first place in the box office. It was reported that it was recorded. At the same time, the cumulative number of viewers was calculated to be 9.52 million.

This film is the second in the ‘Reinforcements’ series trilogy dealing with the Korean War. It is a war blockbuster film that tells the story of the 12-day bloody battle between 25,000 members of the Chinese 63rd Army and nearly 50,000 UN Allied soldiers in Cheorwon, Gangwon-do in May 1951. Director Cheon, famous for , took the lead from the first episode.

The first work of the trilogy series, , was released ahead of the National Day holiday last year, but its box office performance did not meet expectations. It ranked 3rd in the box office during the National Day holiday, and after being screened for over a month, its income recorded 800 million yuan.

filled most of its 144-minute running time with battle scenes. Family love was emphasized in the setting where a soldier father and brother and sister, who seemed to be seeking peace after the founding of New China in 1949, returned to each battlefield with orders and volunteer support, and then met at the Cheorwon battlefield of the Korean War.

There was little explanation about the background of the Korean War. Although Korea is emphasized in the background, the South and North Korean forces do not appear, and the war is portrayed as if it were only between the Chinese army and the UN army.

The scene of Chinese soldiers digging trenches and dealing with Allied tanks with grenades and rifles is repeated. Peng Dehuai, who commanded the Chinese army as a real person, appears, but rather than emphasizing achievements, the sacrifice and camaraderie of ordinary soldiers are highlighted. The film ends with the United States deciding to negotiate a cease-fire after the sacrifice of many Chinese soldiers.

Although it contained somewhat cruel scenes, the audience of families with young children was also noticeable. Mr. Fang (16), a student I met at a movie theater in Beijing that day, said, “It was a heavy and serious movie. “I think it’s a movie that talks about peace,” he said. Some audience members even turned on their cell phones during the screening as if they were bored.

There is a view that the performance of reaffirms that the momentum of patriotic films, also known as ‘main song films’, has waned in China. With authorities and state-run media supporting the film, it achieved first place in the holiday box office, but when looking at box office trends, the enthusiasm is significantly lower than before. On the movie platform Douban, there were complaints that “low ratings will be deleted,” and comments that “the family story is far-fetched” and “it portrays American soldiers as helpless and incompetent, making it improbable.”

, which caused a Korean War movie sensation, earned 5.7 billion yuan in 2021. Since then, in the atmosphere of intensifying conflict between the United States and China, patriotic films have been released, but no box office hits have been released. In relation to this, there is an assessment that audiences are tired of uniformly patriotic movies.

The slump in China’s theaters itself was confirmed during this National Day holiday. Last year, during the National Day holiday, the total amount of movie ticket reservations exceeded 1 billion yuan within two days of the holiday, but this year, it exceeded this amount only after three days. The total theater revenue for this year’s National Day holiday is expected to be 2 billion to 2.7 billion yuan, which is also less than last year’s 2.73 billion yuan.

Source: Korean