#- Since Chen Sicheng became a director, he has a characteristic that most of the films he directs or produces have a mediocre reputation, but the box office has always been good. 
Starting from his first film "Beijing Love Story" in 2014, as of 2023, he has participated in directing, writing or supervising nine films, including three "Detective Chinatown" comedies, three suspense documentary films "Manslaughter", "Manslaughter 2", "She Disappeared", as well as a sci-fi film "Mozart in Outer Space" and a romance film "Beijing Love Story", as well as a documentary crime film "Three Teams". The Douban score of these movies, none of them has scored more than 8 points, and the highest is "The Three Teams" (producer, non-director), which is currently 79 points, and a film with a score of less than 5, "Mozart in Outer Space". 
Regarding Chen Sicheng's movie reputation, you can also go to Douban, where movie critics are more concentrated, and rarely see comments praising his films, but mostly comments like the following that "are both angry and can't kill him":
But on the other hand, the box office of these movies is very good, and 3 of them are squeezed into the top 15 box office in Chinese film history, namely "Tang Detective 2" in 2018, 33900 million; "Detective Chinatown 3" in 2021, with a box office of 4.5 billion; "Disappearing Her" in 2023, 3.5 billion; Among the seven films, the worst box office is "Mozart in Outer Space", but there are also 22.4 billion; the rest, 2014's "Beijing Love Story", 400 million; 2015's "Detective Chinatown"; 8.2.3 billion, "Manslaughter" in 2019; 13.3.3 billion, 2021 "Manslaughter 2", 112.1 billion. Among them, "The Three Teams" is still in theaters, and there are currently more than 600 million, so we will not discuss it for the time being. 
A director and producer who has only made nine films, 3 have entered the top 15 box office in film history, 5 have a box office of more than 1 billion, all of them have exceeded 200 million, and the total box office has exceeded 12 billion. This is probably not common in the history of world cinema, among the directors in Chinese mainland, not to mention that there is no one to come, at least no ancients, right? Then there is a question, why is Chen Sicheng's movie box office appeal so strong, but the reputation is not good? There has actually been a lot of discussion about this issue, and the book list has also discussed it in the past, such as from his style, shooting skills, and his personality, which is actually quite reasonable. But what I agree with the most is a comment on Zhihu:
Generally speaking, he knows and is willing to cater to the needs of Chinese mainland audiences, and the purpose is very simple and to make money. In fact, it is not easy for a mainland director to do this, and many domestic directors either always want to cater to those young people who account for a very small proportion and like to write film reviews, or they are affected by typhoons in Europe, the United States and Hong Kong, and their feet do not touch the ground, and the result is often not to rely on both. But the problem is that if you are willing to understand and cater to it, you may not be able to grasp it, so Chen Sicheng's business success needs a more in-depth explanation. Some time ago, I happened to learn some statistics on the composition of Chinese movie audiences, which may help us understand the commercial success of Chen Sicheng's films from a deeper perspective. #- Many directors who have participated in various "high-end bureaus" all year round often consider themselves "artists" and rarely say that they are businessmen. But Chen Sicheng is different, he is very generous in admitting that he is a businessman. He once said publicly: "I have the knowledge and smell of business in my bones, and I can't take it off." The so-called "business sense in the bones", I don't know if Chen Sicheng himself really has research, or if he said it casually. But at least judging from the composition of some movie audiences that I have seen, that is, the main consumer groups of films, his films have indeed hit the largest audience in the mainland very accurately. 
The data I saw mainly came from a study by Wuhan University professor Meng Jun and his student Liu Anqi, which is one of the phased results of the national social science ** art general project "Research on Chinese Films and Small Towns", and it should be said that the data is still relatively authoritative and credible. The study was primarily aimed at female audiences, but the data it provided was very interesting to provide that transcended gender:
From 2016 to 2021, the box office of first-tier cities was %, and the box office of third- and fourth-tier cities was %. 
The first-tier cities here, including what we are accustomed to saying as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as second-tier cities and provincial capitals, such as Hangzhou, Chengdu, Suzhou, Nanjing, etc., are hereinafter referred to as big cities; Third- and fourth-tier cities mostly refer to prefecture-level cities, county-level cities, county seats, Chengguan towns and relatively developed market towns with relatively small populations, hereinafter referred to as small towns. Judging from the data, unlike our impression, the box office of small towns is much higher than that of big cities, and the trend is also obvious, that is, the proportion of the box office of small towns is ** year by year, while the proportion of the box office of big cities is shrinking. As of June 30, 2023, a total of 391 new theaters were opened in Chinese mainland in the first half of the year, of which about 150 were located in county towns (including economic towns, excluding counties where regions, states and leagues are located), accounting for 38 of the total4%, accounting for nearly 40%. It can be said that the majority of the current growth in the number of cinemas in China is in these small towns, so the future potential is very huge. 
In fact, the county economy is now a hot topic that many economists and financial reporters are very concerned about, and in the future, not only movie theaters, but also coffee, milk tea shops, concerts, and sports events may grow explosively in the county market. 
A few days ago, a young man who had not been in touch with me for a long time contacted me, and he listed more than a dozen partners in the village (aged around 35 years old) who played together when we were children, of which about 70-80% or more have purchased real estate in the county, and the reason is not complicated, on the one hand, they have worked in the past few years and saved some money, on the other hand, there is really no land in the countryside now (contracted by the village collective to individuals, and farmers get a small amount of subsidies), and there is no better means of livelihood, and primary and secondary schools are not as good as a year, I used to study in the primary school, that will be a class less than 60 people, now it is said that there is a grade of only 2 students dilemma, no way, can only enter the city, the result is the county of primary and secondary schools, there is a shortage of degrees, the situation of grabbing, in the past do not need any vouchers to enroll, now not only to rent vouchers, but also to buy vouchers, just like the popular schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. 
In such a context, it is not surprising that consumption, including movies, has grown explosively in the county, and even surpassed the first and second-tier cities. In the past, it was those who were admitted to universities who went to the city to complete the urbanization transformation from rural to urban people, but now no matter who it is, the whole people go to the city, and most of them enter the small towns at the county level. From the perspective of the gender composition of moviegoers, data from 2018 to 2020 shows that the ratio of men to women is basically 1:1. Therefore, female audiences account for at least half of the box office of Chinese films, and they have more active ticket-buying behaviors than men - for example, when boyfriends and girlfriends or husbands and wives go to the movies together, it is often women who take the initiative to buy tickets and arrange them. Regarding the gender ratio of moviegoers, I have also seen other studies, and the general opinion is that there are relatively more female audiences, one study believes that it can be about 20% more, and another study believes that it is at least 15%-2.5%。In short, in terms of gender, compared with men, the number and frequency of women's consumption are only a lot more, and the willingness to consume is generally stronger.
The above two data, for all movie audiences, roughly summed up, are the main body of film audiences in Chinese mainland today, mainly women in small towns. The following data is a survey of moviegoers in small towns. In terms of age, it is mainly distributed in 15-40 years old, that is, young people are the majority. In terms of academic qualifications, 48 of them have a bachelor's degree or a college degree9. 29 for high school vocational education and 19 for junior high school and below9. Master's degree or above, accounting for 22％。Obviously, high school-university education is the mainstay, so the education level of moviegoers in small towns is on the upper middle side, not too low, not too high. In terms of occupation, students accounted for the most, accounting for 47%, followed by employees of party and government institutions accounted for 157%, 14% for freelancers, 10% for private employees, and 6% for private, self-employed owners3%。
As the main body of Chinese film audiences, students are also reflected in other studies, which should be a relatively common consensus, students are characterized by strong curiosity, strong emotional and social needs, and plenty of critical time. Among them, the so-called freelance work is actually mainly some women with children who are working full-time in their families. In terms of income, movie audiences in small towns are generally low, with men and women with a monthly income of 1,000-6,000 yuan accounting for about 65%, but it is basically the current "middle class" level in China's small towns.
In terms of marriage, there are more singles, with an average of about 54% of men and women, and about 45% of those in love + marriage. So let's sum it up, the portrait of Chinese movie audiences, in a word, is a middle-class young woman with an upper-middle education in a small town and a relatively stable work and life. The favorite movie genre of Chinese mainland movie audiences who take this main group as the portrait is Chinese mainland movies, especially comedy, romance, suspense, and science fiction films.
Combined with the above data, let's go back and watch Chen Sicheng's movie, and we will understand what happened. From the perspective of genre alone, does this director, who focuses on satisfying the preferences of Chinese mainland movie audiences, and is keen on comedy, suspense, and occasionally playing a little love and science fiction, deserve to make money? #- In addition to the above quantitative research, this ** also did some qualitative interviews, which are also very valuable. For example, it mentions that many young women in small towns, who are the majority of Chinese moviegoers, attach great importance to their children's education, and they generally see watching movies as a way to reward their children, one respondent said that taking their children to the cinema regularly can expand their knowledge and horizons, and many teachers also see watching movies as a way to reward outstanding students. I believe that many people did not expect this, movie consumption is often regarded as entertainment by us, but for the main group of Chinese films, in addition to entertainment value, it is functional, in fact, watching movies can not only meet their needs to educate their children and expand their horizons, but also a way of emotional communication between family members. For example, in small towns, there are many material means for young children to make their parents happy, but movies may be one of the few and effective spiritual and cultural means, and movie tickets are generally acceptable to all ages, and the distance is not too far, and there is no need to say much but find a common topic.
One interviewee said: "I take my parents to other places and they don't go, they just go to the movies." Another young man said: "Family movies, I feel that before watching them, I feel closer to my parents." "So you see, the main body of Chinese film audiences attaches great importance to the functionality and family attributes of movies, which determines that movies should be suitable for all ages, and should not be too brain-burning and too beyond intuitive cognition. To put it simply, Lele Hehe, providing simple and direct family comfort, if you can expand something that you can't usually see, satisfy their curiosity and stereotypes, such as exoticism, fantasy, and human ethics, then it is in its arms. In this regard, I think the most successful model in the past one or two years is Jia Ling's "Hello, Li Huanying", perhaps, this is why it can create a box office miracle and is favored by Hollywood, which has always had a keen sense of business. (The more successful films of the last year that focus on nationalist sentiments are beyond our scope of discussion because their box office tends to be organized and not fully marketed.)
Let's go back and look at Chen Sicheng's movies, the "Tang Detective" series focuses on fun and exoticism, and "Disappearing Her" focuses on human ethics, fantasy and suspense, and has some exotic colors, as for the "Manslaughter" series and "Mozart in Outer Space", it is actually a family movie with suspense or science fiction as the shell, "Beijing Love Story", which is also an emotional drama suitable for all ages. In short, if you examine carefully, you will find that Chen Sicheng's films are basically stepping on the excitement of the largest audience of Chinese films. Of course, the "elite" audiences in big cities will find fault with Chen Sicheng's movies that are bloody, illogical, and even not respectful enough for women, straight men, etc., but in fact, if you really want to craft a movie that meets the needs of these "elite" audiences, it may not necessarily sell well.
However, it is the young women in small towns who are the main body of Chinese films who are often silent, because they will not shout about their needs on the Internet, and the bizarre core plot and high-energy tearful emotional pictures in the movie will trigger resonance and discussion within them or their families, but it is limited to this, on the contrary, the "elite" group in big cities, which accounts for a relatively small proportion, prefer to leave long critical comments and scores on the Internet, making people mistakenly think that their needs are the mainstream. - A director with poor concentration is easily frightened by the "high voice" of this minority group. But watching Chen Sicheng's various interviews, he gives people the impression that he is a very "dull" person, but looking at his reading and thinking, you will feel that he is not as simple as it seems on the surface.
In the past, content and art education in China, including film and writing, rarely treated content as a commodity. For example, we have been taught that the expression "The moonlight is beautiful tonight" is higher and better than the expression "I like you". But if the content is regarded as a commodity, "the moonlight is beautiful tonight" is really not necessarily a good expression, and it is more likely to be a worthless and costly output (the number of words is more, and it is brain-burning). The cost of modern film industry production is much higher than that of writing, so it is more and more impossible to be capricious, individualistic or feel good about oneself, and it is really in line with business logic to find the greatest common divisor of film audiences and consumer groups and obtain the maximum input-output ratio. However, this kind of content education has just started on our side, and it is not too mature. Some time ago, the well-known editor Wang Hailin said in an interview that many filmmakers have made movies all their lives, but they still don't know what the audience likes. This is the truth, and many people may not like to hear it. He also said, "A large number of cultural products such as ancient puppets and domineering presidents have been promoted to foreign ......."For such cultural products, we used to focus on criticism ,......But on the other hand, American culture, or Hollywood culture, does not seem to rely on 'advanced culture' to influence the world - 'McDonald's culture', 'Marvel culture' and 'hip-hop culture' are also things that American elites look down on. Including the early Japanese anime and Korean men's and women's groups, they didn't rely on advanced and rich cultural connotations to influence the world at the earliest." And it is true that the preferences of the public, not the preferences of a few elites, are common to the world and the most in line with business logic. We like "subject three", foreigners also like "subject three", although you don't like it, even if you think it is vulgar, but this is the common world language.