Shen Teng and Ma Li successfully shouldered the heavy responsibility of the Spring Festival stalls, and their works brought joy and laughter to the audience.
However, Happy Twist, which has dominated the comedy film market for a long time, is facing a serious word-of-mouth crisis.
From "Richard's Aunt" to "Super Family", Happy Twist seems to be labeled as a "bad film factory".
However, we must not forget that only 8 years have passed since the success of "Charlotte's Troubles", and 12 years have passed since Zhao Benshan's last Spring Festival Gala performance in 2011, during which time Chinese comedy films have undergone many changes and developments.
The audience's shift from yearning for stars to content
In the past, comedy movies relied more on the personal charm and comedic effect of stars to attract audiences, such as the works of comedians such as Zhao Benshan and Stephen Chow, which have become classics with their humorous performances and unique comedy styles.
However, with the changing tastes of the audience and the intensification of market competition, a single star effect is no longer enough.
Audiences are demanding more and more from script quality, plot settings, and character portrayals, and they are looking for a more in-depth and authentic comedic experience.
In this context, some new generation of comedians and creators have emerged, and Shen Teng, Ma Li and others have successfully attracted the attention and love of the audience with their unique comedic talents and superb performance skills. 
Their works pay more attention to emotional expression and character building, which not only have funny elements, but also can touch the hearts of the audience, and this creative way of focusing on plot and character development has injected new vitality and innovation into Chinese comedy films. At the same time, the subject matter and style of comedy films are constantly changing and expanding.
In the past, comedies often used common life scenes such as family, love, and the workplace as the background, and brought joy to the audience through exaggerated performances and plot settings.
And now, some comedy films are starting to deal with social phenomena, relationships, and values.
Through humor, they reflect the problems of real society, arouse the audience's thinking and resonance, and this kind of more in-depth and in-depth comedy works have been recognized and loved by the audience.
This period has also witnessed the rise and rapid development of Chinese comedy films, which have become an important part of the domestic film market.
From the emergence of the new generation of comedians such as Shen Teng and Huang Bo, to more diverse themes and expressions, Chinese comedy films are gradually stepping out of their own styles and characteristics, showing epoch-making development and progress.
The changes and developments during this period have laid a solid foundation for the future of Chinese comedy films, and also brought more laughter and joy to the audience. 02
Audiences don't like to watch comedy movies anymore?
In 2012, the box office of the movie "People in Embarrassment" exceeded 1 billion yuan, and since then, comedy films have become the champion of China's film box office every year, which not only popularized a group of new comedy stars, but also demonstrated that comedy has huge market potential among young audiences. 
However, it is strange that the reputation of Chinese comedy films has declined rapidly in recent years.
Not only did up-and-comers such as Happy Twist encounter Waterloo, but even Feng Xiaogang's "If You Are the Truth, Do Not Disturb 3" box office was only about 50 million yuan. How did all this happen? Let's first review the 2023 Chinese movie box office list.
We will find that there is only one comedy film in the top 10, and the other nine films are either hardcore sci-fi works or works that express traditional Chinese culture, and at the same time, realistic films have also repeatedly stood out.
Does this phenomenon mean that audiences no longer like to watch comedy movies? Actually, this is not the case, but the comedy films produced by film companies are becoming more and more peculiar.
They try to captivate the audience with innovative storylines, bizarre characterization, and a special touch of humor.
This pursuit of peculiar creative methods sometimes makes the audience feel difficult to understand and accept, the film company pays more attention to the logic of the plot and the authenticity of the emotion, while the audience wants to see a comedy story that is closer to life, which can trigger resonance and emotional resonance, which creates a mismatch between supply and demand between the two.
The diversified development of China's film market has also had a certain impact on the reputation of comedy films.
Hardcore sci-fi works and works that express traditional Chinese culture are loved by a wide range of audiences, and "The Wandering Earth" is one of the best, so it has also led to fewer comedy movies on the box office list.
This does not mean that young people completely stop paying attention to movies, but when they choose to go to the cinema** movie, they are more inclined to choose blockbusters with realistic themes and sci-fi elements.
This trend can be understood as the fact that young audiences have higher requirements for the visual effects and excitement pursued by movies, and they hope to get more immersion and shocking effects through movies, so as to get a richer viewing experience.
But comedy movies have begun to drift away from the lives of ordinary people, and more and more works involve time travel, outer space, alien arrivals, and even earthlings landing on the moon.
These works have neither the observation and satire of the real world, nor the grandeur and rigor of hard science fiction.
However, when we recall the classic scenes of Chinese comedy films, we will find that these scenes still come from works such as "Big Shot" and "Charlotte's Troubles", but in recent years, it is difficult for us to recall similar bridges.
If the current lack of observation and thinking about reality in Chinese comedy films is only one aspect, then the rise of the short ** era will undoubtedly give Chinese comedy films the last blow.
The advent and impact of the short ** era
The boom in the short** market is closely related to the declining interest in movies among young audiences. With the rise of short ** platforms, audiences are becoming more and more accustomed to pursuing fast and fragmented entertainment.
Audiences get quick laughs through short and no longer willing to spend a long time on a full-length comedy movie.
This fast-paced form of entertainment makes the audience's expectations for movies higher and more demanding.
According to the latest data, the proportion of young audiences (under the age of 24) in China's film market has increased from 37 in 20199% down to 25 in 20235%, meanwhile, the short drama market is showing impressive growth momentum.
According to industry reports, more than 50% of the more than 1 billion short users have had a short drama of less than 3 minutes in the past six months, which reflects the audience's demand for entertainment in a short period of time.
According to statistics, 579% of short** users are under the age of 19, which means that young people have become the main consumer group in the short drama market.
Among the hit micro-short dramas in the first half of 2023, 648% of the audience is under the age of 29, and 73 of them04% of the audience is female.
These figures clearly show that young people's interest in movies is waning, and they are more inclined to satisfy their entertainment needs by swiping their mobile phones.
From a cost-benefit perspective, the cost of having fun through movies is relatively high. When the audience takes into account the various expenses of watching the movie, such as ticket purchase, transportation expenses and leisure consumption, one person needs at least 50 yuan, while two people need more than 100 yuan, compared with comedy movies, the cost of short *** is almost zero.
Viewers can turn on their mobile phones at home, make all kinds of short jokes anytime, anywhere, listen to their favorite talents tell jokes, and enjoy the funny content created by ordinary people, and these contents have been strictly screened and recommended by the platform.
In addition, compared with comedy movies, short ** is closer to the audience's daily life and emotional needs, and the short ** content is diverse, including funny sketches, as well as interesting things and humorous moments in life.
The audience can enjoy various types of funny content through the short ** platform and resonate with the creator, this kind of down-to-earth content is more likely to trigger the audience's laughter and resonance, and meet their psychological needs for quick entertainment.
Exploration and reflection on the new mode of film
In addition to the influence of short **, Chinese comedy films have also faced the pressure of limited creative concepts and the supremacy of commercial interests in recent years. The filmmakers pay more attention to the star cast, special effects, marketing strategies and star effects, while the quality of the script and the real needs of the audience are ignored, which has led to the decline in the reputation of many commercial comedy films, and some comedy works have gradually deviated from their original intentions.
This has led to a lack of observation and reflection on reality in some comedy films, as well as care for the lives of ordinary people. Therefore, Chinese comedy films need to return to their essence and reality, and pay attention to the quality of the script and the uniqueness of the creation. At the same time, we will work with the short ** platform to explore new ways of expression and creative models, and bring more in-depth and innovative comedy works to the audience.
Only through innovation and hard work can Chinese comedy films regain the love and recognition of the audience, and regain their observation and thinking about the real world, as well as their unique humor and comedy style.
Who will succeed Zhao Benshan and Stephen Chow?
According to this trend, ordinary people show their talents through the short ** platform, as well as sincere creators in real life, which is likely to become the future of Chinese comedy films. These creators are not big stars, but they have shown their talent and creativity through the short ** platform, which is not only able to bring laughter to the audience, but also to convey real emotions and values.
Through real emotions and sincere creation, they convey laughter and resonance in a more down-to-earth way, and may become a new force in comedy films.
Because these creators are responding to the observation, thinking and ridicule of reality, they have listened to the voices of ordinary people, expressed their concern and expectations for ordinary people, and also brought the stories and lives of ordinary people into the eyes of society.
Many years ago, Stephen Chow mentioned in an interview with Dou Wentao that comedy is always accompanied by tragedy, citing the works of comedy masters such as Chaplin as examples, which not only incorporate bittersweet plots, but also reveal the dark side of real society through irony and humor.
Only by resonating with the audience while maintaining the unique qualities and values of comedy can we find new breakthroughs and continue to develop and innovate.