This mirror is like a mirror of entertainment.
The Spring Festival stalls in 2024 officially start on the first day of the Lunar New Year (February 10). In the film, Xiong Da and Xiong Er travel through time and space, triggering a series of thrilling adventures. The tenth work of the "Bear Infested" series, "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space", performed well, and the box office was as high as 23.4 billion, firmly sitting in the third place in the box office list and the first place in attendance, and also refreshing the single-day box office record of animated films in the history of mainland films.
In the "Spring Festival stalls of flowing water", iron-beaten bears appear frequently. Since the 2014 movie "Bear Infested: Raiders of the Lost Ark", the "Bear Infested" series has appeared on the big screen for a full decade, and the cumulative box office revenue has exceeded the 6 billion mark. Due to its stable box office results and good reputation, the IP of "Bear Infested" has become a rare popular choice during the Spring Festival, what is the reason behind this?
Real-time box office statistics as of 14 o'clock on February 12 (the third day of the Lunar New Year).
In the complex journey of life, "the end of memories".
In the past decade, IP has not only continued to rise at the box office and word-of-mouth, but has also accumulated deep emotions that have grown up with a generation. The story begins on a sunny afternoon, where the bears are playing in the forest and unknowingly ushering in a turning point in their lives. The poem "Bear Infested: Reversing Life" reads: "Dedicated to the young me, dedicated to us who have grown up." ”
How to give a gift to this growth known as the "Ten-Year Covenant"? One of the climaxes of the film is that in an illusory time and space, Bear and his friends face those challenges again, and they overcome them one by one with courage and wisdom. In the tenth work of the "Bear Infested" series, the main creative team skillfully combines the concepts of "parallel time and space" and "multiple lives" to present the audience with a "battle of memories" with both laughter and tears. The scenes from the first nine films, as well as the return of all the members of Armageddon, moved many viewers who grew up with the bear to tears.
The transformation of Bald Qiang from a lumberjack to a hard-working "996" migrant worker in the metropolis is closely related to real life and echoes the growth concept of the ten-year contract. Bear infestation is one of the classic images in cartoons. At the Spring Festival Gala in 2024, there is a special program called "We Grow Up Watching Cartoons", and the bear infestation is the childhood animation that accompanied the growth of the post-00s generation. This anime tells the story of Bear Infested and his friends chasing their dreams in the city and finally realizing them, and they use their actions to show the audience the attitude of "I am who I am, I want to be happy". Now, many children who have loved to watch bears since childhood have gradually left their childhood and hometown, and they may be about to enter a professional career, facing various real-world challenges and life choices. "Bear Infested Armageddon" is one of the most representative animation works of this era. During this experience, this generation deeply felt the huge contrast between fairy tales and real life, as well as the coexistence of murderous intent in memories and expectations for the future.
In a context of reversing time and space, Bald Qiang is faced with a choice: either go to the metropolis to struggle, or stay in his hometown and work as a lumberjack. However, when he decides to go to the big city to pursue worldly success, everything about Dog Bear Ridge and everything about Big Bear II gradually disappears. The bald heart is pulling at both ends, and the ** of the new life and the concern of the hometown are intertwined into the inner entanglement. The bald "multiple lives" search for memories in different times and spaces, and at the same time face inner contradictions and choices: a new life in the big city means giving up the memories and friends on the old timeline, and when the partners are in danger, do you have to give up everything you already have for the sake of your hometown partners?
Throughout life's journeys, there is always a deep sense of friendship and love. At the end of the film, the bald head pulls all his friends back to the real world together. Bald Qiang is transformed into a hero who can save everyone, and he successfully repairs the timeline through a series of key events. What's more worth mentioning is that in the final battle of the century, all the characters who appeared in the movie before fell from the sky, and each character was able to move freely, fight side by side with the bald head, and start a fierce duel with the villain, and finally won the big battle.
Many viewers who have seen this series of films before will have the opportunity to meet their childhood memories again in this latest work. They find the dreaminess and carefree of the past in the movie, as if time has been turned back to the childhood when laughter and tears were intertwined. Those who grew up gradually abandoning childhood animation are probably the most emotionally resonant audiences.
But is it really only the "childhood filter" and the memories of the 10th anniversary? In the new work, the "Bear Infested" series of films will explore more ups and downs of the plot, colorful character building, and more sophisticated audio-visual effects, presenting the audience with a double feast of vision and soul. During this special time period of the Spring Festival, the "Bear Infested" film series has always focused on making fun movies for the whole family to attract more audiences of different ages. It's not just memories and nostalgia for the past, it's also innovating and expanding on the content, breaking the "infantilization" impression in cartoons.
Together, temperature and speculation form the core of values.
As the tenth installment in the "Bear Infested" series, this work grows with the audience and shows a rich and diverse set of values.
The series of creations of "Bear Infested" has always focused on the core themes of environmental protection and love, and is committed to conveying positive messages and values such as friendship, family affection, mutual assistance, courage and dreams, bringing deep emotional resonance, warm emotions and in-depth thinking to the audience.
Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space not only continues the description of friendship, but also incorporates more observation and in-depth thinking about reality. In the journey of exploring the unknown, Bald Qiang gradually understands that friendship is not only laughter and happiness, but also the strength to support and grow each other in difficult situations. As the central character of the story, Bald Qiang not only experienced deep inner conflicts and confrontations, but also deeply resonated with every young person facing difficulties and choices at present.
Julie, the new character in the movie, perfectly shows the career of a migrant worker from a small town to a metropolis. In the bustling city, Julie gradually gets used to the rhythm of work, she pursues her dreams, but there is often a loneliness in her heart. Although we had a lot of success in the workplace, our relationship with my father gradually drifted apart. As Julie puts it, "We all live in what others define as success, follow the path that others have taken, and be bound by the world, but few of us really understand what we are really after." ”
In the theme of family and friendship as the core, the conflict of emotions and the choice of value are escalated, which also enhances the creative depth and depth of empathy of the animated series. In animated films, the sublimation of emotions is not limited to simple family affection and friendship, but also a profound exploration of human nature. Animated films are not only creating an ideal world full of love and warmth, but also allowing the audience to resonate with the innocent hearts of children; In this temperature, the thread of the story permeates the observation of reality, outlining the complexity of human nature. This film not only shows all aspects of real life and the inner conflicts of ordinary people, but also injects critical thinking into the temperature of the film through a deep observation of reality, thus touching more audiences to reunite with the original intention of the film, prompting them to think about how to find and return, ideal and reality, hometown and foreign land and other real-life value choices.
In the past decade, IP series films have undergone innovation and upgrades, and the introduction of sci-fi elements has further enriched the depth and connotation of the film. Both "Bear Infested" and "Interstellar" have their eyes fixed on aviation technology under the technical conditions of the future. "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space" is not only a fusion of animation, comedy and sci-fi elements, but also in 2022's "Bear Infested: Return to Earth", it also reflects the development focus of the aviation industry in that era by showing the relationship between outer space and prehistoric civilization; In the 2023 movie "Bear Infested, Stay with Me "Bear Core"", the core plot around maternal love implies an in-depth understanding of the relationship between artificial intelligence and human emotions**.
Obviously, the main creative team has been focusing on integrating sci-fi elements into the theme in order to find innovative ways to express values in the changing times. In this overlapping genre, the audience can not only feel the lightness and pleasure brought by comedy, but also think about deeper themes under the guidance of science fiction elements, and this multi-dimensional viewing experience has become a highlight of its attraction to the audience. With its "comedy + sci-fi" multiple styles and rich themes, the "Bear Infested" series of films has continued to show innovative vitality in the past few years, and at the same time, it has also promoted the gradual fading of the label of "low infantilization" and the growth of the audience base.
IP has been operating stably for the past decade.
In China's animated film industry, how did "Bear Infested" emerge and become the pioneer of domestic animated film IP?
From the perspective of creating content, from TV dramas to the continuous development of the film industry, it has achieved stable output and content expansion, just like creating a "bear-infested" universe. New series and movies continue to expand the Bear Infested universe, expanding the characters' stories and worldviews, and audiences feel as if they are in a multiverse full of fantasy and surprises. In an interview, the main creative team made it clear that the territory of "Bear Infested" extends from Dog Bear Ridge, Animation Kingdom, and primeval forest to outer space and Zhenxing Island, and is constantly being updated to form a bear universe. ”
Behind the long-term development of IP, it benefits from a stable creative team and a strong sense of planning. The success of Inception is inseparable from the attention paid to the story structure and the design of the relationship between the characters. Ding Liang, known as the "father of bear infestment", has served as the chief director for seven consecutive years. Around 2016, he joined the directing team of Huaqiang Fangte, including Lin Yongchang and Lin Huida. New director Lim Hui Tat has previously directed "Bear Infested: Metamorphosis", "Bear Infested: Primitive Times" and "Bear Infested: Return to Earth", all of which continue the creative philosophy and characteristics of the series.
Although one film is made each year, each one goes through a period of two to three years of artistic creation. In the long process of filmmaking, every frame has condensed the team's hard work. In an interview, producer Shang Linlin shared the team-based and industrialized approach to the creation of the "Bear Infested" series, which was completed by 2-3 teams and promoted new projects at the same time. The creative process of "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space" was carefully planned by the team and lasted three years, which is not only a movie, but also a fusion of creativity and technology. For example, the film "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space", which was released this year, has gone through a three-year creative process, and has achieved significant innovation and improvement in both content design and visual effects. Under the guarantee of the complete industrial chain established by Fangte, the team is intensively preparing for a new big movie. At the same time, the planning and preparation of a new large-scale film is underway, and thanks to the perfect industrial chain established by Fangte, all problems can be focused attention and solved in a timely manner.
As the main IP owner of Bear Infested, Huaqiang Fantawild has established a solid long-term partnership with listed companies such as Wanda Film and Television, Hengdian Film and Television and China Film in the field of film production, providing stronger financial backing for the research and development of film series.
In the process of maintaining the IP activity, the long** animation that is being updated not only expands the original characters and scenes, but also interacts with the series of movies. For example, while telling the childhood stories of the three protagonists, the cartoon "Bear Gang Gang" also introduces the mountain god Xiaotuanzi from the movie "Bear Infested: Snow Ridge Bear Wind" to tell the story of how they help their friends get out of trouble.
In addition, the extension of IP has also brought us a large number of related products, with annual sales of up to 3 billion; Huaqiang Fantawild has successfully created more than 30 theme parks in China, each of which has bear-infested attractions and related themed experience activities, which not only further expands the IP industry and value chain, but also brings additional revenue to the company and strengthens the influence of its brand.
In the process of in-depth content creation, it has also promoted the innovation and upgrading of the industry, and the bear-infested IP has been operated stably, which has laid a solid foundation for the series to continue to attract audiences and unleash the potential of the animated film market.
Two days after the movie was released, "The Children Who Watch the Bear Infested Grow Up" quickly appeared on the hot search list. In the eyes of young audiences, Xiong Da and Bald Qiang are no longer simple animated characters, but companions who accompany them through their childhood, and they are symbols with memories of growing up. "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space", in a meaningful ten-year time span, injects a deeper emotional resonance into this "ten-year covenant" through the interweaving of warmth and criticism, as well as the collision of childhood and growth. In this vast river of time, the story of Xiong Da and Bald Qiang, like a firm star, has become more and more brilliant in the baptism of the years. However, at the same time, continuous innovation and upgrading provide solid support for the continued existence of IP in terms of content creation and stable operation of IP.
February** Dynamic Incentive Program