"My People, My Country," "The Captain," and "The Climbers" are all movies released during China's National Day holiday, and in total, they have grossed over three billion yuan (or 420 million U.S. dollars). Also, thanks to the box office of several films during National Day, China's cumulative box office in 2019 took only 276 days to exceed 50 billion yuan by October 3.
The patriotic film "My People, My Country" was released on October 1 to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The film consists of seven separate stories, based on seven unforgettable moments since the founding of the PRC, such as China's first atomic bomb explosion in 1964, Hong Kong's return to China in 1997, and the Beijing Olympics held in Beijing in 2008, all of which focus on ordinary people who have witnessed China's development in last 70 years.
"The Captain" is based on a real-life incident that happened on May 14, 2018, when the cockpit windshield of a Sichuan Airlines flight shattered while the plane was flying at 30,000 feet. The co-pilot was sucked halfway out of the cockpit and passengers started losing consciousness due to low pressure, but the captain managed to land the plane safely. All 128 people aboard the Airbus A319 survived.
"The Climbers," starring famous actors Jackie Chan, Zhang Ziyi, and Wu Jing, is also based on a true story. Its presold tickets alone raked 22.6 million U.S. dollars.
Children admire a huge "My People, My Country" poster on the Subway Line 1 in Beijing, October 04, 2019. /VCG Photo
As a tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, these three films can be said to have assembled the top lineup of Chinese films. There have even been comments that "My People, My Country" has broadened the boundaries of China's "main melody" films – movies that evoke national pride.
On Maoyan, China's top movie-ticketing platform by sales, all three films scored above 9, with "My People, My Country" so far, setting a new record for the highest rating for a domestic movie with a 9.7 on the Tencent-backed platform. What makes these three movies so appealing? What are the stories behind the films?
Some 'secret cookies' in the films
As one of the earlier types of Chinese films, "main melody" films are charged with national ideology and bear the weight of the memory with generation. The market has always ignored such films. When the production of "My People, My Country" was first announced six months ago, Entertainment Capital, a new media platform in China's entertainment industry, reported on the industry's lack of optimism toward its being a box office success.
But, according to the feedback from the holiday audience, Chinese in their 20s are quite satisfied with the film quality of "My People, My Country." Users born after 1995 gave "My People, My Country" an average rating of 9.5, while those born after 2000 gave the film an even higher rating of 9.6 on Chinese box office data app Dengta.
Xu Zheng, the director of "The Champion," a short story from "My People, My Country," said he incorporated his memories of the Chinese women's volleyball team's triumph when he was 12 into the film. Lang Ping, a former player and now the head coach of China's women's national volleyball team, makes a cameo appearance at the beginning of that section of the film.
Although there are many news reports about the May 14 incident of Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8633 in 2018, audiences that went to see "The Captain" still had a visceral response to the movie, with some moviegoers posting comments on Chinese social media that the film terrified them.
A passenger walks past a poster of the "The Captain" in a Shanghai cinema. /VCG Photo
To create a sense of reality, the producers of "The Captain" built a full-scale replica of the Airbus A319 aircraft and simulated how the aircraft would respond during the real-life event.
"The airplane model is over 60 tons, and it's dangerous to put on a moving platform. We check the screws at the end of the day," Andrew Lau, the director said. "The 119 extras who play passengers, are not allowed to have heart disease or high blood pressure, and are required to train for running because their legs and waist may be hurt when the airplane model bumps."
The third film in the trio, "The Climbers" is based on the real history of Chinese mountaineers who climbed to the top of Mount Qomolangma in 1960 and 1975. Chinese actor Wu Jing plays the character Fang Wuzhou, who is modeled of the real-life Chinese geologist Wang Fuzhou who was one of three people who first climbed to the top of Mount Qomolangma from the north slope in 1960.
A man examines movie posters at a cinema in Shanghai, September 30, 2019. /VCG Photo
In reality, Wang Fuzhou suffered from cerebral thrombosis and hearing and visual impairment in his life. His hands and feet were frostbitten, and multiple fingers are shorter than ordinary people, Xinhua News Agency reported. But he remained optimistic about life and devoted himself to mountaineering. Wang Fuzhou died in 2015 at the age of 80.
The film also depicts the real-life mother of three Pan Duo, who was 37 when she became the first female athlete to climb the world's highest mountain from the north slope at the beginning of 1975.
Drawing heavily from the lives of the real mountaineers, the film conflates the two treks up Mount Qomolangma, making for some spellbinding scenes.