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Lawrence Bullock has a classic novel of hard-core reasoning called "8 Million Ways to Die" .
I especially like the title of the book. The source is New York City at that time, with 8 million residents, their daily life is similar, only the way of death is different, full of black humor and irony.
And the stage of the "The Secret Pet" series is also an imaginary New York City.
However, there are no drunken tough guys and bizarre murders in this film, only stupid cute, show cute, cheap cute, cute cute, old cute... and so on "8 million cute ways" .
It's a cute movie, but it's not the cuteness of Japanese animation, but the experiential cuteness of "pet owners" - as long as you have experience in raising pets, there is a 99% chance that you can find resonance in the movie and joy.
Yes, although it is still a family movie, "The Secret Life of Pets 2" has developed a new core audience: pet consumers.
Vertical scenes above family fun
The main creator of "The Secret Pet" is Lighting Entertainment , which is the one who made "Despicable Me" and "Minions with Big Eyes". Many Xiaobai have always mistakenly thought it was Pixar.
I like Pixar very much. "Robot Wall-E" has always been the peak of East and West animation in my heart alongside "Spirited Away". The feelings and technology are compatible. In contrast, lighting entertainment is much more commercial.
But developing business to the extreme is also an aesthetic.
Lighting Entertainment brand "We just want to amuse you", it has always been the case, there is not too much depth of connotation, simple and warm, but likable.
The Minions who speak a creaking language that no one understands (actually English, Spanish, Italian with a touch of Cantonese and nonsense) are examples of their worldwide popularity.
A digression: Stewart, Bob and Kevin, the three most photographed Minions, can you tell them apart?
"The Secret Life of Pets" failed to replicate the popularity of the Minions, but it was still a commercial success. Many people judged that "The Secret Life of Pets 2" just repeated the structure of the first part , and there were no surprises, so the score was not high.
Hehe, they mistakenly put the idea of "score first" in a certain station on the lighting and entertainment head of "business first".
In my opinion, no matter what the final box office is, "The Secret Life of Pets 2" has already completed the commercial test of lighting entertainment: that is - to create a work that can not only win the box office in the hands of the largest family, but also Capture the preferences of a certain vertical population.
In contrast, "Toy Story 4" and the real "Lion" version of "The Lion King" released in the same period only completed the box office of "getting a family happy" - of course, in terms of content, "Play" and "Lion" are more More than one win.
Pursuing greater commercial advantages is a conspiracy of lighting entertainment. And through the medium-scale series of "The Secret Life of Pets", they experimented with a new industrial routine: on top of family fun, and then grab a batch of vertical fans. and succeeded.
good job.
The breakthrough direction of animated films
Friends who often read articles about prodigal sons know that I am the most annoying kind of fake movie reviews with one picture and one paragraph.
A real film review can have many directions: from the perspective of the film profession, combining social phenomena, or generalizing the industry through ancient and modern. But apart from the "social faction", it is often not suitable for reading online.
But since I opened this interest account, I told myself to find a balance between being suitable for reading and genuine film reviews .
I dare not say that what I write is a real film review, but it must be thought out. Strive to bring a little inspiration to the industry and related practitioners.
So, there are no editors here, just me, a hapless man who lost his family for the movie.
Even with a child-oriented movie like "The Secret Life of Pets 2", I tried to analyze the business logic behind it, as well as the offensive direction of Lighting Entertainment, trying to sum up experience.
For example, this time: from 2007 to the present, the latest business logic of Lighting Entertainment is to capture a part of the vertical crowd on the basis of the family carnival movie .
This spirit will continue to be implemented and continued in "The Voice of Joy 2" : you see, the "Pet" series caters to pet consumers on the basis of family fun; the "Voice" series is based on family fun , Harvest TV talent show fans, pop music fans.
This commercial creation logic can provide a worthy reference for our emerging domestic animated films.
On July 26, "Nezha's Devil Child Comes to the World" will be released (no accident). Although the image has been "subverted", the pattern of "Myth + Middle Two" has not changed. I hope to see surprises.
From "The Return of the Great Sage", "The Great Protector" to "The White Snake: The Origin", our animation film production level has grown by leaps and bounds, and the script has become more and more skilled. On the contrary , there is a lack of business level and IP creation .
At the same time, we have also seen tragic plagiarism in the dung mud such as "Car "People" Story, and we need to be alert at all times; business ideas such as "family fun + vertical crowd" in lighting entertainment are truly worthy of reference and can Good stuff to learn from .
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