Classic Movie, New Success

Titanic 3D brings back memories of a generation By Yu Yan

Classic Movie, New Success

Titanic 3D brings back memories of a generation By Yu Yan

Titanic 3D, a retouched version of the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster, swept the Chinese box office by raking in 500 million yuan ($79 million) in the first week (April 10-16) of its release, according to theChina Film News.

It is a new record high in terms of firstweek box office revenue in China. Moviegoers have to queue for hours to get a ticket. It took nine days forTransformersto hit this figure and 13 days forAvatar.

Managers of China’s major movie theaters, including Wanda Cinemas and China Film Stellar Theater Chain, said that on observing the huge success in China, Hollywood might attach more importance to the Chinese market in the future, and take Chinese audience’s preferences into consideration.

Directed by James Cameron and starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, the movie was re-released worldwide on April 6, to mark the 100th anniversary of the ship setting sail.

In 1998 when the movie was first released in China, it took in 360 million yuan ($57 million), holding the record for over a decade.

Titanic 3Dis exactly the same movie as the old one, only applying new 3D technologies. Fourteen years have passed, but what makes the Chinese people so passionate about this movie?

Old memories

“Is the person you watched this movie with 14 years ago still at your side? In 2012, whose hand will you hold to re-live the classic?”This is the advertisement of theTitanic 3Dat Chinese cinemas. This statement immediately strikes many people and brings back their memories of the old days.

In 1998, whenTitanicwas shown in China, young people born in the 1970s and 1980s were the major source of the audience. Now 14 years have passed, most of them have gotten married and become parents.

“Last night, I watchedTitanic 3Dwith my husband, and I was moved to tears once again. I watched the oldTitanicmore than 10 years ago. At that time, I was a high school student and had no idea of what love is. But now, I have found my love, gotten married and have a daughter. I feel deeply sorry for Jack and Rose. I am much happier than Rose because I have my husband loving me at my side. I believe we will be happy for the rest of our lives,” said Lu Xiao, human resources manager of the COFCO Innovative Foods (Beijing) Co. Ltd.

“I couldn’t help bursting into tears when watching the movie. Though 14 years have passed, I found the heroine played by Winslet was even more charming than the one in my memory,” said Liu Liping, a 27-year-old engineer of China Communication Construction Co. Ltd.

WAITING PATIENTLY: Audience queue in line to buy tickets to watch Titanic 3D in the midnight of April 10 when the movie premiered in Shanghai

“This movie has exerted greater impacts on the Chinese audience,” said Yin Hong, Executive Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University. The new version of the movie taps into the Chinese people’s collective memory, said Yin.

In the late 1990s, China began to bring in large-scale and big-budget movies.Titanic, one of the first few Hollywood blockbusters introduced to the Chinese market, shocked and amazed the Chinese audience.

WORDS OF WISDOM: James Cameron delivers a speech at the Sino-Foreign Film Cooperation Forum held on April 24 at the sidelines of the Second Beijing International Film Festival (April 23-28)

CLASSIC MOVIE: Titanic 3D is released worldwide on April 6 to mark the 100th anniversary of the ship setting sail

Potential market

Actually, the surge at the box office owes to the second- and third-tier cities.

“When the oldTitanicwas shown, I couldn’t afford to go to the cinema as I was a high school student. I just watched the movie on DVD,” said He Feng, an engineer at an IT company in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

At that time, the Chinese people didn’t go to the cinemas so often, especially in the second- and third-tier cities, because their salary was lower than that of their urban peers and their consumption habits didn’t allow them to indulge in movies once in a while.

“This time, I went to the cinema. The big screen and the state-of-the-art 3D technology made the film a visual feast,” said He. But He also complained that watching a movie for three hours with a pair of 3D glasses on the nose was a little unbearable.

In fact, a large number of the Chinese people didn’t watch the original movie in cinemas. They just watched it on DVD or on TV after the movie was publicly shown.

“The love story inTitanicserves as emotional sustenance for many of the Chinese audience,” said Gao Jun, Board Chairman of Beijing Shengshi Huarui Film Investment and Management Co. Ltd.

“Against the backdrop of rapid economic development, the audience needed this badly. We can feel the audience’s desire for emotional sustenance from the Chinese movieLove Is Not Blind,” said Gao.

Love Is Not Blindwas a low-budget and domestic romantic comedy movie. It opened in November of 2011 and made a profit amounting to 200 million yuan ($32 million) after being shown for only one week.

Technology charm

The 3D technology is a highlight of the new movie compared with the old version. Many people went to the cinema to watch the movie again, just to experience the 3D effects.

“Although I watched the movie many years ago, I wanted to experience the new 3D audio-visual effects. It was a disaster movie and should be more impressive with the 3D technology,” said Lu.

For the young people born after 1985, the 3D-versionTitanicwas a totally new movie and gave them a brand-new experience, said Gao.

“I think the film holds up pretty darn well. In 3D, it becomes kind of a new experience. It’s a much more intimate and involving experience both with the characters and with the physical space,” said Cameron.

TheTitanic 3Dwas a recreation instead of new project. Every shot of the movie was redesigned. The production took more than 300 engineers more than a year to complete. And it cost more than $18 million, said Cameron.

In recent years, the demand for 3D movies has been on the rise. Producers of bigbudget movies, for instance,Clash of the Titans,Transformers,Alice in WonderlandandKung Fu Panda, all chose to transform the movie into 3D version so as to attract the audience.

However, not all movies are suitable for 3D technology, said Li Sida, new media design professor at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.

Movies that emphasize audio-visual effects are more suitable for 3D technology, for instance, action movies, science fiction movies, disaster movies, and horror movies, said Li. But it is unnecessary to apply 3D technology to movies with weak visual impacts, including romance movies and art movies.