Following the successful premiere of Blocking the Horse on iQIYI's Cloud Cinema on Jan 25, another three new action-packed films — Eye for an Eye 2, Hunt the Wicked and The Wild Blade of Strangers are slated to hit the platform during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, promising its users a smorgasbord of thrill and excitement. 

The four total films are the first lineup of the "Action Master Season", a new brand focusing on the action genre that the Chinese streaming service giant has recently launched. 

"We created the 'Action Master Season' based on our insight of male users, who contribute more than 60 percent of playback time for online films, making them Cloud Cinema's mainstream user group, and they show a preference for action films," said Yang Haitao, iQIYI's senior vice president, during a media event to promote the brand on Wednesday in Beijing. 

In 2023, among the 24 titles released through the Cloud Cinema's Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) model, 19 were action films, and they contributed an impressive 91 percent of user orders among all PVOD films, Yang added. 

As a crucial category for iQIYI Cloud Cinema, action films have consistently delivered impressive performances online in recent years, according to the company. 

Films such as Blind War, Eye for an Eye, Fight against Evil 2 and The Comeback have received significant acclaim and achieved box office success. Notably, The Comeback grossed over 47 million yuan ($6.6 million), while Fight Against Evil 2 raked in about 36 million yuan ($5 million), making them the top two highest-grossing online films in 2023.

Yang said the creation of the "Action Master Season" is an attempt to replicate the success of the "Light on Theater", the streaming platform's star brand famous for nail-biting suspense. 

He noted that the open recipe for the success of the "Light on Theater" series includes three main ingredients: focusing on suspense, a genre of wide popularity; gathering the industry's best screenwriters, directors and actors to create premium content; and releasing the content serially and intensively to give users a strong impression of the brand. 

"Increasing the online supply of action films to fill the market gap is another reason why we doubled down on our efforts to build 'Action Master Season' on the Cloud Cinema," said Song Jia, vice president of iQIYI and general manager of its film center. 

Song observed that, although China is known for its action films, especially those in the Wuxia (martial arts heroes) category, and Chinese audiences love action films or films with action elements, there has been a deficiency of theatrical releases of this genre in recent years while Chinese moviegoers' interest in Hollywood blockbusters has also diminished.

Wei Junzi, a film critic and general producer of the Eye for an Eye series, also rued the fact that there have been fewer Chinese action films, especially Wuxia films, made in the last few years. 

"I specialize in Hong Kong cinema, known worldwide for its Wuxia films. However, it's been over ten years since many of the great action films were produced," Wei said. 

"Is our audience no longer interested in action films? The answer seems no," he added.

Wei argued that it is because of a dearth of action talent in the film industry. "Training classes for action actors in Hong Kong in the 1970s and '80s gave rise to the heyday of its action genre in the '90s, and the action stars we are familiar with all came from those training classes, but such classes discontinued in the 1990s," he said.

He remarked that in the 2000s, Hong Kong's action films were mainly big-budget ones featuring heavyweight actors and fight choreographers, but fledgling actors needed to grow through low-and-mid-budget films. 

Renowned kung fu actor Wu Yue, who produced and acted in Blocking the Horse, also advocated the need to nurture young acting talent to revive the glory of Chinese action films. 

In creating the film — a mixture of martial arts, Peking Opera and comedy — Wu gathered a team of action directors and actors, all in their 20s, and he was impressed by the performances of young actors in the film who accepted training as dancers or martial arts performers of Peking Opera. 

Aside from building a new force in filmmaking, industry insiders at the event also emphasized the importance of developing compelling, innovative content that engages contemporary audiences.

Song said her company has been working with outstanding Internet Wuxia writers to develop screenplays, some of which will be made into films soon. 

Wei shared the three principles his team adheres to when making the 2022 sensation Eye for an Eye and its following installments. "First, we only use real action actors to showcase extraordinary kung fu without relying on slow motion. Second, we create non-traditional heroes, sometimes flawed characters. Third, we make films that aim to resonate with today's audience," he said. 

Eye for an Eye 2 will premiere on the Cloud Cinema on Feb 10, the first day of the Year of Dragon, and iQIYI will announce the premiere dates of Hunt the Wicked and The Wild Blade of Strangers soon.