Recently, the topic of many A-list stars in the Chinese entertainment industry not accepting new films for a long time has been of interest and discussion to audiences.
Liu Yifei has not joined the film crew for nearly 3 years since filming "The Story of Roses". Zhao Liying has also not received a new film for more than 1 year after completing "Little City".
Actor Vuong Nhat Bac is one of the most commercially valuable faces in Chinese showbiz, but for about 2 years now there has been no information about a new film project after "Truy phong gia" was released and filming "Nhan Ngu" was completed in 2024.
Meanwhile, in the film industry, one of the young box office stars, Dich Duong Thien Ti, also had to temporarily stop accepting films from last year due to health reasons.
According to the media, the actors themselves have their own reasons for the decision to temporarily stop acting.
In the case of Trieu Le Dinh, after completing the process of transforming from ancient costume idol films to realistic-themed works, and owning many official awards in hand (Phy Thien, Kim Ung), she no longer needs to continuously appear on screen to maintain coverage or commercial value.
From a deeper perspective, the Chinese film market is currently entering a stage of "reducing quantity, improving quality".
In that context, constantly appearing or repeating similar roles has a much greater risk than proactively accepting a period of temporary suspension of activity.
For Zhao Liying and many A-list stars, this decision helps them have time to carefully observe industry trends, as well as carefully screen the received scripts, or consider a higher quality production crew.
In addition, the fact that many leading actors choose to reduce their frequency of activities not only marks a turning point in the career of each artist, but also reflects the cyclical adjustment process of the entire Chinese film and television industry.
Previously, high coverage meant maximizing commercial benefits and maintaining appeal to fans, so artists had to work non-stop.
But nowadays, when the entertainment industry is moving towards "little but quality", just one work being criticized for being produced hastily or scripts with many loopholes can also greatly damage the commercial value and artistic value that a leading star has built over many years.
Therefore, reducing filming frequency is actually a reasonable brand risk management strategy. The core assets of actors are not the number of days they are in the film crew, but the attraction and ability to attract audiences.
Liu Yifei once shared: "I hope I only participate in works that make me feel I must act. The important thing is not the quantity or coverage, but finding something truly new and exciting to me.
The fact that leading actors set higher requirements for the work also contributes to promoting the upgrading of the entire industry.
The "fast-moving consumer film" model, which is built around idol actors, is gradually losing its effectiveness. When actors no longer accept films just to be in the crew, but require both scripts, production crews and topics to meet high standards, only projects that are seriously invested and have expertise have the opportunity to be chosen by them.
Although this trend slows down the pace of film production, in the long run, the fact that top stars actively "go slow to find a breakthrough direction" is the inevitable path for the market to develop more and more.
