Source of this article: Times Weekly Author: Chen Jiuyang
Recently, the film industry may show signs of recovery. According to data from the Beacon Professional Edition, as of 9:00 pm on December 31, 2022, the single-day box office on New Year's Day has exceeded 235 million yuan.
Among the cumulative box office and real-time box office rankings, "Avatar: The Way of Water" occupies the first place, followed by "Want to See You" and "Desperate Husband".
Affected by the epidemic, theater operations and other aspects, "Avatar: The Way of Water" has not become a life-saving straw for the film industry. However, according to Song Qian, a manager of a theater in the north, "Avatar: The Way of Water" has "greatly increased the theater's box office revenue", and may help some theaters that are on the verge of bankruptcy to survive until the Spring Festival stalls.
Picture source: Beacon Professional Edition
At present, films such as "The Wandering Earth 2" have attracted much attention in the Spring Festival. Song Qian hopes that the box office revenue of the Spring Festival movies will reach half of the 7.842 billion box office of the Spring Festival in 2021, that is, 4 billion is "already" It is not easy”, the introduction of foreign films may help the diversification and prosperity of the film market. "Audiences just want to watch good movies." Song Qian said.
Avatar 2 is the most popular in first-tier cities
Among the currently released movies, "Avatar: The Way of Water" was released for 16 days, occupying the first place in the real-time box office with 102.38 million yuan and a cumulative box office of 948 million; "Want to See You" was released for 8 days , the real-time box office was 67.23 million yuan, and the cumulative box office was 206 million; "Desperate Master Husband", as a rare comedy in the current film schedule, had a real-time box office of 64.78 million yuan on the first day of release, which performed well. The proportions of these three films are also among the top in the national theater schedule.
Second-tier cities have always accounted for the bulk of the box office revenue of Hollywood blockbusters screened in China. Although "Avatar: The Way of Water" ranked high in the box office of the day in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities, as of 9:00 pm on December 31, 2022, it has exceeded 28.59 million, and the total box office of the second-tier cities has exceeded 48.98 million.
"Want to See You" shows greater advantages in second, third and fourth tier cities. As of 9:00 pm on December 31, the box office of "Want to See You" in first-tier cities was 8.5 million yuan, while the real-time box office in second-, third-, and fourth-tier cities was 26.19 million, 13.11 million, and 17.92 million yuan, respectively.
Previously, the industry had high expectations for Avatar. According to tech planet reports, the theater manager Chen Xi's theater is "ready for battle" and attaches great importance to the release of this "rescue" work.
Avatar 2 broke 900 million at the box office Source: Beacon Professional Edition
However, compared with the "Avatar" in 2009, which had a box office of nearly 3 billion U.S. dollars, "Avatar" has a domestic box office of nearly 1 billion yuan. "The Way of Water" obviously cannot be the "life-saving straw" that brings the film industry back to life.
Cinema Manager: Avatar 2 helps the theaters last until the Spring Festival
Nevertheless, in Song Qian's eyes, the current box office trend of movie theaters is "still better than expected." Taking "Avatar: The Way of Water" as an example, the Maoyan Professional Edition previously predicted that the final box office would be 1.1 billion, but recently due to the continuous upward trend of the box office, the predicted final box office revenue has been revised to 1.3 billion. "There is still more than half a month before the Chinese New Year. If it can be postponed to the Spring Festival, the final box office revenue may still increase."
Song Qian believes that there are many factors affecting the box office. Take her theater as an example. Around mid-December 2022, the theater employees were infected with the new crown virus, and 3 part-time staff were recruited in order to operate the theater normally. Even so, theaters that originally opened at 10 am and closed at 12 pm had to open at 3 pm and close at 10 pm, operating for only 7 hours.
This situation has greatly affected the film schedule and income of the theater. At present, the box office revenue of Song Qian's theater in December 2022 is expected to be only 19.23% of the box office in the same period in 2019. But in her view, this situation is not easy. Due to the impact of the epidemic and the number of films, the box office revenue in November 2022 will only be half of that in December.
In addition, the audience needs time to recover is also an important factor affecting the box office. The operation and box office performance of Song Qian's theater has been confirmed in thisThe week began to gradually improve, and this week's box office revenue (December 26-31) is expected to be twice that of last week (December 19-25).
She believes that although the performance of "Avatar: The Way of Water" is not as strong as expected, for some theaters that are on the verge of bankruptcy, "there is still a big improvement in the box office, at least it can help the theater to maintain operations until the Spring Festival." .
The Spring Festival file is the "highlight" of theater revenue in previous years. Song Qian said that among the scheduled Spring Festival films, "The Wandering Earth 2" has attracted much attention. Other films such as the comedy "Exchanging Life" announced to be released in 2023 and "Man Jianghong" directed by Zhang Yimou and scheduled for the Spring Festival have also attracted attention. As for the forecast of the box office of the Spring Festival movies, she believes that the box office of the Spring Festival in 2023 "can reach half of that in 2021, which is already very good." The box office for the Spring Festival in 2021 is 7.842 billion, and Song Qian hopes that the box office for the Spring Festival in 2023 will reach 4 billion. In Song Qian's eyes, the increase in the number of foreign films introduced recently may also be a "sign of recovery" in the film industry. In addition to "Avatar: The Way of Water", the Indian film "Girls Rules" will be released on January 6. There are also rumors in the industry that "Black Panther 2" may also be introduced.
And she believes that whether a film can be seen by the audience is affected by many factors such as film quality and marketing, but the diversification of films is the guarantee of market prosperity. "In fact, Chinese audiences just want to watch good movies, not Hollywood blockbusters. As long as the script is exquisite and interesting, movies from any country may be popular." Song Qian said.
