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The focus on form and the lack of content can only bring about the final result. Yes...
Written by: Reed
It is difficult to evaluate the 2024 New Year's Day movies.
This year’s New Year’s Eve, many films involving different themes were released. One is the movie version of "Twinkle Twinkle Star" that many drama fans are looking forward to, continuing the two-way journey between Lin Beixing and Zhang Wansen. One is "If You Are the One 3" directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Ge You and Shu Qi. It is also the story of Qin Fen and Xiaoxiao. One is "Stealth" in which Andy Lau plays the villain, the other is "Goldfinger" in which Andy Lau and Tony Leung collaborate again after 20 years, and there are also the comedy-themed "The Party Can't Stop" and the documentary "Taylor Swift". Time Tour" and the revival of "Your Wedding".
The results after its release were both unexpected and reasonable. "Twinkle Twinkle Star" dominated the box office, "The Party Can't Stop" ranked second as a dark horse comedy, "Stealth" and "Golden" "Finger" is neck and neck in the third or fourth place, and other movies including "If You Are the One 3" are in the next echelon.
On the one hand, the box office and the number of screenings set a new high in the history of movies. On the other hand, they did not give many surprises to the audience. Except for "Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Star", which had the highest box office and concentrated more firepower, other movies did not even have many surprises for the audience. The desire for discussion is almost absent from the hot search list.
Stories where form is greater than content seem to gather together on this New Year's Day.
The biggest winner of the New Year's Day release is undoubtedly "Twinkle, Twinkle, Twinkle Star". The box office has exceeded 600 million in three days of release, and it has topped the list during the period. The film's box office success is inseparable from the strong audience base behind IP's "drama-film linkage". As a "split drama" that set records during its broadcast, the online drama version almost relied on the "sense of pure love" and "sense of fate" of the drama itself to break out of the siege and gain a large number of tap audiences, and the stickiness of this audience is quite strong , not only prompted the release of the movie version, but also caused the number of people who wanted to watch the movie to exceed one million 25 days before its release.
But its "success" was also accompanied by controversy along the way. "Marketing" is a word that cannot be avoided when referring to "Twinkle Twinkle Star". This movie has a long promotion cycle, a lot of materials, and new gameplay, and it has hit numerous "hot spots" both online and offline. Because the movie version continues the character setting of the series, when promoting it online, the CP campaign about "Zhang Wansen × Lin Beixing" almost swept the Internet with overwhelming force. On the other hand, there is emotional marketing on the short video platform, releasing clips of drama-film linkages and distributing important segments of the series. While emphasizing the CP feeling of the leading actors, materials such as side shots of the double event party are constantly being released.
The offline promotion method is even more "first-of-its-kind". "Zhang Wansen, it's snowing" is a slightly regrettable line in the play. Its strong sense of scene and strong picture make many people feel that it's snowing. It reminds me of this drama. Of course, the film distributor also seized on the associative space behind the lines, and launched the "Snow Field" with the opening of pre-sales, that is, some theaters set the opening time to "13:14" on the day of the premiere, and in the theater Use a snow sprayer to create a snowy effect and create an immersive movie viewing experience.
Strong online and offline publicity and marketing not only mobilized the audience of the original series, but also aroused interest in many viewers who had not watched the series. Five days before the broadcast, the pre-sale box office of the movie had exceeded 300 million.But marketing is always a double-edged sword. On the one hand, "Twinkle Twinkle Star" has indeed achieved a phenomenal breakthrough, and its pre-sale results are comparable to the star-studded blockbusters released during the Spring Festival. On the one hand, the more vigorous the marketing in the early stage, the more likely it is to suffer backlash in the later stage.
This movie was indeed judged before it was released due to its high level of attention. From the beginning of the pre-sale, some people in the industry questioned that such pre-sale results were not in line with market rules, and there were suspicions that the film studio was spontaneously flooding the film. After a while, some movie theaters considered the "Snow Resort" to be a safety hazard and canceled it. In addition, many viewers who rushed to the "Snow Resort" calmed down and chose to refund their tickets. For a time, the refund rate for this movie exceeded 18%. .
After the movie was released, public opinion was almost polarized. Regarding the plot, some viewers felt that it gave Zhang Wansen and Lin Beixing a good ending, which fulfilled the regrets of the series. There are also some viewers who believe that only the final plot of the movie is related to the series, and the previous plots are too streamlined and not good to watch. Regarding "Snow Field", some viewers have experienced this romance, while some viewers feel regretful because the cinema cannot fully implement the planning, resulting in an "avalanche" or "no trace of snow".
"Twinkle Twinkle Shining Star"'s current box office and reputation, as well as the polarization of public opinion, do not seem surprising. When it became a popular traffic movie due to IP linkage, it was destined to rely on gimmicks. After being out of the circle and all the excitement, who would still remember the snow at the beginning?
If the most successful box office "Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle Star" at least has "new" gameplay, several other high-profile films on New Year's Day have a kind of whole The boredom of the “old job.”
The pre-release publicity for "If You Are the One 3" was equally vigorous. About 20 days before the release, a dopamine color matching press conference was held with live lights and disco, and many of the film's main creators were present. Although it seems that the film studio wants to distance this movie from young people, except for Yu Shuxin who worked hard to mobilize the atmosphere, everyone else still seems restrained, and this subtle sense of inconsistency in the atmosphere also sent the creators into the heat. Search, of course, public opinion is not positive.
The online marketing strategy is also a bit old-fashioned and unattractive. The official promotion focuses on the feelings of the IP of "If You Are the One". Director Feng Xiaogang said before that "many people can wait for Shu Qi for ten years", and then there are the first two movies. The classic clips of "The Movie" have hit the screen, but it has been fifteen years since the first one. It is difficult to eliminate the gap between many potential audiences and the era that comes with IP. The middle-aged male audience who is truly emotionally connected to this sentiment has a desire to consume. One of the lowest consumer groups. Even if the publicity point of "Uncles playing pure love" and the laughter of bionic intelligent humans are subsequently used to attract young people, it will be difficult to mobilize the audience's desire to enter the cinema.
Going back to the story itself, "If You Are the One 3" is still directed by Feng Xiaogang, it is still the protagonists of Ge You and Shu Qi, and it is still the story of Qin Fen and Xiaoxiao. However, the box office of this movie has just exceeded 50 million in three days after it was aired. It is indeed impressive. Unexpected. What it represents is the dilemma of many old IP movies, that is, old stories cannot be rejuvenated.
is first of all an "old" expression. No matter how many "dopamine" colors are used, even if new talents such as Yu Shuxin are invited to join, in the final analysis, it is still telling a clichéd love story, which cannot conceal the helplessness of "it's time to end". Even the premiere of "If You Are the One 3" Online, 66-year-old Ge You also said that he "can no longer act in romance dramas."
The second is the "old" kernel. The biggest problem with videos is that the values are no longer in line with the current situation.Even though the futuristic bionic intelligent human element is currently being discussed, the story is essentially about the understanding of love from the perspective of a middle-aged man, and the female characters are still stereotyped and feminine. Competitive, even the concept of "bionic intelligent human" has added to the perception of "objectified women". Now that male themes are increasingly reflecting the thickness of female characters, and female themes are gradually seeking more expression, such an "old" core movie The work really fails to surprise the audience.
"Stealth" and "Goldfinger" are Hong Kong film types types that will never be absent from important schedules. However, in recent years, Hong Kong films have also fallen into a deadlock in narrative expression. "Stealth" is a typical combination of "gangsters, undercovers, and gunfights". The highlight of it is Andy Lau playing the villain, but what prompted him to become a villain was still the death of his pregnant wife, which made the audience lament that so many years have passed. Playing Andy Lau's wife is still a "high-risk profession".
"Goldfinger" is the film work in which Andy Lau and Tony Leung have collaborated again after many years, and these two kings are "old people to team up for CP". In the behind-the-scenes released by the movie, Tony Leung accidentally fell down, and Andy Lau directly slipped to his knees. Use your hands to support his head. During the movie road show, the two also took a photo together to compare their feelings, and Carina Lau directly posted on Weibo that she "didn't see it." But even though they cooperated with the promotion, the box office of this movie in the three days of New Year's Day was just over 200 million, ranking fourth in the New Year's Day slot.
In addition to the above films, an "old film" also appeared on the New Year's Day release. "Your Wedding" appeared on the New Year's Day release as the first re-released film. It is neither a restored re-release of a foreign blockbuster nor a first-time release. It's not in the same schedule, but it's a New Year's Day movie, and it has a box office of more than 30 million. This shows that this schedule is indeed a bit boring, and even if the audience goes to the cinema, they still can't help it. Choose romantic movies that are in reruns.
These films appeared on New Year’s Day, which seemed to give the audience more viewing options. However, when the audience entered the cinema, they still saw the same old expressions and old core, which was a bit disappointing. And this boring feeling of "old work" may be the reason why the combined box office of several movies did not exceed the results of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Shining Star".
This year’s New Year’s Day set a record in film history, with a total box office of more than 1.5 billion and a total of more than 1.4 million screenings, setting new highs in film history for New Year’s Day box office and screenings respectively. Looking back at the film market performance in the past 23 years from the New Year's Day period, the total box office in 23 was 54.915 billion, with 1.299 billion moviegoers. Although it did not exceed the 64.148 billion box office and 1.728 billion moviegoers in 2019, However, compared with the previous three years, the box office performance and number of moviegoers have increased significantly. At the same time, the number of movies watched per capita increased, and the proportion of viewers watching multiple movies reached the highest level in the past four years.
It can be seen from the box office data of New Year's Day and last year that the good box office performance is largely due to the high willingness of the audience to watch movies. After the epidemic, many people chose to return to the cinema to enjoy works, and in the past year, "She Disappeared" The emergence of masterpieces such as "All or Nothing" and "Fengshen Part 1" has also given audiences more confidence in domestic films, and they have chosen to go to the cinema many times. The number of people who want to watch and pre-sale data for the New Year's Day schedule are also eye-catching, which all represent the audience's expectations for the movie.
Judging from the films released on New Year's Day in previous years, this period was once the home of traffic stars. In 2021, "Embracing You Through the Winter" starring Zhu Yilong, who was not the best actor at that time, won the first place in the box office of 936 million, and in 20 The top spot on New Year's Day this year is "A Little Red Flower for You" starring Yi Yang Qianxi, with a total box office of 1.432 billion. Although this year's "Twinkle Twinkle Star" did not have the support of popular actors, it is not surprising that the IP movie and successful marketing brought its own traffic, with a box office of more than 600 million in three days.
It is worth noting that among the three days of New Year's Day, the single-day box office of "Twinkle Twinkle Shining Star" was above 200-300 million in the first two days, but on New Year's Day the box office suddenly plunged to less than 60 million. This is also Let each platform predict that the box office results will plummet on the first day of the working day, from the prediction of more than 1 billion to about 700-800 million, and the current box office has exceeded 600 million, In other words, for this movie, the market believes that marketing The traffic dividend brought has been exhausted.
The presentation of several other movies on New Year's Day did not satisfy the audience. This disappointment is also reflected in the box office that did not reverse the decline on New Year's Day and the forecast box office that became increasingly conservative. In contrast, The single-day box office of "The Three Brigades", which was released for nearly 20 days, exceeded that of "If You Are the One 3". From this, it seems that the real win at the box office depends on the quality of the content itself.
During the entire New Year's Day schedule, the dark horse comedy "The Annual Party Can't Stop" is the highest-rated movie on Douban, with a score of 8.1 points and a predicted box office of over 1 billion. Judging from the current evaluation, although this movie is still about ordinary people's "my future is not a dream", at least it is really funny in terms of content.
"Form is greater than content" is the most prominent problem in this year's New Year's Day movie. All the so-called "hot spots" and "pain points" seem to be formal failures, but the texture and content of the movie itself did not convince the audience.
However, this emphasis on form and lack of emphasis on content can only lead to a "one-shot deal". The audience will shout that they were fooled, and they will not watch it twice, nor will it drive more viewers into the theater. It may even lose trust in the creator, which is not a benign trend for the movie itself.
When it comes to movie form and content, the blessing of various external elements is like a gorgeous cake shell, which can attract countless eyes, but the content is still the original taste of the cake, which determines whether consumers will choose to eat it. This piece of cake. If you want to truly welcome "repeat customers", you still have to pay attention to what the audience really wants to see, put more effort into the content, and improve the quality from many aspects such as subject matter, expression, texture, etc. You must not only tell a good story, but also tell a good story. , after all, a good movie worth remembering can last forever.
