[Global Times Special Correspondent Luc] According to the US "Variety" report on the 7th, with the help of the "New Year's Eve" of the Chinese film market, the global box office of the concert movie "Taylor Swift: Time Tour" reached 261.6 million US dollars. , officially surpassi

[Global Times Special Correspondent Luc] According to the US "Variety" report on the 7th, with the help of the "New Year's Eve" of the Chinese film market, the global box office of the concert movie "Taylor Swift: Time Tour" reached 261.6 million USD, officially surpassing Michael Jackson's "This Is It" to become the highest-grossing concert movie in global film history. Such successful box office results have once again focused attention at home and abroad on this not-so-new film genre. Can such a "money-attracting" model be moved to the Chinese market?

"Taylor Swift: The Age of Concert Tour" was promoted in a theater in Shanghai. (Visual China)

China's New Year's Eve "Additional"

"Swift's "Times Tour" was released in North America as early as October 13 last year, and the box office continued to rise. The film was released on December 31 last year After being released in China, the global box office totaled US$261.6 million, surpassing Michael Jackson's "This Is It" in 2009 (US$261.2 million) and setting a new record for this type of movie." "Variety" reviewed this concert movie The success of "The Movie" is attributed to its record-breaking pre-sales and premiere box office. "It grossed US$92.8 million at the North American box office and US$123 million globally upon its release, directly surpassing Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never Again" in 2011. "Failed". Moreover, this movie adopted a non-traditional distribution method - bypassing Hollywood studios and directly negotiating cooperation with AMC theaters. This allowed Swift to take 57% of the box office. After AMC collected a small distribution fee, the rest of the box office It’s all owned by the theater.” After the film was launched on the streaming platform on December 13 last year, the online version was 181 minutes long, which had many more hits than the cinema version (169 minutes), which was another surprise for fans.

Although it was released in China more than 2 months later than North America and more than 2 weeks later than streaming media, "Times Tour" still has a considerable box office in China, and the special New Year's Eve schedule has an added sense of ritual. become". As of the afternoon of January 9, the box office of the film in China exceeded 68 million yuan 10 days after its release in China, of which the box office on the day of its release on December 31 last year exceeded 40 million yuan. When Michael Jackson's "This Is It" was released in China in 2009, the final box office was only 48.3 million yuan.

It is worth mentioning that as a "fan-oriented" movie, "Era Tour" has an amazing reputation both at home and abroad. It has a freshness rating of 99% and a popcorn index of 98% on the Rotten Tomatoes website, and its Douban score is also As high as 9.3 points, many comments are no longer satisfied with praising the scenes, shots and sound effects, but are immersed in the worship of idols. No wonder the "dazed" website commented, "Behind the rise of these concert movies, it is actually all the fans." A 'cultural movement' in which people are passionately engaged."

"Taylor Swift" was boycotted for her article on her sexual orientation

She is famous for both right and wrong. The New York Times recently published an opinion piece about Swift's sexual orientation, which made Swift's team very dissatisfied. The article speculates that Swift is a "closet queer" who incorporates references to sexual minorities into her songs and performances. Swift has publicly supported sexual minorities and called her concerts a "safe space" for them, but she denies that she is one. Members of her team also denounced the New York Times opinion piece as "absolutely untrue." Boundless. Full of offense, inauthenticity and inappropriateness."

Swift has disclosed her multiple boyfriends, and has also written many songs about love and breakup stories. Her current boyfriend is American football player Travis Kelce. According to the British "Guardian" report on the 8th, "New York Times" editor Anna Marquez, who wrote this review, was criticized by "Taylor Swift" fans and some readers for speculating on Swift's sexual orientation, but she still insisted. "Keep your opinions to yourself."

Fan Economy ≠ High Box Office

The box office success of "Taylor Swift: The Age of Concert Tour" is not only due to the top-notch audio-visual effects and unique distribution methods, but also to the super high global popularity of "Taylor Swift" Popularity, its appeal is no less than that of the "King of Pop" Jackson and many Hollywood superstars. In China, whether local singers can produce concert movies with similar effects and sell well at the box office is also a topic worthy of analysis.From the perspective of subject matter and type, whether a concert movie can be a hit or not, the first thing to consider is how many fans the singer/band has, as well as the age group and purchasing power of the fans; secondly, it is the film production level - whether it is a simple copy of the concert stage , it still has new ideas in plot and scenes, attracting new audiences besides fans. "Taylor Swift" has a massive number of fans around the world, with the total number of fans on social platforms reaching 360 million. These fans are of course willing to pay for movies under the call of their idol. After all, the price of a movie ticket is much cheaper than a concert ticket. In comparison, it is not certain how much money similar movies of other singers can "attract". For example, "Beyoncé: Renaissance", which was released in the United States on December 1 last year, had a global box office of 43.64 million U.S. dollars. In 2008, the famous Hollywood director Martin Scorsese's "Shine the Light" for the Rolling Stones only had a box office of $15.77 million.

Of course, compared to Hollywood blockbusters with budgets of hundreds of millions, the production costs of these concert movies are relatively low, and due to their simple structure and scenes, the production cycle is shorter, and their main purpose is to bring instant freshness to fans. In contrast, China's local concert movies have not yet had a box office success. Although Deng Ziqi's 2017 "The Wind" included personal growth experiences, the box office stayed at 3.27 million yuan and received negative reviews. This shows that the fan economy may not be fully translated into box office. In 2013, "Beyond That Day" by Cui Jian, a representative of Chinese rock music, used the fashionable 3D format to bring a sense of immersion and had a high score of 8.0 on Douban. However, due to the low film schedule, the final box office was only 230,000 yuan, so it could only be regarded as a movie. Chinese pop music material to archive.

Now, driven by the success of the "Taylor Swift" movie, more and more singers and producers in Europe and the United States are planning to release concert movies, even like the 1984 film "The Farewell" that documented the legendary band "Talking Heads" "Prudery" has also been restored and re-released. Of course, China can also learn from the experience of such films - popular singers/bands can rely on their popularity and presence to attract fans, while senior singers focus on emotion and intimacy. But it is not easy to break through the circle and sell well. After all, the current music audience is becoming more and more refined, and global superstars like Jackson and Swift are rare.

From the perspective of subject matter and type, whether a concert movie can be a hit or not, the first thing to consider is how many fans the singer/band has, as well as the age group and purchasing power of the fans; secondly, it is the film production level - whether it is a simple copy of the concert stage , it still has new ideas in plot and scenes, attracting new audiences besides fans. "Taylor Swift" has a massive number of fans around the world, with the total number of fans on social platforms reaching 360 million. These fans are of course willing to pay for movies under the call of their idol. After all, the price of a movie ticket is much cheaper than a concert ticket. In comparison, it is not certain how much money similar movies of other singers can "attract". For example, "Beyoncé: Renaissance", which was released in the United States on December 1 last year, had a global box office of 43.64 million U.S. dollars. In 2008, the famous Hollywood director Martin Scorsese's "Shine the Light" for the Rolling Stones only had a box office of $15.77 million.

Of course, compared to Hollywood blockbusters with budgets of hundreds of millions, the production costs of these concert movies are relatively low, and due to their simple structure and scenes, the production cycle is shorter, and their main purpose is to bring instant freshness to fans. In contrast, China's local concert movies have not yet had a box office success. Although Deng Ziqi's 2017 "The Wind" included personal growth experiences, the box office stayed at 3.27 million yuan and received negative reviews. This shows that the fan economy may not be fully translated into box office. In 2013, "Beyond That Day" by Cui Jian, a representative of Chinese rock music, used the fashionable 3D format to bring a sense of immersion and had a high score of 8.0 on Douban. However, due to the low film schedule, the final box office was only 230,000 yuan, so it could only be regarded as a movie. Chinese pop music material to archive.

Now, driven by the success of the "Taylor Swift" movie, more and more singers and producers in Europe and the United States are planning to release concert movies, even like the 1984 film "The Farewell" that documented the legendary band "Talking Heads" "Prudery" has also been restored and re-released. Of course, China can also learn from the experience of such films - popular singers/bands can rely on their popularity and presence to attract fans, while senior singers focus on emotion and intimacy. But it is not easy to break through the circle and sell well. After all, the current music audience is becoming more and more refined, and global superstars like Jackson and Swift are rare.