The total annual box office of the Chinese film market in 2023 is nearly 55 billion yuan, and the 11 films with a box office exceeding 1 billion yuan are all domestic films with different themes and types. Behind the high box office is the audience's satisfaction and support for the film. The results of the China Movie Audience Satisfaction Survey show that the audience satisfaction scores for multiple periods in 2023 are the highest in the same period in history; the results of the 2024 New Year's Day Movie Survey of the China Movie Audience Satisfaction Survey show that the audience satisfaction score for the New Year's Day movie is 83.0 points, which is 83.0 points, compared with the same period last year. An increase of 0.2 points.
It can be seen from this that the key to creating box office revenue is to respect the relationship between the movie and the audience, so as to maximize the comprehensive value of the movie.
The film "Thirty Thousand Miles from Chang'an" allows people to see the perfect integration of nationality and contemporary nature.
From paying attention to the box office to respecting the audience
The industrialization reform of the Chinese film market that began in 2003 has been going on for 20 years. Looking back at history, we can find that Chinese films have achieved astonishing growth rates of more than 30% per year for more than ten consecutive years. In just a few years, they have completed the construction of large-scale theaters, screens and other infrastructure leading the world. However, they are also faced with The debate over the "inflection point" of slowing growth has resulted in a complete separation between box office and word-of-mouth. The reason is that although the Chinese film market has advanced by leaps and bounds at the industrial level, it is still emerging as a whole and has strong variability and plasticity. Only by solving the structural problems that have been ignored, not judging heroes based on box office, not simply piling up data indicators, and not being coerced by capital, can we hope to achieve connotative and sustainable prosperity and development.
The Spring Festival period has always been an important period for driving the film market to rise, and it is a battleground for film strategists. However, the results of the 2022 Spring Festival period were not satisfactory. Although it still ranked second in the history of the same period with a box office of 6.026 billion yuan, compared with the nearly 7.9 billion yuan in 2021, the decline reached 23%. The most serious thing is that the decline in movie attendance is even more obvious, not only lower than the Spring Festival in 2021, but even lower than the Spring Festival in 2019 and 2018. On the other hand, the average ticket price of 52.8 yuan during the Spring Festival this year was also significantly higher than in previous years.
A glimpse tells the whole story. Box office indicators and whether it can surpass the North American market are not the goals and main contradictions of the Chinese film market. The real goal and contradiction is always to improve the quality of Chinese films, respect and satisfy the audience's viewing needs, and then consolidate the market share of domestic films and contribute more Chinese wisdom to the world film market, rather than putting the cart before the horse.
Looking back at the 2023 summer season, it is precisely because of the launch of a series of high-quality works that respect the audience, thus achieving a "two-way rush" between the movie and the audience. The schedule includes "The Lost Girl", "In the Octagon" and "All or Nothing" that respond to various hot topics in society, as well as the animated film "Chang'an 30,000 Miles" with unique epic content, as well as showcasing the world-class level of domestic fantasy films. "Fengshen Part 1: Chao Ge Fengyun". In addition to domestic films, imported films on the market have also enriched the audience's choices, such as the biopic "Oppenheimer" focusing on the famous physicist, and the highly satirical "Barbie", which continues the strong audio-visual impact of American blockbusters. "Mission Impossible 7: Reckoning (Part 1)" and so on.
The 2023 summer release of "She Disappeared" echoes hot social topics.
Film theorist Mr. Zhong Lianpi pointed out far-sightedly in the last century that "the core of film aesthetics is the relationship with the audience." Handling the relationship between films and audiences is the basic logic to ensure film content production and market prosperity. . Numerous cases have shown that failure to follow basic logic will inevitably bring a huge blow or even subversion to the Chinese film market. Therefore, only by always standing together with the Chinese movie audience, respecting the audience, understanding the audience, and satisfying the audience, can the dividends of the prosperity and development of Chinese movies benefit everyone. Only when the audience is respected will they vote for Chinese movies with their feet, emotions and hearts.
From "social needs" to "movie viewing needs"
Another problem that has been obscured by box office data in the past is that the moviegoing group is changing. Structural changes in the audience will inevitably affect the production and creation of Chinese films, and can even promote structural changes in Chinese films.Statistics show that Chinese movie audiences are becoming more mature, professional, and middle- and high-income groups, and the biggest reason why these mainstream groups choose to enter theaters is to meet their social needs - 69.5% of the audience choose theaters to watch movies because of socializing with friends, followed by It's for couples dates and family activities.
The reason why audiences go to theaters when they have social needs is affected by the following factors: First, there are too few good movies, which has become the primary reason why audiences do not choose theaters to watch movies. Secondly, with the popularization and upgrading of electronic devices, audiences tend to choose more convenient online viewing methods. In addition, excessively high ticket prices will also dampen the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies.
Maslow once divided human needs into five levels: physiological, safety, social, respect and self-realization. Social needs are an important link for people to establish emotional connections or relationships with other people, and then obtain belonging and love. It is undeniable that respecting this demand of the audience can deepen the social function of the theater, expand the social space, and consolidate the infrastructure, thereby helping movies and other forms of entertainment compete for the audience's attention and attract the audience to the theater.
However, if we only rely on the ritual sense required for socializing in movie watching and focus on creating popular schedules, movie watching can still only meet the social needs of "celebration", but this is obviously not conducive to market development. Top movies are too crowded in popular time slots, which will squeeze the living space of waist movies. In the same way, if other schedules are not supported by rich films, they will gradually die out. This has fallen into a vicious cycle, and the audience's daily viewing needs can never be cultivated.
The new changes in the 2023 Spring Festival stalls suggest the possibility of breaking the situation - not only have the box office and word-of-mouth improved significantly compared with the previous year, but they have also exerted a long-tail effect. "It has paved the way and set an example for "living life". Judging from the survey data of Maoyan and Beacon, in the one month after the Spring Festival, the box office still took in 3 billion yuan in the first week, second only to 2019 with the blessing of Valentine's Day.
In addition, low-frequency movie-watching audiences will increase from 26% in 2022 to 33% in 2023, and low-frequency audience users mainly come from third- and fourth-tier cities. This not only reflects that the appeal of high-quality films to low-frequency users has been significantly improved, but also means that the films sinking into the market are mobilizing incremental audiences. This feedback will undoubtedly inject certainty and positive energy into the market: Chinese films must ensure the quality and efficiency of films on the basis of respecting the audience, and at the same time actively develop more attractive schedules, in order to ensure the balance and stability of the film market throughout the year. Balanced development will further cultivate the audience’s movie-watching needs.
Introduced films in the film market have also enriched the audience's choices, such as the biopic "Oppenheimer" focusing on the famous physicist.
Give greater play to the comprehensive value of movies
As mentioned above, the structure of movie audiences has changed, and it is necessary to handle the relationship between movies and audiences more scientifically, reasonably, and systematically. The main way is to satisfy the audience's diversity and high-quality products. personalized content needs.
The diversification and quality of film creation is a commonplace topic. When Chinese films were dominated by capital and traffic, they fell into a vicious circle and paradox where audiences complained that there were no good movies and creators complained that there were no good audiences. After the problem was exposed, Chinese films actively carried out supply-side reforms. The first is to no longer simply repeat the patterns that the audience is familiar with, but to make great efforts to develop genres such as science fiction and disaster films. The second is to effectively improve the sophistication of movies and maximize and optimize the efficiency of film creation. The most typical one is the "deep processing" of animated films. Not only is the linkage of the entire industry chain of serialized development common, it can also be seen in representative films such as "White Snake", "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes to the World" and "Chang'an Thirty Thousand Miles". To the perfect integration of national character and contemporary character.
On the other hand, the gradually improving cultural system and review system of Chinese films are also helping to improve the audience's viewing quality and cultivate a healthy and diverse aesthetic. A two-pronged approach can better establish a relationship between movies and audiences. Good movies will eventually go "both ways" with good audiences.
must once again emphasize that the core of film aesthetics is the relationship between the film and the audience, and this is also the basis for the healthy development of the market. Only by respecting the audience and paying attention to the needs of movie-watching can movies be able to exert their value. At the same time, movies and the film industry not only have economic value, but also cognitive value, ideological value, aesthetic value, emotional value, and richer and more comprehensive values. You must not only use economic indicators to measure movies and movies. In the industry, we cannot simply judge heroes based on box office. Reversing the logic will only lead to the development of the Chinese film market falling into the dilemma of seeking fish from a tree.
China's film market has a box office of 50 to 60 billion yuan a year. For filmmakers and the film industry, it is the basis and guarantee of survival, a "rice bowl" that cannot be left without for a moment; but for the national economy, it is Far from being insignificant. Therefore, purely using economic value to measure movies and the film industry cannot reflect the significance and value of movies and the film industry at all. In other words, the contribution of movies to the national economy, social development, and China’s cultural soft power cannot simply be measured by box office or economic indicators.
In fact, the multi-faceted and comprehensive social significance and value of movies require specialized people and special topics to conduct further in-depth research and achieve effective dissemination, so that all practitioners in the film industry can have a fuller understanding of their work. It is also necessary for the whole society to have a full understanding of movies and the film industry.
(Author Rao Shuguang Source Wenhui Po)
