As early as this year’s Spring Festival movies were scheduled to be released one after another, several strange phenomena appeared, such as: a single genre, four of the five key live-action movies were comedies; there was a lack of blockbuster movies, which were common in the Spring Festival movies in previous years. Industrial blockbusters such as "Changjin Lake" and "The Wandering Earth". On January 31, after the Spring Festival movie opened for pre-sale 10 days before release, various strange phenomena emerged one after another.
When the pre-sale box office during the Spring Festival exceeded 30 million yuan, the pre-sales of "" were not as good as those of the animated film "Bear Infested: Reverse Time and Space".
Mr. Red Carpet
First of all, the biggest strange thing is that there is no particularly outstanding "leader" in the pre-sales of this year's Spring Festival movies: According to data from the Beacon Professional Edition, as of 23:00 on January 31, the pre-sales of new 2024 Spring Festival movies have begun. The daily box office reached 66.365 million yuan, exceeding the same period last year. However, unlike last year's "Unknown" starring Wang Yibo, which led the pre-sales, the top four pre-sales for this year's Spring Festival are four comedy films in the schedule, " hot " " Article 20 " " The data of the top three films of " Speeding Life 2" are evenly matched. Only "Mr. Red Carpet" directed by Ning Hao and starring Andy Lau has a clear gap.
Perhaps the film studio is aware of this gap. At 20:00 on the first day of pre-sale on January 31, Andy Lau and Ning Hao appeared in Dong Yuhui's "Walking with Hui" live broadcast room that has attracted much attention recently. It is also planned to be held on February 3 Live broadcast is also started on station b. Although "Mr. Red Carpet" tried its best in marketing and publicity, while the pre-sale box office of the first three films exceeded 20 million yuan, the pre-sale box office of "Mr. Red Carpet" was only about 5 million yuan, which is lower than that of The low-cost romance film "Let's Shake the Sun Together" is slightly better, accounting for a quarter of the pre-sales figures of the first three films. This is indeed a bit bleak for filmmakers of Ning Hao and Andy Lau's caliber.
At 20:00 on the first day of pre-sale on January 31, Andy Lau and Ning Hao appeared in Dong Yuhui's "Walking with Hui" live broadcast room that has attracted much attention recently.
This situation may have a certain relationship with the positioning of "Mr. Red Carpet". When it was scheduled to be released, "Mr. Red Carpet" was a bit rebellious. It has always claimed to be an elegant, minimalist, self-deprecating film. In the film, fans chase idols, imagine celebrity life, and try to control public opinion and other "idol culture" "Also gave some criticism. The final trailer even included keywords such as "It's not a gossip film, it doesn't make hilarious jokes, and it's not a family fun show." The dialogue with Dong Yuhui used "communication and understanding" as the theme... All these characteristics are in line with director Ning Hao's previous "crazy" There is a huge contrast between the series of commercial films.
"Mr. Red Carpet" emphasizes "minimalism" and "elegance" and "leaving the right of choice and thinking to the audience."
According to the pre-sale audience portrait characteristics provided by Beacon Professional Edition, among all the new films pre-sold during the Spring Festival, "Mr. Red Carpet" is the film with the largest proportion of male viewers. From the age distribution, the audience who paid for this film It is also dominated by senior users and older users. It can be seen that such a film with a more rational style is not suitable for the bustling and colorful Spring Festival, and its main audience is not the most mainstream movie audience group at the moment. The fact that the film can be released on the Spring Festival release itself is somewhat experimental. If the film shows excellent quality after its release, it may become a long-term work that relies on word-of-mouth.
(Chart from Beacon Professional Edition)
The second biggest monster is "Article 20" directed by Zhang Yimou. Judging from the pre-sale audience portraits, the audience who favored this film is completely opposite to "Mr. Red Carpet"—— "Article 20" is the film with the largest proportion of female viewers and the largest percentage of young viewers. Just like "Mr. Red Carpet", the style of "Article 20" is also different from the mainstream Spring Festival movies in previous years.
Compared with the obvious pure comedy style of "Hot and Furious" and "Flying Life 2", "Article 20" is a film that is both serious and entertaining. It happens that the Spring Festival is a family-friendly time. In the process of discussing the serious issue of "justifiable defense," "Article 20" may have to stay in a more popular and simple way in order to meet the needs of the Spring Festival audience. Legal level.However, treating serious issues in an overly entertaining, comedic, and vague way will inevitably cause the film to fall into a whirlpool of "four dissimilarities."
It seems that "Article 20" has strengthened its comedy elements and assembled an all-star cast, which can help the film attract the attention of young audiences in the pre-sale stage. As for whether this serious story will be "happy", "heartwarming" or "heartbreaking" for the audience after being turned into entertainment under the control of director Zhang Yimou, we will have to wait and see after the film is released.
The all-star lineup of "Article 20"
The third biggest strangeness comes from the theme and marketing content of the film, which currently tend to be single. As the release time approaches, several key films have begun to promote and market in a rhythmic manner. Although each has its own packaging, the themes of four of the five live-action films are related to "midlife crisis", and the current major Most cinema consumer groups are audiences under the age of 40.
In the trailer of "Flying Life 2", Zhang Chi, played by Zhang Chi, said, "While there are still people who recognize my face," he prepared to counterattack the racing track again.
Shen Teng
Among them, the most unabashed one is obviously "Flying Life 2". In the trailer, Zhang Chi, played by Shen Teng, said "While there are still people who recognize my face", he is back and is ready to counterattack the racing circuit again. ; "Hot and Spicy", which is temporarily ranked first in pre-sales with a slight advantage, is also a film related to "staying at home for many years and regaining a new life". Jia Ling creates in a way that burns herself both in and out of the play. She has already lost weight. She has yet to appear in front of the public, which is relatively rare in the marketing of mainstream movies; although "Mr. Red Carpet" focuses on the life of big stars, the big star Liu Weichi (played by Andy Lau) has never won the "Best Actor" in 40 years of acting. ", he especially hopes to transform and prove his acting skills through a film; the male protagonist Han Ming (played by Lei Jiayin) of "Article 20" is deeply in a "midlife crisis". His son beat the school leader and refused to apologize. The wife was so indignant that she beat up the school leader. However, Han Ming had just been transferred to the Municipal Procuratorate and was running into obstacles at work...
Films one after another collectively focus on the anxiety of "mid-life crisis", which may make the entire schedule revolve around a single aura, which may become a potential hidden danger in the market.
"Hot and Spicy" is a film related to "regaining a new life after staying at home for many years".
Based on the above strange phenomena, you can use the word "Ningba" to describe the Spring Festival stalls of the Year of the Dragon: the audience of the Spring Festival stalls are "men, women, old and young, each with their own preferences." Four of the five live-action films are comedies, but most of them focus on the problem of reaching a plateau. The comedy types of "Hot" and "Flying Life 2" are more clear, and the audience feels more relaxed and unburdened. "Article 20" and "Mr. Red Carpet" only amplify the comedy elements in marketing, and the core of the theme that the work really wants to explore is more serious.
Source: Jinan Times
