has exceeded 8 billion in box office and 163 million moviegoers. With the average ticket price falling back to 49.2 yuan, the 2024 Spring Festival has set a number of film history records, creating a good start for this year's film market.
On the other hand, we should also pay attention to the particularity of this year’s Spring Festival. This year’s Spring Festival period lasts from the first to the eighth day of the lunar month, which can be said to be the “longest in history.” Including the 2021 Spring Festival, which has a box office of 7.84 billion, most Spring Festival stalls are from New Year's Eve to the sixth day, and there are usually no new Spring Festival movies on New Year's Eve. Therefore, the actual number of days with box office production this year is two more than in previous years. From this perspective, the total box office of 8 billion cannot be regarded as a surprise, but within expectations.
This year’s Spring Festival, there are topical videos and occasional events. Before the end of the schedule, including " Mr. Red Carpet ", " Let's Shake the Sun Together " and two animated films "Bajie: The Lower World of the Canopy" and "Huang Pi: The God of Wealth Cat from the Sky" were all announced to be withdrawn. The original eight films Only half of the new Spring Festival films are still in theaters.
Competition in the film market has always been fierce, and the Spring Festival season is especially brutal. This is not the first time that a film has been withdrawn or withdrawn midway. Last year, "China Ping Pong: Jedi Strikes Back" experienced two schedule changes, but it is rare for half of the films to be withdrawn like this year.
As of 15:00 on February 20, the remaining four movies, " hot " and " speeding life 2" exceeded 2.98 billion and 2.65 billion respectively, "Article 20" exceeded 1.6 billion, "Bear Infested· "Reverse Time and Space" exceeded 1.58 billion. After the schedule, the growth rate of the two first-tier films slowed down, and "Article 20" ranked first in terms of single-day box office share.
Considering schedule production, innovation is also needed
The quality of new films released during the Spring Festival this year is generally above the standard, and they have achieved good results on major rating websites. In this case, the market space for non-headline films is limited and the schedule is difficult A dark horse. Ding Jiaying, deputy marketing manager of
Red Star Movie World in Shanghai, told China Business News that the new Spring Festival films have performed well at the opening, and audiences will definitely prefer headline films that are more topical and have good reputations, while films with less topicality and a limited audience will be the first choice. , it is difficult to attract additional consumers during this period.
Some viewers also believe that insufficient film scheduling has resulted in poor market performance of non-headline films, which has forced them to withdraw them. Ding Jiaying responded that film scheduling is a market behavior: "It's not that theaters don't want to schedule, we will also give relevant films some better time and screenings in the early stage, but there is still a certain gap in its overall output and the number of moviegoers."
from the industry From a perspective, the quality and reputation of the two withdrawn live-action movies are online, but they are somewhat misaligned with the overall tone of the Spring Festival release. "Mr. Red Carpet" directed by Ning Hao and starring Andy Lau tells the absurd story of a movie star who, in order to win the Best Film Award, challenged rural themes, experienced life and refused to be a substitute, but ended up falling into a nationwide boycott. "Let's Shake the Sun Together" is the final work of the "Life Trilogy" directed by Han Yan (the first two are "Get Out! Mr. Tumor" and "Send You a Little Red Flower"), exploring the relationship between love and life. issue.
In Ding Jiaying's view, "Mr. Red Carpet" has the temperament of a film festival and is a black humor comedy with a literary and artistic orientation, with a limited audience; "Let's Shake the Sun Together" has solid quality and a happy ending, but the subject matter is not suitable for the Spring Festival. Atmosphere: "The Spring Festival season has higher box office output in lower-tier markets. People pay more attention to whether the film is family-friendly, easy to understand, and enjoyable to watch."
According to Liu Haibo, a professor at the Shanghai Film Academy of Shanghai University, the Spring Festival season is During the period with a strong festive atmosphere, films that focus on family fun, comedy, inspirational and positive energy are more popular. This is also reflected in this year's Spring Festival period: "National comedy stars star in national comedy stars, and comedy movies are sketched, which is actually the Spring Festival Gala version."
Liu Haibo believes that, The overall performance of this year’s Spring Festival is within expectations. In terms of film types, it is a bit monotonous, mainly plot films. Except for some racing scenes in "Flying Life 2", there are basically no films focusing on big scenes and visual special effects: "This also shows that , the producers are making cost-effective calculations. Since low-cost plot movies can win better box office, there is no need to make blockbusters with too laborious visual effects."
In Liu Haibo's view, on the one hand, film creators must consider scheduling production: "When producing, it is necessary to evaluate which schedule it is suitable for. In particular, commercial films must fully study the characteristics of the schedule and produce marketable products for different schedules. Road's products highlight its commercial attributes. "At the same time, we must also pay attention to the fact that "things must be reversed when they reach their extremes." Innovation and change are the common denominators of every Spring Festival winner.
"For example, before "Hello, Li Huanying", films with popular overseas styles or national sentiments were better in terms of visual effects. Among the blockbusters, suddenly there is one that takes the family route, and it becomes popular. Last year's "Man Jiang Hong" featured a plot twist and was also popular. Although this year's "Hot" is also a plot comedy, it is better than the off-site factors, that is, Jia Ling , as an actor and director, made extraordinary efforts and efforts to make this movie, and everyone was moved by the off-site factors. Imagine if the character played by Jia Ling used a body double to replace her face, then this movie would be very ordinary. I think it is an inspirational documentary movie with novelty in its selling point. "Liu Haibo said.
After the Spring Festival, how theaters will spend the vacancy
This year's Spring Festival, the sinking trend is significant. According to data from the Beacon Professional Edition, the box office share of third- and fourth-tier cities exceeded 53%, a record high, and first- and second-tier cities The proportion of box office is the lowest in history, and the box office of first-tier cities accounts for less than 10%. Shanghai ranks second in the city box office list with 250 million, one place lower than last year.
With the improvement of market data, specific to individual theaters, hot and cold Uneven. Ding Jiaying said frankly that judging from the box office output and attendance of movie theaters, it did not meet expectations.
Liu Haibo analyzed that during the Spring Festival last year, the epidemic had just eased and people were not able to travel, especially overseas travel. , on the eve of this year’s Spring Festival, many countries announced visa exemptions for China, and tourism consumption diverted movie-going consumption in some first-tier cities. On the other hand, the single type of films is also one of the factors affecting the box office. Ding Jiaying also said that this year’s films are relatively In Ding Jiaying's opinion, the long-tail performance of this year's Spring Festival films may not be as good as last year's. "Last year's films had many viewers and fans who were willing to watch them twice, three times, and watch them over and over again. This year's movies have a certain degree of popularity, but judging from the audience's purchasing behavior, they do not watch a certain movie repeatedly, but tend to watch new movies. "
However, there are currently very few new films to choose from on the market, and the impact of film withdrawals on the market will begin to appear after the Spring Festival. According to the practice in previous years, only sporadic new films will be released for a long time after the Spring Festival, and theaters will At this stage, films with good market potential or stock in the Spring Festival schedule are screened, which continue to attract audiences: "Relatively speaking, this year, there are not enough new films to support it, and there are not many rich screenings. In fact, there will be a period The window of time. "
Looking back at the film market last year, both the richness of film types and the popularity of the films were remarkable. Some films that followed the rhythm of promotion and release achieved box office far beyond expectations. But from the perspective of theaters, There are still hidden worries: “For example, films will be concentrated in certain popular schedules, and there will be no films in non-scheduled periods. Last year, some stages experienced a long window period, which was very painful for theaters. "For example, more than a month before the Spring Festival, it was almost supported by the film "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop!".
Judging from the films that have been scheduled, the film market in March is worth looking forward to. In terms of imported films, there is the science fiction blockbuster "Dune" 2", the animated classic series "Kung Fu Panda 4", the superhero film "Spider-Man: Awakening", the action film "Godzilla vs. Kong 2", the film festival masterpiece "Judgment of the Fallen", etc., and there are also rescheduled ones "Let's Shake the Sun Together", as well as domestic masterpieces such as "Brilliant Her", "Galaxy Writer" and "The World of Grass and Trees", have rich genres and lineups. Can "Let's Shake the Sun Together" rely on the reputation it released during the Spring Festival to gain new popularity? Better box office performance during the schedule needs to be verified by the market.
“We look forward to more high-quality films being released this year. Audiences are becoming more and more rational and cautious. They will first observe the reputation of a film before making a choice.I also hope that new films will continue to enter the market to maintain everyone's movie-watching habits, rather than just focusing on a certain schedule. The important thing is to get back everyone's movie-watching habits. "Ding Jiaying said.
