The May Day holiday is approaching, and the movie market is bustling again. A total of 8 new films will be released on May Day this year. According to Beacon Professional Edition data, as of 21:30 on April 29, the pre-sale box office (including spot screenings) of new films on May Day in 2024 has exceeded 176 million yuan. " Kowloon Walled City: The Siege ", " Spy Play House Codename: White " and "Peacekeeping Riot Squad" are temporarily among the top three at the pre-sale box office (including spot screenings). Although the May Day attribute is not obvious, animated movies this year are quite eye-catching. The two Japanese animations "Spy House Code: Shiro" and " Howl's Moving Castle " have not yet been released and are on pre-sale. It has performed well in "The Pig Man Movie: Interstellar", a parent-child animation, and it also has a fixed audience. In addition to the movie tickets themselves, many movies also co-brand and cooperate with surrounding stores and even restaurants to drive more cultural consumption scenarios. On one side is the travel craze, and on the other side is the feast of rich film culture. This May Day, which one do you choose?
"Second Dimension" young audiences are increasing
According to the release calendar of the Beacon Professional Edition, a total of 8 new films will be released on May Day this year. In addition to 3 animated films, there are also action films "Peacekeeping Riot Squad" and romance films " Crossing "Moon's Journey ", the suspense film " Nothing Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot ", the crime film "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City", the comedy " Thelma and Louise ", "the overall film supply is very good in terms of genres" Rich to meet the viewing needs of different audiences," said Chen Jin, data analyst of Beacon Professional Edition.
Cartoon box office real estate value from 2014 to 2023 (Source: Beacon Database)
"We have reason to expect that this year's May Day cartoons will shine and become a dark horse at the box office." Chen Jin said that in recent years, the demand for family viewing has shown an upward trend. , especially during popular times, the phenomenon of bringing the whole family to watch movies is very prominent. For example, the "Bear Bears" series of movies, which is deeply involved in the Spring Festival, has repeatedly hit new highs in box office, and the two-dimensional group, mainly young audiences, has gradually become a new force in the film market, " Suzuya Journey ", " Slam Dunk ", "" What kind of life do you want to live " have achieved outstanding box office results. Under the combined effect of the two, the annual ticket real estate value of cartoons has increased significantly. This also makes the box office performance of animated movies such as "Spy House Code: White" and "Howl's Moving Castle" this year's May 1st release to be promising.
"Howl's Moving Castle"
On April 20, "Spy's Playhouse Codename: White" held premieres in many places across the country, attracting many fans to participate. The "Spy House" series received a high score of 8.9 on Douban, and the first season became the fastest animation to surpass 100 million views on Bilibili. However, compared with established IPs such as "Conan", this series is relatively young. The film released this time is also the first movie version of "Spy's House". Chen Jin introduced that the recent offline marketing activities of "Spy House Code: Bai" have been rich and diverse. In the past seven days, the number of newly added wants to watch on Taopiao Piao is significantly higher than that of other films, and a higher proportion of users aged 24 and under want to watch it. .
"Spy House Code: White"
"The movie version still meets expectations and meets expectations. There are not many jokes at all, and there are also big scenes that are only equipped in movies." "Infinitely Transparent Blue" is a two-dimensional hobby The reporter, who is also a fan of the "Spy's House" series, rushed to watch the premiere of the film as soon as possible. "I believe that young two-dimensional audiences must be a new force in the film market, and they are the main force. They are more enthusiastic about film fan creations, and some excellent secondary creations play a great role in promoting film promotion."
Many The theater has arranged a check-in area for "Spy House Code: Bai" Photo by Zhong Han
Many theaters have arranged a check-in area for "Spy House Code: Bai" Photo by Zhong Han
"Although the second dimension is considered a niche group, they They have strong spending power and a strong desire to socialize. "A cinema manager in Shanghai noticed that when "Spy House Code: Shiro" was released in Japan, a popcorn bucket with the character's image was a hot seller and was sold on domestic second-hand platforms. Once priced at a high price, similar peripheral sales were introduced for this domestic release.In addition to the check-in area, the theater also works with partners to recruit cosplay (role-playing) enthusiasts, who will dress up as characters in the movie and interact with the audience on site. However, the theater manager said that he still needs to wait and see whether "Spy House Code: Bai" can become the schedule champion. "The purchase volume of theater peripherals is not large. We found that some peripheral stores have more people watching and fewer people buying. It may be related to the fact that the IP is not well-known in China, and a group of core fans have already watched it at the premiere. There is still doubt whether the box office can maintain growth during the May Day period. "
"Howl's Moving Castle" is on the road show in Shanghai. , cosplayer Karina dressed up as Hal in the movie. Photographed by Zhong Han
"Rely on IP licensing, peripheral sales, etc. to obtain higher income beyond the box office. This model is represented by Hollywood in the United States. The consumer group of Japanese animation is relatively small. "It is difficult for the audience to become a flagship product in the commercial market." Ishikawa, a professor at the Shanghai Theater Academy, believes that this year's May Day holiday has indeed seen the rise of Hayao Miyazaki and animated film fever, but it is still difficult to judge from this that the two-dimensional group will become the main force in the future film consumption market. premature. ""Howl's Moving Castle" is one of Hayao Miyazaki's masterpieces. It can attract people born in the 80s and 90s to go to the theater to review the classics, and it can also bring in parent-child viewing groups. The two-dimensional group is only a part of the audience. Even if you are not Two-dimensional fans will not buy its peripherals or dress up as its characters, but it does not prevent you from liking this movie and buying a ticket for it. "
"Xiao Qian" officially announced that it will be withdrawn from the May 1st animation series this year. The large number of films also brings fierce competition within the track. On April 23, the animated film " Xiaoqian ", which was originally scheduled to be released on April 30, announced on its official Weibo that it would "select a date for release" and withdraw from this May Day release. As the first work of Light Animation after its establishment, the film is adapted from "Nie Xiaoqian" in "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio", reshaping ancient love stories with current animation language. As early as February this year, "Xiao Qian" was announced to be released on May Day, and pre-roll ads for the film can already be seen in theaters. In the past, most May Day movies only had low-cost parent-child animated films. Unexpectedly, with the two heavyweight works "Spy House Code: White" and "Howl's Moving Castle" successively scheduled for April 30, "Little Children" Qian" suddenly lost its competitive advantage. On April 14, "Xiao Qian" will start advance screenings and conduct offline road shows in multiple cities, looking forward to word-of-mouth fermentation. However, these screenings and road shows did not make much splash. The unsatisfactory pre-sales of
are not only due to strong competitors, but also, in the eyes of some viewers, are related to the aesthetic fatigue of Chinese myths and legends. "I'm not surprised that "Xiao Qian" was withdrawn. Cartoons often choose to release during the summer vacation. May Day and National Day are the peak travel periods. Xuanfa may have had a mentality of missing the peak time when it initially chose this schedule." "Infinitely Transparent Blue" believes that the audience is too familiar with traditional Chinese monster themes, but has higher requirements for film quality. "The reason why "White Snake: Origin" was able to make a breakthrough was because of the new ideas in the plot."
May Day. The schedule attribute of the file is open
Chen Jin said that judging from the pre-screening popularity reflected in the number of people wanting to watch the films, "Spy House Code: White", "Peace Keepers" and "Howl's Moving Castle" Forming the first echelon of popularity, the proportion of women in the three films is relatively prominent. Among them, "Peacekeeping Riot Squad" has a more prominent proportion of people aged 25 and above who want to watch it, with more than 70% of them, and "Spy House Code: Bai" has more than 70% of those aged 25 and above. The following movies that I want to watch account for more than 40%; "Journey Across the Moon", "Nothing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" and "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City" form the second echelon of popularity. Historically, there have been many popular love movies on the May Day holiday. "The Next Us", "Your Wedding" and "So Many Years" have all had outstanding box office results. "Journey Across the Moon" is the only love movie on the May Day holiday this year. The film has the highest proportion of people under the age of 25 who want to watch it, and it is highly anticipated by young female audiences.
Source: Beacon Database
The Hong Kong film "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City" has the highest distinction from other films and is highly anticipated by older male audiences. "'The Siege of Kowloon Walled City' may become a dark horse. People bought it as soon as the May Day screenings were released, and the attendance rate has already exceeded that of 'Peacekeepers'.""A theater manager said that currently "Peacekeepers" has not arranged any offline promotional activities such as Shanghai roadshows, which will have a certain impact on box office sales. "Peacekeepers" quickly led the box office list of new films after the pre-sale began, and was also the first to pre-sale box office A film that has exceeded 10 million, however, "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City" has spread the film's reputation and popularity through large-scale screenings for many days. As of 21:30 on April 29, the film's screening and pre-sale box office has reached 6844.6
"Peacekeeping Riot Squad"
Some viewers were discouraged by the withdrawal of films such as "Xiao Qian": "There is one less movie to watch on May Day. Movies tend to run away as soon as the trend is bad. When will this deformed market end? "It's normal to withdraw. There is no need for the audience to take it too seriously." Ishikawa believes that the main reason for the withdrawal of "Xiao Qian" is the lack of confidence in the market due to the recent two Miyazaki Hayao movies. "The artistic quality of the film is good. If it can be changed to the summer release, it may have more markets." Space, viewers who want to watch don’t have to wait too long. "In his view, there is no basis for the view that "no good ending for withdrawn films". Previously, films such as "Detective Chinatown 3" and "Sky King" have been withdrawn and achieved high box office after being released in new schedules. " In fact, films have been withdrawn from the May Day schedule in previous years. It is a risky behavior to 'hard-list' when the pre-sale situation is not ideal. It is a more rational choice for the issuer to reselect the schedule based on market feedback. Audiences cannot doubt the quality of the film just because they saw it at another time. "
" has clear schedule attributes compared to the Spring Festival schedule and National Day schedule. The May Day schedule attribute is open, and any type of movie can come in. If the genre and film type are configured well, the schedule potential can be further explored. . "Ishikawa believes that this year's May Day animated movies are a bit unexpected. However, the configuration of action, suspense, romance, comedy, etc. is relatively reasonable and can satisfy the audience's diverse choices. "It's like ordering food in a restaurant. There are meat and vegetables on the table. The ideal combination of vegetarian and nutritious food is ideal, but what often happens is that the chef serves you two fish or two plates of meat at the same time. "He believes that for this kind of open schedule, it is more difficult to allocate, and both the distributor and the theater need to negotiate well to make a more reasonable mix of genres and film types." Just like the Shanghai International Film Festival can open in June The monthly box office performance that matches the popular schedules relies on the skill of senior film arrangers like "Four-Eyed Laowang". To achieve the ideal effect of filling popular schedules and expanding into new schedules, more film schedulers are needed. "
There is no contradiction in traveling and watching movies. We look forward to more movies to drive cultural tourism enthusiasm.
The suspense comedy "Nothing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" directed by Ding Sheng and starring Yang Mi, Yu Qian, Tian Yu, Yu Ailei and Li Jiuxiao is in The Shanghai premiere was held on April 23. While the film is full of twists and turns and suspense, it also integrates folk culture, traditional food, and various flavors of the world. In addition to the "hot pot" in the title, Sichuan mahjong and Sichuan opera are both It is an element that has a high frequency of appearance in the movie. The film hopes to bring about movie-watching enthusiasm during the May Day period and also "bring goods" to cultural and tourism consumption.
"There is nothing a hot pot can't solve"
in this film. At the Shanghai road show, an Iranian audience member who was engaged in film cultural exchange said that the film combined Chinese opera with hot pot and life, and it was a good presentation. Watching it gave him a deeper understanding of traditional Chinese culture and it was worth watching. It is worth mentioning that the film has also launched a joint event with a certain hot pot brand. While launching the screening road show, it also launched the "Lighting Up the Hot Pot Map of China" tour. It is hoped that while the national audience will have a taste of the new May Day film, they will also Discover the treasures of special hot pots from all over the world and look for "hot pot partners". At the road show, Ding Sheng also "brought goods" for a perfume designer's hot pot-flavored perfume and gave it as a gift to the audience who participated in the exchange. The two animated films, "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Spy's House: White", have a lot of peripheral sales. The reporter found that many theaters in Shanghai have check-in areas for "Spy's House: White". , some also have sales booths for surrounding partners."Infinitely Transparent Blue" said that she has planned to buy the series of peripherals of "Spy House Code: White", "I will definitely spend more than the money of the movie in the end." "Howl's Moving Castle" is also in her "May Day" "Movie List", before she bought the movie tickets, she had already taken a liking to the protagonist's pair of earrings on social platforms and planned to buy them.
An animation peripheral store in front of a theater in Shanghai, including sales of peripherals related to "Spy House Code: Bai" Photo by Zhong Han
Films actively combine with food and cultural creativity to bring goods to cultural tourism. Can it become a May Day holiday this year? The new highlight of the show? "Films driving cultural tourism craze is not a new thing, it has been around for a long time in the history of film." Ishikawa said that famous director Xie Jin's films were filmed all over the country, often in remote and unknown places. Xie Jin filmed a movie there After the movie, it became popular immediately, driving subsequent local industrial development. Wangcun, located in western Hunan, Hunan, was renamed Furong Town because of the filming of "Furong Town". Guoliang Village in Henan also attracted attention because Xie Jin filmed "The Bells of Qingliang Temple" there. Its spectacular natural landscape has become a popular sketching location for art students.
In recent years, commercial blockbusters have become popular with filming locations. For example, "If You Are the One" became a hit location in Xixi Wetland, Hangzhou, and "囧囧" popularized tourism in Thailand. However, in his opinion, the most popular A notable and typical example is "Love in Lushan" produced by Shanghai Film Studio in 1980. Through the story of a young man and woman, Geng Hua and Zhou Yun, who fall in love in Mount Lu, the film depicts the majestic and beautiful scenery of Mount Lu and the thoughts and feelings of overseas Chinese who love their motherland. , hearty and hearty, it became a sensation across the country as soon as it was released, and also attracted a large number of audiences to visit Lushan to "check in". "In the past, there were not so many tourists in Lushan, and transportation and accommodation were inconvenient. After "Lushan Love" became popular, because there were too many people going up the mountain, the local area began to build roads and hotels, and cultural and tourism infrastructure facilities gradually followed."
Douban screenshot of "Love in Lushan Mountain"
At that time, "Love in Lushan Mountain" introduced the concept of "landscape travel feature film". A few years after the film was released, a staff member in charge of cultural and educational publicity in Lushan once joked to the film director Huang Zumo: "According to Lushan Mountain If you get a commission from tourism income in the past few years, you will be rich." Today, the film is still shown locally for a long time and has become a popular attraction.
"There is no problem that a hot pot meal cannot solve"
"There are frequent cases such as Zibo Barbecue and Lanzhou Malatang that rely on food to drive local cultural tourism. We have been talking about the concept of 'movie+', and we can have videos to explore local food. Resources, it is a good thing to proactively integrate with cultural tourism and catering. "Ishikawa believes that among this year's May Day movies, whether it is "Nothing Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" co-branded with a hot pot restaurant, or "Spy House Code: Bai". 》Linkage with surrounding stores, etc., to move closer to daily consumption and consumption by young people, are all commercially worthy film marketing methods. "But don't forget that movies have their own laws. If the movie becomes an advertisement for hot pot for the sake of commercial income, the gains will eventually outweigh the losses. How to maintain a balance between the laws of film art and the development of commercial channels is what creators need to think about. "Goal."
data shows that during this year's May Day holiday, people's willingness to travel has increased significantly, and the popularity of outbound travel and domestic long-term travel has increased. In this regard, Ishikawa believes that there is no contradiction between truly good movies and traveling. "You always have to spend money when traveling. You can see the scenery during the day, and you can sit down and watch a movie at night. The problem now is that many movies can be watched or not, and they lack enough single-film market competitiveness." He went to Seremban not long ago. I was in town on a business trip and found that there was no cinema in the area, so many tourists went to watch song and dance performances to kill time in the evening.
Regarding the box office of the May Day movie market, Ishikawa is optimistic, "Since last year, I have been traveling almost every month, and I have found that the consumption environment has picked up significantly in recent months. Shanghai's airport is crowded with people, and you have to queue up to eat in shopping malls in the city center. . The overall consumption trend is on the rise, and the movie market will not be bad."
Box office list of new May Day movies (Source: Lighthouse Professional Edition)
