The May 1st Festival has come to an end, and the film market has finally handed over a satisfactory answer. The total box office for the May Day period in 2024 was 1.527 billion yuan, ranking third in the same period in Chinese film history; the total number of moviegoers during the period was 37.637 million, and the total number of screenings was 2.4 million, setting a new record for the total number of May Day screenings in Chinese film history.
Photo by Wang Jinyue
The overall market performance exceeded expectations
"The overall performance of this May 1st period is quite good." Jiang Yong, a film market expert, told reporters. He believes that a total of 8 new films will enter the market during the May Day holiday, which is the same number as this yearâs Spring Festival holiday. Among them, six domestic films include comedy, war, action, suspense, animation and other genres, with a wide range of categories. In addition, "Howl's Moving Castle" " and "Spy House Code: Shiro" are two Japanese animated films. "Howl's Moving Castle" is Hayao Miyazaki's old work in 2004. Its audience is mainly fans of Hayao Miyazaki, while " spy play house codename: white " is mainly young people in the second dimension. The domestic animated film " Pigman Movie·Interstellar Operation " also has its own specific audience of moviegoers. "These films can find their own target audiences, which greatly enriches the audience's selectivity."
This year's May Day, there are five films with a box office of over 100 million, and the champion is " Peacekeeping Riot Squad ", with a box office of 405 million during the period; The second place is " Thelma and Louise ", with a box office of 390 million during the period; the third place is " Kowloon Walled City: The Siege ", with a box office of 252 million during the period. The fourth and fifth places were respectively the animated films "Codename: White" (196 million) and "Howl's Moving Castle" (102 million). The daily box office crown for the first two days of the period was won by "Peacekeepers". Starting from the third day, "Thelma and Louise" counterattacked and topped the box office, maintaining its status as the daily box office crown for the last three days of the period.
Lighthouse Professional Data Analyst Chen Jin told reporters that the proportion of viewers who bought tickets on-site on the first day of the May Day program was relatively high, close to 70%. Audiences prefer to make temporary decisions to watch movies on the same day, which also makes the market post-screening announcements include screenings. Word-of-mouth communication has become more important since then. On the other hand, it also shows that the audience's immediate demand for watching movies during the big period is still sufficient.
This yearâs May 1st slot continues the prominent feature of female audiences during popular slots, with female audiences accounting for more than 60%. At the same time, it has also become more popular, accounting for close to 40% of the box office in third- and fourth-tier cities. It is worth mentioning that this yearâs May Day program has the highest proportion of viewers over 40 years old in history, and the demand for family viewing continues to expand.
"Thelma and Louise" counterattacked and became the biggest dark horse
"Starting from the second day, "Thelma and Louise" counterattacked and became the box office champion of the day with us." Jinyi Cinema (Chaoyang Joy City Store) Manager Mao Yin told reporters. The film is directed by Uzhina and stars Jia Bing, Xiao Shenyang, Yu Yang and others. It tells the story of Jia Youwei (played by Jia Bing), who has only ten days left to live, gathering three of his school friends to spend money together for a carnival. Although the film's Douban score is only 6.1, it cannot stop the audience's preference for it. "Most of the audiences who go to the cinema during the holidays are mainly for entertainment and relaxation, and comedy movies have always been in hard demand." Mao Yin said that the previously released " Life is Unfamiliar " and " Annual Conference Can't Stop!" "" two comedy movies have achieved a high box office of more than 1 billion yuan. "Under the same proposition of 'If you don't go crazy or you die,' Thelma and Louise tells a completely different story: a group of old friends who were separated due to differences reunited because one of them was about to die. Cry together, laugh together, go crazy together, make trouble together, have fun together, fulfill old dreams together, and embrace the good times again even if we grow old,â commented a netizen, âA fish fills the river.â
The first commercial film on overseas peacekeeping in China, "Peacekeeping Riot Squad" portrays Yu Weidong (played by Huang Jingyu), Yang Zhen (played by Wang Yibo), Ding Hui (played by Zhong Chuxi) and many others who go to foreign countries to carry out peacekeeping operations in war-torn mission areas The heroic group portraits of the mission, coupled with Wang Yibo's strong appeal among fans, the film achieved a high box office of 136 million yuan on the first day. Unfortunately, this momentum was not maintained, resulting in the film's box office showing a "high opening and low decline" "trend.
The box office trend of "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City" directed by Cheng Baorui is very stable. The film's Douban score is 7.5 points, and its reputation ranks first among the five live-action movies. As a typical Hong Kong film style film, the film focuses on actors such as Raymond Lam, Louis Koo, Sammo Hung, and Simon Yam, using a variety of difficult fighting moves to match the cramped, narrow, and pipeline-dense space built in the Kowloon Walled City. , presenting a doomsday hell scene. Director Wang Jing commented: "Since "Fury: Serious Case" in 2021, it has once again made me and the audience excited."
The two Japanese cartoons also performed very well. "Howl's Moving Castle" has a Douban score of 9.1, making it the highest-ranking work among all Hayao Miyazaki's works, while "Spy's Playhouse Codename: Shiro" directed by Takashi Katagiri also has a Douban score of 7.5.
Another video has been withdrawn
Some are happy and some are sad, and this May Day release is no exception. On May 5, the suspense comedy " Nothing That Can't Be Solved by Hot Pot" directed by Ding Sheng and starring Yu Qian, Yang Mi and others announced that it would be withdrawn on May 6 (theaters that have already opened screenings can continue to show it ). The reason given by the producer is that due to various environmental factors, the film did not meet more audiences. After five days of release, the film only made 40.18 million yuan (a total of 53.33 million yuan including screenings) at the box office. It currently has a Douban score of 6.2.
The love movie " Journey Through the Moon " directed by Li Weiran and starring Zhang Zifeng and Hu Xianxu performed the worst, with a box office of only 36.89 million yuan during the May Day period. Jiang Yong believes that whether it is "Nothing That Can't Be Solved by a Hotpot" or "Journey Across the Moon", the titles of the films are confusing. The former cannot be seen as a suspense movie, while the latter is too literary and artistic. It is a love movie. "Romance movies are not mainstream in the market nowadays. This kind of vagueness in marketing makes it difficult for the audience to connect the film title with the type of story."
