cultivates the theater's own temperament, attracts more like-minded people and stimulates more movie consumption because they trust the choice of the theater. The picture shows the Majestic Theater going both ways with movie fans for the excellent works screened at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival and the special souvenirs launched. Is
short video a rival or partner to theatrical movies? Is it a help or a challenge for overseas films to be distributed in China? Can the screening strategy of giving priority to blockbusters really achieve the expected effect of "grabbing the big ones and releasing the small ones" for individual theaters?
The annual Jinjue Forum is always a big collision of truths in the industry. Yesterday, at the "New Ecosystem of Film Distribution" forum, directors, scholars, distribution company partners, theater planning directors, etc., representatives from all walks of life who need to deal with a film to meet the audience gathered. Regarding branched issuance, focused issuance, and zoned issuance, there are both conflicting concepts and a high degree of consensus. It seems that high-efficiency issuance is still a long solution process.
But as "new concepts" for movies such as "protecting farmland", "tug of war", "pot gas" and "customer acquisition cost" emerge in an endless stream, perhaps the answer is emerging. When today's movies need to face an Internet era where everyone crosses boundaries and everything is integrated, finding audiences for good movies and the right people for the right movies requires refined and personalized consumption to be a necessary issue for movie distribution.
"War to defend farmland": 86,000 large screens look forward to more efficient output
In 2023, there will be 14,000 commercial theaters nationwide with more than 86,000 screens. The largest number of large screens in the world allows movie fans across the country to watch movies simultaneously and live poetically regardless of region. Then what?
director Jia Zhangke was the first to open the microphone: "Last year, 506 films were released in mainland China; 267 films were released in 63 theaters and 306 screens in Hong Kong. Japan had 3,600 screens and 1,232 films were released last year." As a creative Or, he saw a pair of contradictions - unsaturated supply and idle screens. He compared the big screen to "cultivated land" and believed that the current "output per acre" is insufficient.
Zhi Feina, a professor at the China Academy of Art, brought more dimensional data. Compared with 2003, the mainland market's feature film output, number of screens, box office, and movie attendance will increase by 2.3 times, 43.88 times, 54.47 times, and 36.11 times respectively in 2023. "The industry has laid a very good foundation." In particular, the global box office share is gratifying, rising sharply from 0.6% in 2003 to 22.87% in 2023. But in recent years, the problem of "wasted space" in theaters has become increasingly apparent. In 2023, the average attendance rate of mainland theaters will be only 9.5%, less than half of 2015. In the first half of this year, there have been 26 days with a single-day box office of less than 30 million yuan, while there are only 27 days in 2021.
The entry points from different perspectives may be different, but the conclusions are the same. "The era of large-scale concentrated consumption is coming to an end." Zhi Fina said that the Chinese film industry's new round of innovation, increasing supply, eliminating redundant production capacity, lowering some ticket prices, and changing the account sharing ratio are all debatable potentials. .
Jia Zhangke sets his sights on the increase in imported films. From the Pingyao International Film Festival to the Shanghai International Film Festival, he is happy to see many excellent overseas films participating in exhibitions and competitions every year, but he often regrets that the rich and diverse films have not been able to embrace a wider Chinese audience. "The three to four hundred films coming to the film festival have actually entered the vision of our film producers and distribution companies. After three or four screenings at the film festival, can some of them be suitable for public release?" In his opinion, domestically produced films in recent years have been Although we are proud that our films have an absolute advantage in the market, we also have hidden concerns. "If the number of international film screenings becomes smaller and smaller, what is our position in the entire international film landscape?"
"Just imagine, if there are 86,000 screens It can accept more than a thousand films for release every year, half of which are from international masterpieces. This is reflected in the influence of the Chinese cultural market." Jia Zhangke's voice received a lot of applause, "Because we are global and embrace different types of high-quality content. The huge market will further enhance its centripetal force and attraction to the international community, and the products, talents and other high-quality resources involved will also be tilted towards such a large market."
"The battle for attention": The big entertainment industry explores more win-win possibilities
Preliminary statistics in the field of audio-visual content in 2023 will inevitably make filmmakers tremble: this year, short videos received an average of 1.067 billion netizens per People enjoy 151 minutes of attention every day, and long videos grab 113 minutes of attention from 1.053 billion users, while the average daily viewing time in theaters is only 0.3 minutes.
Wu Feiyue, the founder of Elephant Video, "makes up for it." , maybe even "The Egg" is participating in this "battle for attention". As a team focused on the distribution of art films and documentaries, Elephant is undergoing an update of concepts internally. "In the past, we often combined production, distribution, and marketing. , The screening process is likened to a 4×100-meter relay. Everyone completes their own stroke and then passes it to the next person. Now it seems that a more appropriate metaphor is a 'tug of war', where production, publicity, and distribution are all put together, with the audience on the opposite side. "At the other end of the tug-of-war rope, sometimes there are thousands of troops, such as when a commercial film comes; sometimes it is an art film or documentary, and the audience may only be tens of thousands or even thousands of people. But no matter how large the number is, the audience must be "pulled" to This side of the movie is crucial. Don’t let the few people do it. “The goal of a movie should be to win over every possible audience.”
Similar ideas of compatibility are even more prominent in Ryo Takeuchi, who now lives in Nanjing. He labeled himself as a "short video maker" and a "movie maker". Now that slash youth are everywhere, he feels that the two identities are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, the two types of products can complement each other. " Make money quickly with short videos. "On the one hand, the short-term and fast production income can feed back the creation of films with long production cycles and revenue cycles. On the other hand, it may be more important. When " Goodbye Yangtze River " was released, he captured many clips from the new work and put them on the video account , "Short videos can help attract traffic to movies. Even if 60% to 70% of the content has been watched by netizens, there will still be viewers who want to watch it in the cinema."
In fact, as more and more film and television companies attack in multiple fields. , "Don't put all your eggs in the same basket." Today's large entertainment industry should have a broader pattern. When Zhi Feina used "leisure competitiveness" to describe the time crisis encountered by movies, she also threw out the "blacklist" of the industry. "Swan" factors. Data falsification, review control, Internet blackwater, and chaos in the rice circle often catch the film market off guard. Scholars sincerely appeal: "Don't let the phrase 'prevent fire, theft, and friends' from becoming a prophecy. Chinese films need Work together to make the cake bigger. "
"Differentiated Service War": Cultivate the theater's own "buyer" temperament
Compared with industry authorities and well-known scholars, Qi Hai may be the name that many filmmakers have heard for the first time. It is different from the domestic leading Wanda Cinema Line Or the Paragon brand with high-quality facilities, the Guangzhou Qinggong Cinema City where he works can hardly be called "first-class", but this one is located in the "Shangxiajiu" area of Guangzhou with many cinemas around it, the space is limited, and it cannot install an IMAX big screen, and it does not have its own space. Cinemas with parking lots have repeatedly used small things to achieve great results, creating marketing miracles under conditions that appear to be full of "grooves".
As the planning director of Guangzhou Qinggong Cinema City, the cases shared by Qi Hai are almost all unknowns in the national box office rankings. . But breaking their thinking, they used "gratitude education" and multiple rounds of distribution to make children's films, so that the box office of "Ocean Friends" beat "Jaws" in the same theater; they played the fellow card, "Deng Shichang is the pride of Guangzhou people." “Guangzhou people are not only good at making money, but also have national integrity.” Such announcements have made many “old film professionals” sympathize with movies. Qi Hai said that they may not have an advantage in making super blockbusters, “but in making small and medium-cost movies, this is exclusive. The business will not be homogeneous."
is "exclusive". In this sense, the little-known Guangzhou Qinggong has the shadow of a focus release. In many cases, the "best-selling" single-film box office in the country The picture can prove that the mainland market is fully equipped with the basis for focused issuance, issuance by region, and issuance by line.Zhou Yong, manager of the distribution department of China Film Distribution Co., Ltd. , proposed that it is indispensable to strengthen leading companies, leading schedules, and leading films to lead market development. “But some small and medium-cost films have formed a foundation. Parts also need to be consolidated." When the leading companies firmly control the leading resources, why not encourage small and medium-sized distribution companies to find refined matching films.
provides standard quality-controlled meals in the "central kitchen" while accurately identifying users to provide differentiated service supply, which has been recognized globally. Frenchman Nie Borui is a partner of Heylight International Film Distribution Company. In the French market, which is composed of 45% local films, 35% American films, 17% European films, and 3% films from other countries, it is necessary to understand the needs of the audience. "There are many art films in France, and the audiences for art films are mature movie fans. They watch original soundtracks and don't eat popcorn. The core audience for commercial blockbusters is mainly viewers under the age of 40. They are very IP-oriented, can accept dubbing, and often I like to eat popcorn.”
Takeuchi Ryo feels the same way. When taking "Farewell to the Yangtze River" on a road show in Japan, he discovered that many cinemas have their own characteristics, ranging from decoration style to screening content. "There are theaters dedicated to documentaries, and theaters reserved for Asian films. Each theater has its own fans." He said that many viewers did not know "Farewell to the Yangtze" before watching it, but they are "fans of the theater" ", just out of trusting the taste of this cinema, I will buy the ticket "with my eyes closed".
Such a differentiated and focused idea is similar to the consumption thinking of a "buyer store". Zhi Fina said: "Differentiated services must ultimately focus on people and meet their needs. Everyone is tired of eating 'prepared dishes', and moviegoers also hope to experience 'pot' in different theaters." "Qi'." Wu Feiyue proposed an idea, "When theaters provide commercial films on weekends, can they set up a documentary day on Monday, watch art films on Tuesday, national screening day on Wednesday, and leave classics on Thursday?" to cultivate the theater itself temperament, so that at the agreed time and place, the audience can get a movie that is "appetizing".
movies, before attracting consumption behavior, the first thing is content. She needs a kindred spirit after all.
Author: Wang Yan
Text: Our reporter Wang Yan Picture: Picture provided by Shanghai International Film Festival Organizing Committee Editor: Shi Wei Editor: Xing Xiaofang
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