In August 2023, Mao Yu, executive deputy director of the Central Propaganda Film Bureau, pointed out in his speech: "The traditional unified distribution method for all theaters is no longer suitable for the increasingly personalized viewing needs and diversified creative patterns of the audience. It must be A breakthrough was achieved in the differentiated distribution and screening model of segmented and segmented films. "
After this, "broadcast distribution" became a hot word in the film industry, and many companies and theaters launched corresponding measures and attempts. However, after several unsuccessful "tests" during the Spring Festival and May Day stalls, the industry still has a lot of confusion about what "split issuance" is and how it should be implemented.
, as the Shanghai International Film Festival forum that focuses on industry hot spots and provides authoritative opinions and practical information exchanges, will certainly not let this topic go by. At the "New Ecosystem of Film Distribution" theme forum held on June 17, experts from film distribution, theaters, creative end and research fields gathered together to analyze the current status and trends of domestic and foreign distribution, branching, focusing, zoning, etc. Discuss differentiated distribution mechanisms, seek a refined, diversified, and market-oriented new film distribution ecosystem, and promote high-quality and sustainable development of the Chinese film market.
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branch release Why is it imperative
Faced with the phenomenon of crowded film market schedules and insufficient content supply, how to realize the normal supply of diversified high-quality films to meet the diverse entertainment and aesthetic needs of the audience? How to grasp changes in audience data and formulate targeted publicity and marketing strategies? How to arrange schedules scientifically and rationally, win support from theaters for different types of films, and effectively improve overall box office performance? These are questions that the industry is paying attention to and trying to answer.
The famous director Jia Zhangke also explained to us his observations and opinions on this from other identities-the operator of two theaters and the organizer of the Pingyao International Film Festival.
Jia Zhangke introduced to the industry some data on theaters and released films in mainland China, Japan, and Hong Kong, China. It can be seen that the number of screens in mainland China is far more than that in Japan and Hong Kong, China, but the number of released films does not match that: In terms of the number of screens, the number of screens in mainland China is about 24 times that of Japan and about 280 times that of Hong Kong, China. However, in terms of the number of films released, the 506 films in mainland China are far lower than the 1,232 films in Japan, and there is no significant advantage compared with the 267 films in Hong Kong, China.
"Our current market is not a refined market, but a relatively extensive market. How many 80,000 screens have been produced, and whether its potential has been stimulated to empower China's overall film industry. This aspect is It’s very worthy of our thinking.”
Jia Zhangke
Film scholar Zhi Feina pointed out at the forum that years of “extensive” development have made Chinese cinemas currently facing pain. “When the cinema chain system was reformed in 2011, the reforms were proposed. The goal is to unify the brand, unify the filming, unify the operation, and unify the management. But now it has become the "four same"? The film supply contract is the same, the filming time is the same, the bill sharing ratio is the same, and the minimum ticket price is the same. Will being the same lead to two being the same in the end, living in the same way and dying in the same way? "A cruel fact is that today's theater attendance is only half of 2015, and there have been 26 days when the box office reached 30 million this year. days, which is only 9 days lower than last year. One can imagine the pressure on the Chinese film market in the second half of the year.
The necessity of off-line distribution is due to the fact that theater screens are largely idle, and on the other hand there is no way for a large number of high-quality films to be distributed and meet the audience.
Jia Zhangke said that theater attendance is low and a large number of screens are idle. From the source, it is necessary to solve the problem of "where do the programs come from?" "More detailed regional and time-scheduled releases are based on a rich source of films."
Among the content to be activated, in addition to domestic films and traditional Hollywood films, more diverse international films are still being sought. Opportunities to meet more Chinese audiences. According to Jia Zhangke, “a quarter or a fifth of the films screened at the Pingyao International Film Festival have Chinese sales companies.These companies have bought a lot of movies, but only a handful of them have entered Chinese theaters. Some of them have been absorbed by streaming media, and some of them have become inventory in the company's film library. "Jia Zhangke believes, "If this film can enter our market in a more convenient way, it will greatly supplement the shortcomings of our film sources. "The inspiration of the
Film Festival to the industry is also worth pondering. Jia Zhangke pointed out that the Shanghai International Film Festival, Pingyao International Film Festival, and Beijing International Film Festival are all international film festivals, and three to four hundred films are screened every year. This part The resource has entered the vision of film producers, distribution companies and theater audiences.
"How to activate its market transactions?" There are usually only three or four screenings at film festivals. How did this part of the film get into our screening sequence? We have worked so hard to organize so many film festivals, and the total number of viewers is more than a thousand. In Jia Zhangke's view, this is "a bit of a waste of resources." "In fact, we all have correspondingly good talent reserves, company reserves, and preparations for film festival window services. How can we integrate these resources to supplement the programs of the Chinese film market?" , allowing for more detailed distribution with the necessary film conditions. "
"Every difficulty means a suggestion, which is some attempt to change our work and enhance the vitality of Chinese films. " Jia Zhangke said.
Scholars solve problems by "dividing lines", not dividing the market by forceful buying and selling
At this Shanghai International Film Festival, changes in the film environment have become the consensus of the industry. Today's theaters face a new market and a new audience. and a new ecological environment, we must come up with new response plans. Zhi Feina, a professor at the China Academy of Art, pointed out, "The overall judgment of the market is a state of extensive and fierce competition, and what we are looking forward to is a refined and differentiated competition. "In the past year since
branch distribution was proposed, there have been some simple and crude solutions to the problem. For example, the distribution company and the theater chain use the proportion of bundled films as a condition for issuing keys. This is because all parties are not ready.
Zhi Fina emphasized: “Split-line distribution is not about dividing the market, and monopoly and forced selling are not split-line distribution! "
" Mainstream commercial films do not need to be separated. They are meant to obtain a wider range of market recovery in a fast time. What we must pay attention to is that they should not be oligopolized. If the big fish swims over, it must be given to the small fish. The little shrimps have a little space. "Zhi Feina believes that mid-range films can be distributed in mixed lines, with some commercial theaters and some relatively personalized theaters mixed with distribution, and gradually expanded, while low-cost films can reduce costs within a very narrow range. , only select a few theaters for long-term screening.
Zhi Fina
In addition to distribution in different areas, Zhi Fina also suggested that “some films can be released in limited numbers nationwide and focused on certain areas. "She took " Kowloon Walled " as an example. Its three-week box office share shows that Guangdong is far ahead in box office share.
At the same time, movies can also be customized according to the audience's viewing preferences. "Specialized distribution" based on gender, age group, and preferences, such as opera movies for theater fans and opera movies for opera lovers, also have their own audience groups.
The Cantonese film "The Grandmaster" is concentrated in the box office in Guangdong. The performance of the Tibetan-language film " Snow Leopard" in Tibetan areas, including the Shanghai-language film "Love Myth", which had previously been far ahead at the box office in Shanghai, provides ideas for language-specific distribution to win over every audience. Cinemas are calling for professional planning and marketing talents
Wu Feiyue, the founder of Elephant Movies, who has been exploring finding the right audience for niche movies since its establishment in 2017, said in a roundtable forum sharing, "Currently from the perspective of distribution Generally speaking, a large number of companies are already developing in the direction of specialization. "The Elephant Film Festival prefers the professional distribution of documentaries and literary films. "There are other various professional institutions in the industry that focus on animations and romance films."
Wu Feiyue said, "In the entire industrial chain of production, publicity, distribution, and distribution, if any link lacks innovation and lacks the proactive pioneering spirit to face today's market, the entire chain will definitely be affected. "
Cinemas, as a window that directly connects with the audience, urgently need to make changes.
Wu Feiyue noticed the theater at his doorstep that he often went to, "It's very new, but in fact there is no one in this theater from ticket checking to counting. There are 10,000 people in this theater across the country. Many cinemas, many of which are gradually losing even their basic operating capabilities, make it more difficult to conduct 'refined operations'. "
Wu Feiyue
As a representative of theaters with "personalized" operations, Qi Hai has 31 years of experience in theater management. The Qinggong Cinema City he supervises is located on Beijing Road, a prime location in Guangzhou. "The location is quite good, but the surrounding areas There are seven cinemas within a diameter of 300 meters, and the competition is very fierce." Qinggong Cinema City was not tall enough to accommodate IMAX, and there was no parking lot nearby, so Qi Hai decided to "make some films that others cannot make." “We make small and medium-cost films that other theaters often don’t make. If they don’t make them, I will. My exclusive business will not be homogenized. But when making a small film, you have to have some tricks. You have to think of ways to attract people. "
He also said that whether it is distribution companies, theater chains and movie theaters, they not only need executive talents who can do transactional work, "but also need another kind of talents, excellent planners. They must be open-minded and well-informed. , The knowledge must be broad, and we need to build such a team that cannot just do routine daily work. Qi Hai called for a reward mechanism to be established to attract outstanding people to join this field. "Rewards should be rewarded and praise should be given to attract more such outstanding talents to enter the field of distribution and screening. This is a long-term solution." "
Zhi Fina deeply agrees with the suggestions of frontline workers. Every year, she conducts research in at least 50 theaters across the country. "I found a typical problem. Theaters do not have marketing departments, only ticket sellers and ticket checkers. In fact, showing movies No one is needed anymore. If there is no marketing department, how can he study what the audience around him looks like, how old they are, and what movies they like? We need every theater to have its own thinking and label, and to know the positioning of this theater. "
Faced with the phenomenon of crowded schedules and lack of films in the off-season, China, as the main body of distribution, is also promoting new attempts such as "People's Cinemas" to improve this film supply system.
In order to stimulate the enthusiasm of the unpopular market, China Zhou Yong, manager of the distribution department of Film Distribution Co., Ltd. , believes that “the most important thing is to enrich the content supply of these theaters and provide theaters with more of this type and better quality films. Through some refinement Distribution means to cultivate the audience's habit of watching movies in various schedules and cultivate this habit. "
Wu Feiyue said that he has recently had new thoughts on the relationship between the industry and the audience. "In the past, we often talked about the entire industry chain of system, publicity, distribution and release, and the 'spread' of the 4×100 meter relay. The logic of passing on is that after I finish running, I hand it over to you, and the film you took is handed over to the next person. Sometimes we even have to push the baton back and forth. "
Now, Wu Feiyue feels that the new relationship is "drawing", "We produce, publicize, distribute, and put everyone on one side to draw with the audience. Because there are many people in the audience who are trying to attract viewers, short videos, long videos, micro dramas, everyone’s common goal is to attract the audience. Today we are facing such a situation together, and we must win over every audience. If today is a commercial blockbuster, we will be facing thousands of troops; sometimes a documentary or an art film may be facing thousands or hundreds of thousands of people. Do we want it? "Under this logic, focused distribution requires everyone in the entire industry chain to know the audience better. "If you think this person can't see his face or his needs clearly, it's impossible to attract him. Came here. "
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