Every reporter: Du Wei Wen Menghua Every editor: Wei Guanhong
"Chinese filmmakers are actively responding to the audience's demand for high-quality films." On August 3, Professor of the School of Journalism and Communication of Peking University and the Theory of the China Film Association Lu Shaoyang, chairman of the Commentary Working Committee, pointed out at the "2024 Chinese Film Art Report" and "2024 Chinese Film Industry Research Report" release forum that research data shows that in 2023, films with a box office of more than 1 million yuan in my country will have a box office of more than 1 million yuan 10 years ago. The ratings of films above RMB 100,000 on Douban Movies and Maoyan increased by 17 percentage points and 24 percentage points respectively.
The above report release forum is an important part of the 37th Popular Film Hundred Flowers Award Ceremony series of activities. At this forum, the official release of the book "Chengdu and Chinese Film" also attracted widespread attention in the industry.
Photo source of press conference: Photo by reporter Du Wei
"From early film creativity to current film production and distribution, Chengdu has always played an important role." Consultant and film theorist of the book "Chengdu and Chinese Film" Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Society, said at the press conference that Chengdu has attracted the attention of many film creators with its unique charm. "Chengdu is a hot land for movies, and it is also a fertile ground for movies. In the future, Chengdu movies will Further explore and utilize rich local cultural resources to create a film brand with Chengdu characteristics."
Although my country's film market has ushered in a long-awaited boost, the box office of the Chinese film market will reach nearly 55 billion yuan in 2023. However, according to the release of the report. In his eyes, there are still some problems that need to be solved urgently.
At the event, Li Zhenlin, dean of the Film School of Shanghai Theater Academy and vice chairman of Shanghai Literary Critics Association, Liu Jia, market columnist of "China Film News" and visiting professor of Beijing Film Academy, and Peng Jian, researcher of the School of Cultural Industry Management of Communication University of China, etc. More than a dozen experts who participated in the writing of the report conducted in-depth discussions on issues such as the surplus of actors, the transformation of traditional distribution methods, and the continued downturn in investment and financing in the film industry.
There are many actors, but the number of performing artists is decreasing.
"Artistic creation and the audience are on the same frequency" is a major focus topic of experts and scholars at the press conference. The most indispensable thing for good artistic creation is actors on the big screen and small screen.
"Third-rate actors act in scenes, second-rate actors act in characters, and first-rate actors act in taste." Li Zhenlin pointed out that after the entry of capital, many film and television projects will use more celebrities to cater to young people. Therefore, a common phenomenon now is that the number of performing artists is decreasing while the number of stars is increasing.
Li Zhenlin believes that using celebrities is one of the fastest ways to quickly cash in on movie speculation, but the consequence of this is that the benign biological chain of the film industry is destroyed. "A large number of young stars are marketed, monopolizing the entire market, and some senior artists have no chance to act."
During the press conference, Li Zhenlin told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that there are too many actors now, which will trigger the audience's rebellious psychology. In his view, the relationship between actors and artists is not a zero-sum game. "There is an evolving and superimposed relationship between the two. The new generation will slowly mature and become the Mesozoic. In the process of filming, they use their heart, emotion, and strength. Through constant understanding and summary, some actors will slowly become Artist."
Li Zhenlin was interviewed by reporters during the meeting. Photo source: Photo by reporter Du Wei.
It has been a long journey from actor to artist. "From the stages of acting, the first thing is to master the 'technique' of being an actor. This is the 'job certificate' that must be obtained. But after mastering the technique, if you want to go further, you have to understand the role, life and In terms of culture, there are still many actors who can reach this level, but to become an artist, you have to compete for personality," Li Zhenlin said.
Li Zhenlin also told reporters that the current stable cycle of audience interest points and social fashion is very short."It's only about 9 months, but the shortest filming and production cycle of our movies is 8 months to a year. How to keep up with the changes in social hot spots is a problem that requires in-depth thinking for our Chinese movies. Only those who surpass the audience can Only imagination and thinking can lead the market."
The film industry is "dumbbell-shaped" and "thousands of theaters, one film" are the current shortcomings of development.
When talking about the rapidly recovering Chinese film market, Liu Jia, an industry expert who has been involved in the film industry for many years, used "dumbbell". " to describe the current Chinese film industry.
"There are two ends of the dumbbell. One end is the upstream production. Our top films have sufficient resources and sufficient influence; the other end is the market. Our market is large enough and has the best distribution and screening channels and terminal theaters; and the middle "Distribution is relatively old and solid, with thousands of theaters working together." Liu Jia observed that in many important periods, major films compete fiercely, and many excellent films do not receive corresponding market returns because of the lack of differentiated distribution.
Photo source of press conference: Official photo
In fact, as early as 2016, the National Art Film Screening Alliance had explored branch distribution; by 2023, "Silent Notes", "Your Wedding" and " If You Are the One 3" Equally tested the waters of "split distribution". Among them, "If You Are the One 3", which has attracted much market attention, once caused controversy.
According to the "2024 China Film Industry Research Report", "If You Are the One 3" signed contracts with more than 9,900 theaters for distribution across the country. It earned 43.168 million yuan at the box office in the three days of the first weekend. As of the end of January 2024, the film had a cumulative box office of 100 million yuan. . At that time, there were voices saying that the film's total box office was far from the expectations of the film studio and distributor, and was only one-third of the target box office.
However, in Liu Jia's view, the box office of "If You Are the One 3" is not as good as expected and cannot be "taken away" by branch distribution. On the one hand, more than 9,900 theaters have been signed, accounting for 77.2% of the country's registered theaters at the end of 2023. This scale can hardly be said to be a "branch distribution"; on the other hand, the distributor opened branch theaters three days after the first weekend due to poor box office threshold.
"Differentiated distribution is not only our current shortcoming, but also one of the bottlenecks restricting the further development of the Chinese film market." Liu Jia said frankly that differentiated distribution is an issue that needs to be studied and implemented in the current film industry. It can not only bring audiences Diversified choices will also bring a broader market for small and medium-sized films, otherwise it will lead to a waste of film resources.
Film technology has become a new hot spot for investment, and industrial restructuring is expected to bring a new round of growth
Since 2023, the Chinese film market has rapidly recovered, showing great potential and resilience. However, although the capital market is betting on the wave of AIGC (generative artificial intelligence) in an attempt to explore new growth points in the industry, overall, due to the impact of the industrial environment, investment and financing in the film industry is still in a conservative state.
"2024 China Film Industry Research Report" shows that investment and financing in media, film and television will drop sharply in 2023. In the first three quarters of 2023, there will be only 28 domestic entertainment media investment and financing events, a significant decrease from 71 in 2022; at the same time, in order to cope with the shortage of funds, Due to the pressure, 6 film and television companies carried out a total of 17 pledges throughout the year, and the reference market value of the pledged shares accumulated to approximately 5.4 billion yuan.
Under this trend, more and more film and television companies are "getting together" in the same movie. "Plate investment" has become the mainstream method of film investment and financing. For example, in 2023, Hengdian Film and Television, China Film, Bona Pictures, etc. will participate in more than 10 films. In addition, the enthusiasm for investment in theaters is also declining. In 2023, there will be only one new theater in the country. There are more than 850, which is far lower than the growth rate before the global epidemic.
As an expert in investment and financing analysis of the film industry, Peng Jian believes that in order for industrial capital to regain confidence in the film industry, it is necessary to further solve the problem of diversifying investment channels.
"In the past, from 2013 to 2016, industrial capital was in a period of upward rapid growth, but now it is a platform period. During this platform period, capital must rebuild confidence, firstly to see whether it can make money, and secondly, to make money. Can it be separated?" Peng Jian said.
At present, in the face of the new wave brought by AIGC, leading film and television companies are actively embracing it and investing heavily. Whether it is film technology, business models, production models, etc., they are all on the eve of change.
According to Peng Jian, in the past two years, film technology, film culture and tourism integration, etc. have become hot topics sought after by capital, and many film capitals have reserved projects with high IP value. "This is actually the prophet of Spring River Plumbing Duck. Whether it is a listed company or a private equity fund, it has already taken the lead in laying out plans before the change comes. The restructuring of the film industry may bring about a new round of growth. This is an opportunity."
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