On November 8, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" will be re-released in theaters. Currently, there are nearly 80,000 people who “want to watch” the film on Maoyan Professional Edition. The reporter learned that starting from October 11, the eight films in the "Harry Pot

On November 8, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix " will be re-released in theaters. Currently, there are nearly 80,000 people who “want to watch” the film on Maoyan Professional Edition. The reporter learned that starting from October 11, the eight films in the "Harry Potter" series have been released in Chinese theaters at the rhythm of one film per week. This is also the first time that this series of films has launched such a large-scale continuous broadcast on a global scale. The screening event set off a wave of nostalgia among netizens.

In addition to the wand-waving Harry Potter, more than 20 films have been re-released this year, and "The Pianist" will be released before the end of the year. From the perspective of the industry, although the re-release of old movies is nothing new, it is the first time that it has happened in such a concentrated manner this year. Why are more and more movies choosing to be re-released? During the interview, the person in charge of theaters including Harbin Jin'an International Cinema and China Film Zhongshu International Cinema said that in the final analysis, the supply of new films in 2024 is not strong enough, and it is necessary to rely on old films to "rescue" to fill the gap. The person in charge of Jin'an International Cinema pointed out that so far, this year's movie box office has been 38.776 billion, which is equivalent to three less " hot boiling hot " compared with 49.616 billion in the same period last year. Therefore, many netizens ridiculed: "I never expected that the responsibility of carrying the bottom line of the market would actually fall on some re-released films." As the first film in the "Harry Potter" series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" had a national box office of 10.78 million yuan on its first day, contributing only 6.4% of the film schedule. The box office share of the market was 22.4%, sparking heated discussion. Subsequently, the second part " Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ", the third part " Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ", the fourth part " Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" " have achieved surprising box office results, even far surpassing the Hollywood blockbuster "Joker 2: Double Delusion" released at the same time.

Bingcheng Cinema managers said that the full series re-release of "Harry Potter" is seen as an important boost to attract audiences during the off-season of the film market after the National Day holiday, especially for its fan base.

The reporter learned that compared to the many fans born in the 80s and 90s who grew up watching the original "Harry Potter", the post-00s generation was the main group of moviegoers during this re-screening. According to Maoyan Professional Edition’s “Want to See Portraits” data, most of the people who are interested in going to theaters to watch this series of films are between the ages of 20 and 24. In the interview, the manager of China Film Zhongshu International Cinema (McKaile Store) said that for those post-2000 "Hardcore fans" who did not catch up with the first batch of movie releases that year, they finally have the opportunity to "make up for it" in the theater .

There are three major categories of re-releases: nostalgia, "new", and linkage

But most of the re-release films have become cannon fodder

As the number increases, re-release films also begin to have different classifications. The first category is the nostalgic screening of high-reputation films after many years. For example, the entire "Harry Potter" series was re-released, 23 years after the first part of the series was first released. "The Killer Isn't Too Cold", which was just released at the beginning of the month, and the upcoming "The Pianist on the Sea" are also classic films, and can even be regarded as masters of specific genres.

The second category of re-released films has many "new additions". For example, " The Wandering Earth 2", which was re-released during the Mid-Autumn Festival, used the 3D remake effect as its selling point and won a total box office in the order of tens of millions, leading the re-released films in the same period. The third category is not for the box office, but for promotion in conjunction with the release of new series movies.For example, in March this year, " Dune 2" arranged a re-screening of " Dune " one week before its release; this summer's re-screening of "White Snake: Origin" was to pave the way for "White Snake: The Floating Life"; also in November The re-screening of "The Myth of Love" on the 2nd is to warm up the release of its parallel chapter "The Good Thing" on November 22.

Bingcheng Cinema managers said that judging from this year’s box office data, the box office of most re-released films is not high. At least 15 films have re-released box office of less than 1 million and have become cannon fodder. For example, the animated film "Slam Dunk" just took in 660 million yuan at the box office last year. It was released again a year later, but only earned more than 3 million yuan. Many viewers complained that it was "ugly to look at."

Why are there so many re-releases this year?

Insufficient supply of new films, low investment cost for re-release of old films

Why are there so many re-released films in 2024? Managers of Bingcheng Cinemas, including Jin'an International Cinema, said that the main reason is that the supply of new films in 2024 is not strong enough. In the absence of topical new films in the market, re-screening of classic films has become a means to attract audiences. They believe that in the past, National Day movies could sustain a long-tail effect for more than a month after the holiday, but this year there are almost no movies that can be watched sustainably, and they will not be able to sustain it at all in the future. Therefore, re-released films fill theater schedules during the off-season period and play a role in attracting audiences with emotions. Audiences may buy tickets because of special memories or emotions for a certain movie, and this emotional connection is an important driver of the box office of re-released movies.

Another reason is that the cost of remapping is relatively low. The reporter interviewed several domestic distributors. They said that re-releases require investment, but in general it is much less than the initial screenings. Some re-releases cost hundreds of thousands of digital disks to produce. As for other posters, peripherals, etc. The cost can be large or small.

Re-releases are just supplements and cannot be mainstream

If you want to be "popular and popular", you might as well use tricks in marketing

Although re-released films occupy an important position in the mature film market system, "re-releases of old films" must not be Relying solely on emotional support requires more scientific and mature operations. Bingcheng Cinema managers believe that the qualifications for re-screening should be given as much as possible to those high-quality films that can stand the test of time. If they are ordinary works or even bad films, it will bring a negative impression to the market.

Which film re-releases are more likely to be successful? Industry insiders said that judging from past experience, it first needs to be of excellent quality and have a large audience. For example, "Titanic" and "Avatar" have been released three times in the mainland, and the last two re-releases still have amazing results. They can be called the most successful re-release cases in the mainland market, which fully illustrates the huge box office appeal of classic films. In addition, old films should be re-screened in new ways as much as possible. For example, you can set up a special area for re-releases on the ticket purchasing platform, and design special marketing activities, movie peripherals, and preferential policies to stimulate the market. For example, during the release of "Harry Potter", a large number of peripheral products were launched, and theaters launched a "marathon" viewing event to watch eight movies in a row.

Of course, instead of working hard on re-screenings, the film crew should be more "new". Bingcheng Cinema managers believe that for the entire film industry, the vicious cycle of opportunistic re-releases must be broken. Only by continuously launching high-quality new films can the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies be rekindled and a virtuous cycle formed. Otherwise, the market will continue to fall into The downturn affects the healthy development of the entire industry.

Today, there are still more than 50 days before the end of 2024. The reporter learned that there are no "big hits" scheduled during this period, so many theater directors are placing their hopes on next year's Spring Festival release. By then, many highly anticipated new films such as "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Greatest Hero" and "Nezha: The Devil Boy Havoc in the Sea" may be released together, hoping to inject new vitality into the market.

Leading News·Life Daily reporter: Wang Xueying