On August 17, 2020, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, the movie "八百" will be screened, and the audience will be watching the movie. (IC photo/picture)
"Just give me one night, where can I go to raise 20,000 yuan?" On the evening of August 18, 2020, Manager Zhang from Tiantian Studios sighed. She received a call from the theater she joined. The theater and the distributor of the movie "Yu Bai" have already negotiated the conditions: "Yai Bai" has been launched on the 17th and 18th. City, on the 19th, you have to pay 20,000 yuan as a "guarantee deposit" to continue to get the key for the two-day screening on the 19th and 20th, and the key for the premiere on the 21st. Otherwise it will miss the premiere of "Eight Hundred". This movie theater was carrying debts and the money was outside, so it was stumped by 20,000 yuan.
Tiantian Cinema is located in Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County, Yichang City, Hubei Province. It is currently the only cinema in the county that has resumed work. "We are a well-known poor county in the country (Reporter's Note, Wufeng County just removed the "poor county" hat in April 2020). How can the movie box office be so high? It was originally a small theater, and it was very open after the epidemic. Difficulty." Manager Zhang told the Southern Weekend reporter. The
movie "Eight Hundreds" is about the Battle of Shanghai in the 1937 Anti-Japanese War. After the Kuomintang army retreated from Shanghai, more than 400 officers and soldiers, known as "eight hundred men", were ordered to stand by the Shanghai Sixing Warehouse and resisted with fewer enemies and more tenacious resistance for four days. The story of four nights. The film is directed by Guan Hu, with many senior actors participating. It is considered the first domestically produced commercial new film since the theater resumed work. Both theaters and film producers have high hopes for the film's box office performance. As of the evening of August 20, the box office of "Eight Hundred" has broken 200 million yuan, creating a record high since the resumption of work. In the
movie, in order to explode the enemy’s armored defenses, many fighters do not hesitate to wrap themselves in explosives and die with "human bombs". Before they die, they will report their hometown and leave their last words. Many of the soldiers who died in the movie came from Hubei Province, which is consistent with historical facts-about 80% of the "warriors" were from Hubei at that time.
If Tiantian Studios and the distributor of "Yaobai" finally cannot reach a cooperation due to the "guarantee", it means that a part of the audience in the hometown of the "strong men" will not be able to see the film in the first time.
On the evening of August 14, 2020, the movie "Yu Bai" will be screened in advance in some theaters in Shanghai. The picture shows the "Yu Bai" promo on the theater screen. (Visual China/Picture)
cannot afford the guarantee deposit
. There are many small theaters that cannot afford the guarantee deposit and cannot get the key like Tiantian Cinema. A reporter from Southern Weekend counted the theater schedules in the ticketing app and found that many small theaters in counties across the country did not have "Eight Hundred". Danfeng Studios in Danfeng County, Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province is one of them. It was also required by the distributor to pay a deposit of 20,000 yuan in order to get the key to the film. "Twenty thousand yuan, we don't even dare to think about it." Manager He of Danfeng Studios told the Southern Weekend reporter.
The "fragments" faced by these theaters actually originated from the distributor of "Eight Hundreds"-Huaying World Film Distribution Co., Ltd.'s newly launched cooperative model of guaranteed sub-account distribution-"Eight Hundreds" producer Huayi Brothers It is one of the major shareholders of Huaying World. A document previously circulated on the Internet by
stipulates the new distribution plan adopted by "Eight Hundred": theaters with a gross box office of more than 10 million yuan in 2019 can participate in the screening on August 14, 2020; 200 Cinemas with more than 10,000 yuan can participate in the screenings from August 17 to 19; when the theater is officially released on the 21st, theaters with an annual box office of more than two million yuan will show movies in a normal way; theaters below two million yuan, According to the 3.5% of the actual box office of the previous year, the minimum guaranteed amount must be handed over to the account designated by the issuer before August 19 before the film can be shown; some people who have been punished for interception and leakage of the box office in the previous year Cinemas, regardless of the box office level, must pre-pay the guaranteed amount in proportion. The actual situation encountered by various theaters of
is quite different from the details of this document. For example, the total box office of Tiantian Studios in 2019 is about one million yuan, but it still has 17th and 18th screenings. The total box office of Danfeng Studios in 2019 was around 400,000, but both it and Tiantian Studios were required to pay a deposit of 20,000 yuan, instead of the "3.5%" posted online. But overall, the situation in the theater confirms the existence of this document.
In addition to these regulations, this new release model has another important regulation, that is, the key is valid.The period was shortened to two days. "The usual practice is, if a movie is played for 30 days, then the key is valid for 30 days. This time the key is changed every two days. For theaters that do not pay the deposit, they are changed every two days." A Bona in Hangzhou Manager Wang of the cinema told the Southern Weekend reporter. This Bona Studios is a large theater and does not require a deposit, but its key is also changed every two days. Compared with the new distribution model,
is the old model of domestic film distribution that has been implemented for many years: after deducting 5% of the "National Film Development Special Fund" and 3.3% of the business tax from the total box office, the remaining 91.7% are middle and upstream films Producers and distributors can get 43%, and downstream theaters and theaters get 57%. Compared with the new and old models,
is undoubtedly the small theaters in some remote areas. Under the new model, small theaters need to weigh whether the film will sell in the area where it is located, in order to decide whether to pay the deposit to exchange the key. When encountering people like Tiantian Studios who can't pay, they completely lose the opportunity to share the box office cake of "Eight Hundred". For the film party and the issuer, if the other party buys the key, the box office risk in remote areas has been covered by the guarantee. Liu Ge, general manager of
Huaying World, admitted to Southern Weekend reporters the existence of the new release model, but he did not want to talk more about the details. "This is just doing business. If he pays (guarantee), Then he agrees with this method." Liu Ge told the Southern Weekend reporter.
has many theaters paying this money. The hometown of Major General Xie Jinyuan, the leader of the "Eight Hundred Heroes", is in Jiaoling County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province. The only cinema in the county that has resumed work, the Bishui Cinema in Jiaoling County, with a box office of less than one million in 2019. A deposit of 20,000 yuan was also paid to the issuer. "After paying a deposit of 20,000 yuan, we also (with the issuer) determined a box office line of 48,000. If it exceeds 48,000 yuan, we will split the accounts according to the normal ratio." Manager Chen of Bishui Studios told the Southern Weekend reporter. .
Assuming that the final box office of "Yabai" in Bishui Studios is 48,000 yuan, 8.3% of the special funds and taxes are removed, which is 44,016 yuan. Then the 20,000 yuan guaranteed by the film party in advance is converted into the proportion of the account. 45.4%, higher than the 43% of the old model. If the final box office is less than 48,000, this ratio will be even higher.
Huayi’s difficulties
“Huayi’s approach makes me angry.” Manager Zhang of Tiantian Studios shouted to the Southern Weekend reporter on the phone, “The two screenings on the 17th and 18th have been particularly effective. Later, many viewers came to ask, why can't it be released?" Manager Zhang described that 20,000 yuan is a "high price" for a small theater in a poverty-stricken county.
However, for this new distribution model launched by Huaying World, some people in the industry and even theater managers who bought the key believe that it is reasonable.
"The issuer is afraid that the movie theater will not pay for the movie, and will write off the movie theater directly after earning the box office, or go bankrupt." Manager Wang of Hangzhou Bona Studios explained to the Southern Weekend reporter. He is also discussing this matter in his group of cinema industry players these days. After the resumption of work, the small cinemas have been short of funds. He believes that the publisher "is afraid that some cinemas will make the last money and run away." The special circumstances after the
epidemic forced the issuer to guard against small theaters with weak capital chains. In addition to preventing "running off the road", the more important thing to prevent is "stealing the box office."
At the beginning of the Spring Festival in 2020, as many as 471 theaters across the country were unable to obtain five films that would have been released in the Spring Festival, including "Tang Detective 3", "Win the Championship", "囧 Mom", "Jiang Ziya" and "Emergency Rescue" three days before the Spring Festival. The reason is that they have been found by the Film Bureau to “steal the box office”, that is, their ticket sales receipt on the third-party ticketing platform does not match the ticket sales data they provided to the “specialized office”. Later, due to the epidemic, these films were not shown in theaters. The theaters that need to pay the guarantee to Huaying World this time, in addition to the annual box office of less than two million, there are also these 471 theaters with "documentary"-regardless of their annual box office.
"Box office stealing in small theaters has always been a relatively serious problem. The more remote and smaller the place is, the more serious it is. This is a blind spot for monitoring. Box office inspectors can easily be dealt with in places. Most inspectors are part-time, and the salary is very low." Wang Shengchuan He is a senior distributor in the distribution industry who has been responsible for the distribution of many literary and artistic films. He revealed to Southern Weekend reporters that box office stealing "has been very difficult to monitor in many small places beyond reach." Punished 4The 71 theaters produced a total of 1.894 billion box offices in 2019, and the intercepted box office exceeded 295 million, accounting for 15.57%.
"If you go to understand the situation of Chinese films in the fourth and fifth tier cities, I believe you will find the answer." Liu Ge also hinted at the box office stealing in small local theaters in the interview. Huaying World and other distribution partners established a box office monitoring team of up to 700 people during the release of "Eight Hundred". The purpose of changing the
key every two days is also to prevent the stealing of the box office. "Once the box office is stolen, we won't give you a new key." Manager Wang said. The investment of
"Eight Bai" is as high as 550 million yuan. During the epidemic in April 2020, Huayi Brothers' share price fell to a historical low of 3.25 yuan. Since August 2020, under the stimulus of good news such as the release of "Yaobai", the stock price has rebounded rapidly. For Huayi, the box office of "Eight Hundred" is its last battle. "For the small studios, it is indeed an impact. But Huayi is also in business. "Yaobai" is their first blockbuster film after the epidemic. The investment is huge, and it took a long time before. It has been delayed. It's been nearly four hundred days. They are nothing more than to ensure their own interests." Manager Chen of Bishui Cinemas paid a deposit, and he hoped that "Eight Hundred" would have a better box office performance.
"When the market was good in the past, people were fooled by stealing the box office. Now the world is difficult, and someone has to pay the price. With such a low theater opening rate, the cake is not enough. It can only reduce this kind of past. The loss that can be swallowed is meat.” Wang Shengchuan believes that the essence of the controversial new distribution model lies in the competition between the upstream and downstream of the film industry for the “cake”, and the small theaters with weak bargaining power have become “prices”. .
In 1937, the soldiers of the Chinese solitary barracks withdrew from the Sixing warehouse in Shanghai. Due to distribution reasons, part of the audience in their hometown cannot see the film at the same time as other audiences across the country. (Visual China/Picture)
"Why did you go to collect all the funds for so many years?" After
Tiantian Studios suspended the screenings after August 19, Manager Zhang apologized to the fans every day, "Someone will call me every day. Telephone." Tickets that were pre-sold before have to be refunded to the audience one by one.
talked about the film studio’s accusation of stealing the box office of the small theater. Manager Zhang resolutely shot back: “We all issue tickets, we come according to the standard, and we are ready to be checked at the box office at any time. It’s better not to show us the screening. Let us click for two shows, attract the audience, and cancel the key, which makes it very difficult for us to do." Manager Zhang said that she would not pay the guarantee deposit next time, "We missed the premiere, and it is difficult for the box office to reach that. Level up".
Other theaters take a more flexible approach. Manager He of Danfeng Studios is negotiating with the distributor to see if it can be shown in their theater two weeks after the premiere.
Huaying’s “under two million” one-size-fits-all approach will indeed impact some of the originally honestly operated small theaters. "Huayi is the first to do this, and he will definitely be scolded." Wang Shengchuan said.
Li Ao is the manager of a large theater in Kunming with an annual box office of “30 to 40 million”. He revealed to Southern Weekend reporters that this time Huaying’s approach is “not just the idea of the Huayi family, but the upstream, including China Film and Television Corporation supports this method."
Li Ao cited the first commercial film "Creed" released after the resumption of work in American theaters as an example. Warner Pictures, the producer of the film, put forward a 63% box office share requirement for American theaters. Almost every U.S. commercial film’s accounting rules are negotiated and are not fixed as in China. Therefore, strong commercial blockbusters will get more accounting ratios in negotiations. "Huayi didn't change the proportion of accounts, but collected the box office payment of the small theater in advance, which is already very kind in comparison." Li Yao said.
But Li Ao also believes that Huaying Tianxia's approach "can be optimized in terms of method", "it is a blow to the box office stealing studios, the strategy is fine, but the tactics need to be adjusted and refined."
Wang Shengchuan set his sights on the other 5% in the "cake". In his opinion, the upstream and downstream of the film industry are fighting for a few percentage points when the film industry is recovering, but "after so many years of 5 %. Why did you go to the special fund?"
, which accounts for 5% of the box office, is collected, used and managed by the Office of the National Film Business Development Special Fund Management Committee (the "Special Fund Office"). According to the "General Office of the State CouncilGuiding Opinions on Promoting the Prosperity and Development of the Film Industry", this special fund is "used to strengthen the macro-control of the film industry and promote the distribution and screening of domestic films.
In June 2020, the Ministry of Finance and the National Film Administration jointly issued the "Announcement on the Temporary Exemption of Special Funds for the Development of the National Film Industry", and other provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities outside Hubei Province from January 1, 2020 to August 2020 On the 31st, the national special fund for film development was exempted.
However, this policy has attracted many netizens to complain. Netizens believe that the opening time of theaters before August 31 is very short and the support is far from enough. Wang Shengchuan feels that the special funds collected during the film boom should be used at this time to provide assistance to the troubled industry. What the managers of the
small theater are most worried about is that this approach of the film crew will become a certain routine in the future. "I'm very worried that their actions will become a lesson from the past in the future." said Manager Chen of Green Water Studios. "I think films with confidence should go in this direction." Wang Shengchuan said.
Liu Ge’s confidence in this model seems to verify the small theaters’ worries about the future, “If he pays, maybe he is the only one showing in this area, then he can also get a certain market share. He can also choose Give up, there are "Harry Potter" and other films, everyone can choose freely. I believe facts and time will prove." He said.
"The viewers in our mountainous areas like to watch war movies. I can't raise 20,000 yuan. Even if I tell me earlier, I may also raise money." Manager Zhang said. For Tiantian Studios in Wufeng County, the reason it chose to give up is not so "free".
(Li Ao and Wang Shengchuan are pseudonyms)
Southern Weekend reporter Wang Huazhen
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