movie fans have been suffering from "fraudulent propaganda" for a long time. When e-commerce platforms offer "seven-day no-reason refunds", video websites offer "try a six-minute trial before paying", and micro-short dramas offer "watch a few episodes first before recharging", at the beginning of 2024, it will finally be possible to go to the cinema to watch movies. After-sales service.
It is reported that this service is provided by Jianticiao Group. For designated theaters and movies, if you are not satisfied with the movie or cinema service within 30 minutes after the movie starts (the opening time is marked on the movie ticket), you can apply for a refund. After the application is approved, the group will be responsible for a full refund, which will not affect the theater's normal operations and box office revenue.
Jiupai News learned that the service was launched as a pilot in Changsha on New Year's Day and is expected to serve more than 1,000 theaters across the country during the Spring Festival. He also said that in terms of film types, art films may not be within the scope of the service.
"Only good-looking movies are worth your money." A document titled "Announcement on the 30-minute No-Reasonsions Refund Pilot Service" shows that compared with 2019, the number of moviegoers in 2023 will decrease by nearly 500 million. How to bring audiences back to the cinema from their mobile phones and computers is an urgent problem that needs to be solved in the entire industry. "Therefore, the after-sales service launched by our company is a sufficient reason for more viewers to eliminate their worries and enter the cinema with confidence. It is also the film studio's commitment to the audience." Necessary commitment is also a far-reaching attempt and exploration to establish digital closed-loop management of Chinese films."
In this regard, Dong Yuzhi, deputy dean and professor of the China-Korea New Media School of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, analyzed that the launch of the independent refund machine has a great impact on consumers , theaters and film studios are all a good thing. Specifically, the first is to implement and optimize the policy to promote the refund and rebooking of movie tickets, and the second is to force the theater service quality and film quality to improve. "Cooperation is also a kind of marketing, and uncooperative film studios may make the audience think that the film company I am afraid to cooperate because the film is too bad.”
She said that this service will give films with real artistic value some opportunities to stand out, and it will be helpful to curb some low-quality films that use gimmicks to grow wildly.
[1] Within 30 minutes of the movie opening, tickets can be refunded due to poor movie quality or children playing
During New Year's Day, some theaters in Changsha, Hunan have launched self-service refund machines at the ticket gates, allowing movie fans to make their own choices within 30 minutes of the movie opening. Refund the check. The refund page shows that the provider of after-sales service for movie viewing is Jianticiao Group. Peng Xiangwei, chief operating officer of
Jianticiao Group, told Jiupai News that they just launched this business on New Year's Day and piloted it in some theaters in Changsha. In terms of technical equipment capabilities, as of January 2, it can serve a total of 73 theaters, but it is expected that this number will reach 1,000 during the Spring Festival.
According to their introduction, there are three situations they envision for refunds if they are not satisfied: the first is dissatisfaction with the cinema, such as the equipment is too old, forgetting to turn on the air conditioner in the summer, etc.; the second is the most common, namely Not satisfied with the quality of the movie; the third type is other reasons, such as children who were very noisy during the movie, which affected his movie-watching experience.
"There are also imported movies. If fans buy the original version with a Chinese dub, they can apply for a refund within 30 minutes," he said. The refund rate during New Year's Day is only 0.5%, which means that 200 people in Rio One person refunded the check. "The number of refunds is not as high as expected. Audiences still want to watch a good movie, rather than deliberately taking advantage of it."
During previous holidays, netizens frequently complained about children disrupting the movie-watching environment.
Dong Yuzhi, deputy dean and professor of the Sino-Korean New Media School of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told Jiupai News that this service is a good thing for consumers who choose to refund their tickets, such as if they really have something to leave the venue temporarily, or they feel that they are not watching The movie environment is poor. After all, watching movies requires a state of mind. Refunding tickets at this time is a stop loss. But it may not be a good thing for consumers who continue to watch movies. Audiences who refund their tickets and leave will interfere with their movie-watching experience and effect.
The specific process for refunding tickets is as follows: If you are not satisfied within 30 minutes after entering, you can enter the mini program to apply for a refund. After exiting the theater, swipe the generated QR code at the ticket gate to complete the refund.
One of the refund steps.Picture/Jianticiao Group provides
[2] It will not affect the normal operation of the theater and box office revenue
Measures related to the "refund or change" of movies have been proposed for a long time.
In 2018 (September 18), the China Film Distribution and Exhibition Association issued the "Notice on the "Refund and Change" Regulations for Movie Tickets", which clearly stated that the "cancellation and change" regulations formulated by all parties must be simplified and optimized. The "cancellation or change of visa" process "fully embodies the principles of fairness, reasonableness, people-friendliness and convenience."
However, the implementation of refunds and changes is not optimistic, and refunds and changes can only be made within a certain period of time before the movie starts.
Free refunds and changes for uncollected tickets more than 1 hour before the opening. Picture/Screenshot of online shopping platform
According to previous media reports, the "implementation dilemma" of refunding and changing movie tickets is limited by the film industry's own attributes. Movie tickets are time-sensitive products, and the time from purchase to consumption is generally short. Once the audience completes the purchase of the ticket, the corresponding seat will be locked and cannot be sold again. Therefore, the closer the ticket refund is to the opening time, the more likely it is to cause damage to the interests of the cinema. For the sake of safeguarding its own interests, cinemas do not allow refunds or changes.
In addition, with the popularity of online movie ticket purchase, ticket refunds involve audiences, cinemas and third-party ticket purchase platforms. According to industry insiders, both theaters and ticket purchase platforms basically follow a 5:5 split accounting system for fees charged for refunds and changes. This also adds to the complexity of the refund process. Various factors have led cinemas and ticket purchasing platforms to pass on the risks of vicious business competition to consumers by only correcting but not retreating or even not retreating.
In response to the above issues, Peng Xiangwei said that his company is responsible for the review and payment of refund services. Audiences can complete it by themselves through mini programs and all-in-one ticket checking and refund machines by scanning codes, which will not affect the normal operation of the theater and box office revenue.
Dong Yuzhi analyzed that this measure is a "double-edged sword" for theaters. The advantage is to promote the improvement of service quality and optimize the viewing environment; but at the same time, it will also have unpredictable and avoidable risks, such as the screening of this film It is indeed unsatisfactory. If there are just a little too many people refunding their tickets, there will be a chain reaction. In the era of self-media, the film's reputation may be damaged, which will affect subsequent box office.
【3】Video websites can give you a six-minute trial before paying, why not movie theaters?
Regarding the original intention of launching this service, Jianpiao Group stated in the "Announcement on the 30-minute No-Reasonsions Refund Pilot Service" that compared with 2019, the number of moviegoers in 2023 will decrease by nearly 500 million. After-sales service is to allow more viewers to eliminate worries and enter the cinema with confidence. It is also a necessary commitment from the film studio to the audience. It is also a far-reaching attempt and exploration to establish digital closed-loop management of Chinese films.
will not affect the theater’s normal operations and box office revenue. Picture/provided by interviewee
Not only has the number of moviegoers decreased, but the movie box office in 2023 has not returned to its peak level. According to public data, China's full-year movie box office in 2023 will be 54.915 billion yuan, a sharp increase of 70% compared with the past three years and returning to the level of 2017, but lower than the historical highs of more than 60 billion yuan in 2019 and 2018.
Along with the decrease in movie box office, audiences are flocking to short videos, live broadcasts, mini-series and other fields. Among them, micro-short dramas are called the "new trend" in 2023.
According to data from a third-party research report quoted by Chinese Online, the annual market size of micro-short dramas in 2022 will be more than 10 billion yuan, and the scale of micro-short dramas in 2023 is expected to exceed 30 billion yuan.
's micro-short dramas have also frequently produced hits. "Escape from the British Museum" has achieved double success in terms of word-of-mouth traffic, with a total of over 30 million views for its three episodes. An animated film of the same name has also been approved; "Oops!" "The Empress Comes to Work" has a 24-hour user recharge of over 12 million, "After the flash wedding, Mr. Fu can't hide his vest anymore" has a 24-hour recharge of over 20 million, and "Wushuang" has a viewer recharge of over 100 million yuan within eight days of its release.
It is worth noting that micro-series also has a "watch now, pay later" mechanism. Generally, the first few episodes are free, and the audience can choose whether to recharge and pay for it after watching it.
[4] May not be applicable to art films
Regarding the scope of application of this service, Peng Xiangwei said that currently it can only be applied to specific theaters and specific films. It may not be applicable to art films, and unrestricted refunds cannot be made within 30 minutes.
Previously, many art films were criticized for "fraudulent publicity" and "crazy publicity".
Previously, the art film "The Last Night on Earth", which was released on New Year's Eve in 2018, focused its promotion on Douyin and used the slogan "New Year's Eve with a kiss", which attracted a large number of men and women who wanted to spend a romantic New Year's Eve. Let them mistakenly think that this is a romantic and sweet love movie similar to "Beijing Meets Seattle".
After that, there is "Burning Winter" to be released on Chinese Valentine's Day in 2023. It plays the banner of "love triangle" and arranges special time periods for Chinese Valentine's Day such as "13:14" and "17:20". There is also "The movie lasts 32 minutes and 16 seconds." Sometimes, please say "Salang heyyo" in his ear and other earthy propaganda.
But in the end both films suffered a blow at the box office and word of mouth.
"The Last Night on Earth" received a box office of 260 million on its premiere day, but it fell to 11.15 million on the second day, and dropped to 2.02 million on the third day. The Douban score also dropped from 7.2 points at the beginning. dropped to 6.9 points.
"Winter", a collaboration between triple-gold movie queen Zhou Dongyu and Liu Haoran, whose box office grossed over 10 billion, only had a total box office of 26.07 million, and its Douban score was as low as 5.6.
Dong Yuzhi, deputy dean and professor of the China-Korea School of New Media at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told Jiupai News that she does not think this move will lead to the demise of art films, but may promote the development of art films, which is what audiences want to see. .
Dong Yuzhi said that movies are not only to entertain the audience, but also have the function of improving the audience's artistic aesthetics and even the moral level of the entire society. Excellent literary and artistic films will not be restricted by objective factors, such as "Farewell My Concubine" "Sunny Days", "No Questions About Things", "Eternal Life", etc.
【5】The one with the highest refund rate is "Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle"
Peng Xiangwei told Jiupai News that during the New Year's Day, "Twinkle Twinkle Star", "Sneak", "Goldfinger", "If You Are the One 3" and "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" 》A total of 5 movies are available for self-service refund in some theaters in Changsha.
According to people familiar with the matter, the one with the highest willingness among viewers to refund their tickets is "Twinkle Twinkle Star".
According to Beacon Professional Edition, during the New Year's Day period, "Twinkle Twinkle Star" had a total box office of 609.4447 million yuan, accounting for 39.7% of the box office, with an average ticket price of 42.8 yuan, and an average of 35 people per game, ranking first.
However, the box office trend of the movie is not optimistic. From December 30 to January 1, that is, the box office in the three days before the release was 225 million yuan, 327 million yuan, and 56.96 million yuan respectively. After the New Year's Day period, the box office ushered in a "big dive". On January 2, there were still 10.87 million yuan, 1 Since March 3, the box office has been below 10 million for three consecutive days.
The daily box office trend of "Twinkle Twinkle Star". Picture/Lighthouse Professional Edition
Dong Yuzhi, deputy dean and professor of the China-Korea New Media School of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that the launch of independent refund machines is a good thing for consumers, theaters and film studios. First, it will promote the refund and exchange of movie tickets. The implementation and optimization of signing policies; second, in the long run, it will force the quality of cinema service and film quality to improve. "First, cooperation is also a kind of marketing. Second, uncooperative film studios may make the audience think that the film studio is because the film is too bad." And are afraid to cooperate."
She said that for film producers, this service will give films with real artistic value more opportunities to stand out, and it will be helpful to curb some low-quality films that use gimmicks to grow wildly. If the audience watches a low-quality movie, it is like eating a bowl of noodles and eating flies. This refund mechanism will also prevent the malicious hype of some low-quality movies. Because movies are cultural products, the quality and accomplishment of the audience will also affect the objective and fair evaluation of the film producers, especially in some virtual communities on social media, where the opinions of opinion leaders will influence other members.
Dong Yuzhi suggested that the simple ticket platform should conduct sufficient research, design evaluation dimensions and build an indicator system to judge the quality of the film, try to avoid accidental factors, and enhance the expected effect.
Jiupai News Reporter Li Yang
Editor Wan Xuan Wu Di
[Source: Jiupai News]
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