Text | Rhino Entertainment, author | Xiaofu, editor | Pu Fang This morning, two more films were officially announced to be released on May Day. So far, the May Day schedule, which will only open in more than a month, has already squeezed in 8 new films, which is even the same num

text | Rhino Entertainment, author | Xiaofu, editor | Pu Fang

This morning, two more films were officially announced to be released on May Day. So far, the May Day schedule, which will only open in more than a month, has already squeezed in 8 new films, which is even the same number as this year’s Spring Festival schedule. For a medium-sized schedule that is only five days long, these nearly ten films are enough to saturate the film, not to mention that there may be sporadic films to join in the future.

Faced with the huge diversion between the tourism and performance industries, can the May 1st stall, which is trying to repeat the film-sea strategy, successfully break out of the siege?

There is still more than a month left, May Day stall is about to be full

The length of May Day stall is generally between 3-5 days. The market capacity is slightly larger than the ordinary three-day public holiday, but far lower than the Spring Festival stall and National Day stall. Large volume schedule. As a movie schedule, the May Day schedule is very suitable for accommodating some projects of appropriate size and with certain market potential, and is also quite friendly to many types of imported films.

For example, on May Day 2021, which set a box office record for the period, two masterpieces "Your Wedding" and "On the Cliff" were released during the five-day period, and the cumulative box office of the latter finally exceeded the 1 billion yuan mark.

Of course, there are some exceptions. In 2019, which is still the runner-up in the May Day box office, the cumulative box office in the four days of the holiday was 1.527 billion yuan. Among them, only the top film "Avengers 4" contributed more than 1.2 billion in box office, forming a complete impact on other films in the same period. Crushing situation.

The May 1st stall in 2023, which is the third in history, has been given the new feature of "involution" of the May 1st stall. During last year's short five-day holiday, more than a dozen movies were squeezed in, and the number of movies that had a certain appeal reached 9. Overcrowding has resulted in uneven distribution of schedules. Except for the two leading films " " and " king of the sky ", the remaining films performed mediocrely and cannot be said to be outstanding.

only get together once and countless times - in this year's May Day, this trend seems to be verified. With more than a month left, the number of new films scheduled for May Day has reached 8, excluding the two weaker projects, there are still 6 films. For a schedule that only lasts for 5 days and may encounter diversion from travel, performances and other entertainment methods, this year’s May Day schedule is already quite saturated.

(data as of 21:00 on March 22, 2024)

Among the current six key May Day films, live-action films and animated films account for half each.

In terms of live-action movies, "Peacekeeping Riot Squad", which was officially announced today and will be released on May 1, is the first commercial blockbuster focusing on overseas peacekeeping and is also the only action blockbuster currently scheduled for May Day this year. The filming of the film was completed as early as 2021. However, due to adjustments to the starring staff and content, it was not officially finalized until this year.

However, due to the "backlog" attribute of this film, it easily leads the same period in terms of pre-screening data. Currently, the number of people who want to watch "Peacekeepers" on both platforms exceeds 800,000, making it the most popular film on May 1st.

has assembled a star cast such as Yang Mi, Yu Qian, Tian Yu and other star casts. " There is nothing a hot pot can't solve." is also a member of the May 1st camp. The film is a new film released by "SWAT" director Ding Sheng after five years. It was originally scheduled to be released in mid-January, but later decided to change the release date to May Day.

"Nothing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" tells the story of four strangers who were sharing stolen goods in a theater backstage warehouse and were accidentally involved in a murder case, which later triggered a series of reversals of greed and deception. The genre combines comedy elements with the script-killing suspense that has emerged in the past two years, and is supported by a group of eye-catching actors. If the quality of the film passes the standard, it may perform well in the schedule.

The role of the orthodox comedy in the May 1st stall falls on the shoulders of "The Last Day" starring Jia Bing, Tan Zhuo, and Xiao Shenyang. Last year's comedy "Unfamiliar Life" counterattacked and overtook the competition in the May 1st broadcast. It relied on the quality of its content and comedy genre to stand out and become the schedule champion. However, this year's "Thelma and Louise" is slightly weaker in comparison.

The film tells the story of Jia Youwei, who achieved nothing in his middle age. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor and only had ten days left to live. So he sold the old house that was rumored to be demolished and decided to enjoy the last ten days of his life. . Just looking at the film's cast and content summary, the film's market appeal may be relatively limited, and more hopes will be placed on the market advantages of the subject matter itself.

cartoons have become the home of Japanese animated movies.

Hayao Miyazaki's classic work "Howl's Moving Castle" will be the first to be released on April 30th. This film is a Miyazaki masterpiece that is second only to "Spirited Away" in domestic popularity. This year coincides with the 20th anniversary of the film's release. With the emotional bonus and the support of the May Day market, it may have good box office prospects. .

At the same time, considering the schedule selection of "Howl's Moving Castle", it happens to be able to continue the popularity of Hayao Miyazaki's new film "How Do You Want to Live", and to a certain extent, this film can compete for May Day. Brings additional bonuses. Another Japanese animated film "Spy House Codename: Shiro" introduced by

at the same time is a popular new family IP in Japan in the past two years. The film was just released in Japan at the end of last year and has not yet been released to streaming media resources. The IP also has a good basic base in China and may perform well in the May 1st round.

Finally, there is the only domestic animated film in the schedule, "Pigman: The Movie: Interstellar Action". The incremental space of the film itself is relatively limited, and more of it will come from the young IP market who just need to watch the film. The previous film "The New Pig Man Movie: Super Racer", which was released in the same period last year, had a box office performance of more than 50 million yuan. If it can maintain the level of the previous film, it will be the best result for the film.

There are too many people, and it is difficult to create popularity.

The biggest difference from last year’s May 1st stall is that there are not large-scale projects entering the market around this year’s May 1st stall. On the one hand, there is less external pressure on new May Day films. Assuming the quality and popularity of the film are appropriate, there will be more considerable market space. But on the other hand, the lackluster market conditions during the off-season period are actually not conducive to the new film completing the early stage of building momentum faster. It is not good news to announce it in the early stage of May 1st.

What makes it even more difficult for us to remain optimistic about the prospects for the May Day release is that currently, overall, the market potential of these films that have been scheduled for the May Day release is still relatively limited.

Perhaps because it has not yet entered the intensive publicity stage, the films currently scheduled for May Day have not yet shown strong early popularity. Among the many new films, "Peacekeeping Riot Squad", which was the latest to be officially announced for release, is far ahead in terms of popularity, relying on the fan base of starring actors such as Huang Jingyu and Wang Yibo.

And the fact that they are released together will also cause the popularity and market space of each film in the schedule to be compressed.

According to past market experience, in a medium-sized period such as this year’s May 1st period, which is heavily crowded, there may only be two or three projects that can achieve profitability. The May 1st schedule seems to have sufficient time and large capacity, but once a plurality of films fall behind in quality and volume, it will immediately cause huge market differentiation and even lead to a decline in the entire market.

Of course, the good side is that although this year’s May 1st Film Festival cannot avoid being crowded, at least the film types are diverse enough, and there is currently no overlapping of film themes, which is more conducive to differentiated competition. In the next month or so, there is still enough time for the new films to make efforts to promote the popularity.

In addition, there is also news that "Mom! "Little Me" directed by director Yang Lina and starring Yi Yangqianxi, and "Wild Child" directed by "My Sister" director Yin Ruoxin and starring Wang Junkai may also choose to meet the audience on May 1st. If these films with higher quality and potential can enter, I am afraid that this May 1st slot will make the majority of practitioners feel more at ease.