Reporter Yu Yujin of our newspaper (chinatimes.net.cn) reported in Beijing, "Although the movie is not as good as the works in his peak period, as Hayao Miyazaki's farewell work, "What Kind of Life Do You Want to Live" is well worth watching. In the movie There are also echoes of

"Although the movie is not as good as the works in his peak period, as Miyazaki Hayao's farewell work, " What kind of life do you want to live " is well worth watching. There are also shadows of past works in the movie." Animation and movie enthusiasts Lingzi told the China Times reporter.

Under the market appeal of Hayao Miyazaki, the box office of the 2024 Tomb Sweeping Festival (April 4-April 6) has been rising steadily. According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, at 18:14 on April 6, the total box office of the Qingming Festival exceeded 823 million yuan, surpassing the box office results of the Qingming Festival in 2021 and setting a new record for the Qingming Festival box office in Chinese film history. Judging from the films, "What Kind of Life Do You Want to Live", " Godzilla vs. Kong 2: Rise of an Empire " and " Kung Fu Panda 4" are the top three in the Qingming Festival box office list. They are all imported films, with box office respectively. 387 million yuan, 228 million yuan and 47.618 million yuan.

Chinese young playwright and director Xiang Kai analyzed to a reporter from China Times, "Chinese audiences are enthusiastic about spiritual and cultural consumption, and the popularity of movies continues. This is the basis for this year's Qingming Festival box office record-breaking, and also sets the stage for the next The May Day stalls have laid a very good foundation for the 2024 Qingming Festival box office record breaking. At 18:15 on April 3, the total box office of new Qingming movies (including pre-sales) exceeded 150 million yuan; at 21:00 on April 4, the single-day box office of Qingming movies was 351 million yuan, with a total of 8.816 million visitors and a total of 467,000 screenings. Comprehensively breaking the Qingming Festival film history record; at 16:04 on April 6, the total box office of the Qingming Festival in 2024 exceeded the 800 million mark, one step away from breaking the box office record of the Qingming Festival in 2021.

The time was fixed at 18:14 on April 6. The total box office of the Qingming Festival exceeded 823 million yuan, surpassing the box office results of the Qingming Festival in 2021 and setting a new record for the Qingming Festival box office in Chinese film history.

As the first period after the Spring Festival, the Qingming Festival plays a connecting role. The total box office has increased from 687 million yuan in 2018 to 822 million yuan in 2021. The proportion of the box office of the period in the annual box office has fluctuated from 1.13% to 1.75%. %. However, in the past two years, due to the lack of support from top films, the number of movies released has been smaller, and the performance has declined. Especially in 2023, there is only one day in the schedule, and the box office of the Qingming Festival dropped to 198 million yuan in 2023, accounting for 10% of the entire year. The box office ratio is only 0.37%.

The main reason why 2021 was able to set the highest box office Qingming Festival in history is that the local movie " My Sister " drove the overall box office. The film earned a box office of 378 million yuan during the Qingming Festival in 2021, laying the foundation for the Qingming Festival box office that year. The imported film " Godzilla vs. King Kong " also contributed 299 million to the box office for this period. The combined box office of the two films is as high as 677 million, far exceeding the previous cumulative box office of the Qingming Festival every year.

This year’s Qingming festival, 8 new films are scheduled to be released, with rich themes and diverse genres. Together with the imported blockbuster " Godzilla vs. Kong 2" released before the holiday, the withdrawal of the Spring Festival release "Let's Shake the Sun Together", etc., the movie will be pushed up in 2024. Qingming Festival box office market.

imported films beat

Among the Qingming movies, Hayao Miyazaki's new film "How Do You Want to Live", the best animated feature film at the 96th Oscar, took the lead.

In this regard, Yin Tengyu, a senior analyst at Maoyan Research Institute, once said in an interview with a reporter from China Times, "Director Hayao Miyazaki is highly recognized and loved in China. In recent years, many of his works have been popular on the big screen and with audiences. have achieved very good box office results, such as "Castle in the Sky", "Spirited Away" and "My Neighbor Totoro"; in addition, this film has just won this year's Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, which has also brought a certain degree of popularity to the film. "Blessed by the popularity."

Following "How Do You Want to Live", the second and third highest-grossing films in the Qingming Festival are "Godzilla vs. Kong 2" and "Kung Fu Panda 4" respectively, both of which are imported films. During the schedule, "The World of Grass and Trees" also ranked among the top three in the Qingming Festival. Actress Jiang Qinqin won the Best Actress at the 17th Asian Film Awards for her outstanding performance in the film.

Regarding the failure of domestic films in the Qingming festival, Xiang Kai analyzed to this reporter that during the Qingming Festival, imported films are more often the first to show off, such as "The World of Grass and Trees" and "The Oriole Behind!" "Even the comedy " The Big "Villain" " is not completely consistent with the tone of the Qingming Festival."Xuanfa Company may still be biased in its assessment, especially the consumption habits of Chinese audiences. Consumers will have different consumption habits during different holidays. For example, the Spring Festival period is suitable for family reunions, but the Qingming Festival period is suitable for families. The audience for comedy films will be very small. "The World of Grass", "The Oriole Behind!" and "The Villain" may have better box office results if they are scheduled to be released on May Day or in the summer."

" We should not advocate giving a specific label to a specific festival or a clear signal to the audience, but the concepts that the audience has developed over the years can only be guided but cannot be quickly reversed. The promotion company must also have some scientific basis to select the release date for the film." Xiang said. Kai concluded.

Crowded May Day schedule

As the Tomb Sweeping Festival is about to come to an end, film producers have already begun planning for the May Day schedule. As of now, a total of 12 movies have been scheduled, including " Howl's Moving Castle " and "Peacekeeping Riot Squad" "Spy House Code: Bai", "Journey Across the Moon", "Nothing Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot", "Thelma and Louise", "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City", "Xiao Qian", "Rescue from the Raging Sea", "Pig" The Pig Movie: Interstellar", "Stuntman" and "Go".

is more enthusiastic about the May Day schedule. Xiang Kai analyzed that the overall themes of movies released during the Qingming Festival have become heavy and depressing. At the same time, the schedule has caught up with the competition of imported blockbusters. Some films deliberately avoid the Qingming schedule. Qingming Festival and May Day The gap between the two schedules is short, and the difference in schedule time and popularity is large. After comprehensive consideration, the producers and producers are still more willing to release the film in the May Day schedule.

Judging from the past May Day shows, the main force of the box office fluctuates between imported films and local films. Maoyan Professional Edition shows that when the schedule was only 3 days long, the local film "The Last of Us" became the main force in 2018, contributing 645 million yuan in box office, and the total box office in the May Day period that year was 1.006 billion yuan; in 2019, The May Day (4 days) box office was 1.527 billion yuan, and "Avengers 4: Endgame" definitely led the box office with a box office of 1.222 billion yuan; when the time comes to 2021, the May Day (5 days) box office Reaching 1.673 billion yuan, two domestic films formed the top two. "Your Wedding" and "Above the Cliff" contributed 512 million yuan and 505 million yuan respectively; the May Day (5 days) in 2022 has more than Affected by factors, the box office was only 297 million yuan.

In the May 1st period of 2023 (5 days), a total of 18 new films were released during the period, a significant increase of 13 films compared with the same period in 2022. The film box office was 1.521 billion yuan, ranking among the top five in Chinese film history. Category 1 ranked third, with 37.63 million moviegoers, and domestic films accounting for 86.52% of the box office. It also showed a strong pattern of two local films, "Unfamiliar Life" and "Sky King".

It is worth noting that among the May Day movies, the most popular one is "Howl's Moving Castle", which celebrates its 20th anniversary. This movie is still an animated film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. "Whether it is a domestic first-time movie or an imported blockbuster, if it is concentrated in the May Day period, there is a high probability that the next May Day period will have a stronger growth trend." Xiang Kai believes.

Editor in charge: Huang Xingli Editor-in-chief: Hanfeng