text | Yue Mu, author | Pang Hongbo
stable "comfort zone".
The iQiyi World Conference was held a few days ago, and the content list of more than 300 projects included 29 movie projects. Among the 29 film projects, package Bell participated in 7.
Whenever a Bao Beier movie is released, there are constant questions. The low box office and extremely low reputation made many people "angry" towards Bao Beier. But Bao Beierdu used an extremely astonishing output to supply one film after another in the context of the "film shortage", and he quickly "switched to the Internet" after the theater trend declined.
As for online movies, "Northeast Love Brother" starring Bao Beier has become a series. The current box office of the two parts has reached 27.169 million and 22.699 million respectively. The third part also appeared in iQiyi's latest film list.
Despite constant doubts and even "attacks" from the outside world, Bao Beier has an amazing project reserve.
However, iQiyi’s latest movie list is still based on the “one-size-fits-all” model as a whole, with online movies “walking on two legs” using the pvod model for theatrical movies and cloud cinemas. Although in terms of determination, iQiyi still shouts the slogan of increasing the intensity of self-made movies, but judging from the actual results, the vast majority of iQiyi's self-made movies are not the "hits" recognized by the public. Judging from past results, iQiyi has not had any big hits in the field of theatrical movies.
But with the "dual-line layout", although iQiyi's self-made movies may not be so-called "big hits", from the perspective of ROI, it may still be relatively optimistic.
To some extent, both Bao Beier and iQiyi’s movie sector are in their comfort zone.
01 Bao Beier: The king of domestic B-level movies in the new era?
does what it likes.
Although Bao Beier's works as a director or starring are relatively mediocre in quality. But Bao Beier has a very stable project output, and from an audience perspective, he has a relatively stable core audience.
In iQiyi’s latest film list, Bao Beier has 7 exclusive films. Judging from the current volume analysis, there may be only one comedy film "The Great Singer" produced by Xu Zheng and directed by Jia Bing that has the potential to be a theatrical movie. In terms of genre, 5 of the 7 films are comedies and 2 are action films. This is also the main type of Bao Beier all in. Of the 15 movies
has starred in so far, except for "The Big Man", they are all comedies. The character Zhao Tai played in "The Big Man" has become one of Bao Beier's few roles that has received critical acclaim. Therefore, crime action movies have also become a new target for Bao Beier to try.
participated in the online movie "Once Upon a Time in the Northeast: My Name is Zhao Hongbing" in 2022, and this year participated in "The Strongest Disciple in the History of ". On the list of films to be released, there are two crime action films, "Crackdown" and " 无名", co-written with Shi Xiaolong.
In the theater movie market, Bao Beier is almost equated with "bad movies". However, in the context of the increasing concentration of the entire box office market, the stable audience in the Northeast region and the high awareness and recognition of the genre still allow movies with a high proportion of Bao Beier's participation to gain a relatively stable market size.
In online movies, the role of word-of-mouth has further declined, and genre and sinking skills have become more prominent. Bao Beier's "movie star" actually got a bonus. "Northeast Love Brother", a remake of South Korea's " When Men Are in Love ", has become the leading online comedy-romance series. The first two parts both grossed over 20 million at the box office.
's occupation of the sinking market, whether it is theater movies or online movies, has given Bao Beier a place. Although from an industry perspective, always seems to want to plan a route for filmmakers. Bao Beier's reputation has declined, so he should seek transformation. Comedians such as Xu Zheng and Dapeng have tried serious movies, thereby achieving "self-certification" by winning back market trust through word-of-mouth.
But Bao Beier, who does not look "high-end" to some extent, is the new B-level king of domestic films in the new era. stably occupies the sinking market through fast production and rapid output. Why is it not an option as well?
From a short-term perspective, Bao Beier's comfort zone is still very long. Because in the context of a lack of comedy talents and a lack of coverage of the lower-tier market in theater-level movies, Bao Beier is too stable. But from a long-term perspective, Bao Beier may face a crisis if "bad money drives out good money" for a long time and the current quality level continues to decline.
02 It’s not scary that there are no recognized “hits” in iQiyi movies.
In fact, you shouldn’t be overly anxious if there are no hits.
iQiyi, a "giant", will naturally have high hopes in the film field. Previously, iQiyi also entered the film industry with a high profile through the "iQiyi Original Movies" plan. This high-profile was not only the works, but also the innovation of the distribution model at that time. firstly increases the box office share ratio of theaters to 60%. The second is to reduce the settlement fare, from the usual 35 yuan to 20 yuan.
From 2019 to now, it is unknown how “implemented” the game rules of iQiyi’s original movie plan have been.
Judging from the film list, the number of films released by iQiyi is actually not many. But the one with the highest box office is " Anti-Crime·Decisive Battle of ", which was released on May 1st in 2021, with a box office of 405 million. In a market environment where 116 films have exceeded 1 billion in box office, this may not be the top.
In addition, most iQiyi movies are concentrated in the box office level of 100-300 million. This year's " Temporary Heist " has a cumulative box office of 237 million. The volume of "Fake Blade" scheduled for May will not be too high.
If we only look at the definition of "hot hits", iQiyi's cinematic movie layout is not very outstanding. But it’s not terrible that there are no hits. If iQiyi movies can support small and medium-sized holiday schedules, they will still play a very important role in the current market system.
Last year, the film bureau repeatedly "promoted weekend schedules". First, the hot and cold schedules were too severe, and second, the number of moviegoers was slowing down. If movie watching is no longer a "routine consumption" and becomes a "holiday folk custom", then the existing users of the movie market will disappear. The key to filling the weekend slots lies in the large supply of small and medium-sized films. However, in the current industry context of "film shortage", funds and resources are concentrated on top talents and top hits, which should have been quickly produced and sold quickly. Small and medium-sized films cannot keep up with market demand.
If small and medium-sized films produced by iQiyi can fill the weekend slots, this will be a good thing for the market.
03 iQiyi movies and netflix movies, the same world but different dreams
are also "needs and wants", but Chinese and foreign streaming movies are completely different.
In iQiyi’s film list, the 29 films are actually not many that are truly confirmed to be released in theaters. The vast majority of projects are first released through “cloud cinema” or are flexibly formulated according to project conditions.
In 2020, the global film industry suffered a heavy blow. At that time, it was mistakenly thought that Chinese and American streaming movies seemed to be on the same starting line. With theaters forced to close, online movie viewing would usher in historic opportunities. But judging from the results, China’s streaming movies are more of a “stress response”, while the United States has gone further along this path.
It is a well-known reason that all movies will be released during the 2020 Spring Festival. Xu Zheng's "囧Mom" was finally transferred to the network, but it was broadcast for free. Subsequently, " winner " starring Dapeng also chose to be broadcast online, but the actual results were not ideal. From the perspective of platform, iQiyi's "Cloud Cinema" does have historic opportunities. However, in the past few years, most of the works have been produced according to the specifications of high-end "online movies". Online movies and theater movies are still the same. Two parallel tracks.
Looking at Hollywood, the competition between movies produced by streaming media platforms such as Netflix, Apple, and Amazon and traditional Hollywood is obviously on another dimension.
Although the Academy Awards are very cautious about winning awards for streaming movies, they have become a "super power" in nominations for major awards.
From the perspective of reasons, overseas streaming movies are basically high-profile, and movies are basically divided into two categories. One category is "super blockbusters" produced by super big directors. In the past two years, streaming media platforms seem to have conquered all first-line directors except Nolan. The other category is "commercial films" with stable commercial returns. For example, "Knives Out 2" is produced by Netflix.
Looking back at China, Xu Zheng's "囧Mom" became a "stress response" in the special period at that time. Most online movies, including cloud cinema, are targeting the sinking market.
This result is caused by the fact that overseas streaming media platforms such as Netflix and Apple invest billions of dollars in film production and distribution every year. In particular, streaming films by major directors are absolutely "high premium". Domestic streaming media platforms are in the historical stage of "reducing costs and increasing efficiency". The growth rate of platform membership has narrowed, and single-film payment needs to be cultivated periodically. Investment in movies must not be aimed at the top.
’s first movie is a watershed in the film business that separates overseas streaming media platforms and domestic long-form video platforms. The "dream" of overseas streaming platforms' movies is to blur the boundaries between theatrical movies and streaming movies until they are unanimously recognized by the traditional film awards system. Online movies led by domestic cloud cinemas may also blur the boundaries between theater movies and online movies, but more importantly, they will shorten the screening cycle of theater movies and fully cover the sinking market.
Therefore, the “ceiling” of domestic online and offline integration lies in the change in the length of the window period. However, it is currently out of reach to further expand online viewing and explore the new pattern of movie consumption.
iQiyi is also in a comfort zone to some extent. As long as it operates online movies and arranges small and medium-sized theater movies properly, it can still get good returns. Judging from the newly released movie list, there is no need to pessimize because of the reduced film list, but it seems very difficult to achieve big development in the short term with this film list.
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