movie "There's Nothing a Hot Pot Can't Solve" (hereinafter referred to as "Hot Pot") was withdrawn after the May Day holiday, sparking heated discussions. Just when the audience was speculating on when the film would be rescheduled, on May 11, it was suddenly announced that the film would be broadcast online on Youku. This operation made netizens sigh again: they can’t understand.
△ "Nothing Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" webcast poster
Controversy continues, "Hot Pot" was withdrawn and the webcast started and ended
In the May 1st episode that just ended, a movie came out of the circle in an alternative way. The movie "Hot Pot", directed by Ding Sheng and starring Yang Mi, Yu Qian, Tian Yu, etc., attracted the attention of many movie fans before its release. The film was released on May 1. In this May 1st period, which is not squeezed by blockbusters, the box office performance is still poor. The current Douban score is only 6.0 points. The quality of the film cannot be said to be particularly good, and there were frequent problems during the promotion period, which caused dissatisfaction among the audience. In the end, the box office in the five days after its release was only over 54 million yuan.
△ "Nothing Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" poster
The film tells the story of four people who didn't know each other who were sharing the spoils in the backstage warehouse of a theater, and were accidentally involved in a murder case. A hot hot pot meal created endless suspense. , greed and deception trigger a series of reversals. Finally, the special identities of the four people gradually surfaced, and the mysterious truth was about to come out...
△ "Nothing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" Withdrawal Announcement
Even if there are not enough filming scenes, it cannot stop it. The fact that the film did not perform well at the box office. On May 5, the film studio issued a withdrawal announcement, saying that it would be withdrawn on May 6 and will be released on another day. This caused an uproar among netizens and quickly became a hot search list on Weibo. Some netizens said: "Let's just change the name of the movie. It should be called "Nothing Can't Be Solved by Withdrawing"." Some netizens joked: "I didn't expect that the movie can be returned without reason within seven days."
I just didn't expect that withdrawal is not On May 11, the end of "Hot Pot"'s appearance in the entertainment industry, #热pot在线播放# once again became a hot search topic. In the past, it was not unusual for a movie to be withdrawn and then rescheduled for release. However, it is rare for a movie to be withdrawn after only a few days like "Hot Pot" and then immediately officially announced for online broadcast. The official announcement of the film on Weibo reads, "Hot pot game, reunion" and "The hot pot game is about to start again, and the hot pot game will not end! It is currently being broadcast on Youku."
In this regard, some netizens speculated that the film studio made this move out of practical considerations. Maybe rescheduling and re-releasing may not necessarily achieve a considerable increase in box office. It is better to take advantage of the popularity of the movie and launch it directly as soon as possible with good returns. Webcast to recover some costs. Some netizens are quite dissatisfied with this phenomenon: "It seems like we are playing tricks on the audience. We agreed to reschedule the show at a different date, but why is it directly broadcast online?"
frequently withdraws and changes files. What are the reasons behind it?
Many viewers are not surprised by the initial withdrawal of "Hot Pot". After all, there are many precedents this year alone, such as " Mr. Red Carpet " and " Let's Shake the Sun Together " during the Spring Festival.
At first, it was not common for movies to be withdrawn or changed. Most of them were due to technical factors, production cycles, external factors, etc., and they were not released as planned. Some popular films in the past have actually been withdrawn or changed, such as " I am not Pan Jinlian ", " eight hundred ", " Chinatown Detective 3", etc., but this did not affect the film's excellent market appeal. .
Only in the past two years, there have been many cases of temporary withdrawal before release and withdrawal within a few days of release. This is mostly because the schedule expectations are not in line with the market performance of the movie. Through withdrawal, and then changing to a situation where the relative competition is not so good. The fierce schedule will strive for the possibility of more film schedules and box office, but this effect may not always work.
△ "Mr. Red Carpet" poster
Take "Mr. Red Carpet" which was withdrawn from the Spring Festival schedule as an example. The film has undergone three schedule changes. The film was originally scheduled for October 27, 2023, and was later moved to 2023. On November 17, it was finally announced that it would be released during the Spring Festival in 2024. However, six days after its release, the film was again announced to be withdrawn.
At 11 o'clock in the middle of the night on February 16, 2024, the movie "Mr. Red Carpet" issued a statement to withdraw from the Spring Festival schedule. On March 4, the film studio suddenly announced that it would be rescheduled for release on March 15, once again impacting the box office. However, the result was obviously not in line with the vision. In the end, the film's cumulative box office was only 94.22 million yuan, including 84.12 million yuan in the Spring Festival box office. This re-release only achieved a box office of more than 10 million yuan, which is not unrelated to the film's positioning, content and publicity strategy.
Although the story of the film is positioned to reveal the inside story of the entertainment industry, this stunt is tempting enough, but it has to be admitted that the revelation of some inside stories in the story is not straightforward enough. Although there are also allusions to secret marriage and childbirth, it does not touch on more sensitive topics, and it is expressed in an obscure way, which is inconsistent with the expectations of some viewers. In addition, there are clips in the film where investors intervene in the creation, and there is also a plot of "beating up investors". This is actually far removed from the lives of many viewers and cannot arouse the audience's resonance. The style and narrative method of
's film are not what the public understands as a commercial comedy. The film's early promotion direction was more focused on the two major selling points of "comedy" and "Andy Lau". Obviously, some of the positioning was not clear enough, and it was inconsistent with the audience. If the movie-watching expectations are not met, it will have certain counter-effects. Comedies placed in the Spring Festival stalls carry the audience's psychological expectations of having a family time and relaxing to watch movies. "Mr. Red Carpet" is obviously not the case. Audiences attracted by this strategy will naturally have a certain degree of resistance, which has also caused caused the decline in reputation. It's no surprise that the eventual re-release failed to do well.
△ "Let's Shake the Sun Together" poster
Another movie "Let's Shake the Sun Together" that was withdrawn from the Spring Festival release and released again relied on its excellent quality and audience reputation, and the cumulative box office during the Spring Festival release exceeded 90 million yuan. It was released for the second time. Afterwards, the cumulative box office reached 275 million yuan, which can be regarded as a counterattack by changing the schedule.
Modern Express/Modern + Reporter Li Yiheng