On the afternoon of the second day after the high school entrance examination in Beijing, in a movie theater in a popular shopping mall on the East Fourth Ring Road in Beijing, there were only 10 minutes left before the opening of the box office champion " There is a Commissary in the Clouds ", and there were only 100 people in the movie theater. one person. In the theater next door, the latest show of Disney and Pixar's animated blockbuster "Inside Out 2" only sold 4 tickets.
"There is a middle school nearby, and I thought a group of children would come after the high school entrance examination." Wang Xin, the marketing manager of the cinema, predicted that the start of the summer season might not be too hot, but the market was bleaker than he expected. It was released 9 years ago "Inside Out" received a high score of 8.8 on Douban. The second part had high hopes, but it ended up not performing as well as Hayao Miyazaki's old film "Howl's Moving Castle" which was released on May 1st. Many junior high school students gathered in the grocery store and fashion store on the first floor of the
shopping mall. They told China News Weekly that after the high school entrance examination, many students came out to relax. They chose to go indoors because it was cooler and did not go to the movies because "there is nothing." Interested in".
's summer schedule starting from the end of June includes "There's a Shop in the Clouds" which brings together young idols, the classic Hollywood animated IP "Inside Out 2", the youth film about campus life " Hourglass ", and the science fiction disaster thriller According to the Beacon Professional Release Calendar, as of June 25, 88 new films have been scheduled for the 2024 summer. However, it seems that no movie has been able to impress the main force of summer movie-watching - the student group, and there has not yet been a national hit like last year's "The Disappearance of Her" and "".
Waiting for the top movie
As soon as the Dragon Boat Festival is over this year, Wang Xin begins to sweat for the summer season. As the key to the total box office for the year, many theaters are looking forward to creating a good performance in this longest period of the year. performance, and the Dragon Boat Festival stall has always been regarded as the warm-up and outpost of the summer stall. Last year, the total box office during the Dragon Boat Festival exceeded 900 million, marking the first shot of the summer season. The suspense film "The Disappearance" not only earned 508 million in box office during the period, but also extended the film's popularity into the summer, becoming the 2023 movie box office 4th place. Looking back at this year's Dragon Boat Festival, there was no movie that attracted public attention or broke the buzz. The final box office of 378 million yuan was far lower than market expectations. It was also the lowest box office performance in the past ten years, even lower than the 4.3 in 2014. billion level.
had a cold start, which seems to have affected the popularity of the entire market to a certain extent. Officially released on June 15, the new film " " directed by Guan Hu won the best film in the "Un Certain Regard" category at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival. The starring dog Xiao Xin also won the "dog award" Palme d'Or Jury Prize", the film has received a lot of praise from audiences at home and abroad, and many people in the industry are looking forward to it being the first shot of the summer season. But half a month after its release, "Dogs" has only made over 30 million at the box office.
Li Huyu, marketing director of Shenzhen Film International Cinemas Xueyuan South Road Store, likes "Dogs" very much. The story is watchable and the content is in-depth, but he thinks this film is not suitable for summer movies. In 2023, the Beacon Professional Edition once profiled the summer audience. Audiences in the two age groups of 24 and under and 25 to 29 accounted for 24% and 28% respectively, which is the group with the highest number of theater audiences. The proportion of audiences over 40 years old and those who watch movies in groups of three or more has steadily increased, indicating that the proportion of people watching movies with their children has increased and they are typical family audiences. "Young and middle-aged people over the age of 29 should like the content of "Dog Formation", but young people and teenagers under the age of 28 may not be 'cold'." Li Huyu told China News Weekly.
The lack of topicality is probably another reason for the indifference of the audience. Last year's two "dark horses", whether "The Vanishing Her" or "All or Nothing", all touched on the hottest social topics at the moment. These films being screened now, There is almost no angle that can spark discussion.Li Huyu feels that even if the film is a bit dull, as long as it can capture a few gripping plots and scenes, it might make people want to go to the theater to watch it. However, several summer movies including "Dogs" There is no point to "speculate" among the released films. This can be seen from social platforms. There is almost no discussion on them in short videos. And for those popular films last year, it is hard to think of relevant ones. Video is difficult. The quality of
videos is acceptable and the genres are rich, but there are no top videos to draw traffic to the market. This is probably the biggest factor in the unfavorable start of the summer season. Wang Xin, the marketing manager of a movie theater in Beijing, told China News Weekly that as long as there are leading films, the market can usually be protected. Since the beginning of June, he has been paying attention to the sequel to the high-grossing animated IP "Nezha: The Devil in the Sea" that is said to be released in the summer, "The Murder of My Husband in Jiangyuan Nong" with a strong cast and a highly topical story background, and Shen Teng, " ", starring Ma Li, finally breathed a sigh of relief recently. On June 27, the movie "" released a trailer and announced that it will be released on July 18.
Just the day before "Catch a Baby" was announced to be released, " Safe Evacuation from the 21st Century ", which is also owned by Enlight Pictures and "Nezha: The Demon Boy in the Sea", was announced to be released on August 3. An industry insider According to "China News Weekly", this probably means that "Nezha: The Devil Boy Havoc in the Sea" will not be placed in the summer of 2024, so "Safe Evacuation from the 21st Century" was mentioned. According to his understanding, "Nezha 2" will not be released in the summer of 2024. 》Also requires more time for post-production. In addition, there are rumors that "The Murder of My Husband in Jiang Yuan Nong" directed by Peter Chan will be re-edited and is not expected to be released in the summer as scheduled. As a result, the only leading film that is confirmed to be released is "Catch a Baby". Whether it can support the entire market and drive the market on its own has become even more unknown.
recalled that the summer vacation in 2023 broke the 20 billion mark for the first time, setting a new summer box office record. Audiences have "moved into" the cinema since June, and "The Vanishing Her" and "The Octagonal Cage" have appeared one after another. "Chang'an 30,000 Miles", "Fengshen Part 1", "All or Nothing" and other hits, Li Huyu said with emotion that last year's large number of high-quality films in a variety of genres was, to some extent, the release of the backlog of inventory in the previous three years. This year There is no longer such a rich reserve of film sources.
However, theater managers are still optimistic about several upcoming films, such as "White Snake: The Floating Life", the third work of the light-chasing animation "White Snake Series", whose story is inherited from "White Snake: Origin" and is based on the "Legend of White Snake". The story is also the final chapter of the White Snake story, which may continue the popularity of last year's hit animation "Chang'an 30,000 Miles"; "Blue Forbidden Zone: Nagi" is the theatrical version of the popular IP and is also a two-dimensional favorite among young people today. ; "Catch a Baby" is even more popular. Shen Teng and Ma Li, the golden partners in the comedy industry, have finally joined forces again. This is also the second time that directors Yan Fei and Peng Damo have succeeded in the movies "Charlotte Trouble" and "Xihong City". The third feature-length comedy film they collaborated with after "The Richest Man".
According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, so far, the summer box office has reached 1.98 billion yuan. Some industry organizations predict that due to the impact of upcoming key films, the total box office for this summer's summer season may be between 17.5 billion and 21.7 billion yuan. The total box office for this period last year was 20.62 billion yuan.
The concept of the 20th summer movie
came from Hollywood. In the summer of 1975, "Jaws" directed by Spielberg became the first movie in history to have a box office of over 100 million US dollars, which made Hollywood filmmakers notice that there is a lot of free time and strong entertainment consumption power between June and September. group - students on vacation. The door to summer film history has since been opened. Since the summer vacation in the United States lasts for more than three months, the summer film has quickly become the longest and most influential film period in the American film market. At that time, streaming media had not yet been born and entertainment projects had not yet been born. In the limited era, students had a strong movie consumption capacity and concentrated movie viewing frequency. Therefore, during this period, many classic films with excellent production, wide influence and high box office revenue were born.
China was first inspired by the so-called summer movies, which came from high-quality Hollywood movies.1995 is known as the first year of blockbusters. During the summer of this year, the Hollywood animated film "The Lion King" entered the Chinese market for the first time and became the childhood memory of a generation of mainland audiences. Animated blockbusters have not only made children regular visitors to movie theaters, but have also shaken the long-standing prejudice among Chinese audiences that "cartoons are equal to children's entertainment."
The first company in China to test this schedule was the Shanghai Art Film Studio. The popular "Lotus Lantern" released in the summer of 1999 not only reinterpreted the mythical story using advanced animation technology, but also invited Chen Peisi, Ning Jing, Xu Fan, Stars such as Jiang Wen voiced the characters, and it ultimately earned more than 24 million yuan at the box office. "Lotus Lantern" was a turnaround for Chinese animated films that had hit a trough in the 1990s. Unfortunately, no one continued to stick with it in the future.
Another person who tried to "eat crabs" was director Huang Jianxin. In the summer of 2001, his family comedy "Who Says I Don't Care" was released. This is a story about a 14-year-old adolescent girl saving her parents' marriage in a mid-life crisis. Although the core is Social issues, but the little girl is the protagonist of the story, the narrator, and the object of speaking to the camera. Therefore, all the contradictions easily maintain the relaxed smoothness and "laughing" effect that a summer movie should have, without sticking to the so-called "Connotation".
Zuo Heng, director and researcher of the Film Culture Research Department of the China Film Art Research Center, remembers that the film industry held a seminar specifically on "Who Says I Don't Care" because it was the first summer local film with a clear market positioning. It takes into account art, the market and the psychological needs of young people. In an era when there were no systematic box office statistics, its box office in Beijing exceeded 2.5 million, far exceeding other films of the same period, including Hollywood films. Unfortunately, no one continued to work in this field. The summer releases after
are almost dominated by works from Hollywood's peak period, such as "Spider-Man 1", "Spider-Man 2", "Ratman 2", "Finding Nemo", "The Matrix 2 - Reloaded" and "The Da Vinci Code" "... In July 2007, "Transformers" created a huge box office of 280 million, completely solidifying the concept of summer movies for the mainland film market.
Zuo Heng told "China News Weekly" that if you carefully study summer movies in Hollywood's heyday, you can find several genre characteristics: action movies, comedy movies, horror movies and animated movies, or the fusion of several genres. The top three It is directly related to the psychological needs of adolescent children - to release their excess hormones. Hollywood filmmakers have understood the psychology of the largest summer movie-going crowd.
The mainland film industry is not without inspiration. With the 2011 "Far Cry" "gambling" a box office of 90 million in the summer season with an investment of 5 million, the summer season ushered in the era of traffic movies. In 2013, the "Tiny Times" series, which brought together idol stars such as Yang Mi and Kuo Caijie, became the most popular new film in the summer, following the trend of popular traffic stars + love + campus.
As a result, film producers who all wanted a ride followed the principle of "whoever is famous invites the other" and "tailor-made" "Da Takesheng", "Rescue" and "I Am a Witness" for fans of various "idol" There are many movies of varying quality such as "Summer Arbor", the concepts of "fan movies" and "fan economy" have been very popular in the past few years, and they are enthusiastically producing formula products of "big IP + small fresh meat", as if this industry It's as simple as just mastering addition and subtraction. Fortunately, this trend did not last long. In the summer of 2015, "Tiny Times 4" and "Gardenia Blooms" were crushed by the troika of "The Return of the Great Sage", "Monster Hunt" and "Pancake Man", and their quality was Fan movies that are just about making quick money and simply selling the celebrity's face have come to an end.
With the production of domestic films mushrooming like mushrooms after a rain, the summer film has gradually become a must-have for military strategists after the Spring Festival film. Excellent works that are famous in film history are frequently produced, such as the 2016 summer film "Big Fish and Begonia", respectively. "I'm Not the God of Medicine" and "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes into the World" were released in July 2018 and July 2019.
According to Zuo Heng, although there are many high-quality box office masterpieces in the Chinese film market’s summer season, the concept of this period has always been relatively vague. The psychological needs of teenagers and the resulting characteristics of the summer season are worthy of in-depth study. But no one seems to be taking this seriously. Therefore, there is no Chinese market for distinctive summer genre films such as "Scream" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer", and there is also a lack of excellent works specially developed for the summer season. There is still a A blue ocean to be developed.
The Sorrow of the Schedule
The lively “618” in the e-commerce world that just passed made Li Huyu envious. "On an ordinary day, every year, people can create their own shopping festival, so why can't we filmmakers? We have to stick to these few schedules. In the past, it was good to watch movies at half price every Tuesday." He feels that now The filmmakers seem to be suffering from schedule dependence, trying their best to squeeze in the Spring Festival and summer vacation without looking at whether the film is suitable. There is often a shortage of movies in movie theaters during normal times. A certain popular schedule is packed with new movies within a short period of time, making it difficult for viewers to make a choice. Movies of good quality may also be ignored due to information overload, which is destined to produce cannon fodder. This is a repeated trend in the market. Lessons given.
"withdrawal" and "shifting" are only halfway through 2024. These are already two high-frequency keywords that keep appearing in the film market. Some netizens even ridiculed this year as "the first year of withdrawal". There are a total of 8 films during the Spring Festival, and 4 of them have not exceeded 100 million yuan and have been withdrawn one after another. The May Day movie "Nothing Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" was withdrawn after the holiday. First, it squeezed into the popular schedule, and then continued to fight. I find that I can't beat him and I run away temporarily. Is this really feasible?
As the marketing manager of a theater chain, Wang Xin likes "Let's Shake the Sun Together" which was released during the Spring Festival very much. This is director Han Yan's "life trilogy" after "Get Out! Mr. Tumor" and "Send You a Little Red Flower" "The final chapter has a tragic core and a happy structure. It has the romance of a love-type drama and is close to the realism of a reality drama. It has a Douban score of 8.0, making it the most popular movie during the Spring Festival. "But its 'tonality' is really not suitable for the Spring Festival." Wang Xin said, "It's a pity that the quality is so good." In the end, the film was withdrawn due to poor schedule and box office. Although it performed well after the re-release at the end of March, it finally won The box office was 276 million yuan, but Wang Xin felt that if it had not gone through the hassle of withdrawal and re-release, the box office might have doubled to more than 500 million yuan.
In Li Huyu's view, the main reason why movies are concentrated in popular schedules is that they are not confident in the quality. They hope that the high traffic of the schedule itself will drive the box office, and hope that the audience will "watch Jia Ling and Shen Teng." The movie might be good, why don’t you check it out..." "After theaters become popular, it will indeed benefit the entire market, but we cannot rely entirely on it," Li Huyu said.
As long as the film tells a good story and has its own characteristics, it may be able to become a dark horse in some unpopular schedules that seem to be uninterested without too much competitive pressure. "Away with Three Evils" is a good example. It was released in early March after the Spring Festival. It stood out in the unpopular period and achieved a box office of nearly 700 million.
The summer schedule that has just started seems to be facing a similar problem of new movies getting crowded together. Are all the nearly 90 movies scheduled for release suitable for this schedule? In Wang Xin's theater, a total of 16 movies are currently being screened. There are not many choices, but he is still looking forward to a movie that can really interest the audience. A few days ago, Zuo Heng's relatives asked him to recommend a good movie to watch among the released movies. He "picked it up" for a long time and said: "There is nothing to recommend, so let's wait a little longer."
Look back at last year's movies During the summer season, Zuo Heng felt that almost all of the works that gained box office and reputation had a pioneering temperament and spirit of exploration and not being afraid of failure. It seems that there is no such movie in this year's summer season. On the other hand, it must also be admitted that “the success of many movies last year was not only due to the movie itself, but also the film culture and cultural psychology behind the movie itself.Therefore, it is worth reflecting that we have not yet seen a work that can really use the film itself to bring a large number of audiences into the cinema, and the understanding and expression of film still need to be improved."
Reporter: Li Jing
Editor: Yang Shiyang
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