Jiemian News Reporter | Hu Yujing Jiemian News Editor | Zhang Youfa On November 7, director Jia Zhangke posted on Weibo, asking viewers not to watch pirated copies of "The Merry Generation" on the Internet, and calling on qualified and interested viewers to watch the film in thea

Interface News Reporter | Hu Yujing

Interface News Editor | Zhang Youfa

On November 7, director Jia Zhangke posted on Weibo, asking the audience not to watch the pirated version of " Romantic Generation " on the Internet, and calling on qualified and interested readers Audiences go to theaters to watch movies.

He said in the post that the pirated version of "The Legend" leaked out before the release, which was "like a bolt from the blue" for him. Although the two rights protection teams worked day and night, they were still unable to do what they wanted. He worried that posting a request would have the opposite effect of “advertising” piracy, but he “felt heartbroken when he saw netizens still exchanging pirated resources online, and some platforms were even selling links to watch movies.”

Picture source: Weibo @江潇ke

"The Romantic Generation" is the new work of director Jia Zhangke. The film is edited from video materials he shot from 2001 to 2022. The narrative continues his past narrative preferences and cast. The film stars Zhao Tao and tells the story of the cleverness of small-town women. The emotional journey and changes of the times from the millennium to the present. The

film was nominated for the Palme d'Or in the main competition of the 77th Cannes Film Festival, and was the only Chinese-language film shortlisted for the main competition at that time. The film is currently scheduled to be released on November 22.

This is not the first time that Jia Zhangke has spoken out for the release of "The Merry Generation". On October 28, when Jia Zhangke attended the Hengdian International Film Fair and the 26th National Film Promotion Conference, he stated that the film would only be released for 22 days and would not be re-released on a large scale after the release.

"This film took 22 years to shoot, and we used 22 days to say goodbye to these 22 years." He explained.

"The Romantic Generation" poster

Apart from Jia Zhangke's emotional considerations, this relatively "novel" screening method is also a way for the film studio to attract core audiences to enter the theater quickly in the cold movie market, and can also be regarded as a kind of "hunger marketing" ".

According to the "October 2024 Movie Market Data Observation" released by Beacon Professional Edition on November 9, the market fell into a downturn in the second half of the National Day holiday, and the single-day box office fell below 30 million. On the premise that the number of screenings hit a new high, the box office in October this year was only 3.625 billion, which was only 44% of October 2019.

Under the sluggish movie-going sentiment, many good films have been put on the market without making any big splash. For example, "Burning City", which was released on November 1, is a rare nuclear radiation-themed disaster film in Chinese films. It scored 7.6 on Douban. Most viewers reported that the script was solid, the group portrait narrative was fully displayed, and there were multiple large-scale special effects scenes. However, the current film The predicted total box office is only 252 million.

In this market atmosphere, it is difficult for "The Romantic Generation" with literary and artistic attributes to expand the audience of passers-by. It can only try its best to win over the fan group, and limited-time viewing can allow some viewers to watch the movie as soon as possible, ensuring the early screening rate of theaters, rather than The delay in movie-going demand dragged down attendance rates, and ultimately box office losses again due to too few movie schedules in theaters.

Source: Lighthouse Professional Edition "October 2024 Movie Market Data Observation"

Corresponding to the deserted market, the piracy market is increasingly rampant. According to an investigation report by China Business News after the National Day holiday, none of the popular popular film and television series can escape the harm of piracy. Piracy is the norm right after the broadcast. You can watch new movies in theaters for 1 yuan. A legal officer of Long Video said that with the continuous optimization and development of algorithms in the past two years, when users use search engines to search for film and television works, the number of infringing websites in the search results has increased, and has the characteristics of "high proportion and priority presentation" .

In addition, many people from mainstream long video platforms said that online disk has become the main channel for the dissemination of pirated film and television content, accounting for more than 60%. Infringing videos cover svip exclusive content and can be updated instantly without the need to search.

Hu Yang, senior consultant at Beijing Guantao Zhongmao Law Firm, told Jiemian News that those who engage in copyright infringement such as film and television drama piracy may face civil and criminal liability.Those who commit infringement activities for profit-making purposes and with relatively large amounts of illegal gains may face a fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, and may also be fined 30,000 to 1 million yuan; if the amount of illegal gains is huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, they may be sentenced to more than three years. A prison sentence of not more than ten years and a fine of RMB 150,000 to RMB 5 million.

The concealment and overseasization of piracy of film and television dramas has brought great difficulties to domestic rights protection. Hu Yang said that due to the increasing intensity of civil infringement litigation and criminal penalties in recent years, more and more infringing websites and platforms have registered their websites overseas in order to avoid civil and criminal liabilities, making it difficult for domestic judicial authorities to pursue accountability. , which creates huge difficulties in safeguarding rights within the country.

There is a long way to go to put an end to piracy of film and television dramas. In the current increasingly sluggish consumption environment, the "piracy consumption" of film and television dramas seems to have entered a small climax. According to the above-mentioned observation report released by Beacon Professional Edition, in October, the revenue of each screening of domestic theaters was less than 300 yuan, and the average number of moviegoers per game was only 7.4, both of which were the second lowest in history. In addition, in October this year, the number of theaters with daily box office revenue of less than 10,000 yuan exceeded 12,000 for the first time.

In the already deserted movie market, film studios can only hope for limited box office returns to quench their thirst, and the part of the "cake" taken away by online piracy is even more conspicuous. The director himself comes forward to plead with the audience. This may be one of the few options for the film to retain the audience when the film is helpless against the market and piracy.

Interface News Reporter | Hu Yujing

Interface News Editor | Zhang Youfa

On November 7, director Jia Zhangke posted on Weibo, asking the audience not to watch the pirated version of " Romantic Generation " on the Internet, and calling on qualified and interested readers Audiences go to theaters to watch movies.

He said in the post that the pirated version of "The Legend" leaked out before the release, which was "like a bolt from the blue" for him. Although the two rights protection teams worked day and night, they were still unable to do what they wanted. He worried that posting a request would have the opposite effect of “advertising” piracy, but he “felt heartbroken when he saw netizens still exchanging pirated resources online, and some platforms were even selling links to watch movies.”

Photo source: Weibo @Jia Zhangke

"The Romantic Generation" is the new work of director Jia Zhangke. The film is edited from image materials he shot from 2001 to 2022. The narrative continues his past narrative preferences and cast. The film is directed by Zhao Tao Starring , it tells the emotional journey and changes of the times of Qiaoqiao, a small town woman from the millennium to the present. The

film was nominated for the Palme d'Or in the main competition of the 77th Cannes Film Festival, and was the only Chinese-language film shortlisted for the main competition at that time. The film is currently scheduled to be released on November 22.

This is not the first time that Jia Zhangke has spoken out for the release of "The Merry Generation". On October 28, when Jia Zhangke attended the Hengdian International Film Fair and the 26th National Film Promotion Conference, he stated that the film would only be released for 22 days and would not be re-released on a large scale after the release.

"This film took 22 years to shoot, and we used 22 days to say goodbye to these 22 years." He explained.

"The Romantic Generation" poster

Apart from Jia Zhangke's emotional considerations, this relatively "novel" screening method is also a way for the film studio to attract core audiences to enter the theater quickly in the cold movie market, and can also be regarded as a kind of "hunger marketing" ".

According to the "October 2024 Movie Market Data Observation" released by Beacon Professional Edition on November 9, the market fell into a downturn in the second half of the National Day holiday, and the single-day box office fell below 30 million. On the premise that the number of screenings hit a new high, the box office in October this year was only 3.625 billion, which was only 44% of October 2019.

Under the sluggish movie-going sentiment, many good films have been put on the market without making any big splash. For example, "Burning City", which was released on November 1, is a rare nuclear radiation-themed disaster film in Chinese films. It scored 7.6 on Douban. Most viewers reported that the script was solid, the group portrait narrative was fully displayed, and there were multiple large-scale special effects scenes. However, the current film The predicted total box office is only 252 million.

In this market atmosphere, it is difficult for "The Romantic Generation" with literary and artistic attributes to expand the audience of passers-by. It can only try its best to win over the fan group, and limited-time viewing can allow some viewers to watch the movie as soon as possible, ensuring the early screening rate of theaters, rather than The delay in movie-going demand dragged down attendance rates, and ultimately box office losses again due to too few movie schedules in theaters.

Source: Lighthouse Professional Edition "October 2024 Movie Market Data Observation"

Corresponding to the deserted market, the piracy market is increasingly rampant. According to an investigation report by China Business News after the National Day holiday, none of the popular popular film and television series can escape the harm of piracy. Piracy is the norm right after the broadcast. You can watch new movies in theaters for 1 yuan. A legal officer of Long Video said that with the continuous optimization and development of algorithms in the past two years, when users use search engines to search for film and television works, the number of infringing websites in the search results has increased, and has the characteristics of "high proportion and priority presentation" .

In addition, many people from mainstream long video platforms said that online disk has become the main channel for the dissemination of pirated film and television content, accounting for more than 60%. Infringing videos cover svip exclusive content and can be updated instantly without the need to search.

Hu Yang, senior consultant at Beijing Guantao Zhongmao Law Firm, told Jiemian News that those who engage in copyright infringement such as film and television drama piracy may face civil and criminal liability.Those who commit infringement activities for profit-making purposes and with relatively large amounts of illegal gains may face a fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, and may also be fined 30,000 to 1 million yuan; if the amount of illegal gains is huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, they may be sentenced to more than three years. A prison sentence of not more than ten years and a fine of RMB 150,000 to RMB 5 million.

The concealment and overseasization of piracy of film and television dramas has brought great difficulties to domestic rights protection. Hu Yang said that due to the increasing intensity of civil infringement litigation and criminal penalties in recent years, more and more infringing websites and platforms have registered their websites overseas in order to avoid civil and criminal liabilities, making it difficult for domestic judicial authorities to pursue accountability. , which creates huge difficulties in safeguarding rights within the country.

There is a long way to go to put an end to piracy of film and television dramas. In the current increasingly sluggish consumption environment, the "piracy consumption" of film and television dramas seems to have entered a small climax. According to the above-mentioned observation report released by Beacon Professional Edition, in October, the revenue of each screening of domestic theaters was less than 300 yuan, and the average number of moviegoers per game was only 7.4, both of which were the second lowest in history. In addition, in October this year, the number of theaters with daily box office revenue of less than 10,000 yuan exceeded 12,000 for the first time.

In the already deserted movie market, film studios can only hope for limited box office returns to quench their thirst, and the part of the "cake" taken away by online piracy is even more conspicuous. The director himself comes forward to plead with the audience. This may be one of the few options for the film to retain the audience when the film is helpless against the market and piracy.