For literary and art films, the most important thing is not to make big productions, big publicity, big stars, nor to engage in flashy marketing, but to control expenditures, find suitable distribution methods, and target the core audience of literary and art films in China.
(Lyceum Theatre IC photo / Photo)
Recently, literary and artistic films starring big-name stars have been released one after another. For example, "Lyceum Theatre" directed by Lou Ye and starring Gong Li and Zhao Youting, "The First Burning Incense" directed by Xu Anhua and starring Ma Sichun, Peng Yuyan and Yu Feihong, "Wuhai" directed by Zhou Ziyang and starring Huang Xuan and Yang Zishan.
But the box office of these literary and art films is not ideal - "Lyceum Theatre" is only in its early 20 million years, "The First Burning Incense" is topped by Zhang Ailing's big IP, and the final box office is also more than 60 million, and the box office of "Wuhai" barely exceeded 10 million.... Why can't these big-name stars bring literary films?
Literary and art films are not good at the box office, not that they are bad films. Like "Lyceum Theatre", the whole black and white photography and no soundtrack of the video style allow the audience to focus more on the actions of the characters themselves. Even if the adaptation of "The First Burning Incense" is criticized, the team is still very gorgeous: screenwriter Wang Anyi, photography Du Kefeng, costume and Tian Huimei, music producer Ryuichi Sakamoto, the audiovisual effect is superior. Zhou Ziyang's "Wuhai" is a little less famous, but it has won many awards at some international film festivals.
A big reason for the poor box office is that the audience of the literary film itself is relatively small. The core of commercial films is to let the audience understand and see cool, it is market and audience-oriented, with profit as the goal; literary and art films pursue the ideological, artistic and critical nature of the film ontology, more personal, stylized and unfamiliar, so many literary and art films are anti-story, anti-genre, obscure and difficult to understand.
The artistry of literary and art films is high, but ordinary audiences do not necessarily like it, and the ratings of these three films on cat's eye are far lower than those of very ordinary commercial films. Commercial films can easily get more than 9 points in Maoyan, but these three literary films are all fixed at 7 points - which is already a very poor rating in Maoyan. It can be seen that the audience of literary and art films is quite limited, and many audiences are not interested.
Some people will still wonder, these movies are not newcomer directors, newcomer actors, unpopular themes of the work, with the blessing of well-known directors + big-name actors, how can not move the box office? This is because the star effect has a fairly limited bonus to the film's box office.
The star effect is really effective in episodes. Suppose gong li starred in a TV series, the audience will definitely be attracted by Gong Li to click, anyway, there is no need for money costs, leisure time to open the video APP can be. Movies are different – it costs money to go to the cinema, you have to go out, you have to make time... Higher costs are required in all aspects. The average number of movies per person in China is about 1.5 times a year, and some people watch movies once a year, basically contributing to the Spring Festival file and national day blockbusters, even if literary and art films invite big stars, it is difficult to convert them into their movie motivation.
This is also why some traffic stars with tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of fans on Weibo are still easy to hit the street after starring in movies. Even if it is a fan of a traffic star, the probability of converting into a movie audience is very low, and it is quite good that tens of millions of Weibo fans can have hundreds of thousands of people buy tickets, so it is still taken for granted to rely on big stars to drive the box office of literary and art films.
(Stills of "The First Burning Incense")
For literary and art films, what is most needed is not a big star, what is that? Every time some literary and art film directors with dismal box office "ask for a schedule", there will be audiences who love to watch literary and art films who leave a message saying, I would like to watch it, but there is no schedule. Some people blamed the lack of literary and art films, so the box office was dismal. In fact, the theater manager will not put money and do not earn, if the attendance rate of literary and art films is high, the theater manager is eager to give more literary and artistic films. The real reason is that the audience of literary and art films is limited, the attendance rate is limited, and the box office of a literary and art film is not as good as a commercial film, and the theater will naturally reduce the scheduling rate of literary and art films.
This is a fundamental dilemma of Chinese literary and art films: our literary and art films must compete with commercial films to grab the film and the market, and there is no pure art theater line. Obviously, the publicity of literary and art films has no money, and it is impossible to play commercial blockbusters. The publicity cost of commercial films is as high as tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan, covering the air with advertisements and soft texts, and maximizing the exposure rate to attract the public. It is too difficult for literary and art films to "grab food from the tiger's mouth".
The publicity of some literary and art films has gone to great lengths to "spend small money to do big things" and strive to make literary and art films appear "popular" to help movies open up the sinking market, which has caused the embarrassment of dislocation. At the end of 2018, Bi Gan's "The Last Night of the Earth" was released, when the marketing main concept of "New Year's Kiss", the box office reached 262 million yuan on the first day, and the next day it fell to 11.39 million, the cat's eye rating was only 2.6 points, and the audience shouted to be deceived. From a market point of view, "The Last Night of the Earth" has made money, however, this kind of publicity is equivalent to "one hammer deal", and the audience will not be fooled a second time if they are fooled once, which is not a long-term solution.
This time, "First Burning Incense" is on Douyin, taking the "earthy marketing" route. "There are some very simple feelings, always pure", "do everything, love one", "love to ask for something, but do not ask for answers", "not to contact is not difficult, do not want to miss is", these copywriters make people awkward to cut out two rooms and a living room, and Zhang Ailing's style is completely opposite. "Earthy marketing" did not open up the mass market and was ridiculed by the audience of literary and art films.
It can be seen that for literary and art films, the most important thing is not to make big productions, big publicity, big stars, nor to engage in flashy marketing, but to control unnecessary expenditures, find suitable distribution methods, and first target the core domestic audience of literary and art films. Some industry insiders estimate that the domestic core literary and art film audience exceeds 3 million people, assuming they all walk into the theater, they can also contribute 100 million yuan to the box office. First impress the audience of literary and art films, and then attract ordinary audiences through word of mouth.
The "National Art Film Screening Alliance" is a good attempt, which aims to promote new films with unique artistic value at home and abroad, second-round films with good reputation, and classic films in film history. As of 2020, 3,083 theaters - 3,684 screens have joined the National Arts Federation, covering a total of 370 cities. Franchised theaters should promise to provide at least 1 screen, rehearse 3 online films per day, and provide at least 10 golden fields for art federation online films every week.
Although the All-China Federation of Arts is not a dedicated art theater line, this move can still greatly improve the scheduling of art films in commercial theaters, extend the scheduling time of literary and art films, allow literary and artistic films to meet with audiences who like it, and give literary and artistic films a chance to be tested by the market. Some small-cost production of literary and artistic films, you can choose to first distribute in the National Arts Federation, and then if the reputation is good, you can take Hollywood's "platform distribution" model, gradually expand the scale of screening in stages, slowly penetrate into the public, and continuously improve the scheduling and attendance rate.
As for the literary and artistic films with big investment, big production, big stars, and big publicity, of course, there can be, but from past experience, this is too risky choice. Investing in literary and art films on the scale of commercial films and letting literary and art films be publicized in the form of commercial films can increase the box office on the first day, but it is difficult to continue, and the ceiling of the box office is obvious.
Big stars can't "save" literary and art films, and the quality of fine products, accurate and pragmatic investment and distribution are the way out for literary and art films.
Wen | Nan zhou knew