Zeng Maojun: The future of a film power can be expected

Zeng Maojun (President of Wanda Culture Group and President of Wanda Film and Television Group)

From 2020 to 2021, the film market has been hit hard by the epidemic, with a large number of film companies closing, film projects suspended, theaters suspended or closed, and the film box office being cut off, and Chinese filmmakers are facing unprecedented difficulties. But at the same time, we can also see that when there are good works on the market, there is a leisure festival schedule, and the audience will return to the cinema. The charm of big screen movies is where the charm of movies lies, and this is also the motivation for all filmmakers to continue to work hard to build this industry.

Zeng Maojun

In November 2021, the state promulgated the "14th Five-Year Plan" Chinese Film Development Plan, which clearly put forward the goal of achieving a film power by 2035, which is an exciting plan for all Chinese filmmakers and a plan for the future. The 14th Five-Year Plan puts forward specific guidance on the construction of the film market environment, the direction of content production, and the goals of the film market, so that the work of all filmmakers has a direction.

China has a good foundation for a film power, one is because China has a large population base, the people's living standards are increasingly improving, and the spiritual life and cultural taste are also constantly improving; the second is that China has a good production foundation, and since the beginning of the founding of New China, a large number of outstanding film creators have emerged, leaving a large number of excellent works and film creation inheritance; third, China has a good film market foundation, with 80,000 screens all over China's big city towns. And the ever-improving viewing environment makes movies a way of entertainment for the whole people; fourth, the increasingly rich channels of film dissemination and the convenience of ticket purchase make movie viewing a daily routine.

On the basis of these good hardness, there are more opportunity points in the Chinese film market, and I think these opportunity points should be mainly from the soft construction: First, the construction of the film industrialization system, so that film production has a stable quality guarantee, which includes the technical improvement of film production, talent training, financial support, base construction, etc.; second, the series development of films, reduce the risk of film production, enhance the IP value of movies, and extend the life cycle of movies; third, dig deep into Chinese stories and Chinese cultural IP values. Let Chinese film culture become an international symbol of China; fourth, cultivate film culture from the doll, so that our next generation will appreciate movies and learn culture and spirit from movies.

At the same time, we also need to soberly realize that there are still many problems in the current film market, and if the problems are solved, we will be closer and closer to the goal of a film power. In my opinion, the issues that need to be solved urgently at present are as follows:

First, the market is more and more dependent on blockbuster movies, the head effect is getting higher and higher, most of the movies are in a state of loss, which is not conducive to the output of the upstream industry;

Second, the schedule effect is becoming more and more obvious, resulting in the film being released in a pile during the schedule period, forming an inner volume, which cannot effectively release the box office potential of the film;

Third, the film publicity cycle is shortened, there is great uncertainty in the release of the schedule, and the box office potential of the film is damaged;

Fourth, the terminal market is too scattered, the proportion of studios with standardized management is relatively low, and the operation and management of "small workshops" is not conducive to the long-term development of the industry;

Fifth, the decline in operating efficiency and the dual pressure of high rent and labor costs coexist, resulting in an increasingly difficult operating state in the terminal market, and the phenomenon of theater closures is frequent.

It is believed that with the support of national policies, under the correct guidance of the film authorities, and with the efforts of all filmmakers, the future of a film power in 2035 can be expected.

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