The film market is still a combination of opportunities and challenges

In 2021, under the continuous impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the global film industry is struggling to move forward. In the face of unprecedented difficulties and challenges, the Chinese film market has taken the lead in recovering. A few days ago, the National Film Administration released data showing that the total box office of mainland films in 2021 reached 47.258 billion yuan, the total number of screens reached 82248, and the total box office and total number of screens in the whole year continued to remain the first in the world. This hard-won achievement shows the vitality of the big screen and the strong momentum of the domestic film market, while bringing firm confidence to the recovery of the global film industry. Behind the achievements, what are the new phenomena that deserve attention? How will the film market respond to risks and challenges in the future?

New mainstream films shine

In the past year, domestic films have become a veritable "big ticket warehouse". The data shows that the total box office of mainland movies in 2021 will reach 47.258 billion yuan, and the box office of Chinese films in China will be 39.927 billion yuan, accounting for 84.49% of the total box office. Eight of the top 10 films at the box office throughout the year are domestic films.

From "Chosin Lake", which carries forward the great spirit of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, to "My Father and My Father", which praises the selfless dedication of his fathers, from "Chinese Doctors" who cracked the "winning code" of the fight against the epidemic to "Peak Explosion" that pays tribute to ordinary heroes... Domestic films have gained new creative inspiration and attracted the attention of the Chinese people with richer content themes. In particular, the new mainstream films represented by "Chosin Lake" have won a double harvest at the box office, which fully demonstrates the continuous improvement of the industrialization ability of mainland films, the increasingly mature operation ability of the main theme commercial film market, and the strong spiritual appeal of Chinese stories.

Yin Hong, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, analyzed that the characteristics of the main drama theme, well-made, low-starting characters, individual perspectives, home-country feelings, industrialization, and commercialization of blockbuster models are the key to the new mainstream films. In recent years, the main theme of the film, regardless of the theme style or production technology, has been constantly innovating, gradually breaking the barriers between the main theme film and the commercial market, promoting the leap of Chinese films from "phenomenon-level" to "normalization", and realizing the sustainable prosperity and development of China's film industry.

While the main theme of the film shines brightly, various types of films such as drama films, literary and art films, and suspense films are also adding luster to the big screen, fully demonstrating the rich themes of mainland film creation and the huge potential of the film market. It is worth mentioning that the feature film "Hello, Li Huanying", although the production cost is not high, has become the box office champion of the Spring Festival in 2021. The suspense film "Fame and Fame" is also a small-cost, small-production film, but it leveraged 900 million yuan at the box office with high word-of-mouth. The case of small cost creating high box office strongly proves that today's audiences no longer blindly pursue large-scale production scenes, and good stories can also capture the "heart" of the audience.

At the same time, the box office and word of mouth of "big stars + big productions" movies have repeatedly "overturned", and the high investment of these works has not brought matching high quality, which is a phenomenon worthy of deep reflection by the market. No matter what kind of theme of the film should convey the sense of truth, only the story is full and profound, in order to empathize with the audience; only by insisting on telling a good story, the space for film creation will become more and more vast.

It is imperative to get rid of slot dependency

In 2021, large-scale slots will become the backbone of the film market. According to data from the Maoyan Research Institute, in 2021, the characteristics of the audience's tendency to choose to watch movies on holidays are more prominent, and the proportion of the box office during the holiday period has risen sharply to 36%. According to data from the Lighthouse Research Institute, there are 27 films with a box office of more than 200 million yuan in 2021, of which 60% are released in large slots. Films released in key slots have opened up a large gap between non-slot films in terms of number, rating, single film box office, etc.

The record box office of the head film also reflects that the audience's choice of films is more concentrated than ever. Studies have shown that there is an obvious "two-eight effect" in the film market in 2021, and the National Day file is a unique phenomenon of "Changjin Lake".

The uneven heating and cold of the film market and the unbalanced development of the film market have brought hidden worries to the development of the industry. On the one hand, the market is relying more and more on blockbuster movies, the head effect is becoming more and more obvious, and the box office and number of waist films are broken, resulting in most movies in a state of loss. On the other hand, the film is released in the hot file and the cold file is not cared for, which will lead to a change in the audience's viewing habits. If the audience only chooses one popular slot a year, and only watches one popular movie in a slot, it is very detrimental to the sustained and healthy development of the industry.

Liu Zhenfei, an analyst at Maoyan Research Institute, believes that it is particularly important to seek better development of the film market and get rid of the dependence on schedule. The creative side needs continuous investment and continuous improvement, produce more high-quality content, and strive to have a good movie worth watching every month. Waist films should be released in a more suitable slot according to their own characteristics and user needs, rather than blindly getting involved in the fierce competition of key slots.

Cultivate a larger audience for the film market

The boom in the film market requires more movie-loving people to come into theaters. According to the data, in 2021, the number of people watching movies in urban theaters reached 1.167 billion. Compared with the total population of the mainland, there is still room for improvement in the number of moviegoers, and the enthusiasm of high-level audiences and young audiences to watch movies needs to be further stimulated.

Attracting more audiences into the theater, the supply of high-quality films is the fundamental condition. Hu Zhifeng, deputy secretary of the party committee and vice president of the Beijing Film Academy, believes that one of the intuitive market data of high-quality films is the box office of more than 100 million yuan, because such films have a certain population coverage, which can relatively verify the popularity of movies. In 2021, the total box office and number of screens of Chinese films will continue to rank first in the world, but the number of high-level and high-quality domestic films still needs to be increased. "China makes hundreds to thousands of feature films a year, but less than half of them are released in theaters. Among the movies released in theaters, there are not enough films that have grossed more than 100 million yuan. Hu Zhifeng said.

To raise the ceiling of the market, it is also necessary to deepen the understanding of consumers. The report of The Maoyan Research Institute shows that in addition to the influence of the film content itself, external factors such as popular schedules, free time, social needs, sense of viewing ceremony, and ticket price concessions have also become the motivation for the audience to watch movies. Therefore, we should deepen our understanding of the preferences and needs of audiences of all ages and tier cities, and provide ideas for the types of films produced by the supply side of the industry and the distribution side through the fine data analysis of audience preferences, so as to strengthen the audience's motivation to watch movies and increase the frequency of movie viewing.

By comparing the annual ticket purchase portrait data of Maoyan year by year, it can be seen that the composition of the consumer population in the film market will change significantly in 2021. As the first batch of "post-00s" entered adulthood, they quickly poured into the film market and gradually became the main force of consumption, driving the overall structure of the Audience in the Chinese film market to become younger. At the same time, short videos, games, etc. are also robbing the audience of time, and the film market is facing severe challenges.

Challenges are a new starting point. At present, 80,000 screens have spread throughout China's big cities and towns, and the continuous improvement of the viewing environment, the increasingly rich film communication channels and the convenience of ticket purchase are all important guarantees for the high-quality development of Chinese films.

"Film is a comprehensive art, which is closely related to the comprehensive strength of the country. Relying on the developed economy, prosperous culture, and advanced technology, Chinese films should enter the era of quality, and we have reason to believe that Chinese films can look forward to the future. Ren Zhonglun, vice chairman of the China Filmmakers Association, said. Reporter Jiang Tianjiao

Source: Economic Daily