Starting with a name in 2014, experiencing a small climax in 2018, a deep adjustment in 2019, and a richer online movie in 2020.
On the one hand, the subject matter is more abundant. In 2020, a total of 756 online movies were launched on the three major video platforms of "Aiyouteng", which was basically the same as last year. From the perspective of broadcast effect, the cumulative box office of 82 films has exceeded 10 million, and "Qimen Dunjia" has won nearly 57 million sub-account box office in the form of dual-platform co-broadcasting, breaking the box office record of online movies in one fell swoop.
Looking at the box office list, fantasy, adventure, monster films have the highest number and proportion of box office, which is a tradition of online movies. At the same time, the list also has new features. With the support of policies and platforms, the creation of realistic themes and main themes has made breakthroughs in this year.
On the other hand, since the beginning of the year, the films affected by the epidemic have continued to be "hospital to network". The transfer of high-quality cinema blockbusters such as "囧Mom" and "Fat Dragon Crossing the River" is an accidental event, and these films are not in the discussion of this list for the time being.
However, there are also some films whose "theater transfer network" is quite a bellwether significance. With the increasingly obvious rule of two-eight for cinema films, the space for the distribution of mid-waist films has gradually been squeezed, the cost of online distribution has been lower, and some films have begun to consciously embrace the Internet, and this part of the film has also become a new part of online movies. There is also the PVOD (high-end paid on demand) model of online movies, and this year iQiyi has officially added this single-film payment model to the platform's accounting standards.
All in all, as part of the "One-Tongue Annual Draft", this inventory takes into account the quality of the film and the box office performance, and selects seven representative works of online movies in 2020.
"Qimen Dunjia"
"Qimen Dunjia", which was launched on the dual platforms of iQiyi and Tencent, topped the box office of last year's online movies with a box office of 56.41 million. Prior to that, the record was held by the 2018 film The Great Snake. "Qimen Dunjia" set a precedent for the dual-platform "simulcast mode" and became the latest ceiling in the industry.
On the one hand, the film continues the core concept of the 2017 theatrical version of "Fog Hidden Door", telling the story of Zhou Tong, the head catcher of Luocha Town, who has been obsessed with studying the Fog Hidden Door since childhood, and the story of the capable alien slashing demons and exorcism. Classic IP derivatives have brought some attention to this online movie.
On the other hand, the high-quality team of the cinema film, the presentation of the oriental fantasy jianghu, and the upgraded visual effects add a lot to the texture of the film. After all, online movies have the mission of "retaining the audience in 6 minutes of gold". Looking at the box office list, from the names of "Big Fish in the Sea", "Snake King" and "Land Shark Line", it can be seen that visual effects films are a solid type of online movies. And "Qimen Dunjia" uses this style to the extreme.
Looking back at the box office list in the past few years, the top players are mostly inseparable from elements such as "monsters" and "fantasy". Although there are the audience's own choices, more internal incentives lie in the creator's explosive copy orientation. It is natural to celebrate that special effects films can continue to break the record of sub-accounts, but the question is whether such special effects films that can only be regarded as B-grade productions compared with theatrical blockbusters can always attract the attention of the audience.
Ghost in the Shell: Human Love
"Ghost of a Woman, Human Affair", which broke through 50.76 million yuan, is the third highest in the online movie box office list this year.
Unlike the traditional online movie 10-20% marketing cost, this film has a marketing cost of up to 20 million, and the investment in music alone has cost nearly 4 million. There are also the core recommendation bits in Tencent's video station, and multi-dimensional promotion resources such as circle of friends and TV posters are fully covered...
This online movie has come up with the marketing battle of cinema movies. Huge marketing similar to the cost of the film allowed the film to sweep the internet last May.
In the past, most of the online movies were carefully budgeted, but "Qiannu Ghost: Human Love" exchanged a total production and distribution investment of nearly 40 million yuan for a net profit of 10.76 million yuan, a yield of about 25%, and the performance was considerable.
Of course, it's not fair to attribute the film's performance to marketing. The purchase of the copyright of the previous work "Qiannu Ghost" series also makes it different from the practice of rubbing IP and plagiarism of online movies in the grassy era. Although the audience may have reservations about the new version of Ning Caichen and Nie Xiaoqian, from the production point of view, the effect of heavy gold is lively enough.
Pisces Meteorite
High-concept settings are often present, while rounded ones are not often present. Those who touch the Pisces meteorite will be copied into a clone that is no different from the main body, and the high-level setting of "Pisces Meteorite" respects the audience's IQ and makes up a story.
Even if the desert special effects are spat on by the "Five Cents Party", the key props in the submarine are full of "plastic feeling", which still does not hide the down-to-earth nature of "Pisces Meteorite". This line of network movies will not be made up in order to make money, but pay more attention to making a fuss about the narrative at a limited cost.
In the half-magical, half-comedy network movie jianghu, with hard-core suspense reasoning to win the audience's favor, "Pisces Meteorite" can be regarded as a pioneer in genre boundaries and subject matter depth.
Reasoning suspense drama, the burden of the story is very heavy. "Pisces Meteorite", which combines the power of several screenwriters, attracts people with cases and conquers people with logic, making people addicted to watching. Multi-linear narrative mode, the most taboo scenes are evenly divided, and the characters are flat. The characters of "Pisces Meteorite" are portrayed intriguingly.
Some people say that it is the shell of "Horror Cruise", which contains the core of "The Night the Comet Came", and some people say that it is a copy of the Spanish science fiction suspense film "Crimes of Time and Space". In fact, whether it is like or not, "Pisces Meteorite" is a heavy fruit on the current network movie tree.
"Spring Tide"
After winning two nominations for best small and medium-cost feature film and best director at the 33rd Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards, "Spring Tide" was not met with the audience in the theater, and it adopted the method of online distribution.
The story tells the story of Guo Jianbo, a newspaper reporter, and his mother Ji Minglan and daughter Guo Wanting, who torture each other because of love. When the absence of marital relationships acts between mother and daughter, the relationship between the characters' dependence on each other and mutual control is quite delicate. The hidden emotions of three generations of women were fully presented to the audience.
"Spring Tide" is one of the films that were forced to "transfer to the internet" last year. Logically, this kind of film is not in the scope of the film list, but its webcasting has no reference significance.
The market for literary and art films is limited, coupled with insufficient publicity funds, the hard-to-obtain space for film scheduling is often exhausted just after it is released. For example, this year's "Balloon" directed by Wan Ma Tse-dan has gained a good reputation in the circle, but the film's first-day scheduling rate is only 2.4%, and the final box office also stopped at 6.682 million.
Different from the law of cinema distribution, the trial and error cost of online distribution of movies is low, and the "Spring Tide" and "Spring River Plumbing" released in the PVOD model have largely accurately positioned the just-needed tastes of the small crowd. It also inspired films like "Balloons": if the first round of distribution could be released online, perhaps the revenue would be better.
"There's a Good Place in the Tree"
Connecting the collective memories of the post-80s through childhood fun, this film from a children's perspective evokes a wide resonance among the moviegoers.
Some viewers even did not hesitate to describe it with the idea of "Calvino's "Baron on the Tree" + the simple and sincere emotional expression of Wang Xiaobo's "Green Hairy Water Monster" + the hazy sexual enlightenment in Jiang Wen's "Sunny Day". Not bizarre story, with fresh lens language, "There is a Good Place in the Tree" broke through the audience's existing imagination of online movies.
From the perspective of box office performance, as of now, the film has accumulated 4.194 million accounts. Compared with the commercial genre online movies that have grossed tens of millions, the performance of "A Good Place in the Tree" seems to be insufficient. But if you consider the cost of the film of two or three million, the income of the film is also passable.
It is also a work of high reputation, and this film is also reminiscent of an online movie "Mourning Girl Tiantuan" in previous years. The girl with musical dreams accidentally hit and bumped into a funeral singer, witnessed various life situations during the journey, and the theme and setting of the film are quite novel.
At present, online movies are facing the dilemma of "homogenization of themes", relying on fantasy and monsters may be able to harvest another wave of traffic, but who knows whether the audience will suddenly get tired of eating and want to change their tastes? Films with novel themes such as "There is a Good Place in the Tree" may be the way to break the game.
"Chinese Flying Man"
Starting from "Donkey on the Tree" in the second half of 2019, films that focus on small people and pay attention to real life have become the new favorites of the screen. This category is an extension of the main theme works in theatrical films. The emergence of "China Flying Man" can be said to be a positive attempt to deepen the realism of online film and television.
The story of the takeaway guy was moved from reality to the movie. Li An'an wants to live a decent life in Beijing on his own hard work, his daughter is ill, he needs to pay a high amount of surgery in a short period of time, his wife is gone, and the burden of life is on him alone. How to stick to the heart under pressure, how to defeat the dilemma of reality with ideals, the situation of the protagonist of the film has also resonated with the audience.
Warm stories bring good gains. The box office of "China Flying Man" of 17.597 million also broke the audience's imagination of realistic online movies.
In addition, "Raid • Tunnel Warfare", which broke the box office of tens of millions of points, "Donkey on the Tree 2 Stubborn Donkey Moving House", which focused on poverty alleviation, and the "I Am from Beijing" series produced by Changxin Media, are all the leaders of this year's such works.
"Chen Xiang's Folk Master at 6:30"
This film is the fourth film in the "Chen Xiang 6:30" series.
Since filming a short drama in 2014, the team has been following the path of "showing the taste of the life of a small person". In 2017, the first online movie "Chen Xiang's 6:30 Nonsense Less Talk", to the later "Chen Xiang 6:30 Iron Head Invincible" and "Chen Xiang 6:30 Heavy Building", the team played steadily at the speed of one online movie a year.
When the "mushroom head", "sister uncle" and "runtu" in the "Chen Xiang series" have become acquaintances in front of the audience, it is not difficult for everyone to take out 6 yuan from their pockets to watch their new versions of the movie.
In fact, behind the audience's single film payment is the topic that the industry is most concerned about - "how to break the circle of online movies". As of 2020, the film with the most viewers on the entire network of online movies is still "Soul Ferry Huangquan". In addition to its own quality, the excellent performance of this film is inseparable from the web drama of the four seasons of "Soul Ferry". From this point of view, fed by online dramas, the "Chen Xiang 6:30" series of movies hides the possibility of online movies going out of the circle.
Today, as the number of members approaches the ceiling, video sites are starting to move toward the next profitable trend. At this time, whether online movies that have been tempered for many years can take on the heavy responsibility of new growth points of video website revenue with new models, the key lies in whether they can mobilize the desire of users who have been cultivated for many years to pay for a single film. Of course, the results remain to be tested.
【Text/Wen Shuo Shuo】