During the Spring Festival, movie ticket prices in some cities were accused of being "ridiculously expensive", which continued to cause heated discussions.
In recent days, the movies "Sniper", "Chosin Lake's Watergate Bridge", and "Miracle Stupid Child" have successively announced price cuts.
But will the audience pay for the "price reduction and rescue"?
Data chart: Entrance to a cinema in Beijing during the Spring Festival
Photographed by Zhao Jiaran
Part 3! Miracle stupid kid price reduction
On the evening of February 9, a theater box office data software showed that the movie "Miracle Stupid Child" adjusted the settlement standard since February 11 (inclusive), and the number 2D: 30 yuan / person · time; IMAX 2D: 40 yuan / person · time; China Giant Screen 2D and so on: 35 yuan / person · time.
On February 5, the movie "Sniper" launched the "first shot" of the new film price reduction in the Spring Festival file.
According to the official Weibo of the flagship column of the movie channel @ China Film Report, the news was released, "The movie "Sniper" announced that from February 7, the settlement price of all versions will be reduced to 35 yuan for category A and 30 yuan for category B (5 yuan each). ”
On the evening of February 8, the Spring Festival box office champion , the movie "The Water gate Bridge of Chosin Lake" also announced a reduction in the settlement price.
According to media reports, the producers of "The Watergate Bridge of Changjin Lake" decided to adjust the box office settlement standard of the film from 00:00 on February 11, digital 2D, Chinese giant screen 2D: 30 yuan / person · time; IMAX 2D: 40 yuan / person · time.
Previously, the official Weibo of the movie Chosin Lake also announced that from February 7 to February 20, the Bona Cinema Line launched a special movie viewing activity, and members of The Bona Cinema City nationwide can buy tickets at the counter or the Bona Movie APP, and watch "The Watergate Bridge of Changjin Lake" at a special price of 33.9 yuan.
High ticket prices "scare off" the audience
Data released by a film and television data analysis platform on February 7 showed that the total box office of the Spring Festival in 2022 was 6.035 billion yuan, lower than the 7.842 billion yuan in 2021, but higher than the 5.903 billion yuan in 2019.
Specifically, the average ticket price of the Spring Festival movie in 2022 exceeded the 50 yuan mark for the first time, reaching 52.7 yuan!
However, the number of moviegoers in the Spring Festival in 2022 hit a new low in the past four years, with only 114 million people, a decrease of 46 million from 2021.
Chart from WeChat "Cat's Eye Research Institute"
Source: Zhongxin Jingwei
Some securities companies pointed out that high ticket prices triggered negative public opinion during the Spring Festival, causing widespread concern and a certain negative impact on the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies.
It is worth noting that some netizens reflected that the average price of movies in some cities during the Spring Festival far exceeded the average price of 52.7 yuan, and the most expensive could reach more than 200 yuan!
On the evening of February 9, some media inquired about real-time movie ticket prices, taking the movie "The Water gate Bridge of Changjin Lake" as an example, the ticket prices of theaters in Beijing were mostly concentrated in the range of 35-80 yuan, 13 theaters had ticket prices of more than 80 yuan, and some cinemas had a maximum ticket price of 298 yuan.
Screenshot of the Cat's Eye app
Why have Spring Festival movie tickets become more expensive?
Some securities companies believe that due to the shrinking supply of market films, the head of the film is piled up in the Spring Festival file, the theater and the distributor are more dependent on the contribution of the Spring Festival box office to the annual revenue, while the low attendance rate caused by the epidemic has compressed the profit margin of the theater, and the increase in ticket prices is in line with market expectations, but the audience's acceptance of the increase has become a problem.
Not only is it difficult for the audience to accept, but some film and television industry practitioners do not recognize the practice of soaring prices of Spring Festival films. According to media reports, when talking about the appearance of the Spring Festival file in 2022, some film investment executives said bluntly, "Kill chickens and eggs, and fish with exhaustion." ”
Can a price cut save the audience?
For the price reduction of "Sniper" and other films, some netizens expressed their approval, "If the ticket price is reduced, more people will go to see it" "It is really conscience, will go to see it again", "This is not yet watched, waiting for the New Year? ”
But some netizens do not buy it, "Is this the PUA of the Spring Festival stall", "It has little to do with money, mainly it is not good", "It is better to stay at home during the epidemic".
At the same time, some netizens appealed, "other movies also follow the price reduction", "major films rolled up", "can the difference in price be refunded if you have seen it".
In addition, 5 new Spring Festival films "This Killer Is Not Too Calm", "Bear Haunting • Return to earth", "Four Seas", "Xiyang Yang and the Basket of Gray Wolves Out of the Future", "Little Tiger Dun Big Hero" will join the team of price reduction?
Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, said in an interview with the media: "I am not sure whether the rest of the films will follow the price reduction, but I think the possibility of price reduction is relatively large." ”
Jiang Han pointed out that as far as the Spring Festival stall is concerned, the most critical golden period has passed. Previously, high ticket prices caused widespread dissatisfaction, and price cuts have helped to boost consumers' (especially some audiences who are "more sensitive to price, but not sensitive to time") to watch movies, which in turn can have a certain boost to the box office.
Have you watched the Spring Festival movie?
Source: CCTV, Zhongxin Jingwei