2022 has already passed the halfway point, but in the context of repeated epidemics and large-scale theater shutdowns, the domestic film market has only passed for three months.
According to Maoyan Professional Edition, the total box office in the mainland in the first half of 2022 was 17.173 billion, and the data was between 2014 and 2015. The total box office in January, February and June combined, more than 87% of the total box office in the first half of the year. It is worth noting that such results were born in the context of the average ticket price increased to 43.2 yuan. Total movie attendance has slipped to 397 million, on par with 2014; but the total number of screenings has reached 51.495 million, 2.8 times that of 2014 — nearly three times as hard as it did eight years ago.
In the context, it makes sense to get such results. Since the beginning of March, theaters across the country have been shut down in a large area, and all kinds of films have been withdrawn, and the number of films released in the first half of the year is only 147, and the Qingming file, May Day file and Dragon Boat Festival have almost disappeared. Until today, the national cinema has not fully resumed work, and the national cinema sales rate on June 30 was 82.9%.
However, since the beginning of June, with the epidemic under control, the resumption of work in theaters around the world, and the release of blockbusters, the market decline that lasted for four months has been reversed. On June 10, "Jurassic World 3" was released to drive the market, and on June 24, "Life Events" achieved a daily box office reversal, the weekend box office recovered to more than 100 million, and the weekday box office remained at 30 million or even higher, continuing to drive the market to pick up. Coupled with films such as "Crush on Orange Sheng Huainan" and "Bad Guy League" in the Dragon Boat Festival, the total box office reached 1.918 billion in June, breaking the dilemma of only 1 billion box office for three consecutive months.
Although the achievement of 1.918 billion yuan cannot be compared with 2018 (3.578 billion) and 2019 (4.186 billion) before the epidemic, it has basically equaled the 2.102 billion in 2021 - there was no new film in June last year, and the monthly box office champion "When Men Are in Love" just exceeded 200 million yuan at the monthly box office.
Under the background of the market's warming trend, some filmmakers are aiming at the summer file. On June 28, the animated film "Rushing Out of the Earth" was announced to be released on July 16. On June 29, "Hidden in the Dust" directed by Li Ruijun and starring Haiqing announced that it was rescheduled for July 8, and this literary and art film was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival and was scheduled for February. On June 30, Jurassic World 3 announced an extension of its release to August 9, and the battle line was extended to two months.
Some people enter the game, and some people choose to quit. On June 30, "School Daddy" and "Earth Rescue", which were originally scheduled to be released in July, announced the postponement of their release, which seems to prove that the wave of withdrawals in the first half of the year is not over.
At present, the new films to be screened in the summer are concentrated in July. The new film that took the lead is the anti-epidemic movie "You Are My Spring", which was released on July 1. The film was directed by the China Filmmakers Association, produced by Chen Daoming as the director, supervised by Huang Bo, and starring Zhou Dongyu, Yin Fang, and Song Xiaobao. As of press time, the film reported a box office of 3.7856 million.
In mid-July, two science fiction works were released one after another. "Mozart in Outer Space", produced by Wanda Film and directed by Chen Sicheng, has been scheduled for July 15. Chen Sicheng, who created the "Detective Chinatown" series, is Wanda's old partner. As the first work in Wanda's "Outer Space Trilogy", "Mozart in Outer Space" brings together powerful actors such as Huang Bo, Rong Zishan and Yao Chen, and comedy is also one of the most lacking genres in the film market now. At present, this is also the largest main production film produced by Wanda Film this year.
Here's science fiction comedy, and the other side is sci-fi animation. "Rushing Out of the Earth" produced by the Light Color Strip House was released the next day in "Mozart in Outer Space". This film is the first work of the new "National Style Science Fiction" series launched by Caitiaoya after the "Chinese Mythology Series". The film was originally titled "Star Trek Rushing Out of the Earth", which was regarded by some fans as a "reboot" of the 2011 domestic animation film "Star Trek", and then "Star Trek" was deleted from the title.
In addition to the labels of "head company", "science fiction theme" and "series first", "Mozart in Outer Space" and "Rushing Out of the Earth" have also reported that they will be released in the summer of 2021, and finally they have dragged on for a year to enter the summer file. Maoyan Pro shows that the release notices for both films have been issued.
Wanda Film and Light Media contributed science fiction themes, and Emperor Film and Huanya Film each launched a Hong Kong film to meet the audience at the end of the month and the end of the month. Produced by Emperor, directed by Wei Jiahui, and starring Liu Qingyun, Cai Zhuoyan, Lin Feng, Li Ruotong, etc., "Detective Wars" has been scheduled for July 8, and the label is crime, action and suspense. Produced by Huanya and directed by Hong Jinbao, Hui Anhua, Tan Jiaming, Yuan Heping, Du Qifeng, Lin Lingdong and Xu Ke, the "Band of Seven" has been scheduled for July 29, "Platter" seven short films, reflecting the story between ordinary people and Hong Kong from the 1950s to the present.
In addition, children's animations "Underwater Column: Cave Adventure" and "Happy Superman's Heart" will also be officially released in July. Both films have been screened ahead of schedule in the Dragon Boat Festival, with a box office of 22.578 million and 5.334 million respectively.
Although there are not many new films in July, it is still guaranteed that "at least one new film with high expectations will be expected a week", and August will be empty. In addition to the "Tanabata File" has three youth love movies, the rest of the dates have not yet been fixed for blockbuster films. In addition, the "New God List: Yang Jian" of the light-chasing animation has announced that it will be scheduled for July, and the "Broken Bridge" originally scheduled for the Dragon Boat Festival has been postponed to the summer, but the two films have not yet officially announced a specific release date.
At the same time, the audience will also usher in a wave of re-screenings. On July 1, the "Screening Of the Party's Top 20 Outstanding Films" kicked off, which will last until December 31. The film list includes: "Chosin Lake" series, "Me and Me" trilogy, "Red Sea Action", "On the Cliff", "The Wandering Earth", "Captain China" and other main theme films. "Chosin Lake's Watergate Bridge", "Miracle Stupid Kid" and "Sniper", which were released during the Spring Festival this year, will also continue to be released at this screening event, after the keys of the previous three films were postponed to the end of June or the beginning of July.
As of press time, according to Maoyan Professional Edition, there are only 24 new films with confirmed release dates in July and August 2022, which is far from 2021, 2019 and 2018. Comparable is 2021, which was also affected by the epidemic: the epidemic was repeated in August last year, and the film market also experienced a "wave of withdrawals", but the total number of films released in July and August reached 85, which is three times the number of films currently scheduled. At the end of August, there were also imported movies such as "Out of Control Player" released, which helped the market recovery after the epidemic, and finally the total box office landing point in the two months was 5.277 billion.
In addition to the lack of new films, another problem that the industry has to face is the loss of audiences. In the first half of 2022, in the eyes of the audience, the biggest topic around theatrical movies is not the content of the film, but the complaint about the high ticket price. Even if the Box Office of the Spring Festival has exceeded the same period in 2019, the decline of one-third in the number of moviegoers should also be taken seriously. Rebuilding confidence through better quality content is also key to pushing audiences back to cinema.
In the first half of the year, the epidemic repeatedly hit the entire film industry chain: no films were released at the screening end, and the funds could not make ends meet; The producer withdrew due to the epidemic and it was difficult for funds to flow back; The crew was suspended due to the epidemic and the filming progress was delayed. After experiencing such devastation, it is obviously unrealistic to demand that the market immediately resume the situation of "fairy fighting". But the market performance in June has shown that when there are good films, the audience will still return to the cinema. On July 8, Shanghai Cinema reopened, and the resumption of work in major box office cities may inject more confidence into the market.
With the gradual resumption of work in theaters, the 24 new films are obviously not enough to meet the demand for two months, nor are they enough to form a scale effect to drive the willingness to watch movies. Looking forward to the gradual recovery of the market and the entry of more new films in the summer slot, July and August will become a real turning point and bring more hope to the film market in the second half of the year.