Entering the summer, the film market continues to pick up, and the scene of "one ticket is difficult to find" in the past has been reproduced in individual regions.
According to the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of 17:00 on August 6, the total box office of the summer file in 2022 has exceeded 6.5 billion, and "Lone Moon", "Life Event" and "Jurassic World 3" are the top three in the summer box office.
The summer program is one of the most important slots of the year, with the advantages of long duration, rich film types, and ability to meet the needs of multi-level movie viewing. What's behind the hot summer slot? What have changed in the film market that has been tested by the epidemic? Can the next film market maintain this momentum and revitalize the big screen with quality content? The reporter interviewed relevant industry insiders.
"Cinema is back on the scene"
On the afternoon of August 3, Beijing continued the "stewing" mode in the middle of summer. Despite this, in a theater in Chaoyang District, there are still many audiences who brave the high temperature to watch "Lone Moon", and the queue to get tickets from time to time has heard sighs such as "the number of people is unexpected" and "the cinema is lively again".
"It's been a long time!" Ms. Sun, who watched the movie, told reporters that the previous repeated epidemics disrupted her own movie viewing plan, "Now that the epidemic situation is gradually stabilizing, the cool cinema is also a good place to escape the summer, plus the theater has released a good film, which must not be missed." ”
The reporter visited a number of theaters in Beijing and learned that with the arrival of the summer vacation, the attendance rate of theaters has gradually increased, and the audience is mainly young groups. The same scene is played out across the country. According to the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of August 5, the total number of operating theaters nationwide reached 10,361, with a turnover rate of 84.8%.
Relevant data show that the film market in various places is heating up. Taking the Xidan store of Beijing Capital Cinema as an example, the total box office revenue in June was 489,000 yuan, and the box office revenue of the theater in the first half of July reached 1.539 million yuan, more than three times the total box office revenue in June.
Poster for the movie "Lone Moon"
The rebound in cinema operating rate has led to more high-quality films being fixed, and many summer films have exceeded 100 million yuan at the box office. Among them, "Lone Moon" from July 19 official announcement to the 20th to open pre-sale, the popularity has not decreased, only 2 days and 18 hours to break through the box office of 1 billion yuan, and set a record for the fastest summer pre-sale box office in Chinese film history to break 10 million.
Some insiders said that with the release of a number of good films, the audience's demand for watching movies has been further released, and the single-day box office ceiling of the summer file is expected to continue to increase.
Cinema is typical of the attention economy. Observe the recently scheduled films, covering parent-child, espionage, science fiction, suspense and other genres, covering multiple age groups, at the same time, the film did not choose to be released in a bunch, but staggered in rhythm to maintain a certain degree of attention, which also makes the entire market maintain heat.
Summer slots are crucial for the film market. Historical data shows that its box office accounted for nearly 30% of the year. On the total box office list of movies, films such as "Wolf Warrior 2" with 5.695 billion, "Nezha's Devil Boy Descending" with 5.036 billion, "Eight Hundred" with 3.111 billion, and "I Am Not a Medicine God" with 3.1 billion were all released in the summer file.
Poster for the movie Tomorrow's War
Compared with last year's summer slot, this year's market has released a more positive signal. On the occasion of Tanabata, romance films such as "Meet You", "We Look Like Love", "Lixiang Meet You", and "We Meet Songhua Lake" were released. On August 5, the mecha blockbuster "Tomorrow's War" was released. In addition, animated films such as "Goodbye Monsters of the Mountains and Seas" will be released in August.
The hot performance of the summer file is a clear signal that the Chinese film industry has bottomed out in the medium and long cycle since the epidemic
The crew built a lunar base in 100% real-life, with nearly 2,000 special effects shots in the whole film, accounting for more than 95% of all shots... The sci-fi comedy "Lone Moon", produced by companies such as Happy Twist, China Film and Ali Pictures, attracted many audiences in the summer program.
In the view of Sun Jiashan, an associate researcher at the China Academy of Arts, the emergence of "Lone Moon" proves that the genre practice of "comedy + science fiction" is feasible. "Compared with the 'high cold' Hollywood blockbusters, 'Lone Moon' is more popular and grounded, and the elements such as live broadcasts and short videos also give the film a larger 'sinking' space and market."
Not only that, "Lone Moon" is also very high in content and production, "the bio-expression special effects technology in the film, even in the world, is also leading, which also demonstrates the 'going out' of Chinese films." Sun Jiashan said.
Chen Jin, a data analyst at Lighthouse Professional Edition, told reporters when analyzing its box office data, "The industry and mainstream media reviews believe that the progress of science and technology has provided a broader vision for literary and artistic creation. In recent years, the mainland has forged ahead in frontier fields such as aerospace, Mars exploration, and quantum communications, and has continuously stimulated the scientific and technological imagination of cultural creation. At the same time, the progress of technology has also promoted the iteration of the special effects level of literary and artistic works. Special effects are often used in the industry to measure the industrialization level of science fiction films. ”
File image: The movie "Mozart in Outer Space"
The family fantasy comedy film "Mozart in Outer Space", which has a box office of more than 200 million, discusses topics such as family and dreams from the perspective of children, and at the same time conducts a rural public welfare screening in the summer file, attracting many audiences to "find out". Li Jie, vice president of the Ali Entertainment ESG Working Committee, introduced to reporters that this is the first film in China to organize a public welfare screening in rural areas in the first month of release.
The creative end is constantly updated, in order to give the theater screening side more confidence. As the film market continues to recover, many films are steadily advancing. For example, Zhang Yimou's "Manjiang Hong" began filming in Shanxi, the sequel to the hit film "Life Events" is being established, and Andy Lau's "Stealth" is being filmed.
In Sun Jiashan's view, this summer, the film industry is ushering in the bottoming out of the long-term cycle since the epidemic. First of all, the market environment of the industry began to gradually return to normal, and the confidence of ordinary film audiences began to recover. Large-scale films with special effects productions such as "Lone Moon" that have reached the Hollywood A level appear in the summer slot and have a good performance, indicating that the cultural and industrial level of Chinese films has not been greatly affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and it continues to evolve and improve. At the same time, the performance of the summer file also conveys the confidence of the film industry to resume operations and continue to improve, which is a clear signal that the mainland film industry is ushering in the bottoming out of the medium and long cycle since the epidemic. With the epidemic being further controlled, the market will further recover, and it is believed that the National Day film market is expected to usher in better performance.
The film industry has strengthened epidemic prevention and built a solid bottom line, and many places have introduced policies to support the film market that is in trouble due to the epidemic
In the first half of 2022, the domestic epidemic situation was frequently sporadic, according to the requirements of epidemic prevention and control, cinemas in medium- and high-risk areas were temporarily closed, and cinemas in some low-risk areas took measures such as restricting or closing the flow. When the epidemic was at its worst, more than half of the country's theaters were suspended and many popular films were withdrawn.
With the gradual stabilization of the epidemic situation, while ushering in the full recovery of offline theaters, epidemic prevention and control is still the top priority.
On the afternoon of August 2, the reporter came to the Hopson Hui store of Huanying Cinema in Chaoyang District, Beijing. At the ticket gate, the ticket inspector prompts the audience to scan the code one by one, and carefully checks the audience's nucleic acid test records, measures their body temperature, and provides free hand sanitizer in the lobby.
"Our staff have carried out strict nucleic acid screening, carried out one-by-one sanitize for key facilities such as handrails and seats in the cinema hall, and sanitize the toilet every two hours." An employee of Huanying Cinema told reporters, "There are often staff members to spot check, and the string of epidemic prevention does not dare to loosen for a moment." ”
The reporter saw at the scene that the spectators who checked the tickets very consciously kept their distance and displayed the negative nucleic acid test certificate within 72 hours in turn. "Daily epidemic prevention measures such as scanning codes to enter the scene, wearing masks, automatic temperature measurement, and reducing manual contact are now very mature." Although it is more complicated, it is also to ensure the safety of the audience to watch the movie, and everyone understands it. The employee said.
In addition to doing a good job in prescribing actions, improving the efficiency of theater management and technical support is also an important way for the film industry to strengthen epidemic prevention.
The relevant person in charge of Ali Pictures told reporters that in order to cooperate with the normalization of epidemic prevention and control requirements, ensure the health and safety of the audience, and assist theater managers to improve work efficiency, Phoenix Yunzhi, a theater system platform under Ali Pictures, has developed a setting function of "one-click spaced ticketing", which eliminates the adjustment process of closing seats one by one. On the system operation page, the theater manager can quickly change the ticketing system to the mode of ticketing in separate seats through one-click settings.
It is worth noting that since the beginning of this year, a number of policies have been introduced from the central to the local government to support the film market that has been in trouble due to the epidemic.
On April 29, the National Film Administration held a video conference on the film system's response to the epidemic. Zhejiang, Hainan, Shandong, Beijing and other places have successively launched a series of bailout policies to help enterprises, including tax and fee reductions, rent reductions, and consumption voucher issuance.
Among them, cinemas located in the downstream of the industry have become the focus of care. Shanghai boosted industry confidence and promoted the recovery of the film market through eight bailout policies, including the issuance of theater subsidies; Hubei Province provides assistance and subsidies to cinemas that are normally operating, and directly subsidizes cinemas in accordance with the standard of "25 yuan per seat per month, a total subsidy of 3 months"; Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, gives theaters a special policy of targeted bailout subsidies, and gives 3 months of subsidies according to the number of theater seats, with 25 yuan per seat per month. By the end of June, the policy had benefited 112 theaters in the city, and more than 8.5 million yuan had been invested in bailout funds.
In addition, many places have also arranged special funds or set up bailout funds for cultural enterprises, including film and television companies, to promote the development of the film and television industry. In June this year, the Fuzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism of Fujian Province issued an announcement soliciting opinions on "Several Measures for Supporting the Development of the Film and Television Industry in Fuzhou City", saying that it supports the creation of original film and television scripts, and encourages local original film and television scripts and film and television scripts that profoundly reflect the traditional history, culture and real life of Fuzhou.
Good works are the last word, and the prosperity of the film market ultimately depends on the high quality of the works
In the era of multi-screen competition, audiences' desire for quality content has never changed. In Sun Jiashan's view, the "sense of ceremony" of watching movies in the cinema is the source of the unique charm of the movie, "the viewing effect in the movie theater, the empathy brought by it, and the emotional mobilization mechanism are irreplaceable by watching TV, mobile phones and tablets." ”
Sun Jiashan also pointed out that the audience's habit of watching movies on TV, mobile phones and tablets does have an impact on the rhythm of movie playback. "For example, watching movies on other platforms can fast forward and rewind, which will undoubtedly affect the expression of the movie image itself." On the other hand, factors such as excessive leverage of financial leverage also have a certain impact on the original production and production system of the film, which has caused uneven quality of the film for a period of time. ”
Sun Jiashan said that this year's "summer file" performance is still better than expected, but the next trend also needs to focus on the situation of the epidemic and the quality of the film itself.
Earlier, Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association, had posted that all the problems of Chinese films could not be simply pushed to the epidemic. In addition to the epidemic, it is also necessary to further analyze some deep-seated structural contradictions and problems within the film industry. In the final analysis, good works are the last word, which requires continuously improving the productivity of Chinese films and optimizing the allocation of film resources.
"When the epidemic first arrived in the first two years, the structural problems of two 'overcapacities' in the film industry - overcapacity of films and overcapacity of cinema lines already existed. But today, it is not the overcapacity of the film, but the insufficient supply of the film. Effectively increasing the supply of high-quality films and high-quality films is the key to solving the problem. Sun Jiashan told reporters that the existence of the epidemic has forced the structural adjustment of Chinese films, because the set of big IP, big production, and big stars is useless, and it cannot be copied, and the movie must rely on its own quality and content to attract audiences. In the long run, this will make the Chinese film industry more return to the essence of movies: actors speak by acting skills, directors and screenwriters speak by professionalism, and movies speak by quality and content.
At present, it is a critical period for the high-quality upgrading and development of mainland films, and it is an important strategic period for the mainland to move from a film power to a film power, and finally achieve the goal of a cultural power. Despite the impact and impact of the epidemic, the overall upward development trend of the film industry has not changed. For major film companies, in the post-epidemic era, it is more important to compete for high-quality products and internal strengths.
The audience's yearning for a better life and the pursuit of high-quality content are still improving, which will be the driving force for the sustainable development of Chinese films in the future. "The film industry should achieve diversified and differentiated supply of various types of films. This requires that our film products must complete a systematic shift from production models such as 'family fun' and 'love for everyone' that try to satisfy all audiences, to diversified and differentiated supply – not only for the summer program, but even for the entire Chinese film industry, which is a basic task that must be completed in the foreseeable future. Sun Jiashan said.
Transferred from China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily
Source: Southern News Network