Five days after the pre-sale of the 2023 Spring Festival movie, the total pre-sale box office exceeded 300 million.
As of 22 o'clock on the evening of January 18, the total pre-sale box office of new films in the 2023 Spring Festival officially exceeded 300 million, "Manjiang Hong" ranked first in the new film pre-sale list with pre-sales of 79.986 million, "Nameless" ranked second with pre-sales of 79.08 million, and "The Wandering Earth 2" ranked third with pre-sales of 71.623 million.
Maoyan Professional Edition statistics show that the number of people who want to watch "The Wandering Earth 2" has exceeded one million and reached 1.163 million, and the number of people who want to watch "Manjiang Red" and "Nameless" is 983,000 and 565,000 respectively. Last year, the number of people who wanted to see the film released during the Spring Festival was 3.68 million. As of 22 o'clock on the evening of the 18th, the number of people who want to watch this year's Spring Festival film is 3.95 million.
From the perspective of the arrangement of films on the first day of the new year, the first day of "The Wandering Earth 2" was 104,000, accounting for 27%; "Manjiang Hong" had 99,000 first-day screenings, accounting for 25.7%; "Exchange Life" and "Nameless" accounted for 17.4% and 13% of the first-day rehearsal scenes, respectively.
Image source: Maoyan Pro
Up to now, a total of 7 films have been released in the 2023 Spring Festival file. Among them, 6 films are scheduled for the first day of the Lunar New Year (January 22), and "Chinese Table Tennis: Jedi Strikes Back" chose to be postponed to the third day of the Lunar New Year (January 24). Although the number of films is slightly less than the 8 films in last year's Spring Festival file, this year's Spring Festival file has a richer variety of films and a strong starring cast.
The average length of this year's Spring Festival movies reached 130 minutes, breaking the historical record of Spring Festival files. The film covers science fiction, suspense, spy warfare, history, comedy, animation, sports and other genres, and the main creators include domestic heavyweight directors, high-national "tens of billions of box office" actors, powerful movie queens and the hottest traffic students, which can basically meet the diversified viewing needs of audiences of all ages.
At present, the costume blockbuster "Manjiang Hong" starring Zhang Yimou, Shen Teng and Yi Yangqianxi, the spy blockbuster "Nameless" directed by Cheng Er, Liang Chaowei and Wang Yibo, and the sci-fi blockbuster "The Wandering Earth 2" starring Guo Fan, Wu Jing and Andy Lau are far ahead in pre-sale box office performance.
"Exchange of Life" directed by Su Lun, starring Lei Jiayin and Zhang Xiaofei is the most popular family comedy in previous years during the Spring Festival. The main theme sports movie "Chinese Table Tennis Jedi Strikes Back" starring Deng Chao and Sun Li, the adult-oriented cartoon "Deep Sea", and the children's cartoon "Bear Haunted, Accompany Me "Bear Core" also have a certain audience base in this type of film.
In addition to the above-mentioned domestic blockbusters, the previously released "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Cat in Boots 2" also joined the box office battle for the Spring Festival file, extending the release cycle to February 14 and February 22 respectively.
The proportion of box office in the Spring Festival file increased throughout the year, and the average ticket price fell for the first time
From 2011 to 2022, the total box office of the Spring Festival file maintained growth, from 336 million yuan to 6.039 billion yuan, and reached the highest box office record of 7.843 billion yuan in 2021. Affected by the epidemic, the total number of moviegoers during the Spring Festival in 2022 declined, from 160 million in 2021 to 114 million. Due to the pressure on the annual box office growth, the proportion of the Spring Festival box office has increased significantly, and the proportion of the Spring Festival box office has increased from 4.93% in 2014 to 20.17% in 2022.
With the continuous optimization of epidemic prevention and control policies, the national film market is ushering in recovery. According to Lighthouse Professional Edition data, since December last year, the operating rate of cinemas nationwide has rebounded sharply, from less than 40% in late November to more than 80% in mid-January this year. Zhongyuan Securities Research Report pointed out that considering that some theaters have been permanently closed during the epidemic, it can be considered that the domestic theater operation has basically resumed full business.
Compared with the "most expensive Spring Festival file" in 2022, the ticket price of this year's Spring Festival movie has fallen. According to Lighthouse Professional Edition data, the average ticket price of the 2023 Spring Festival pre-sale is 53.7 yuan, which is 2.5 yuan lower than the average ticket price of 56.2 yuan in the same stage of the 2022 Spring Festival pre-sale, and it is also the first decline in nearly 7 years since 2016 (except for 2020).
According to Maoyan Professional Edition statistics, the average ticket price of first-tier cities in this year's Spring Festival pre-sale box office, but the ticket price of some lower-tier cities has also exceeded expectations. As of January 16, the city with the highest average pre-sale ticket price was Beijing, which was as high as 83.4 yuan. Shanghai came in second with a ticket price of 73.9 yuan. Unexpectedly, Taizhou ranked third with a ticket price of 67.5 yuan, surpassing other first-tier and new first-tier cities.
The Spring Festival file is expected to drive audience demand to recover, and the film and television sector has been boosted
Since the 2023 Spring Festival is the first big schedule after the adjustment of the epidemic policy, it brings together the head projects that major film and television companies have invested in in recent years. At the same time, the box office performance of the Spring Festival file will often become the vane of the film market that year.
According to the reporter, the listed film and television companies in this year's Spring Festival file include China Film (600977. SH), Light Media (300251. SZ), Wanda Films (002739. SZ), Bona Film (001330. SZ), Maoyan Entertainment (01896. HK), etc.
As the largest film production and distribution institution in China, there are Chinese films behind the 7 films scheduled for the Spring Festival. Maoyan Entertainment, a Hong Kong listed company, also participated in the production and distribution of 5 films. The producer and distributor of "Nameless" are Bona Films. Focus Media in the cinema advertising industry and Wanda Films in the cinema industry will also be boosted by the Spring Festival file.
It is worth noting that Guangguang Media released a total of 4 related films in this year's Spring Festival, and the company not only invested in and released "Deep Sea", but also participated in 3 films "Manjiang Hong", "Exchange Life" and "Chinese Table Tennis Jedi Strikes Back".
As of the close of trading on the 18th, Ciwen Media (002343. SZ) closed at 7.12 yuan; Dinglong Culture (002502.SZ) closed up 5.92% at 3.58 yuan; Shanghai Film (601595.SH) closed up 3.14% at 10.83 yuan; China Film (600977.SH) closed up 3.28% at 13.55 yuan; Light Media (300251.SZ) closed up 2.88% at 8.93 yuan; Wanda Film (002739.SZ) closed up 2.48%. It closed at 14.47 yuan; Bona Film (001330.SZ) closed up 2.48% at 12.38 yuan; Maoyan Entertainment (01896.HK)
Zhongyuan Securities pointed out that the pressure of theater operation uncertainty in 2022 has led to content parties worrying that box office revenue does not dare to set or frequently withdraw files, and the lack of content is one of the main reasons for the sharp decline in box office and moviegoers in 2022. In 2022, when the epidemic is frequent, there are still films such as "Walking on the Moon Alone" and "Life Events" that have achieved good box office, and the audience demand during the period when there is a film content supply is less affected, so the rich supply of films in the Spring Festival is expected to drive the audience demand to pick up.
Zheshang Securities believes that the optimization of epidemic prevention is expected to drive the recovery of offline consumption and raise the demand expectations of film owners for the film market; In addition, the film side is expected to release the backlog of films in recent years and improve the supply of market content; Sufficient film supply and optimization of epidemic prevention policies have driven the warming of cinema operations; The increase in the amount of movie content that consumers can consume has led to the recovery of viewing habits and the increase in consumption frequency; In turn, it will improve the commercial returns of theaters and films, and encourage better content output upstream; Drive the positive cycle of the industry.
Shenwan Hongyuan Securities said that under the background of post-epidemic recovery, 2023 is expected to become a year of reversal of the film industry's difficulties. In addition to a number of highly anticipated Spring Festival films, more than 10 high-attention films such as "Super Family", "Flame on the Plain", "Peacekeeping Riot Team" and "Prosecution Storm" are also in a state of timing and release, and the rich supply of high-quality films in 2023 is expected to trigger a new round of movie-watching boom.
In an interview with reporters, many people in the film and television industry expressed hope for the recovery of the film market in 2023. An analyst told reporters: "In the post-epidemic era, audience demand is still high, with the continuous improvement of national policies, the impact of the epidemic is gradually weakening, theater supply is recovering, driven by high-quality films with high box office appeal, the film industry is expected to accelerate its recovery and return to pre-epidemic levels." ”