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Spring Festival file seven-day file (7)丨End! Why did the box office of "Manjiang Red" overwhelm "The Wandering Earth 2"?

The Spring Festival file fought for a holiday, and by January 28, "Manjiang Hong" directed by Zhang Yimou had won 2.7 billion box office and was heading for the championship. Pressing "The Wandering Earth 2" is close to 500 million, and it is difficult to catch up with small broken balls.

This is Zhang Yimou's highest-grossing film since the film. The previous 1.19 billion "Above the Cliff" was his box office ceiling, and it was not in the top 50 in the history of Chinese-language films. This may be beyond the imagination of many people, and it does not match the fame of the national teacher.

On January 23, "Entertainment Spring and Autumn" published an article saying that Zhang Yimou was in a hurry to produce after 2000, although most of his works are above the standard, but they are always a breath away from the classics. In the past two days, we realized that perhaps Zhang Yimou had been holding a different breath for a long time - to prove that he can also achieve great success in business (at least equal to his reputation), so that he can rest assured.

However, the level of "The Wandering Earth 2" is not worse than the first part, and the visual effects are even more extreme, why is it not as invincible as the previous work?

How can "Manjiang Red" win the "small breaking ball" with a strong IP effect of the previous work?

Accidental?

Spring Festival file seven-day file (7)丨End! Why did the box office of "Manjiang Red" overwhelm "The Wandering Earth 2"?

| comedy always has an advantage in the Spring Festival stall

"Manjiang Red" is a historical suspense on the surface, but it is essentially the undertone of absurd comedy. There is no doubt that "comedy" is the type of Spring Festival that is most likely to hit the high box office.

But not all comedies have this opportunity, and Zhang Yimou's "Three Guns Shooting Surprise" 13 years ago was miserable. A bad movie is a bad movie, whether it's a comedy or a tragedy.

For "Man Jiang Hong", Zhang Yimou did not intend to be serious at all. More seriously, of course, the poem "Manjiang Hong" should not appear in the Wind Wave Pavilion, and even whether Yue Fei wrote it is inconclusive.

If you seriously discuss whether or not to respect history, it is contrary to the genre of absurd comedy. Otherwise, the setting of Quentin's "Inglourious Basterds" blowing up Hitler would not be more bullshit, but it would not prevent it from becoming a classic.

Of course, the general public doesn't really care about this. The only thing I care about is whether I can have fun.

The "cosmic mission" to save the earth in "The Wandering Earth 2" is "lifting a heavy weight", which is too heavy, but it puts pressure on the audience. And "Manjiang Hong" is "lifting as light", of course, this "light" is extremely smooth "light".

Applying the historical shell, supplemented by the feelings of home and country, and filled with a plausible sense of culture, it not only satisfies the audience's hi points, but also does not make the audience who like this play look LOW, and facilitates the word-of-mouth fermentation of word of mouth - it becomes tap water.

Looking through this layer, you can know where the balance of the most ordinary audience should tilt. Therefore, the box office success of "Manjiang Red" is not so surprising.

The high-grossing movie "Hello, Li Huanying" in the 2021 Spring Festival file explores the value of life and hospice care, using the funny packaging that director Jia Ling is good at - this is also "lifting weights".

Unsuccessful comedy works, purely funny for the sake of funny, are "light", like some bad language programs at the Spring Festival Gala, there is no point except for spitting. Although Zhao Benshan previously said that "the meaning of the Spring Festival Gala is to make people happy", his most classic sketch is still a satirical joke grafted with social phenomena - this is still "weightlifting".

And the commercial movies of "lifting weights lightly" are very few in Zhang Yimou's films in the past. Most of them are serious works that "lift weights", which is separated from the box office success that represents the secular meaning. "Three Guns Shooting Surprise" once wanted to try the expression of "light", but it turned out to be "light as light" - frivolous "light", naturally no audience is willing to be its microphone to do tap water - it seems to be cheap.

In other words, "Manjiang Red" is a pure commercial film tailored to hit the high box office, through precise element integration, and succeeded. However, box office quality is definitely not the main factor to measure the quality of a movie, and as for artistic value, that is another matter.

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| Little Broken Ball falls into the "sequel curse"

The protagonists of "The Wandering Earth 2" have to solve a "cosmic disaster", with magnificent momentum and unprecedented special effects in the history of Chinese films, but when combined, it is also a fact that it causes a sense of oppression to ordinary audiences - the more realistic the special effects, the more substitutionary they are.

However, in the current atmosphere where the epidemic has just been released and many people's relatives have passed away, they just want to escape, not undertake, and even more unwilling to feel the cosmic mission - that is my.

And this is the root of the small broken ball "passerby plate" shaken. It is also the reason why it is "heavy".

In addition to the theme "heavy", "The Wandering Earth 2" is also stained with the "cursed fate" of a "sequel".

In film history, there are not many examples of "sequel" works, word of mouth or box office surpassing previous works. "The King of the World Box Office" James Cameron's "Alien 2" is counted as one - the first film directed by Ridley Scott in 1979, with a global box office of $100 million, and a sequel directed by Cameron 7 years later achieved a box office result of $130 million, while not losing the former in word of mouth.

But Cameron himself's "Avatar 2" is not as brilliant as the first episode. As of January 24, 40 days after its release, its global box office recorded $2,045.9 million. Although it has reached the profit line and squeezed into the top 5 in global film history, it is still far from the $2.9 billion champion of "Avatar".

"The Wandering Earth 2" is the same as "Avatar 2". The first film that can sell well is to create a visual effects spectacle in film history, but the former is Chinese, and the latter is global. By the second part, the "sense of shock" has weakened a lot, and the visual level is not enough to fully convince the general audience to enter, and there are new exciting points.

Although "The Wandering Earth 2" entered with the posture of "smashing the door of Chinese science fiction" like the GIF circulating on the Internet, who cares about ordinary audiences? What they need is not a miracle of film history, but that the two or three hours they go to the theater can be hit by some kind of emotion (most likely it will not be a sense of mission to save the earth).

Today's audience is demanding more likeness. In other words, the audience in the post-epidemic era needs to be re-examined.

When "The Wandering Earth 2" premiered, the official tagline was "a little better than the first", which was quite modest. This is the same as the first self-proclaimed "Little Broken Ball", and the publicity method is consistent. This strategy of wanting to promote first and suppress can lower expectations, so that word of mouth can rise against the trend. The first part can be announced so when it is unknown, but by the second part is already famous all over the world, and the quality is hard enough, it should be said directly - how awesome the sequel is, the special effects plot is fully upgraded (in other words, "The Matrix" is such an epoch-making work, the second part is directly named "reloaded"), the must-see index far exceeds the first part, and it is purely your loss not to watch.

Because, these three years are the three years when short videos have fully invaded the lives of ordinary people, and the film and television content has been "pay attention!" Xiaoshuai and Xiaomei" such copywriting deconstructed and reorganized for three years. Especially the young people in small towns have been completely worn out by TikTok to watch feature films.

If you tell them that they are only "a little better" than the first one, they must also be "a little owed" to the determination to enter the theater. So, what is the reason for this group of three-four-five-tier viewers to watch "better" long videos?

They may not really think that "a little better than the first one" contains humility and self-deprecation, and the small-town youth under the influence of short videos are more accustomed to the refreshing feeling of sliding up, where to think about 15 seconds more.

But you must not underestimate them, because this group of talents is a real box office force.

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| the long-tail effect of small-town youth

The youth of small-town towns in the third, fourth and fifth tiers dominate the box office trend of Chinese films.

This trend is not new, it was ten years ago. From the victory of "Manjiang Hong", we see this again.

According to Maoyan Professional Edition data on January 27, as of 21 o'clock, "Manjiang Red" won 409 million at the box office that day, and "The Wandering Earth 2" got 289 million.

From the perspective of the distribution of moviegoers (below), it is clear that "Manjiang Red" has little difference in the proportion of films in first, second, third, and fourth-tier cities, and the box office proportion in third- and fourth-tier cities is generally 2-4 percentage points higher than that in first- and second-tier cities.

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The distribution of moviegoers in "Manjiang Red"

(January 27 data, from Maoyan Pro)

This proves that the acceptance of "Manjiang Red" in third- and fourth-tier cities is higher than that in first- and second-tier cities.

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The distribution of the moviegoers of "The Wandering Earth 2"

(January 26 data, from Maoyan Pro)

"The Wandering Earth 2" is the opposite, with a significantly higher proportion of box office in first- and second-tier cities, and the characteristic is that as the higher tier cities go down, the lower the proportion. First- and second-tier cities are generally 4-8 percentage points higher than third- and fourth-tier cities. In addition, it can also be seen that there is a significant gap between the third- and fourth-tier cities than the first- and second-tier cities.

What is particularly deadly is that the box office proportion of the first, second, third and fourth-tier cities of "Manjiang Red" is higher than that of "The Wandering Earth 2". In third- and fourth-tier cities, the gap even reached 17%. This is enough to show that even in the first and second lines, "Manjiang Red" is more popular than small broken balls.

When the holiday is over, the return of the first- and second-tier audience groups may help the small broken ball - in fact, it is limited, because this part of the audience is the most stable, but it is a sneak peek, coupled with the relationship of dedication to work, the main force of moviegoers will be more inclined to the third or fourth line. The later it goes, the more the contribution of the third or fourth lines.

The small-town youth also "led" the box office of the first part of "The Wandering Earth". Little Broken Ball began to be released on February 5, 2019, two weeks later, the third- and fourth-tier cities exceeded the proportion of the first- and second-tier box office, and lasted for more than a month, although the absolute value of the daily box office is not high, but it accumulates into a lot, and the "long tail effect" is powerful.

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The proportion of the box office of "The Wandering Earth" 17 days after its release in 2019,

It can be seen that the third- and fourth-tier cities are also more than the first and second-tier cities.

More importantly, "The Wandering Earth" was "born out of thin air", director Guo Fan is not yet known to the public, and the name and explosive reputation of "China's first sci-fi masterpiece" attracted a large number of tap water, thus prompting a long-term box office. But in the second part, the volume itself is enough to gain strong attention, and those who want to watch it have already chosen to watch it, and it is difficult to have the spontaneous "Amway tide" of passers-by in the first part. If iron fans want to push up the box office of "The Wandering Earth 2", here is a suggestion - bring relatives and friends and brush it several times.

Although "Manjiang Red" is also led by a big director and joined by the top stream, after all, it is a fresh theme and content different from "The Wandering Earth 2", and it has been favored by young people in small towns, and it will become another beneficiary of the "long tail effect".

However, "The Wandering Earth 2" is not a failure even if it is in second place, and has already earned 2.2 billion box office (eventually or 3 billion), which is enough to make the producer profitable. Moreover, according to a roadshow schedule released on January 26, Guo Fan and Wu Jing are also leaning towards the second and third lines from Hefei to Qingdao and then to Wuhan in Wuxi.

But if you want to come out on top, it's up to you to see if you can turn back (or close the gap) in the week after the holidays.

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Follow-up roadshow planning for Little Break

Swipe up and down to see more roadshow cities

The young people of the small town win the world.

This is not only what the Internet "sinking giants" should do, but also the object that film and television practitioners need to study in depth.

Young people in small towns also have a movie-watching feature - in the same schedule, most people will only choose to watch one movie. Unlike white-collar workers in first-tier cities, they can have multiple choices. There are too few tickets in their pockets, making a movie ticket of 30 yuan a piece a luxury for them. So, that's why there is only room for one movie in the head in a schedule.

Of course, this group needs to be respected more, don't think that compared to first-tier cities, they don't understand anything, they are not willing to eat anything, they also have aesthetic needs, and the film is not good and will not watch.

They're just pocket-shy, but they're not stupid.

How to make content that they like and have a sense of quality is the most important thing.

Spring Festival file seven-day file (7)丨End! Why did the box office of "Manjiang Red" overwhelm "The Wandering Earth 2"?

|PS. No one is a box office elixir

The above is only an analysis of the preferences of moviegoers, and does not mean that we agree with which movie we are more likely to identify.

Who is higher or lower in the quality of these two films is not what this article will talk about. But to be sure, it's definitely not like "useless" or "flawless" as some black or loyal fans say.

From the artistic latitude evaluation, the two movies also have shortcomings, but this is a commercial film placed in the Spring Festival file intended to compete for the box office championship, in the words of friends - it is good to watch, what bicycle?

There are conditions, you can watch both movies, there are no conditions, and it is not a loss to choose one at will. At least, from our point of view, it's worth the fare.

Some people say that "Manjiang Red" only topped the list by stealing the box office to buy the box office, in fact, they did not see the film's prying and attraction to the audience in the sinking market. In other words, this kind of rhetoric is extremely unprofessional.

Reasonable boasting, reasonable criticism, need to be respected and protected. But brainless blowing, and brainless black, are worthless, profane for film works, and destroy the market.

Especially Zhang Yimou, many people are prejudiced against him; Wu Jing is the same, many people hate him for exporting "wolf warrior culture". Of course, as big directors and big stars with both fame and fortune, they must endure. But you can't deny him all by choking on food.

The same is true of traffic stars, young people are not sinful, although the prejudice against them has its origins, but it is only the market that tests them.

Old drama bones are by no means a panacea. Whether it is Shen Teng or Andy Lau, no one can "cure all diseases".

In fact, medicinal herbs can only become good medicines if they are put into a suitable formula, mastered the heat, and carefully prepared.

But in the mass film market, whether it is flexible or not, ordinary audiences still have the final say.

Writer| Xiaodong didn't understand much

Curated | Editorial Department of Entertainment Spring and Autumn

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