On Valentine's Day on February 14, as usual, several romance films chose to be released in this schedule. In the afternoon of the same day, the author chose one with a large number of "people who want to see it", and went to the theater to watch it after purchasing tickets on my mobile phone.
The cinema is located in a shopping mall in Beijing's Xicheng district, which is visually crowded than usual. After entering the theater, I found that there were only 5 viewers in this movie, and although the hero and heroine in the movie fought hard for love, and their emotions went up and down, the audience seemed to have difficulty entering the plot and watched the story unfold.
It is estimated that there are many people who have the same experience of watching movies as the author on this day. Maoyan Professional Edition data shows that the box office of Valentine's Day this year is only 210 million yuan, while the box office of Valentine's Day in 2022 is 520 million yuan, and the box office of Valentine's Day in 2021 is as high as 1.47 billion yuan. This phenomenon is caused by the fact that this year's Valentine's Day is more special: first, it has passed the fifteenth day of the first month (it is another Tuesday working day), and most of the audience has begun to go to work and school normally; Second, the Spring Festival film has released most of the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies, and everyone is not willing to enter the theater to watch movies during this time period.
The above two points are objective reasons, and from the subjective reasons analysis, the quality of the films released in this schedule is not high. Judging from the box office trend on February 14, the number of screenings of new films was dominant at the beginning, and it was only surpassed by old films such as "Manjiang Red" and "The Wandering Earth 2" in the afternoon. This phenomenon shows that the reputation of new films released on the same day, especially romance films, has not fermented, so that audiences who buy tickets in the afternoon choose to watch old films more, resulting in low overall box office.
Love is a beautiful and mysterious word, and it is also an old and often new topic. As an important genre of film, romance films have long been favored by the industry and audiences for a long time with a love story that is vigorous, sweet or poignant. At present, the film market is becoming more and more mature, and the audience's appreciation level is getting higher and higher, and romance films must not only have the name of love, but also be always filmed and new, so that they can always be loved by the audience. To make a good film in this genre, creators need to do the following.
First of all, romance films should have a texture of life. In recent years, with the continuous acceleration of urbanization and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, contemporary urban men and women as audiences inevitably encounter various collisions of love and real life, and romance films without the texture of life are difficult to arouse the audience's empathy. In the romance film that the author watched in the theater, the hero and heroine seem to live in a vacuum, the storyline is calm, and the uniqueness of their love life cannot be seen. In contrast, "The Myth of Love", released at the end of 2021, has a unique imprint of Shanghai's urban life, which in Shanghainese is "laughter and tears, down-to-earth, and tone", and is a masterpiece that can poke the excitement of both film critics and ordinary audiences. Female director Shao Yihui delicately weaves her observations of living in Shanghai and her thinking on contemporary women's views on love into a light and flexible market story with mature creative ability. This small-cost film debut can achieve a box office result of more than 200 million yuan, which is worth studying well by romance film creators.
Secondly, romance films should have human depth. The creation of romance films must sincerely describe two people, showing the strong emotions, in-depth interaction, and pleasure and growth of two people. This is the basis for building a sense of intimacy and confirming each other's presence. Many years ago, the author watched a romantic film "Casablanca" and was very impressed. The story takes place during World War II, when Casablanca was a necessary place for Europe to pass through the United States, where there was a mixture of dragons and tensions. Businessman Rick owned a nightclub and had two valuable passes to the United States. One day, anti-Nazi Viktor and his wife Ilsa arrive at a nightclub where they are fleeing Nazi pursuit. Rick discovers that Ilsa turns out to be his old lover, and the relationship between the two is inevitably rekindled. Rick ends up giving his pass to Victor and Ilsa, protecting the beloved and her husband from going to America and allowing the audience to see a great Rick.
Casablanca
Finally, romance films should have a theme sublimation. In romance films, love is the only center, and perfect and innocent love can transcend everything. In "Titanic", Rose and Jack gave up escape several times in order to keep their promise. In the end, Jack and the "Titanic" sank to the bottom of the ice forever, and Rose found the last hope of survival inspired by love, and their unforgettable love gained eternity at this moment. In contrast, the romance films released on Valentine's Day this year are still not satisfactory in terms of theme presentation.
"Titanic"
Overall, although the romance films released on Valentine's Day this year are not high in box sales, they have a high degree of matching with the schedule, catering to the preferences of young couples and the needs of watching rituals. Romance film creators should sum up the lessons learned, not stick to the development routine of simple love stories, and bring more surprises to the audience in a more diversified and innovative way, while creating higher box office revenue.
(Liu Hanwen is a distinguished professor of the "Minjiang Scholar" Award Program of Fujian Province, a professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Communication of Fujian Normal University, and the former director of the Film Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. ）