Rhino Entertainment Original
Text|Xiaofu Editor|Park Fang
The heaviest imported film before May 1st may not be Marvel, not DC, but a Japanese animated film.
"Slam Dunk" is one of the most anticipated Japanese animated films in recent years. Since the official announcement of the film, netizens from all over the world have begun to look forward to it, and anxious mainland audiences have long flown to Hong Kong and Macao to be the first to feast their eyes, while most of the remaining audiences are looking forward to the introduction of the film to the mainland. Every move of the film can become a hot news forwarded on social platforms, suspected introduction, suspected fixation, various schedule riddlers, in "Slam Dunk" to earn enough traffic.
Until yesterday evening, the outflow of the official news of the finalization made the mainland popularity of "Slam Dunk" reach a new peak, and the number of people who wanted to watch Maoyan and Taoqiao tickets soared by 1w+ that day, and its popularity far exceeded the two Marvel superhero blockbusters released recently. In our opinion, this much-watched Japanese animated film has a high probability of breaking the box office record of Nippon Film in the mainland market.
One of the few white horses in Japan
"Slam Dunk" is definitely a white horse Japanese movie in the mainland market.
First of all, at the IP level, the film has a larger basic disk than ordinary Japanese anime IP.
"Slam Dunk" was originally a sports-themed manga created by Yuhiko Inoue, and the TV animation "Slam Dunk" that Chinese audiences are most familiar with premiered in Japan in 1993 and introduced Chinese mainland broadcast in 1995.
At that time, it was the "honeymoon period" between China and Japan, and in addition to "Slam Dunk", a number of highly popular Japanese animation works such as "Soccer Boy", "Doraemon", "Saint Seiya" and "Sailor Moon" were introduced, and these works were all popular in the mainland without exception, and had a very far-reaching impact on the two generations of audiences of the post-80s and post-90s.
"Slam Dunk" combines the excitement of sports themes with handsome male characters that appeal to female audiences, and basketball is also a very popular sport. Therefore, compared with several other works of the same period, "Slam Dunk" had a stronger radiation ability that year.
Compared with the operation of many old IPs in "Doraemon" who continue to launch new theatrical versions of animation, due to the conflict between the original author Yuhiko Inoue and related production companies during the TV animation adaptation and decided to withdraw the adaptation copyright, "Slam Dunk" fell into a 26-year window period after the end of the TV animation in 96.
Time is the best catalyst for feelings, and "Slam Dunk" has become an out-of-print childhood memory of the 80s and 90s.
On the Internet, famous sayings such as "our goal is to dominate the whole country" and "Coach I want to play basketball" are still hung by netizens from time to time, and the level crossing in front of Kamakura High School has become one of the must-have check-in points for Chinese tourists traveling to Japan. This kind of national popularity and treatment in the mainland may only be able to be achieved by "Slam Dunk".
Secondly, the super strength of this "Slam Dunk" can also be seen from the box office of the countries and regions that have been released.
Since its premiere in Japan last December, the cumulative box office of "Slam Dunk" has exceeded 10.7 billion yen. In South Korea, the film also received 3.2 million+ moviegoers, and is currently second only to "Your Name" on the Korean and Japanese film rankings. 》。
In Hong Kong and Taiwan, "Slam Dunk" has successfully ranked second at the box office of Taiwan's Japanese Film, second only to the hit animated film "Ghost Slayer Infinite Train". The cumulative box office in Hong Kong also exceeded the 40 million Hong Kong dollar mark, second only to "Doraemon: Walk with Me" released in 2015 on the Hong Kong Japanese film box office list.
The explosion in many countries and regions in East Asia proves the super ability of this "Slam Dunk" to attract money. According to past market experience, this kind of project, which can achieve good box office results in many East Asian markets, also has a high probability of becoming a hit in the mainland market.
The clues can also be seen from the early word of mouth.
The "Slam Dunk" reboot theatrical version of the animation was also directed by the original author Yuhiko Inoue himself, and served as the screenwriter, which ensured the original taste of the project from the team.
At present, the film's score on Douban is as high as 9.2, and some viewers said that the film better presents the realism of the original comics, creating a hearty sports competition for the audience, putting aside fan feelings, even if it is an ordinary sports animation, it can resonate.
For fans of the original work, there is also a part of the film that completely restores the comic storyboard, which caused many old fans to cry when it was released overseas. There are feelings and not only feelings, "Slam Dunk" already has the appearance of content out of the circle.
In summary, according to the quality and basic plate of "Slam Dunk", the film will continue the popularity of other markets in the mainland market, which is basically a firm conclusion.
Straight to the record?
So the only question now is whether "Slam Dunk", which is favored by so many people, can become the new Japanese film mainland box office champion?
Unlike Hollywood imported films, Nippon Film has always been synonymous with niche in the mainland, and only a few projects have been able to break through the core audience circle and enter the mass market. Therefore, it can be seen that since the release of the Shinkai Makoto animated film "Your Name" in 2016. More than six years have passed since it set a new high at the mainland box office with 575 million yuan, and no film has been able to break this record.
And the upcoming "Slam Dunk" is the most likely to fight it.
Side-by-side comparison of the two films, the original animation "Your Name. " lacked an IP foundation, and the local marketing bonus that was able to explode in the mainland market that year was a large extent, and the love theme of the film covered a relatively wide audience. And "Slam Dunk" belongs to the standard big IP daily comics, the target audience is the main audience of the film market from the 80s to the 90s, and the number of core audiences far exceeds "Your Name". , is only one selling point away from breaking the circle.
In this regard, the IP positioning of "Slam Dunk" in the mainland market is actually closer to the movie "Warcraft", but considering that the IP influence of "Slam Dunk" is still not as good as "Warcraft", and one is an animated film and the other is a live-action Hollywood visual effects blockbuster, there must be a certain gap in volume.
Let's look at the schedule.
At present, "Slam Dunk" has selected the schedule of April 20, and no other key films have been released on the same day, which is 8 days away from the first batch of May 1st movies, avoiding head-to-head confrontation.
See Your Name. The mainland box office curve, the film has completed the market outbreak by 8 days of release, and the cumulative box office has reached 409 million yuan. And even if it comes to the May 1st file, the domestic films currently scheduled are all live-action films, and there is no type conflict, as long as the number of new films entering the May 1st file will not be oversaturated, which is enough to differentiate these films and compete.
So in theory, Slam Dunk has every possibility of reproducing or even surpassing Your Name. The box office miracle of mainland Japanese films, whether it can seize the opportunity, depends on the film itself.
It is worth mentioning that "Slam Dunk" also has the advantage that the setting time is very early and there is sufficient publicity time. Compared with the intense fixed publicity rhythm of the introduction of films in the previous three years, this time "Slam Dunk" has obtained nearly two months of publicity time, which is enough for mainland promoters to show their strength.
For example, when it is released in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the local area empowers the box office by opening pop-up movie peripheral stores or holding special performances such as gifts. The natural popularity attribute of two-dimensional IP derivatives encounters a national masterpiece such as "Slam Dunk", which naturally exchanges various queues and out-of-stock tides. If it is possible to continue to open in the mainland, I believe that the vast number of mainland audiences will also welcome this form of publicity and promotion.
(Japan's "Slam Dunk" movie peripheral crazy rush)
If you insist on the concerns that "Slam Dunk" gives the audience, it may be the subtle difference between this film and childhood memories. For example, in terms of plot, the theatrical version of the animation mainly focuses on the character of Ryota Miyagi, as well as the visual style of three shades and two in the art production, and the dubbing team all started from scratch.
But Rhino Jun believes that none of this hurts for a high-quality project. At present, the only variable is whether the feelings of mainland audiences can be completely activated by "Slam Dunk", which not only determines the degree of "Slam Dunk", but also the final box office landing point of this film.