Status: "To Rise"
The May 1st gear, which kicked off today, looks like a good start.
In the top 3 pre-sale box office of May 1st films in the past three years, this May 1st file accounts for two, namely "The King of the Long Sky" with a pre-sale box office of more than 100 million and "So Many Years" with a pre-sale box office of more than 32 million, the former also broke the pre-sale box office record of new films in the past five years.
During the five-day holiday, there is enough room for the five films to sprint to the box office from the number to the content. The volume of nearly 20 new films is the largest number of new films released in the same period in history, exceeding the Spring Festival file in previous years, covering military, comedy, romance, crime, animation and other genres.
But in such a rich work, the only thing missing from the May 1st film is the appearance of a film actor who "carries the box office". Poison Eyes once mentioned that the Spring Festival file cannot be without Wu Jing Shenteng, and they have even become a symbol, "content" and "Beijing content" have been invented by the audience as some kind of quality inspection standard. As long as they appear in the Spring Festival file, they basically lock in the box office champion and runner-up of the schedule.
And in the new films of the May 1st file, the post-95 children and flowers with one vote are comparable to the potential stock competition on the scene of "Actors Please Take Position".
Although among these starring actors, Wang Yibo has just experienced the test of the Spring Festival file, Zhou also became famous after starring in the phenomenal hit movie "Young You", Zhang Jingyi starred in the love movie "I Want Us Together" with a box office of more than 100 million, Fan Chengcheng has also participated in two movies, Zhang Xincheng and Chen Feiyu are familiar faces in TV series, but for the market, they are not able to compete with Yi Yangqianxi and Zhu Yilong, who are also new-generation students, in terms of box office appeal, work reputation, and cumulative performance of works.
In terms of box office appeal alone, although there are also "traffic" and "emperors to be exploded" in this group of leading actors, only Wang Yibo can have a strong fan influence at the pre-sale box office. However, to truly "soar" to become a "movie coffee", Wang Yibo may still be short of a real blockbuster movie, and the reputation and awards obtained through this movie.
Will "King of the Long Sky" be this movie?
After 95, please take your place
Since "traffic" has become synonymous with artists, many movies have used "traffic" to participate, star, make cameos, sing theme songs, etc., to let "traffic" participate in it, and strive to monetize its influence into part of the box office.
How much actual box office conversion can "traffic" bring? There is no conclusive real data, only fluctuating box office. Lu Han starred in both "Tomb Robbery Notes" and 123 million "Shanghai Fortress", Wang Junkai and Di Li Gerba's movie "Grocery Store" starring in 2017 had only 223 million at the box office, but last year's National Day file Wang Junkai's "Ten Thousand Miles Home" had 1.593 billion.
Among them, in addition to the actors themselves, there are too many influencing factors, such as the theme and type of the movie, the release schedule, the actors in the same play, and so on. The quarrels of "traffic can't carry the box office" and "traffic can indeed bring box office" are endless, but what can resonate in the industry is that "traffic" has a strong fan base, which can bring strong topic communication and pre-sale box office conversion before the movie is released.
Before the release of "Grocery Store" in 2017, "Wang Junkai's fan charter set a record" became a hot topic. According to data disclosed by fans, two days before the film's release, fans chartered 1,394 performances in more than 130 cities in China.
Such a strong appeal is still effective when it comes to Wang Yibo.
In the first half of the pre-sale of this year's Spring Festival file, the pre-sale box office of "Nameless" basically ranked first, and the much-watched pre-sale box office of the sequel "The Wandering Earth" ranked third. This is inseparable from the overwhelming publicity of fans: Wang Yibo's official fan support association has linked up with well-known brand theaters in the industry to build a nationwide 65+ cooperation matrix; In addition, it has also linked more than 300 platform self-media and more than 180 official media across the country to distribute the pre-sale information of "Nameless".
When in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room, when he heard that 100,000 movie tickets were sold at one time, "Nameless" director Cheng Er was shocked. The live broadcast eventually sold 850,000 tickets, so that later when Sina Entertainment livestreamed, Cheng Er would ask "Are you linked today", "That's a pity", "Is there a link for your live broadcast", "There is no link in the live broadcast", "It should have been possible to sell tickets before".
In this "King of the Long Sky", searching for "Wang Yibo fan charter" on Weibo can also search for a lot of relevant information, and the pre-sale box office of the movie exceeded 20 million in 2 hours. The pre-sale of more than 100 million yuan before the release is also the highest record in the five years, and fans are excited about it.
But for other actors in the schedule, "traffic" cannot be monetized so smoothly.
"Unfamiliar with Life" ranked third at the May 1st pre-sale box office, with a total of 13.452 million, and Fan Chengcheng is one of its starring actors. As the third debut of "Idol Trainee", Fan Chengcheng was also the favorite popularity of brands and variety shows, but the movie "Great Night" released this year and starring him had a cumulative pre-sale box office of less than 2 million before its release, and the final box office failed to exceed 50 million.
As for Chen Feiyu, who just entered the "traffic" with "Ignite Me, Warm You" at the end of last year, it seems that he is still deeply affected by previous scandals.
"Countdown to Love You" belongs to romance films from the perspective of subject matter, but it does not have the same special CP materials as "So Many Years". Even the film itself is mired in the controversy of "plagiarism". Yishi Pictures once issued a statement on Weibo saying that the upcoming nationwide film "Countdown to Love You" is suspected of plagiarizing the 2004 foreign film "If Only", and also sued its producer to the Chaoyang District Court. At present, it seems that the release of the film has not been greatly affected, but the box office data is average, and the pre-sale box office is only 6.18 million.
In addition to the above three movies, there is also a movie in the May 1st file, and the pre-sale box office is dismal like there is "traffic" to participate, perhaps because Zhang Yixing is only a "special star", and the proportion of scenes is not high. As of its release, the film's cumulative pre-sale box office was only 1.671 million.
Searching for the keyword "Zhang Yixing Changsha nightlife" on Weibo, many Zhang Yixing fans are also working hard to buy, but they really do not have an advantage in arranging the film. But this support club will not organize a large-scale charter like the starring movie, after all, Zhang Yixing's focus is still on music and dramas, and the last starring movie is 2018's "A Good Show".
If the above students are still in the category of people are traffic, "So Many Years" also has a theme advantage.
At present, "So Many Years", which ranks second at the pre-sale box office of May 1st, continues the idea of small-cost "crying films" that have been tried and tested in recent years, looking for small flowers and students who are familiar to the drama circle to star in a "tear-jerking drama" based on romance. The excellent "crying film" predecessors in this schedule also include "Your Wedding", which exceeded 500 million at the box office during the May 1st schedule in 2021, and "Later Us", which was the box office champion in 2018 and had a box office of 640 million in 3 days.
Compared with the previous "crying films", "So Many Years" also has IP advantages, adapted from the novel of the same name in the "Zhenhua Middle School" series in Chang'an in August. And the starring Zhang Xincheng was previously popular with the "Hello, Old Time" series of "Zhenhua Middle School".
A two-way choice of market and actors
In one schedule, so many young students and flowers suddenly emerged, which is actually a two-way choice for the market and actors. This is the first May Day gear after the epidemic is released, and there is enough record-breaking space in the five-day box office capacity. According to data from Tuopu Film Think Tank, the May Day file in 2021 set a new record with a score of 1.668 billion, an increase of nearly 10 percentage points over the same period in 2019 before the epidemic and the four-day box office capacity. At present, the total pre-sale box office of the May 1st file has also exceeded all the same period in the past, reflecting the audience's warm expectations. The rich content and crowded volume are destined to attract many "atypical film actors" to participate in the war. The May Day schedule also naturally welcomes the new generation of actors. Compared with the Spring Festival file and the National Day file, the style attributes of the May 1st file are not as strong as the first two schedules, in the early years, this schedule usually has several Hollywood blockbusters continued to screen, and in recent years it is basically a melee of domestic films, and romance films are relatively easy to kill in this schedule, such as "Later Us" with a box office of more than 1.3 billion, and "Your Wedding" with a box office of more than 400 million.
This type needs more small students and small flowers. If you want to use a small cost to form a cost-effective romance film lineup, it is a reasonable choice to find it from the drama circle with a wide audience. "Your Wedding" is Xu Guanghan's first movie since "Want to See You" became popular. The familiar face of the drama circle and the flattering theme can also bring some unexpected increments to the movie.
According to the Lighthouse report, from the whole year of 2020, the proportion of new users under the age of 20 increased by 7 percentage points compared with 2018, and the proportion of "new users" in "I am waiting for you at the end of time" was as high as 48%. "I'm Waiting for You at the End of Time" is a "crying film" starring Li Yitong and Li Hongqi. This type of movie often has miraculous effects in driving users under the age of 20 and users in third- and fourth-tier cities. Little students and flowers are also happy to squeeze themselves into the track of the movie in this schedule that has not yet been "rolled".
For the "traffic" who want to strengthen their identity as "actors", although the "movie star-making" has been declining over the years, film is still the last and highest threshold for them to be recognized as actors.
Yi Yangqianxi and Zhu Yilong are the first people in the "flow". The box office of "Young You" exceeded 1.5 billion, and Yi Yangqianxi won the Best Newcomer of the 35th Popular Film Hundred Flowers Award and the Best Actor of the 33rd Chinese Film Golden Rooster Award for this film, and jumped to become a powerful person. Zhu Yilong's turning point was released last year with a box office of more than 1.7 billion "Life Events", for which he won the 35th Chinese Film Golden Rooster Award for Best Actor.
Today, Yi Yangqianxi has appeared in many high-grossing movies, which is the "optimal solution" when the main theme movies and commercial films need a young student image. Zhu Yilong's two new films to be screened, "The Mistake by the River" was shortlisted for a attention unit at the Cannes Film Festival, and "Disappearing Her" was also officially unveiled at the Beijing Film Festival. In the discussion logic of the rice circle, these two people are already undoubtedly "soaring".
Over the years, actors have also flowed in both directions. In order to expand its popularity, "movie coffee" is also because the payment cycle of works in the drama circle is short, and the salary is higher, they are moving closer to the drama circle, and there are countless people who "go down", such as Zhang Ziyi, Tang Wei, Zhang Zhen, Qin Hao and so on. On the contrary, it is an actor from an idol or drama circle who needs movies to press a signboard for his "strength".
And enabling the movies they participated in is equivalent to enabling the marketing energy that the huge fan base behind them can bring. Regardless of the pre-sale box office, the hot search alone is much better. Just like the May 1st file, most of the hot search words of "The King of the Long Sky" and "Unfamiliar with the Road of Life" are inseparable from Wang Yibo and Fan Chengcheng. Of course, the film side hopes that they can use the effect of double harvest of export reputation and traffic.
For all these reasons, this year's May 1st show is just like "Actors Please Take Position": young actors need this stage to prove that they have the potential to become "powerful", and this stage also needs them to create a topic, regardless of whether the topic is positive or negative. At the end of the day, it's all about each other's mutual needs.
However, whether it can really be achieved by the film and cross this high threshold, whether it is the "traffic" actor itself or the film party that adopts "traffic", you must work hard.
Before "Life Events", Zhu Yilong had actually starred in two movies, namely the disaster film "Peak Explosion" and "Embracing You Through Winter" with the anti-epidemic as the background. The pre-sale box office of these two films, the former has 10.666 million, the latter has 148 million, and "Life Events" only has 9.54 million. But his uncharacteristically imaged performance in "Life Events", combined with the tear-jerking plot of the movie, made the film finally earn 1.7 billion box office.
This is probably the ending that these movies that invite students and flowers on May 1st want to see the most. Of course, it is also what the leading actors want to see.
Wen | Fu Qiongyin
Editor|Zhang Youfa