Summer file|100 films battle, impact tens of billions of box office
As a schedule that cannot be ignored in the film market, the summer file spanning up to 3 months (June 1-August 31) has arrived, and the popularity of works such as "Disappearing Her", "I Love You" and "The Flash" has won a "popular" summer file, and the unexpected response brought by high-quality works has been exchanged for a long-lost market carnival.
According to the statistics available, a total of 104 films have been launched or officially announced, and 42 have been officially announced. Compared with the previous summer file, this number is not much, the number of films released in 2016/2017/2018 was 114/136/137, even if the number of films (planed re-screenings) released during the same period during the epidemic in 2019/2021/2022 was 133/127/92 respectively. But it is worth looking forward to the fact that this year's film genres are more diverse, and the overall quality has also improved. At a time when the film industry is actively recovering, whether new summer films can create new highs has become the biggest suspense at present.
First, the points to see are dizzying
According to the order of the number of "want to see" people in Maoyan Professional Edition and Lighthouse data, the attention and expectation of movies to be broadcast in July and August can be roughly divided into three echelons.
The first echelon: blockbusters, super popular, represented by "Super Family", "Fengshen Part 1", "Megalodon 2: The Abyss" and "Mission Impossible 7".
Family comedies are just needed in the summer season, and "Super Family" leads the summer season with 870,000 people who want to watch it. The film is produced by Happy Twist and tells the story of Zheng Qian (Allen) and his family who do not treat each other, but accidentally obtain superpowers that can only be used by the whole family. Zheng Qian, who already had conflicts with his family, met the "honest villain" Beggar Kov (played by Shen Teng) who covered the sky with one hand to rob his heart, which unfolded a story that could not be laughed at. The film is starring Allen, Shen Teng and others, and is directed by Song Yang, who has directed "Iron Fist of Shame", and the lineup alone has attracted many audiences.
The "Fengsheng" trilogy project began to be developed in 2013, nearly 10 years ago, against the signboard of "heavy industry giant", spending 3 billion to build, and in 2019 it was rumored to be released, but it was finally delayed to 2023. In order to maintain the attention of netizens to the film, Guanbo once could only rely on the release of solar terms posters to attract attention. As soon as the news of the finalization of China's first national mythological epic film "Fengshen Part I" was released, the discussion of netizens exploded, big coffee gathered, ingenious production, the specific effect depended on the audience's feedback.
The two imported films in the summer file should not be underestimated. The heavy industry marine theme "Megalodon 2: The Abyss" ranked second in the summer file with 380,000 people who wanted to watch it, and the visual effects blockbuster texture of deep-sea adventure + monster fighting in the trailer, and the "1+1" combination of Chinese and foreign filmmakers going in both directions made it a lot sought after at the official announcement. "Mission Impossible 7", as a veteran IP work, has a stable audience, Tom has broken through the limit in this work, and exciting scenes such as snowy mountain speeders, unprotected aircraft cockpit edges, and desert shootouts have whetted the audience's appetite.
The second echelon: suspense works and realistic themes are equally divided, and domestic animated films are placed on greater expectations. The representatives are "In the Octagon Cage", "Warm", "Drug Sweep 3: People in the End of the World", "Assassination Storm", and "Chang'an 30,000 Li".
"In the Octagonal Cage", which began to be screened at the Dragon Boat Festival, has exceeded 350,000 people who want to see it, and the pre-sale box office has also exceeded 100 million yuan, thanks to the continuous fermentation of word of mouth. The film has the theme of "breaking through the cage of fate", the momentum of "born like a weed, indomitable", and the fate of the little people to resist the audience's empathy. Many viewers benchmarked it against "I Am Not the God of Medicine" and bet on the dark horse of the summer file.
Director Qiu Litao is a model worker this summer, and three films will be released. "Drug Sweep 3: People in the World" and "Assassination Storm" two police and bandit films and the disaster film "Jedi Pursuit" released at the end of August. "Drug Sweep 3: People in the End of the World" is controversial, this is because the score of the second work is only 6 points, and the appearance of the third part remains to be paid attention to. "Assassination Storm", adapted from the novel, is highly anticipated and currently 300,000 people want to watch it.
"Warm" directed by Dapeng, starring Huang Bo and Wang Yibo has received a lot of attention as the closing film of the Shanghai Film Festival, and the lineup of new and old actors is not short of traffic, but whether the combination of "comedy + street dance" can break the circle needs to be tested by the market.
Chasing Light Animation has been established for ten years, and the "New Culture" series "Chang'an 30,000 Li" is a cartoon with good appearance and popularity this summer, and the story is set in the Tubo army attacking the southwest a few years after the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion. The Great Tang Festival made Gao Shi's battle unfavorable, Chang'an was in danger, and Gao Shi, who was trapped in the lonely city, recalled his life with Li Bai to the eunuchs of the overseer army. With a duration of more than 170 minutes, it is the longest cartoon in Chinese film history, and the magnificent animation is superimposed on the meteorology of the Tang Dynasty, which makes people think about flying. The popularity of the trailer and roadshow made the audience hotly discuss it, "a member who wants to take the public examination", "the life of Li Bai who is disliked", "removing the poetry filter makes people so distressed", "a man to death is a teenager who says Li Bai", behind the netizens playing terriers is a deeper understanding, understanding and closeness to Li Bai.
The third echelon: romance, comedy, and the main theme have blossomed more, and they have gained popularity with the popularity of the starring actors, but the dark horse is temporarily unclear. Representatives include "Remembering and Forgetting Each Other", "Learning Dad", "The Last Truth" and "Boyhood".
"Missing and Forgetting" is the only romance film in the summer, with starring Liu Haocun and Song Weilong to circle a wave of popularity; The comedy "Learning Dad", which brings together a group of powerful actors such as Huang Bo, Yan Ni, and Wan Qian, takes further education as the theme and tells the story of "retribution for each other" between father and son. In addition, there is the suspense film "The Last Truth" starring Huang Xiaoming and Yan Ni; Starring Liu Haoran, Chen Feiyu, Zhang Xueying, Chen Kaige directed the main theme film "Boyhood". At present, the number of people who want to see it is only a few thousand.
Second, the film market is back to the blood
According to Lighthouse data, the total box office of movies in 2014 reached 29.4 billion, which began here, and since then the box office has been rising every year, and by 2019, the box office has reached 64.1 billion. Subsequently, the impact of the epidemic greatly shrunk the film market in 2020, only 20.3 billion, down 68.3% year-on-year, and the film market ushered in a cold winter.
As the first summer file after the end of the epidemic, there is no doubt inside and outside the industry that is looking forward to the films released this year, so each project is also full of energy, whether it is in the story and texture of the film, the cooperation team and investment, or the publicity strength are all striving to be perfect.
"Megalodon 2: The Abyss" returns after five years, and you can feel the new upgrade of visual effects through the trailer released a few days ago. Jason Statham and Wu Jing's deep submarine was attacked by a group of megalodons at a depth of 7,000 meters, and the explosion of the seabed, the monster attack of giant octopus and amphibious dragon hunters, and the thrill of deep-sea exploration filled the novelty.
At the same time, the cooperation between Jason Statham and Wu Jing is also very interesting, in the two people participating in the event, the interaction between the two tough guys of Sheniu Wu Jing and Shexiao Jason is very interesting, and the audience snorted the "Jingsen guy" CP. Wu Jing wants to explore the process of making monster movies by participating in "Megalodon 2", and the American creator wants to consolidate the Chinese market through Wu Jing's appeal and national popularity, and the wonderful cooperation between the two is a feast for the audience's eyes.
Yesterday, "Fengshen 1" director Wu Ershan, with the main creators Huang Bo, Fei Xiang and others appeared in the "Bay Area Rising Moon" 2023 Greater Bay Area Film Music Gala, before the Shanghai Film Festival Wu Ershan also brought six newcomers from the movie to the promotion meeting, which once caused heated discussions among netizens. The hormones of the actors in the trailer, as well as the continuous exposure of offline activities, the high-profile publicity successfully attracted the attention of the audience, and many people said that this is a "must-see in the summer".
The box office of the two films "Disappearing Her" and "I Love You" released during the Dragon Boat Festival exceeded 1.8 billion, and the long-tail effect continued to play ten days later, which once boosted confidence for the summer file, according to the momentum of "Disappearing Her", the summer box office is estimated to break 10 billion. Li Chenghan, general manager of Emperor Cinemas Group (Chinese mainland), said, "At present, the film market is gradually recovering, and this year's summer market is expected to be between 12 billion and 13 billion yuan. ”
The 3-month-long, 92-day summer season has a unique feature, that is, the long-tail effect is obvious, and it is easier to produce dark horse players through word-of-mouth fermentation. According to the box office performance of the previous summer file every year, at least one 3 billion yuan + explosive "town" was born, with the head effect as the foundation, and the goal can be expected.
In order to vigorously promote the prosperity and development of the film market, the competent authorities have also issued a series of support policies. In order to support the development of the film industry, from May 1, 2023 to October 31, 2023, the national special fund for the development of the film industry will be exempted, covering the three major periods of May 1st, summer and National Day, and the favorable policies have also encouraged the confidence of first-line cinema practitioners.
Third, has the pattern changed?
As the summer file of the recovery of the film market, this year's three months shoulder the expectations of the industry and beyond, and are also full of changes. The birth of 200/30 billion movie stars and whether animated films can reach new heights are full of uncertainty.
In the current box office echelon of the Chinese film market, Wu Jing has long been the first to rank among the 30 billion box office with the achievement of starring in a movie box office of more than 32.8 billion, and the release of "Megalodon 2" is another icing on the cake for his glamorous resume and a step in exploring new domestic film genres.
Shen Teng starred in the movie box office of 29.8 billion, followed by the release of "Super Family", if there is no accident, Shen Teng will also become the second person in Chinese film history to rank among the 30 billion movie kings. As an actor with absolute appeal in the current film market, Shen Teng has become an important factor affecting the box office of a movie, as long as the movie he participates in will be measured by "content". Allen is the male number one in this film, how many scenes Shen Teng contributed in the film, and whether the jokes are sufficient are all key factors. If the word of mouth is insufficient in the later stage, the box office will also be affected.
Huang Bo and Wang Baoqiang both starred in the summer file, the former starring in the box office of more than 19.5 billion, the latter starring in the movie box office of more than 18 billion, who will be the first to enter the 20 billion box office actor industry is still difficult to judge. "In the Octagon Cage" starring Wang Baoqiang has long been screened, and the release on the 7.6th has a time advantage, but whether it can reach 2 billion box office is still uncertain.
"Warm" starring Huang Bo is set at 7.28, whether it can win 500 million box office before the box office of "Octagonal Cage" exceeds 2 billion, and help Huang Bo, we have to wait and see. But he has two movies "Warm" and "Learning Dad" released this time, and it is certain that Huang Bo will exceed 20 billion box office in this summer.
From January 1 to May 30, 2023, the box office of cartoons has exceeded 4.33 billion yuan, exceeding the annual output value of cartoons in 2022, and the performance is very eye-catching. In the upcoming domestic animation, Chasing Light Animation and Color Stripe House Pictures launched the historical film "Chang'an 30,000 Li" and the youth comedy film "Tea Ah Two Middle School" respectively, both of which have very novel perspectives. Among the young cartoons, "Marshmallow and Cloud Mother 1 Baby Core Project" and "Super Flying Man", the first big movie "Super Flying Man: Radius Accelerate" also has certain market potential. The highlight moment of the animation of several works recreating "Nezha: The Devil Child Descends" is also unknown.
From realistic themes to Chinese fantasy, from social care to heavy industry creation, comedy, action, love, thriller, suspense, this summer's arrangement of rich types of high-quality films, which undoubtedly places the ardent expectations of film practitioners and also assumes the role of pacemaker in the film market. We look forward to more audiences entering the theater and looking forward to the summer box office returning to the era of tens of billions.