This Friday, December 15, 9 new films were released in the domestic film market, among which "The Three Teams" and "Dog God" attracted much attention. It was a surprise that both films failed to meet expectations on their first day. Although "The Three Majors" won the first-day box office, its performance failed to meet previous expectations, and the current box office forecast on ticketing websites has also dropped by half, from 1 billion to 528 million.
"The Three Teams" has a good reputation, and the main creative duo Chen Sicheng and Zhang Yi have a high degree of topicality, but the large-scale early screening may have consumed the audience's enthusiasm for watching the movie. Despite winning the championship on the first day, the problem of surpassing Huang Bo's "Wading through the Sea of Wrath" to become the champion of the Lunar New Year file still exists. At the same time, on December 16, "Detective Conan: The Fish Shadow of Black Iron" will be ushered in, and this high-profile Japanese anime has reached 22 million pre-sale box office in the mainland, becoming a strong opponent of "The Three Teams".
Another highly anticipated film, "Raging Tide", also adopted a large-scale early screening strategy, and although the screening and pre-sale box office performed well, the fierce competition in the new film market made the early screening strategy unsatisfactory. In contrast, the performance of "Lighting Store" is relatively stable, with a cumulative box office of more than 155 million in 8 days.
It is a pity that the box office of "The Dog God" directed by French director Luc Besson was only 1.05 million on the first day, and the box office performance was dismal, which is contrary to its promotion in the mainland. Even if the Douban score is high, the audience's interest in it does not seem to be high. It is also a reminder to filmmakers that even highly-anticipated directors need to have a deeper understanding of the tastes and market changes of mainland audiences.
The domestic films released on the same day were squeezed by the market popularity of "The Three Majors", and the box office was dismal. Among them, Chen Sicheng's other work "Chasing the Murderer in Adversity" had a box office of only 3,239 yuan on the first day, and the number of moviegoers was only 84, with a cost of more than 30 million. This film has a similar theme to "The Three Teams", but due to the weak star cast and the average quality of the film, it is reasonable that the box office will be sluggish.
This week's new film market is highly competitive, and large-scale screenings are not a suitable strategy for all films. Audience fatigue, word-of-mouth, and varying subject matter make the film's performance unpredictable. In addition, the strong rise of "Detective Conan: The Fish Shadow of Black Iron" has also brought a lot of competitive pressure to "The Three Teams". Chen Sicheng may need to re-evaluate his film distribution strategy to better adapt to market demand.
For filmmakers, a more in-depth study of audience preferences and market trends, focusing on the quality of the film and the matching of the cast, may be an effective way to increase the box office. Friday's box office performance may be a reminder that the film market is unpredictable and producers need to be flexible in adjusting their strategies to better meet audience expectations.
