There are still ten days left before the Lunar New Year, and the pre-sale of new films for the 2024 Spring Festival is officially launched. According to Lighthouse Pro, as of 17 o'clock on January 31. The total box office (including screenings and pre-sales) of new films during the Spring Festival exceeded 30 million.
There are a total of nine new films in this year's Spring Festival, including "Hot and Hot", "Flying Life 2", "Article 20", "Mr. Red Carpet", "Let's Shake the Sun Together", "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space", "Eight Rings: Canopy Nether", "Breaking the War" and "Huang Pi: God of Wealth Cat". Except for "Breaking the War", which is scheduled for February 16, the remaining eight films will be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Up to now, "Article 20", "Hot and Hot" and "Flying Life 2" temporarily rank among the top three in the box office list of new films in the 2024 Spring Festival, all of which have exceeded 9 million box office, with fierce competition and a gap with the pre-sales of the rest of the films. The box office of "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space", which ranked fourth, just exceeded 1.3 million. Although the overall number of new films in this year's Spring Festival file exceeded last year, there are only six films that are truly competitive in the market.
This year's Spring Festival stalls, all old faces. In addition to the director of "Let's Shake the Sun Together" Han Yan's works have never entered the Spring Festival file before, the other four topical feature film directors are Zhang Yimou, Jia Ling, Han Han and Ning Hao, all of whom are frequent visitors to the schedule. The cartoon "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space" has not been absent for ten consecutive years, which can be described as "the Spring Festival stall of flowing water, and the bear infested with iron".
At present, the distinction between the first echelon and the second echelon is clear, and the pattern is preliminary. However, the Spring Festival stalls full of strong films have always been full of suspense, and in the middle of each schedule, the ranking will change due to the audience's preferences and the film's reputation, and the box office champion on the premiere day may not have the last laugh. Will there be a dark horse in this year's Spring Festival stalls?
Except for comedy and comedy
"Hot and Hot", directed and starring Jia Ling, is in the forefront of the number of people who want to watch and the pre-sale performance. In the Spring Festival of 2021, "Hello, Li Huanying" reversed the situation, and in less than five days, the proportion of scheduled films and the proportion of the box office doubled, and finally defeated "Detective Chinatown 3" in the same schedule with a cumulative box office of 5.413 billion to become the runner-up at the box office that year, squeezing into the top three box office in Chinese film history. Since then, Jia Ling is no longer just a comedian in the hearts of Chinese audiences, but also a female director with high gold content.
The moment "Hot and Hot" released the finalized news, it earned a lot of eyeballs. faded out of the public eye for more than a year, and on January 11, Jia Ling posted the first Weibo related to the new film, saying that the film was filmed for a whole year, and she successfully lost 100 pounds. Regarding the theme of the film, Jia Ling said that this is not a movie about weight loss, but a "movie about how kind people find themselves and learn to love themselves." ”
It can be seen from public information that "Hot and Hot" is adapted from the Japanese movie "100 Yuan Love". Released in 2014, the film, starring Japanese star Sakura Ando, won Best Film at the Tokyo International Film Festival, tells the story of a frustrated woman in her thirties who has achieved nothing and regains her confidence in life while practicing boxing. In view of the cultural differences between China and Japan, "Hot and Hot" may make adjustments in the tone and theme of the film, highlight the comedy elements, and adapt to the atmosphere of the Spring Festival.
The prolific Zhang Yimou has been competing in the Spring Festival file for three consecutive years. Last year, the costume suspense comedy "Man Jianghong" directed by him surpassed the sci-fi blockbuster "The Wandering Earth 2" to become the schedule champion, and maintained the advantage to the end with a score of 4.54 billion and topped the annual championship. "Article 20" starring Lei Jiayin, Ma Li, Zhao Liying, etc., tells the story of a temporary prosecutor who is in a mess from family to career and how to solve it. Among the Spring Festival films, "Article 20" has many stars and a strong lineup. Judging from the trailer of the film, the film will be a realistic story that explores love and law in the comedy genre.
"Flying Life", which was released during the Spring Festival in 2019, got a box office of 1.728 billion, and after five years, "Flying Life 2", also directed by Han Han and starring Shen Teng, tells the story of racing driver Zhang Chi and talented drivers cooperating to challenge the competition. In 2022, the youth romance film "Four Seas" directed by Han Han will be at the box office during the Spring Festival, with a cumulative box office of only 540 million. This time, the story, style and comedy of "Flying Life 2" combined with the type of sports came to Han Han's comfort zone. Previously, the same genre of "Flying Life" and "Riding the Wind and Waves" performed well in the Spring Festival, if the quality of the film is excellent and the performance of the pre-sale stage continues, "Flying Life 2" is expected to challenge the record of the previous work.
"Mr. Red Carpet", directed by Ning Hao and starring Andy Lau, is the only film in the Spring Festival file that has passed the Toronto Film Festival and Pingyao Film Festival to meet the audience. Judging from the audience's evaluation, the film continues to maintain the black humor and absurd temperament of Ning Hao's works, and compared with other films, it has a stronger attraction among fans. Therefore, public word-of-mouth will become a key factor affecting the trend of the film.
Will the landscape still change?
Compared with other entrants in the Spring Festival file, Han Yan, the director of "Let's Shake the Sun Together", is a newcomer. In fact, his works include "I Love You!", "Send You a Little Red Flower", "Life Events", "Get Out! Among them, "Life Events" got a box office of 1.7 billion under the relatively bleak film market. However, it is not easy for the new film "Let's Shake the Sun Together" starring Peng Yuchang and Li Gengxi to grab market share with the other five films.
In addition to "Animal World", most of Han Yan's works are family and love films with realistic themes, and he is good at telling stories related to birth, old age, sickness and death, and impressing the audience with delicate emotions. However, in the eyes of some audiences, his works are suspected of having similar styles, such as "Let's Shake the Sun Together" The protagonists are two seriously ill young people, and "Send You a Little Red Flower" is also a story about two cancer patients.
Judging from the plot synopsis, "Let's Shake the Sun Together" is adapted from documentary literature, which tells the story of two people who meet with selfish intentions and join hands to fight against illness after getting to know each other. At present, the pre-sale performance of the film is at the bottom of the feature films. Judging from the lineup, style and type of film, it may be able to win the favor of some young moviegoers.
Among the three cartoons released on the first day of the Lunar New Year, in fact, only "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space" has box office appeal, judging from the past performance of the series in the Spring Festival, it is expected to impact the status of the three films in the first echelon. Interestingly, in the Spring Festival file where comedies are piled up, "Bear Infested" is the only film with elements of the science fiction genre, which is expected to surprise the audience.
As the most important schedule of the year, the Spring Festival stalls have always been full of gunsmoke from the announcement and preheating to the end. Just a few days ago, the major film companies in the theater chain and the Spring Festival file were still in the process of wrestling with each other for "separate line distribution". The theater needs to promise the film company the proportion of the film schedule to get the key, and if it cannot meet the requirements of the film company, the theater will lose the qualification to show the film. Subsequently, "Mr. Red Carpet", which did not participate in the distribution of the sub-line, made a stand with a poster that "let the audience choose? OK!"
The so-called split distribution is different from unified distribution and large-scale release, and the theater and the filmmaker carry out differentiated distribution and screening according to the characteristics of the film, breaking the homogeneity of film scheduling. The original intention of the split distribution is to allow small and medium-cost high-quality films to get more opportunities for film scheduling, and change the industrial pattern of box office concentration on top films. However, due to the lack of detailed rules, the sub-line issuance has not been able to bring substantial changes to the industry for the time being.
Just one day before the pre-sale opened, representatives of the China Film Producers Association, the China Film Distribution and Projection Association, and the eight investors and producers of Spring Festival films reached a consensus at a symposium: no unit or organization can use its dominant market position to interfere in market business activities, including film scheduling, and make restrictive arrangements for the legitimate business activities of various market entities. As a result, the trial of the split line issuance in the Spring Festival file was officially stopped. The rules of the game remain unchanged, whether it is the Spring Festival file or the entire film market, it is still a battlefield for the top filmmakers to compete for share, and the winner takes all.