In the lively Spring Festival schedule of 2024, the Chinese film market has experienced unprecedented fierce competition and pattern changes. Among the eight Chinese New Year blockbusters originally planned to participate in the competition, four works have been made - "Let's Shake the Sun Together", "Mr. Red Carpet", "Huang Pi: The God of Wealth Cat from the Sky" and "The Nether of the Canopy of the Eight Rings", which have announced their withdrawal from the Spring Festival file, and this series of withdrawal events has undoubtedly brought a huge shock to the industry and the audience.
As of February 17, 2024, although "Let's Shake the Sun Together" has accumulated a box office result of 96.256 million yuan during the Spring Festival, there is still a certain gap compared with the expectations of the producer. Similarly, "Mr. Red Carpet" relied on the strong lineup of superstar Andy Lau and others, and only received 82.998 million yuan at the box office in a short seven-day screening time, which was in stark contrast to its luxurious production team and high investment costs, prompting the film team to learn from the pain and make a major decision to withdraw from the Spring Festival file.
At the same time, the performance of the two films "Huang Pi: The God of Wealth Cat from the Sky" and "The Nether of the Canopy of the Eight Rings" was even more inadequate during the Spring Festival, only achieving a box office of 917,000 yuan and 3.253 million yuan respectively, which undoubtedly made the producer realize that it was not wise to continue to hold on in the current environment, so he chose to temporarily bid farewell to the Spring Festival file and look for new opportunities to fight in the film market again.
The collective withdrawal of these films is really rare, which not only sparked heated discussions among the majority of netizens, but also revealed the complex situation of the current Chinese film market. On the one hand, the improvement of the audience's aesthetic level and the diversification of viewing choices have made the market put forward higher requirements for the quality of film content; on the other hand, the phenomenon of cinema scheduling resources tilting towards the top films also highlights the severe challenges faced by small and medium-cost films in the popular schedule.
Some people believe that the withdrawal is a rational choice in the face of real difficulties, a timely and flexible response to market feedback, aiming to avoid excessive consumption of marketing resources and find a more favorable release time for the film. However, some voices pointed out that frequent schedule adjustments may affect the audience's trust in the film brand, and the producer should fully do a good job of market research and positioning in the early stage of film production.
In any case, the 2024 Spring Festival withdrawal storm reminds us that the intensity of competition behind the prosperity of the Chinese film market is continuing to escalate, and for every film, accurately grasping the pulse of the market, focusing on content innovation and differentiated competition is the key to winning the audience's reputation and market share. Next, let's look forward to how these films after the adjustment of the schedule will regroup and hit the market again, and also pay attention to whether the remaining films in the Spring Festival file can continue to be popular and create new box office miracles.