After the Spring Festival, the box office of Qingming movies continued to be hot.
According to the data of Maoyan Professional Edition, as of the afternoon of April 5, 2024, the box office of the Qingming Festival has exceeded 600 million yuan, of which the new film "What kind of life do you want to live" is far ahead, and the current box office has reached 302 million yuan, and the previously released "Godzilla vs. King Kong 2: Rise of the Empire" has a box office of 157 million yuan.
In addition, many new films such as "The World of Grass and Trees", "Yellow Sparrow is Behind!", "The Big "Anti" Faction", "Ice Queen 5: The Battle of the Melting Ice" and many other new films have also attracted attention. Let's take a look at what are the highlights of this year's Qingming film market, what are the listed companies behind it, and how institutions view the box office of this year's film market.
Hayao Miyazaki's new film leads the box office
A number of new films compete for the Qingming file
A total of 8 new films will be released in this year's Qingming file, covering animation, suspense, drama, comedy and other themes, including "What kind of life do you want to live", "The Grass and Trees in the World", "Yellow Sparrow is Behind!", "The Big "Anti" Party", "Ice Queen 5: The Battle of Melting Ice", "Snow Leopard", "Midnight Strange Talk", "Zero Limit". In addition, the overseas film "Godzilla vs. King Kong 2: Rise of Empires", which was released on March 29 before the holiday, and the Spring Festival withdrawal movie "Let's Shake the Sun Together", etc., are all in theaters.
At present, the animated film "What Life Do You Want to Live", directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli, will be released on April 3.
The film tells the story of a young shepherd who forms a new family with his father and stepmother after his mother died in the fire. But he was deeply saddened and became gloomy and withdrawn, finding it difficult to fit into his new environment. In an accident, Mu Zhenren follows a talking heron into a mysterious abandoned tower and enters the fantastical "world of the dead" to embark on an incredible adventure.
"What kind of life do you want to live" is Miyazaki's "farewell work" and is regarded as "the life movie of the 83-year-old Miyazaki". It is understood that the creation of the film lasted seven years, and dozens of artists participated in it, insisting on hand-drawing with pencils. Hayao Miyazaki paints his own life experiences and insights into this film, confronting childhood regrets and encouraging the audience to live their lives bravely.
In March this year, "What kind of life do you want to live" won the 96th Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, which is also the second time that Hayao Miyazaki has won this award after "Spirited Away" in 2003, so the film has a high market popularity. Relevant data shows that on the evening of March 31, the pre-sale box office of "What Life Do You Want to Live" refreshed the single-film pre-sale box office record of Qingming files in the past three years, and the original record holder was "My Sister" in 2021.
In addition, the new film "Grass and Trees in the World" released in the Qingming file has also attracted attention, the film is directed by Gu Xiaogang, starring Wu Lei, Jiang Qinqin, Chen Jianbin and Wang Jiajia. The film tells the story of He Mulian (played by Wu Lei), a newly graduated college student, who sacrificed herself to save her mother when she found that her mother Wu Moshua (played by Jiang Qinqin) was mired in pyramid schemes.
Some industry insiders shared their feelings about watching the movie, and writer Liu Zhenyun said that he was infected by Jiang Qinqin's acting skills and believed that "the Best Actress at the Asian Film Awards deserves the title". He said that the slogan of the movie is "pie will not fall from the sky, and MLM to get rich must be sober", and an ordinary rural woman can capture this kind of struggle and self-reflection in her soul and body in a difficult life. I believe that this movie will have a good box office and word of mouth.
There is also a new film focusing on the issue of juvenile delinquency, "Yellow Sparrow is Behind!", which is directed by Xu Wei and He Wenchao, and starring Feng Shaofeng, Tao Hong and Huang Jue. The film revolves around a robbery and murder case on a summer night ten years ago, the mysterious death of a small town public lover, three families are involved, and the four suspects have their own ghosts, police officer Yuan Wenshan (played by Feng Shaofeng) explores clues in three parallel cases, but accidentally discovers that the truth is more than just as simple as it seems. Behind the confusing case is the tragedy of the sacrifice of the parents at the bottom for their sons.
Some film and television companies have risen in stock prices this year
Brokerages are optimistic about the box office of this year's movie
Let's take a look at the listed companies behind the new films in the Qingming file.
China Film, an A-share listed company, has participated in the distribution of many films, such as the introduction and distribution of "What Life Do You Want to Live" and "The Snow Queen 5: Battle of the Melting Ice".
From the perspective of stock price performance, Chinese films have seen a wave of rise from early February to late March, once rising to 13.33 yuan / share, closing at 11.99 yuan / share as of April 3, with the latest total market value of 22.385 billion yuan.
Guangguang Media participated in the production and distribution of "Grass and Trees", and the share price of Guangguang Media has risen by 25.77% this year, closing at 10.25 yuan per share as of April 3, with the latest total market value of 30.069 billion yuan.
Guangguang Media previously stated in the annual performance forecast that in 2024, the film "Article 20", which the company mainly invested and distributed, will be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year. In addition, the company's live-action film projects such as "Sweeping the Dark, Never Give Up", "Transparent Heroes", "Grass and Trees", "Her Little Pear Vortex" and other films are also expected to be released within the year. At the same time, the company still has many other projects in progress, and will arrange a suitable release schedule according to the market and approval situation.
Maoyan Entertainment, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock market, participated in the production and distribution of "Yellow Sparrow is Behind!", and also participated in the production and distribution of "The Big "Anti" faction. Maoyan Entertainment's share price also bottomed out in February this year, rising to HK$11.08 per share in March, but it has recently pulled back, with the latest total market value at HK$10.7 billion.
Many brokerages are optimistic about the box office of Qingming and the recovery of the domestic film market this year.
Wanlian Securities believes that as the first golden period after the Spring Festival, the Qingming file played a role in the mainland film market in the first half of the year, with the total box office rising from 687 million yuan in 2018 to 822 million yuan in 2021, and the proportion of the schedule box office in the annual box office fluctuated from 1.13% to 1.75%. In the past two years, the Qingming file has lacked the support of head films, and the number of movies launched is also small, and the box office will drop to 198 million yuan in 2023, accounting for only 0.37% of the annual box office. In 2024, the cinema film market will pick up across the board, and the supply of Qingming films will be more abundant than in the past few years, with richer themes and more diverse genres, and the box office is expected to achieve a strong recovery.
Guotai Junan said that according to the data of Maoyan Professional Edition, the national film box office in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 4% year-on-year to 16.49 billion yuan. From the perspective of subdivided items, the number of moviegoers nationwide in the first quarter increased by 8.9% year-on-year to 366 million. Qingming file and May 1st high-quality film and television theater companies are expected to benefit.
Looking forward to the whole year of 2024, Galaxy Securities believes that the pre-epidemic inventory of domestic film manufacturers has been gradually cleared, the production and release of new films have been steadily promoted, and the willingness of fans and audiences to watch movies has gradually increased.
Source: China Fund News