1905 Movie Network Special Article On the fifth day of its release, "What Life Do You Want to Live" surpassed "Spirited Away" (488 million) with a box office score of 507 million, becoming Miyazaki's highest-grossing work in Chinese mainland. The film won the Best Animated Feature Award at the 96th Academy Awards, and Hayao Miyazaki won the award for the second time after "Spirited Away". The award-winning and "Hayao Miyazaki's farewell work" publicity helped the film become a box office hit across the board, and Chinese mainland became its largest box office.
Recently, there have been many good films in the film market, and there is more than one blockbuster award-winning film, but the box office trend is completely different.
"Snow Leopard" has been shortlisted for the Venice International Film Festival and the Tokyo International Film Festival, and was awarded the best film in the main competition unit of the Tokyo International Film Festival. It's a pity that the box office was less than 3 million in the first five days of release, and the market share is becoming more and more limited. The filmmaker issued statements in Chinese and Tibetan respectively saying that even in such a situation, it hopes to meet everyone's viewing needs as much as possible and coordinate appropriate screenings for audiences in need.
Even though commercial films and literary films cannot be discussed in the same market dimension, the same films that have won heavyweight awards are also handled by highly influential filmmakers, but the market reaction is two extremes, and it is an indisputable fact in the current film market that some award-winning films are applauded or not.
In the market evaluation system, the audience will not only pay attention to the word-of-mouth blessing brought by the film's award-winning awards, but also the influence of the main creator and the attractiveness of the theme cannot be ignored. The road to the circle of excellent works, winning the award is only the first step.
PART.
01
Pre-screening awards, especially blockbuster awards, often become an important label for publicity. The Cannes International Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival and the Academy Awards are some of the world's most important film events. In China, the Chinese Film Golden Rooster Award and the Hong Kong Film Awards are the most recognized by the audience. Nominations are already one of the main points of publicity, and the final award is the icing on the cake, which will be further amplified during the publicity process to increase the audience's confidence in the film.
In recent years, there has been no shortage of Chinese-language films appearing at the three major international film festivals and the Oscars, but few have the last laugh and win the award. Based on the aesthetic standards of Western film festivals and the fierce competition in the world film industry, most of the award-winning films are from Europe and the United States, and a small number are from Japan and South Korea. For films that have won major awards, China, as an important part of world cinema, has always adhered to an attitude of openness, inclusiveness, exchange and learning, and selects the best ones. From the perspective of imported films, award-winning films have also become popular works in the mainland market in addition to Hollywood cool films.
For example, "What Life Do You Want to Live" won 9 international animation awards, including Best Animated Feature at the 96th Academy Awards and Best Animated Film at the 81st Golden Globe Awards, and "Falling Judgment" won the Best Original Screenplay at the 96th Academy Awards and the Best Picture at the 76th Cannes Palme d'Or. Previously, the romantic comedy "Withered Leaves", which won the Jury Prize at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in 2023, was also confirmed to be introduced, and the file is to be determined.
As of press time, the cumulative box office of "What Life Do You Want to Live" exceeded 500 million, but the box office of "Falling Trial", which was released for 10 days, only crossed the 20 million mark. One is hot, the other is cold, and they also represent the two extreme market trends of award-winning imported films.
The reason for this phenomenon is closely related to cultural differences. Award-winning foreign-language films have already gained international recognition, but they have to face cultural differences when entering the mainland market. Compared with Europe and the United States, Japan and China have deep cultural roots, and animated films are much larger, and live-action movies are more popular, so it is easier for Japanese animated films to break through aesthetic barriers and be loved by Chinese audiences.
In addition to the hit "What kind of life do you want to live", it surpassed "Ready Player One" and broke the box office record of a single film in the Qingming file. "Lingbud Journey", which was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival last year, also ranked second at the box office of imported films in Chinese mainland in 2023 with a score of 807 million, second only to "Fast and Furious 10" (984 million).
In addition to the aura brought by the awards, the reason why the above two films have been able to perform well in the Chinese market is more due to the box office appeal accumulated by Hayao Miyazaki and Makoto Shinkai over the years, as well as the relatively popular genre advantages of animated films. In 2018, Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Thief Family" won the Best Picture of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival and bravely entered the mainland market, but the final box office failed to exceed 100 million.
For European and American films, past award-winning films have repeatedly achieved success in the Chinese market. In 1998, the Oscar for Best Film "Titanic" was released in China shortly after it won the award, setting off a high movie-watching boom. In the following 30 years, a number of European and American films that have won international film awards have landed on the big screen in the mainland.
Five or six years ago, "Dream Travel" and "La La Land", which swept major film festivals and award ceremonies, shone in the mainland film market. "The Shape of Water", which won four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director, was a box office hit.
Although these films are inseparable from the big names in the film industry such as Leonardo, Winslet, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, in recent years, even with the blessing of drama or IP effects, the appeal of European and American films in the mainland market has gradually failed. The last film to break 1 billion at the box office has been traced back to 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water" (1.698 billion) and "Jurassic Century 3" (1.059 billion).
Large-scale European and American films no longer have a box office style in the mainland, and it is even more difficult for small-budget masterpieces to make a splash.
Nowadays, although "Falling Trial" has the title of the Palme d'Or and its Chinese premiere has attracted widespread attention, it lacks topicality and resonance as a whole to pry the audience's enthusiasm into the theater, and it is difficult to break the circle from the current box office trend.
It will be interesting to see how "Dead Leaves", which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, performs after its introduction.
PART.
02
For imported films or local films, the high reputation of award-winning films does not mean that they will be equated with high box office. Local films do not need to face cultural differences, but like imported films, the main creative lineup, subject matter, and temperament are the top priorities that affect a film's box office performance.
A flash in the pan in theaters is the fate of most award-winning literary films.
"Snow Leopard", which was awarded the best film in the main competition unit of the Tokyo International Film Festival, was cold at the box office. On the one hand, Tibetan films are relatively niche, and their literary and artistic attributes have deepened the difficulty of breaking through the film market; on the other hand, the leading actors Jinba and Xiong Ziqi have a weak fan base, which cannot drive the film to attract more attention. Earlier, the best film "The Good Man of the Three Gorges" directed by Jia Zhangke and the main competition unit of the Venice International Film Festival had a box office of less than 500,000. The reasons for blame are similar.
In the field of literary films, there are very few like "Fireworks in the Day", which won the best film award at the Berlin International Film Festival, and then easily exceeded 100 million yuan at the box office in domestic theaters, achieving a win-win situation between art and commerce.
Even for award-winning commercial films, it is common for the box office to be cold.
"Chasing the Moon", which helped He Saifei win the Best Actress at the 36th Golden Rooster Awards, had a box office of less than 1.5 million, and "Galaxy Writer", which won awards at the film exhibition, tried its best to shorten the distance with migrant workers in terms of publicity and distribution, but it did not succeed in replicating the popular path of "Annual Meeting Can't Stop!", which was released for 9 days and reported a box office of 4.113 million.
In contrast, "The World of Grass and Trees" helped Gu Xiaogang win the Kurosawa Akira Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival, and also made Jiang Qinqin crowned the Best Actress award at the Asian Film Awards, with a current box office of nearly 60 million. Compared with other new generation directors, Gu Xiaogang, who rose to prominence with "Spring River Plumbing", has attracted more attention in the fan circle, and it is not easy for his first film released in the mainland market to deliver such results.
Market performance and artistic achievement are based on two completely different sets of evaluation criteria. The relationship between awards and box office is essentially the connection between word-of-mouth and the market. Awards are a plus for a film to achieve box office success, but it cannot be the only bright spot for a film to enter the market.
In the market evaluation system, the audience will not only pay attention to the word-of-mouth blessing brought by the film's award-winning awards, but also the influence of the main creator and the attractiveness of the subject matter cannot be ignored. The road to the circle of excellent works, winning the award is only the first step. The right time, place and people are indispensable. How to strike a balance between art and commerce needs to be seriously explored in every film.