As the May Day holiday is getting closer and closer, the films scheduled for the May Day period have also started a series of promotional activities.
Although there are many types of films currently scheduled, there doesn't seem to be much room for choice. First of all, there are many types of works such as animation, crime, comedy, and romance in the May 1st file, but there is only one work in many genres. Secondly, this year's May Day animation films can be called a huge number, far exceeding other types of films.
May Day is coming, and a number of films have also opened pre-sales early, as can be seen from the data of the 2024 May Day new film box office list, the current highest total box office is the Hong Kong film "The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City", the second place is the animation genre work "Spy Playing House Codename: White", and the third place is the action-themed work "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team".
"The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City" is a crime-themed work, which tells the story of the gangsters entrenched in the notorious "three regardless" areas in the Kowloon Walled City in the 80s of the last century. A young man in distress mistakenly entered Kowloon Village, but unexpectedly gained brotherhood here. At the same time, the gang of wicked people who coveted the city set off a round of stories of fierce battles for the walled city.
The background of the story is in the 80s of the last century, the core characters of the story are gangsters, and the core emotion of the story is brotherhood. The biggest feature of this kind of film is that it is hot-blooded, and it does have a competitive advantage.
In recent years, the loneliness of Hong Kong films has been a well-known situation. Even if superstars such as Tony Leung and Andy Lau return to Hong Kong films and perform the suspense crime films that Hong Kong films are best at, the results are still not good. Not only did the box office performance not improve, but word of mouth continued to decline.
Now, Louis Koo, Ren Xianqi and Lin Feng and other well-recognized and powerful actors in Hong Kong have cooperated to challenge the crime gangster films that have created brilliance, and Sammo Hung has also joined in, which undoubtedly makes the audience who loves Hong Kong films see hope again.
Although "The Siege of Kowloon Wall" did not have the help of hot top actors, and the starring actors were veteran Hong Kong stars who rarely had works in recent years, it won the first place in the box office list of new films on May 1st. The pre-sale results are so ideal, as long as the word-of-mouth is online after the release, then the film is likely to become the box office champion of May Day.
Another live-action film shortlisted for the top three of the May 1st new box office list is "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Squad", which stars Huang Jingyu, a young actor who has been deeply involved in the action film market for many years, and Wang Yibo, a hot and popular actor in the entertainment industry, focusing on the little-known life and death moments of China's peacekeeping police.
Since "Wolf Warrior 2" and "Operation Red Sea" have exploded one after another, the war action film market has ushered in new opportunities, and works of this theme have emerged in endlessly. "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Squad" has an advantage in terms of subject matter, and can enjoy the dividends of the explosion of the war action film market.
Huang Jingyu has played a soldier in the movie "Operation Red Sea" and the TV series "Ace Troops", and many of the military roles he has played are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Wang Yibo also challenged the role of a test pilot in "King of the Sky", which was well received by many audiences. Everyone is also looking forward to seeing more surprises from the cooperation between the two of them.
In addition to "The Siege of Kowloon Village" and "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team" "on the list", there are three live-action films that occupy a place on the list, they are "There is no hot pot that can't be solved", "The End of the Road Crazy Spending Money" and "Journey Through the Moon".
"There is nothing that can't be solved by a hot pot" starring Yang Mi, Yu Qian and Tian Yu, etc., is a suspenseful work, telling the story of four people who don't know each other in the backstage warehouse of the theater to share the spoils, and accidentally involve a murder. The film is comedic and is a film with elements of black humor.
"Spending Money at the End of the Road" starring many comedians such as Jia Bing, Xiao Shenyang and Yu Yang, is a pure comedy. The film tells the story of a man who picks the door and squanders money with his brothers in the last ten days of his life after knowing that he is terminally ill and has no money to spend.
"Journey Through the Moon" is co-starring Zhang Zifeng and Hu Xianxu, two new-generation actors, and is a love-themed work. The film tells the story of a newlywed Yan'er couple who live separately due to work, and on a surprise holiday, the two embark on a two-way journey of pure love.
From the current box office data, it can be seen that the total box office of "There is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" is higher than that of "Spending Money at the End of the Road" and "Journey Through the Moon". However, if you take a closer look, you will find that the first-day pre-sale results and schedule pre-sale results of "There is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" are not as good as "Spending Money at the End of the Road" and "Journey Through the Moon", which seems to be ahead, but in fact lags behind.
The reason is because "There is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" was previously scheduled for January 13 this year, and it has been screened before, and a special screening was also held at the Hainan Island International Film Festival, and the previous screening results were also included in the total box office.
Therefore, if you don't look at the previous results, just look at the box office results after the pre-sale is opened, and you will find that the pre-sale results of "There is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" are not as ideal as "Spending Money at the End of the Road" and "Journey Through the Moon", and it is currently even the last place in the box office of these live-starring films.
Originally, during this time, Yang Mi was questioned because of his acting skills in "Harbin 1944", his popularity fell sharply, and his reputation was even more precarious. Now, the poor pre-sale box office performance of "No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" once again proves that Yang Mi's career has encountered a new bottleneck, and the audience's expectations and trust in her have been squandered by her.
Whether it is the first-day box office comparison data of the May 1st films, or the comparison data of the number of people who want to watch the May 1st films, "There is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" is the last place among the live-starring films. If this continues, the film is likely to be the one at the bottom of the box office of the May 1st live-action starring film.
In addition, there are a lot of animation-themed works on May 1st this year, among which the two animations "Spy Playing House Codename: White" and "Howl's Moving Castle" have rushed into the top five of the May 1st new film box office list, but the domestic animation "Xiaoqian" is "nameless". Now it seems that Chinese animation still has a long way to go.
It can be seen from the box office pre-sale results of this year's May Day that the audience's eyes are bright. Some time ago, Wang Yibo's "Wind Chaser" was highly praised, and the audience saw the progress of Wang Yibo's acting skills, and they were willing to go to the cinema to support his new film; recently, Yang Mi's "Harbin 1944" has received rave reviews, and the audience is also unwilling to support the new movie she starred in because of their disappointment in her acting skills.
Whether it is a character or traffic, after all, it is all a passing thing, and if an actor wants to get the support of the audience, he must improve his acting skills. Strength is the foundation of life, and I hope that the actors who have works to meet the audience on May 1st can use their acting skills to prove that they are worthy of expectation and support, and live up to the audience's movie ticket called "trust".
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