Author: Gu Han
Editor|Li Chunhui
2023 is the fifth year for online movies to shout "quality improvement and quantity reduction", and it is a year in which word-of-mouth films continue to appear, but it is also a year when the industry is still in deep crisis.
The data shows that only 241 online movies will be launched in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 31% compared with 2022, and a decrease of 55% compared with 2021. In terms of box office, the head works are difficult to meet expectations, and the waist is even more bleak - the number of films between 2500w-4000w has dropped sharply from 12 in 2022 to 4 in 2023.
The reason is not that the progress of the high-quality transformation shouted before is not ideal, but that with the orderly recovery of physical theaters and the breakthrough progress of micro-short dramas in this year, online movies have fallen into a deeper predicament, and their positioning is becoming more and more embarrassing, and the road ahead is infinitely confused.
It can be said that the problem of today's online movies is no longer something that creators and producers can solve, but it requires all platforms to come forward, sort out the positioning of online movies in their business portfolios and content ecology, and give clearer guidance and stronger confidence to the outside world.
Such a signal may already be there. Youku's "Black and White Sneaking" is a blockbuster in this Spring Festival, and the box office has recently exceeded the 3500w mark, becoming the TOP1 online movie box office so far in 2024. In addition, the second part of the series was also struck while the iron was hot, and it was officially announced with a number of blockbusters at Ali Entertainment's "Hong Kong Arts Revitalization Plan" in March. All this is undoubtedly a great boost to the industry.
It is reported that "Black and White Sneaking" is the first film of Youku's new label "Super Cool Premiere", in which Youku has realized the whole process of participation. What are the ways to its success, and what new trends does it reveal about Youku online movies and even the entire industry?
Hong Kong flavor, action, double material extreme
"Black and White Sneaking" is jointly produced by Guofan Pictures, Youku, Media Asia Films, etc., directed by Huang Yi, starring An Zhijie and Zeng Zhiwei, starring Gu Bin and He Peiyu.
It is not difficult to see that this is a Hong Kong-style action movie full of visual sense. Hard Candy Jun has also discussed before that the online movie market is the last place that still favors Hong Kong films and Hong Kong stars, and action movies have ushered in a two-way rush with highly male-oriented online movies after being marginalized for many years, and have become the first choice for online movies to pursue genre and specialization.
mentioning these two points, I don't want to say that "Black and White Sneaking" has achieved a lie win with these theme dividends. On the contrary, Hong Kong flavor and action genres have taken root in the online movie market for several years, and have entered the stage of stable mass production and ruthless involution.
According to Gu Duo's statistics, online movies in 2023 involve a total of 20 themes, of which "action" has become a well-deserved TOP1 with an output of 45 films. But from our physical point of view, there are only a few action movies that have reached out of the circle and are worth remembering in a year, and there are not a few cannon fodder.
Therefore, "Black and White Sneaking" must be "volume" enough to break through the aesthetic fatigue that has already occurred and stand out from similar films.
From TV dramas to online dramas, it is from the living room scene, to the mobile terminal to play anytime and anywhere, from theatrical movies to online movies, from the big screen ritual viewing to the daily scenes that are paused at any time and often interrupted. Obviously, the latter's viewing habits are more different, and the shaping of content is also deeper. Therefore, compared with theatrical movies, online movies will pursue more direct themes, compact arrangement, and strive for the ultimate to make the longboard as long as possible.
It can be said that "Black and White Sneaking" is a great success precisely because it has achieved the ultimate in the two dimensions of Hong Kong flavor and action movies.
First of all, it is the maximization of "New Port Film". In terms of content, undercover, gangsters, black eats black, and brotherhood are all authentic Hong Kong film elements that people like to see. The lineup is also full of sincerity, Zeng Zhiwei sits in the re-enactment of the club boss, Lu Huiguang of the family class, as the villain, and the row and feelings are both full.
Among the younger generation, An Zhijie has starred in many online movies in recent years, which have become box office hits, and his appeal in the action movie track is one of the best. Gu Bin, who played "Ah Shan", is an 86-year actor who rose to prominence in 2017 with the crime action film "Jiaotou 2", which can bring enough freshness to the audience and avoid the permutations and combinations of familiar faces.
The second is the extreme of "Black and White Stealth" as an action genre film. There are real materials and a variety of plays: there are not only the fierce and powerful men but also the light and ruthless women who are light and ruthless, there are tense and exciting one-on-one scenes, there are many-to-many scenes with grand scenes, there are bloody shootouts, there are hand-to-hand fights in the bathroom, and there are even classical martial arts style white-knuckle battles that can be achieved in modern buildings.
In fact, the reason why action movies can take root and flourish in online movies is precisely because compared with the current two-and-a-half-hour cinema movies, online movies are limited by cost and have the characteristics of short duration and extreme, which can fully stimulate the cool film attributes and emotional value of action movies.
It is not difficult to see that "Black and White Stealth" fully adapts to online viewing: the firefight began in less than three minutes after the opening, and the relationship between Ahsan and Tiange was also brought closer through a series of fight scenes supplemented by a montage formed by rapid editing, rather than how the two talked. The climax of the whole film is continuous and hearty, and the best annotation is made to the "Burning Cool Fried" of the main theme of "Super Cool Premiere".
Decision-making, taking advantage of the situation, and promoting the operation of the doorway
Of course, in this era, it's not enough to just do a good job of content, you also have to sell it well. Especially during the Spring Festival, the audience's attention can be described as every inch of land. So, how did Youku make a way out for the pure online and IP-free "Black and White Sneak"?
First, as we all know, Youku has been deeply involved in Hong Kong content for many years, and has the most complete Hong Kong films on the head platform, especially the reserve of classic old films, and the platform has also precipitated a large number of Hong Kong film user groups. Youku has long studied how to plan and operate content that can leverage the most pan-Hong Kong film users. Before the launch of "Black and White Sneak", the number of reservations on the station had exceeded 56w.
In 2023, Youku's official "Youku Movie User Hong Kong Film Viewing Research Report" shows that the most popular and recognizable elements of Hong Kong films are "police and bandits" and "gangsters"
Second, as an exclusive film, and the first release of the "Super Cool Premiere" label, "Black and White Sneaking" can be described as the top resource in terms of promotion. In addition to the short video marketing that is standard with online movies and the word-of-mouth offensive commonly used in high-quality films, Youku has also carried out a large number of offline placements for the film, with 30+ cities taking turns to support, and 144+ urban business districts are exposed in panoramic residential areas. This is not only the strength of support, but also the embodiment of content confidence.
Third, the choice of schedule. February 4, the launch of "Black and White Sneak", is Chinese New Year's Eve, and the annual large-scale, all-age moviegoers brought by the Spring Festival have been pouring into the market, and it is foreseeable that the film's hit period will cover the entire Spring Festival holiday. But at the same time, it is staggered in time and complements each other in terms of content with the cinema blockbusters scheduled for the first day of the Lunar New Year, avoiding the frontal involvement in the Spring Festival file war, so that the marketing action can play a full role.
In addition, Youku has planned the operation of the station's film and drama series as always in this Spring Festival, including seven genres and dozens of new and old Hong Kong films, and "Black and White Sneaking" has also been driven in it.
Fourth, the choice of payment mode. "Black and White Sneaking" does not use the currently popular single-film paid on-demand, but the traditional member viewing + account sharing of online movies. This difference affects not only the amount of income and income structure, but also the popularity and even the overall fate of the film.
It has been a decade since the long video implementation of the membership system, but there are still a large number of viewers who can't understand how film and television dramas that can be watched for free now have to be paid. The single-film on-demand model is younger, which can be imagined, and it also makes it more difficult for this part of the audience to accept, and even leads them to choose piracy instead.
Youku gave up a single point of income, but maintained the user's enthusiasm for watching movies, so that "Black and White Sneak" rushed to the peak when it was launched, and its performance on the first day and first week reached the top in relevant statistics, and the box office reached 1183w within 4 days of its launch, becoming the fastest online movie to break 10 million in 2024.
Finally, make full use of short video marketing, in addition to regular publicity, but also link artists and short video experts to launch interactive challenges, improve the entertainment of film topics, help the film break through the circle in the form of lines, hot stalks, etc., and realize the expansion and continuation of popularity.
And in the final analysis, the premise of using hot stalks and golden sentences to spread is that there are good stalks and golden sentences, and "Black and White Sneaking" is such a film that fully takes into account the short video scene.
For example, it designed one of the villains, "Ringtail", to be crazy and happy, and after the film was launched, interesting topics such as "Mad Mentor" and "Mixed Underworld but Support Domestic Products" were derived around him. At the same time, the film has a tight rhythm and is designed with a large number of strong emotional bridges, such as fighting, reversal, or some brotherly moments, which can fully facilitate the fragmented dissemination of short videos.
In addition, the theme of police and gangsters has been developed for many years, and the audience has long been well versed in the routines, accumulating a lot of complaints and brain holes, and the ending of "Black and White Sneaking" has made the audience's brain hole into reality while reversing many times: the big guy is surrounded by undercover agents, and the disconnected undercover agent has become the second-in-command of the gangster, which makes many netizens praise and smile passionately.
The label is upgraded and continues to increase
Standing today and looking back at the market in the first quarter, we can fully say: After the downturn in 2023, the 2024 Spring Festival file, marked by the popularity of "Black and White Sneak", is a Spring Festival file for online movies to reconfirm their own value and future direction.
Let the immature IP have the opportunity to blossom and bear fruit, let young creators have the opportunity to grow and try and make mistakes, so that people can watch a new film for the first time without leaving home, so that the audience can have more free and differentiated choices outside the multi-party game of cinema blockbusters, so that those who have been marginalized can come back lightly and embrace those who are still attached to it...... These are all the significance of the existence of the model of online movies that we will see in 2024.
More importantly, we have also seen the determination and sincerity of the platform to continue to invest on this road in this Spring Festival file, and everyone is still constantly optimizing the business model - whether it is a single point or a premiere, and deepening the guidance and support of content through self-made production.
Youku is one of the larger actions and remarkable results. At the end of last year's "Fuyao Night", the relevant person in charge of Youku said that the continuous and stable strategic determination and capital investment in the online movie track are the overall tone of Youku for 2024, and in the coming year, it will increase self-production and co-production, focusing on promoting Youku's exclusive content and "Super Premiere" in-depth cooperation.
Since entering 2024, Youku has taken the lead and officially announced two new labels, "Super Cool Premiere" and "Hilarious Premiere", with the launch of "Black and White Sneak". It is reported that this is Youku's subdivision and iterative upgrade of the original self-made label "Super Premiere". In the past, it was only the main selection of high-quality content at home and abroad, but now it is divided according to the type of subject matter - or in the view of Hard Candy Jun, it is divided according to the core emotion, the positioning is more accurate, and the content development and operation will be more directional.
In March this year, Alida Entertainment released the "Hong Kong Arts Revitalization Plan", part of which is presented in the form of online movies, including the second part of "Black and White Sneak". This shows that online movies have become an important part of the ecological linkage between Youku and Alibaba Pictures, and it also shows that the linkage and cooperation between the two will be an exclusive advantage of Youku's online movies.
It is reported that the online movies that belong to the same "Hong Kong Arts Revitalization Plan" as "Black and White Sneak 2" also include "Infernal War 2" and "Nameless Fire". The two second parts are currently in the preparatory stage, and "Nameless Fire" has just been completed on April 23, starring An Zhijie and Wu Yunlong, and Zhang Zhaohui and other friendships starring.
In addition to "Nameless Fire", under the label of "Super Cool Premiere", there is also "Shocking Rescue" that has been filmed, starring Tony Jia, Shi Yanneng, etc., and produced by Lin Zhenzhao, "Exorcism Dragon Ma Xiaoling", which has been filmed and is derived from classic Hong Kong dramas and directed by the original screenwriter, and "Going to the Soup and Fire", which was newly launched on April 26, starring An Zhijie and Wu Jianhao, and created by Hong Jiaban.
It is not difficult to see that these projects are just like "Black and White Sneak", with a good lineup in front of the stage, with veteran Hong Kong stars making cameos, and also focusing on tapping fresh blood, and behind the scenes, there are mainland teams and mainland producers who are well versed in the gameplay of online movies.
Extreme, Integration, Breakthrough...... This is a new solution that Youku has found for Hong Kong-style action movies. And all kinds of information reveal that Youku's energy and ambition are far more than that.