1905 Movie Network Special Article A hundred flowers bloom and excellent works gather. In 2024, there will be a total of 8 new films in May 1st, and they will work together to support the market. The total box office of May 1st (May 1-May 5) exceeded 1.527 billion, and the number of moviegoers was 37.77 million, exceeding the box office of May Day in 2023 (1.521 billion), and at the same time entering the top three box office of May 1st in Chinese film history, with a total of 2.404 million, setting a new record for May 1st in Chinese film history.
"Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team", "Spending Money at the End of the Road", "The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City", "Spy Playing House Codename: White" and "Howl's Moving Castle" are among the top five single-film box office lists. "There is nothing that can't be solved by a hot pot", which is only ranked sixth, announced that it will be withdrawn and re-screened at a later date.
Many films in the May 1st class have achieved good box office results, jointly promoting the prosperity of the Chinese film market, and at the same time helping the total box office of Chinese films in 2024 officially exceed 20 billion on May 4, 3 days earlier than last year.
"Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team" and "Spending Money at the End of the Road" successfully broke into the top 10 of the annual box office, temporarily ranking eighth and ninth, and as the box office continues to accumulate, the ranking is expected to go further.
The competition among the top films is fierce, and the reversal helps to promote the ranking
With the withdrawal of the animated film "Xiaoqian" before the release, there are 8 new films left in this year's May Day file, including 6 domestic films and 2 Japanese films, covering action, comedy, animation and other genres, each with its own characteristics, showing the vitality and potential of the diversified development of the Chinese film market. The collection of masterpieces also made the competition for the championship of this year's May Day stalls particularly fierce.
"Peacekeeping Anti-riot Squad" tells the story of Chinese peacekeeping police officers performing missions overseas, attracting the attention of many audiences with its tense and exciting plot and wonderful scenes, coupled with Huang Jingyu, Wang Yibo and other popular young actors to add a lot of color to the film, the film led all the way in the opening stage of May Day, won the box office crown for 2 consecutive days, and finally won the May Day box office champion, slightly ahead of "The End of the Road".
According to the data of Maoyan Professional Edition, the film has the deepest sinking degree among all the new films in the May 1st file, and the spread rate of third- and fourth-tier cities has reached 72.4%. However, the sinking market did not help "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team" stabilize the box office crown in the second half of May Day, and the attendance rate of the film continued to decline.
On the contrary, the total box office of "Spending Money at the End of the Road" is slightly behind "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team", but it is full of stamina.
The film achieved a reversal on the second day of its release, and the attendance rate was as high as 20.3% when the proportion of films was not advantageous, far ahead of the 10.9% of "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team", which greatly narrowed the box office gap with the former, and began to gain more favor on the third day of release, and won the box office crown for 3 consecutive days in the second half of the schedule. As of press time, the difference between its May Day box office and "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team" is less than 20 million.
In line with the festive atmosphere of the festival, as a comedy, "Spending Money at the End of the Road" has a theme advantage. Last year's May Day box office champion was won by the same comedy "Unfamiliar with Life" and "King of the Sky", and this year's "Spending Money at the End of the Road" box office is remarkable, once again showing the explosive power of comedy movies in major schedules.
The film starring Jia Bing, Tan Zhuo, Xiao Shenyang, Yu Yang, Dong Baobao, Northeast comedians gathered, the lineup has its own funny genes, and the publicity strengthens the film's interesting discussion on love, friendship, and consumption methods in the form of short videos, and a number of related works have more than 2 million likes, and the comedy temperament of the film has been further deepened, and finally relying on the relaxed and humorous style to become the audience's "decompression artifact".
Hong Kong film "Old Drama Bone" Louis Koo and Sammo Hung's "The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City" temporarily ranked third at the May 1st box office. The film was screened early to release word of mouth, and won the love of a large number of audiences with its original Hong Kong film style and fist-to-flesh action scenes. With a score of 7.5 on Douban, its reputation ranks first among the new domestic films on May 1st, and it has achieved a box office reversal for 3 consecutive days since the second day of its release, surpassing "Spy Playing Home Codename: White", which ranked third on the first day, and ranked among the top three at the box office of the schedule. As of press time, the total box office of the film exceeded 330 million.
It is worth noting that the regional color of this year's May Day head film is obvious. On the first day of the schedule, "Spending Money at the End of the Road" took the lead in showing its advantages in the Northeast market, and from the second day of release, "Light" gradually covered the entire northern market, replacing "Peacekeeping Anti-riot Team" and gradually becoming the box office champion in most cities in the north.
In addition to receiving praise and box office in the Cantonese-speaking region during the screening stage, the main reason why the film has been able to continue to decline is that the box office appeal of the film in the middle and late stages of the schedule has expanded to Shanghai, accurately gaining more Hong Kong film audiences.
The audience of Japanese movies is stable, and the tail players choose to withdraw
In recent years, Hollywood IP has been gradually out of order in the Chinese film market, but the momentum of Japanese films has not decreased. Last year, the top three box office imported films were occupied by "Lingbud Journey" and "Slam Dunk". This year's Qingming file champion was won by "What kind of life do you want to live".
In the May 1st file, "Spy Playing House Codename: White" and "Howl's Moving Castle", which both took the lead in "running" on April 30, also went hand in hand, and won the top two on the box office daily list on the first day of release.
The animated "Spy House" series blends family and adventure elements, and the cute "Aniah" has become popular among countless viewers and is popular among Gen Z. "Spy Playing House Codename: White" is the first big movie of the IP, and Generation Z does not hesitate to pay for it.
Data shows that more than 50% of the audience under the age of 30 in the film is under. It highly overlaps with the main consumer force of the current film market. On the first day of May Day, "Spy Playing House Codename: White" easily won a box office of 56.384 million, ranking third on the list. Although the ranking on the second day of May Day was overtaken by "The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City", it still achieved a reversal at the box office and performed well. As of press time, the cumulative box office has tentatively reported 230 million, which has ranked among the top five box office of imported films this year.
Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" was "20 years late" to meet Chinese audiences. The well-known classics not only aroused the interest of young audiences, but also awakened the enthusiasm of the older generation of fans.
From the perspective of audience portrait, in addition to the new generation as the main audience of the film (20-24 years old audience accounts for 24.5%), the equally important audience group is 40-year-old + fans (20%) who make up for their feelings. Within 6 days of release, the cumulative box office of the film exceeded 120 million.
"There is nothing that can't be solved by a hot pot" starring Yang Mi and Yu Qian and "Journey Through the Moon" starring Zhang Zifeng and Hu Xianxu have not been satisfactory in terms of word-of-mouth and box office since their release, and they have always been at the bottom of the new live-action films on May 1st.
Starting on May 3, the box office of the two films was once caught up by "Godzilla vs. Kong 2: Rise of the Empire", which had been released for more than one month, and the competitiveness of the film schedule was further weakened.
On the last day of May Day, "There is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" announced the withdrawal, saying that "due to various environmental factors, the film did not meet more audiences, and after carefully studying and judging the current situation, it was decided to re-screen it at a later date." This is also after many films announced their withdrawal at the end of this year's Spring Festival, and another film withdrew from the market due to the competitive situation near the end of the major schedule.
As of press time, the box office of "There is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" and "A Trip Through the Moon" reported 53.26 million and 37.38 million respectively.
The brilliant box office results of this year's May Day are the result of the joint efforts of many films, which not only reflects the continuous rise of the public's enthusiasm for watching movies, but also provides strong support for the future of China's film industry.
At the same time, the gap between the box office and word-of-mouth of the major films during the schedule and the choice of finally having no choice but to withdraw also show that the audience's aesthetic requirements are constantly improving, and they pay more attention to the temperament and quality of the film, which also rings the bell for the creators to remind them that they should pay more attention to innovation in topic selection and production, and be more cautious in scheduling considerations, so as to help Chinese films create brilliance and climb new heights in the best state.