In 2010, a total of 13 domestic documentaries were released in theaters, and as a result, all of them lost money at the box office.
After 10 years of film industry development, it is not a strange thing that the documentary box office has exceeded 10 million, and a phenomenon-level work of breaking 100 million has been born.
Documentaries generally have a lower cost and are successful if they can get tens of millions of dollars at the box office. The market has profit margins, and more and more documentaries have begun to go to theaters.
In September this year, three documentaries, "Dragon and Tiger Martial Artist", "1950 They Are Young", and "Swim Until the Sea Turns Blue" were released in theaters at the same time, and all have a certain degree of topic, but the box office is not more than 10 million.
The amazing thing is that some documentaries obviously have a wide range of feelings and empathy, and the reputation is also very good, but it just can't sell.
What is the "box office code" of the documentary?
Then you may wish to look at China's top ten high-grossing documentaries, what are the reasons for their market success.
(Box office data from the Cat's Eye movie)
(10) "Mayday Noah's Ark"
Box office: 20.67 million yuan
Schedule: September 2013
In 2012, the total box office of all documentaries in the Chinese market was only 2.4424 million.
Just one year later, that number had risen to 23.4017 million.
It is not that the market for documentaries has grown by leaps and bounds, but that there is a film called "MayDay Noah's Ark" that broke the box office of 20 million in one go, breaking the historical record of domestic documentaries and occupying up to 90% of the documentary market share!
In 2018, "Secret Ridge of Northern Tibet - Return to No Man's Land", which won 20.57 million, can only regret to rank eleventh.
Don't even think about it, the fan effect of Mayday is the greatest achievement. But it can not be ignored that the Mayday team is really a marketing genius, they not only sell a set of records, but also do documentaries to keep up with the trend, 2012 the end of the world, 3D movies, plus the signature inspirational chicken soup, there is no unique topic positioning, relying on fans alone is far from enough.
This is also the reason why star documentaries such as Happy Male Voice and Deng Ziqi have not been able to match Mayday.
Don't feel like this fan-to-documentary belongs only to fans.
Just after the explosion of "MayDay Noah's Ark", domestic documentaries have entered the era of tens of millions. The following documentary crowns are all over 10 million, including the main theme of "Forever Jiao Yulu".
Any genre film needs to be a blockbuster to lead the market, and documentaries are no exception.
(9) "Ocean"
Box office: 26.75 million yuan
Schedule: Summer 2011
Big productions are always a selling point for movies.
In Europe and the United States, it takes about hundreds of thousands of euros to produce an episode of documentary, and when a "blockbuster" with a total cost of 50 million euros and a five-year production cycle arrives, the documentary market is equivalent to a "Reunion 4" level work landing, and it is not surprising that the box office is high.
The director of "Ocean" Jacques Behan is the adult male protagonist of "Cinema Paradiso", the Venetian film emperor, who has a high reputation among film fans, and he is also a big leader in the field of documentary, and "Migrating Birds" in 2001 is a proof of strength.
Entering the Chinese market, the film also found Jiang Wen as the voice of the Chinese. At that time, his popularity soared because of "Let the Bullets Fly", which also played a big role in box office revenue.
(8) "Return to the Wolves"
Box office: 32.98 million yuan
Schedule: 2017 Summer
2017 was a turning point in the documentary market, with a total documentary box office of 330 million in the whole year, compared with 89.2861 million in the previous year.
The breakthrough in 2013 was led only by "Mayday Noah's Ark", while in 2017 there were two domestic models, "Return to the Wolves" is one of them.
Word of mouth is only one aspect, and it is worth mentioning that this documentary has the temperament of many feature films.
A beautiful big heroine;
A wolf's journey to success;
The magical bond between wolves and men;
And the breaking of the impression of the wolf's ferocity.
It can be adapted into a feature film.
The pleasure of the audience watching the movie is mainly to watch the story, especially for the Chinese audience who pays attention to the plot. And when a documentary is also serious about telling a story, and has a more alternative, resonant material, with a certain marketing publicity, the attraction to the audience may not be lost to art films that focus on form.
(7) "Freehand Climbing"
Box office: 36.41 million yuan
Schedule: September 2019
No matter what is put on the market, it is crucial to have a shocking selling point.
"Freehand Rock Climbing" stands out by relying on a detached selling point.
The thrilling scenes in general action movies are all safety measures, and no matter how cattle Brother Tang is, he will have enough life safety protection.
And when looking at a person on the big screen, not doing safety measures, making dangerous moves, a mistake may fall off a cliff, and lose his life, this impact is extraordinary.
Even if the male protagonist is fully prepared in advance and not random, when it officially begins, the tension is still enough to suffocate people.
With a "big scene" that is not as exciting as Hollywood blockbusters, coupled with the bonus of the Oscar for best documentary feature, and the choice of off-season slots to avoid competition, "Unarmed Rock Climbing" finally achieved a box office of 36.41 million yuan, becoming a pioneer of imported documentaries.
(6) Earth: A Magical Day
Box office: 47.78 million yuan
Based on the success of the blockbuster documentary "Earth Pulse", "Earth: A Magical Day" seems to have become a "special production" for fans.
Maybe it is to see that the previous "Ocean" invited Jiang Wen to have a good effect, "Earth: A Magical Day" invited Jackie Chan, and it was directly involved in the production, and the film also became a Sino-British co-production.
The release time just fell on the summer of 2017, which is really a blowout period for documentaries that are easy to explode both domestically and imported.
I just don't know when the next documentary prime file will be.
(5) "That's It"
Box office: 48.3 million yuan
Schedule: October 2009
In 2009, a documentary film received 48.3 million yuan. Second only to popular feature films such as Slumdog Millionaire (56.28 million).
It wasn't until 7 years later that the documentary box office record in the Chinese market was broken.
What else can be said?
Michael Jackson YYDS.
(4) "Mayday Life Unlimited Company"
Box office: 50.2 million yuan
Schedule: May 2019
After the explosive explosion of the documentary market in 2017, the former domestic documentary king Mayday continued to concoct the same method, and invited actors such as film emperor Liang Jiahui and Huang Bo to help, and the result was to achieve box office success again with a larger market.
During the release of "Mayday Life Unlimited Company", the market was occupied by imported films, and domestic new films were scarce.
And Chinese audiences can't all watch Hollywood, this Mayday has become the first horse of domestic production, so the box office is able to surpass "That's It".
How to avoid direct competition with feature films and find gaps in the choice of schedules is always one of the box office codes of documentaries.
(3) "We were born in China"
Box office: 66.51 million yuan
Schedule: Summer 2016
Produced by Disney, it is selling very well in Both China and North America.
The content is about China's national treasure animals, and the panda has become an important magic weapon for the audience to enter the theater. And this "animal world" genre has always been a living force for documentaries.
Director Lu Chuan, dubbed by Zhou Xun, coupled with the cooperation of foreign teams and movie stars, the quality of the film has been guaranteed, and the fan group has a passion for watching movies based on famous filmmakers.
In addition, when it was released, the word-of-mouth reputation of feature films on the market was generally sluggish, and only one "Apostle Walker" was still passable, which was also a major factor in the market breakthrough of "We Were Born in China".
(2) "Twenty-Two"
Box office: 170 million yuan
Schedule: Summer 2017
Another domestic documentary model in 2017, a phenomenon-level work with market milestone significance.
The advanced on-demand mode is the biggest key to the market success of "Twenty-Two".
With the heat of the topic created in advance, before it was officially released, the heavy and easy-to-cause content of "200,000 Chinese women forced to become comfort women of the Japanese army" has become a screen on the Internet.
Unlike feature films, which are generally selected to be released on weekends, "Twenty-Two" was officially released on Monday, relying on the accumulated popularity of on-demand screenings, and achieved more than 10% of the scheduling on Wednesdays, which is a very surprising number for documentaries.
Like this year's highly publicized "Dragon tiger martial artist" on the first day of the 2% schedule, it is already quite good.
The so-called good start is half the success, with the help of super high heat, "Twenty-two" took only 6 days to become the first documentary in the history of the Chinese film market to break 100 million.
The main reason for the failure to further break the 230 million is undoubtedly the fiercely competitive summer slot. The next champion work is an explosive success thanks to the right schedule.
(1) "Great, My Country"
Box office: 480 million yuan
Schedule: March 2018
This is a documentary that is closely related to everyone who lives on Chinese soil.
It is not that "it must be seen", but that the content and the people's lives are closely integrated, why the motherland is getting stronger and stronger, why the material conditions are getting better and better, and the so-called drinking water and thinking about the spring, these are all topics of interest to many people.
With highly universal content, "Great, My Country" still has a strong promotion and a good schedule.
The film market in March has just passed through the Spring Festival slot, which is generally the off-season, and then experienced the warm-up of the Qingming and May Day holidays, transitioning to the peak season of the summer slot.
At that time, the market was still a Spring Festival movie in the support scene, the audience was wanting to see a new film, in the absence of a general feature film on the new situation, "Great, My Country" won a high number of films comparable to feature films, 4 days after release broke 100 million.
With such a market response, the number of films has been maintained, and the previous "Twenty-Two" has increased the audience's interest and enthusiasm for watching documentaries, and the hard-to-break documentary box office record has been born.