Repeated epidemics affect the summer vacation?
The explosive power of the film market is worth looking forward to
Yesterday, Guangzhou announced that in accordance with the needs of the current epidemic prevention and control situation, it will temporarily close down the city’s singing and dancing entertainment venues (KTV), mini singing booths, Internet service venues, chess and card rooms, and mahjong halls.
Just the day before, the National Film Administration issued a notice requesting that cinemas in high-risk areas be temporarily closed.
On the same day, the producer of the summer blockbuster "Changjin Lake" announced that the film "Changjin Lake" originally scheduled to be released on August 21, 2021 has been postponed.
At the same time, the 11th Beijing International Film Festival also announced the postponement... The film industry is facing challenges.
Even the "summer files" that military strategists competed for in previous years are somewhat "cold" this year.
Huang An, All Media Reporter, Guangzhou Daily
This year’s "summer vacation" is a bit cold
Yesterday, the movie market ushered in a batch of new films including "The Stray Cat Bob 2" and "My Father Jiao Yulu".
However, as of press time, this week's new film performance was mediocre, and the leading box office is still "Anger: Serious Case."
Two-thirds of this year's summer vacation, whether it is box office or hot money, is not as good as expected.
At present, the box office of "Chinese Doctor" has exceeded 1 billion yuan, reaching 1.27 billion yuan.
However, many animated films became "cannon fodder", and "explosive models" did not appear.
You know, from "The Return of the Great Sage" to "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World", animated films have always been big winners in the summer.
This year, "White Snake 2: The Tribulation of the Green Snake" was once regarded as a "dark horse", but the box office only exceeded 400 million yuan in 15 days.
According to statistics, as of August 6th, 2021 summer vacation (June~August), a total of 59 movies have been scheduled for this period.
This number is less than half of the same period in 2019.
Among them, the box office in July was higher than that in June.
According to Tuopu data, the total box office of mainland movies reached 3.23 billion yuan in July 2021, an increase of 53.5% compared with June, mainly due to the rotation of multiple blockbusters such as "Chinese Doctor" and "1921".
In August, the blockbuster "Changjin Lake" originally scheduled to be released was postponed.
The film has attracted much attention whether it is the three first-line directors of the Chinese film industry, such as Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, and Lin Chaoxian, as well as the cast of Wu Jing, Yi Yang Qianxi, Duan Yihong.
In fact, many films have been withdrawn or changed before, including "Red Boat", "Swing Detective", and "Counterstrike".
The new outbreak of the epidemic also brought more uncertainty to the film market in August.
However, there are also films that seize this "gap period".
Yesterday, the love-themed film "Lie Detector" starring Ma Li and the article was announced for August 13th.
And more films are still waiting to see, including "Goodbye, Youth" starring Zhang Zifeng and Zhang Youhao, and "When the Wind Rise Again" starring Aaron Kwok.
Earlier, the legendary Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster "Dune" also released a new trailer, announcing the confirmation of its introduction to the Chinese market.
The epidemic has changed movie-watching habits
In recent days, epidemic prevention and control measures have been strengthened in many parts of the country.
Cinemas in high-risk areas have been temporarily closed.
In this regard, when interviewed by reporters, many viewers and fans held different attitudes.
Many viewers believe that "there are no good movies" is the biggest reason for their lack of motivation today.
The audience, Miss Liu, admitted that the supply of head movies has been drastically reduced, which has reduced her motivation to go to the theater.
Mr. Ma said, “In the past, I usually went to the cinema every week. Now I don’t think about going unless I really want to see it. Compared to 2019, the frequency of going to the cinema is about 70% less now.”
A cinema practitioner who did not want to be named told reporters: "This summer, we will often hear that there are children at the entrance of the theater who want to watch a movie, but the parents have refused. People will be more cautious when entering the theater now."
In this regard, the audience Ms. Wei believes, "Don't be overly anxious."
In her opinion, many of the theaters she has been to have strictly implemented safety and epidemic prevention measures, and "the most important thing is that everyone cooperates well."
In fact, there are still many viewers like Ms. Wei who maintain the habit of going to the theater.
After the Guangzhou theater resumed business in June, movie fan Xiao Jiang went to the theater non-stop to watch "Hello World", "Tropical Memories", "Wolfwalker" and so on. This week, he watched "Anger: Serious Cases".
In his opinion, Guangzhou has a good movie-watching atmosphere, and there are many theaters that are very convenient. Although online viewing and short video platforms are booming, he still likes the audio-visual effects of movie theaters. "This is unmatched by other platforms." .
Fans, have confidence!
On July 20, 2021, the first anniversary of the theater’s resumption of work, the total box office reached 47.695 billion yuan. "Hello, Li Huanying" and "Chinatown Detective 3" respectively ranked second and fifth in the box office of Chinese film history.
Yin Hong, a professor at Tsinghua University, said that one year since theaters resumed work, China is still the world's best film market, which has helped the Chinese film industry recover in an all-round way.
The summer time has slowed down, and the National Day holiday is still worth looking forward to
According to the Beacon Professional Edition "Film Market Insights in the First Half of 2021", with the occasional recurrence of the epidemic and the closure of theaters in some regions, the overall box office in the first half of 2021 has recovered to 88% of 2019.
The Spring Festival file even received a record 7.822 billion yuan, giving the Chinese film market a booster, and the 51st file also broke a new high with a record of 1.67 billion yuan.
Ms. Li believes that although the speed of the summer vacation has slowed down and there is a new wave of epidemics at present, the National Day festival this year is still very much to look forward to.
"Railway Heroes" starring Zhang Hanyu and "My Father and Me" jointly directed by Wu Jing, Zhang Ziyi, Xu Zheng and Shen Teng are expected to be released in this period, and the market still has a strong explosive force.
"Cinema is an experiential entertainment industry. On the one hand, it must be supported by blockbuster films and improve the quality of content. On the other hand, we must also provide good services so that the audience can have a high-quality movie-watching experience, so as to promote the recovery of the theater."
With more experience in epidemic prevention, the negative impact will gradually decrease
Movie fan Xiao Jiang said that he is full of confidence in the prospects of the theater.
He believes that we have survived so long last year. Now that we have more experience in epidemic prevention, the negative impact will gradually decrease.
“People who go to cinemas in Guangzhou are quite conscious and all wear masks.” He believes that cinemas and audiences shall jointly comply with various epidemic prevention requirements, and gradually increase the supply of good movies and blockbusters on the premise of establishing a safe and healthy viewing environment. , The theater will definitely get better and better.