The average ticket price of this year's Spring Festival movies is 52.8 yuan, and the number of moviegoers has decreased by nearly 30% year-on-year, experts pointed out
The "return of blood" in the film market cannot rely solely on high ticket prices
● In this year's Spring Festival, the box office of Chinese films reached 6.035 billion yuan, ranking second in the box office of the Spring Festival in film history. Correspondingly, the average ticket price of films that hit a record high was 52.8 yuan.
The high ticket price has discouraged many audiences. The number of moviegoers in the Spring Festival in 2022 hit a new low of nearly 4 years, with only 114 million people, a decrease of 46 million compared with the Spring Festival in 2021.
● Changes in movie ticket prices in the past 10 years are actually related to a series of changes such as the rise of e-commerce, competition among ticketing platforms, and stable market share.
The Spring Festival stall is one of the most popular schedules for movie viewing, and the profit demand of theaters as operators has also pushed up ticket prices; at the same time, during the epidemic prevention and control period, various local epidemic prevention departments have required restrictions on theater attendance, which has also indirectly boosted ticket prices. rise
● To seek a balance between the dependence of the cinema's profit path and the reasonable tolerance of consumers, and to seek a positive interaction between the long-term and healthy development of the industry and the upgrading of cultural consumption, it requires continuous research and exploration by relevant industries and departments
□ Sun Tianjiao, a trainee reporter of this newspaper
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
"I wanted to go to a movie with my family during the Chinese New Year, but found that the price of a movie ticket exceeded 100 yuan." Wang Chen, who lives in Chaoyang District, Beijing, called this year's movie "look down".
In the just past 2022 movie Spring Festival, high movie ticket prices have caused heated discussions.
According to the data of the State Film Administration, from the Spring Festival on January 31, 2022 to the sixth day of the first lunar month on February 6, the box office of Chinese films reached 6.035 billion yuan, ranking second in the box office of the Spring Festival in film history. The average ticket price of a movie that hit a record high was 52.8 yuan.
The high ticket prices discouraged many viewers.
According to statistics, the number of moviegoers in the Spring Festival in 2022 hit a new low of nearly 4 years, with only 114 million people, a decrease of 46 million compared with the Spring Festival in 2021.
On social media, many netizens said that the main reason why they did not choose to go to the movies was "the ticket price is too high".
As the public's "voice" over the high price of movies remains high, relevant departments and film producers have also responded accordingly.
The State Film Administration and the China Consumers Association have spoken out one after another, and many Spring Festival films have announced price cuts one after another.
At present, movie ticket prices have dropped somewhat.
Experts interviewed by a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" believe that there are a series of factors behind the setting of the ticket price of the Spring Festival movies, such as capital considerations, but the excessively high price will undoubtedly affect the willingness of potential audiences to watch movies.
Although high ticket prices can make film producers profitable in the short term, it may have a negative impact on the film market in the long run. Therefore, we must be alert to unjustifiable high prices, and increase market supervision when necessary to ensure the orderly development of the film market.
Excessive fares spark controversy
Some viewers choose not to watch
February 1, New Year's Day.
Wang Chen after lunch wanted to go out and walk around with the family, her mother go to the movies proposed "universal."
Wang Chen took out his mobile ticketing opening the software and found that "cinema fare near the home were prohibitively high."
Wang Chen recalled that the cheapest ticket price for this movie in a nearby theater that day was more than 70 yuan, and the most expensive was the VIP hall of a certain theater, with a ticket as high as 298 yuan.
And not just one movie, all movie tickets are much more expensive than usual.
She calculated an account: a family of four would spend at least 300 yuan to go to a movie.
"It's too expensive to look down on." In the end, Wang Chen and his family reached a consensus: stay at home and watch TV.
High fares aren't just happening in big cities like Beijing.
Ms. Jing, who lives in Mian County, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, found that during the Chinese New Year this year, the lowest fare for an ordinary 2D movie in the county where she lives is 58 yuan, while the highest price for a movie here is usually just over 30 yuan.
"I originally thought that I would be less busy during the Chinese New Year, so I made an appointment with my family and friends to watch several Spring Festival movies, but the ticket price was so high. In the end, we only picked one comedy movie with a good reputation throughout the Spring Festival to watch." Jing the woman told reporters.
There are not a few people like Wang Chen and Ms. Jing who are "scared" by the high ticket prices of Spring Festival movies.
The China Consumers Association recently released the "Spring Festival Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Analysis Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), stating that during the Spring Festival monitoring period this year, a total of more than 200,000 pieces of negative information about "movies" were collected. Daily public opinion complaints mainly point to fare.
The average ticket price for the Spring Festival stalls hit a new high this year, and many consumers who were willing to watch movies were discouraged by the high ticket prices.
In mid-February, the reporter searched various social media with the key word "Spring Festival ticket price", and found that there were not a few "comments" about the high ticket price of movies during the Spring Festival period.
Netizen "@Raspberry Milk Gai Qubing Sanfentian" posted on the Internet on February 3rd, "Can the ticket price be cheaper, can such an expensive ticket be able to see the starring directly?" and uploaded a screenshot of the movie ticket page. , which shows that the ticket price of a certain movie varies from 109 yuan to 119 yuan according to the number of shows.
Ren Chao, a professor at the School of Economics and Law of East China University of Political Science and Law, believes that audiences are obviously not able to accept the phenomenon that the ticket prices of Spring Festival movies are rising every year.
Affected by the epidemic in the past two years, many movie theaters are in poor operating condition, hoping to make up for the losses through the high popularity and high ticket prices of the festival, but this is only an emergency measure, and the effect is not ideal. Disgusted and choose to watch less or not.
Many factors affect the fare
Repression blocks cultural consumption
The "Report" released by the China Consumers Association quoted the comments of the Weibo netizen "@No.3 ticket checking staff": (Spring Festival movie tickets) are very expensive, already expensive to a very outrageous level, and the consequences of skyrocketing ticket prices. It has already appeared at the box office on the second day of the lunar new year, and it is a direct avalanche, which is 500 million less than last year. It is the first time in the past 4 years that it is less than 1 billion. The number of moviegoers has fallen even more terribly, 10 million less than in 2018.
The China Consumers Association said that behind the heated public opinion on social media about "the most expensive Spring Festival stalls in history, and the ticket prices are ridiculously expensive", the gradually heating up cultural consumption demands have been suppressed and blocked to a certain extent.
Why is the price of movie tickets for the Spring Festival this year "extremely expensive"?
According to Ren Chao, the increase in ticket prices for Spring Festival movies is closely related to the pricing of movie tickets.
In my country, movie ticket prices are mainly set by cinemas themselves.
Generally, the producer or distributor of the film first negotiates the price with the theater, and signs a contract to reach a minimum distribution price through agreement.
Under this agreement, theaters cannot sell tickets for less than this amount.
On the basis that each theater is not lower than the issue price, according to market factors such as operating costs, number of moviegoers, box office trends, and ticket prices of competing theaters in the surrounding area, “pricing according to needs”, and flexible adjustment to form the final ticket price.
Su Beiqi, founder of Beijing Shuoguo Lianlian Culture Media Co., Ltd., who has participated in the promotion of films such as "Twenty-two" and "Blood Battle Hacksaw Ridge", told reporters that before 2017, there was a phenomenon of "white-hot competition on ticketing platforms" in the film market. In addition to various large and small ticketing websites, various cinema film directors have also tried to be online electronic ticketing platforms, and low-cost movie tickets have become a product of competition.
In addition, ticket supplements were allowed at that time, so the movie ticket price was naturally relatively low.
"With the suspension of ticket supplements in recent years, the competition among major ticketing platforms has basically ended, and the investors behind various e-commerce companies will not continue to invest in ticketing platforms, and ticket prices will definitely go up."
In Su Beiqi's view, the changes in movie ticket prices in the past 10 years are actually related to a series of changes such as the rise of e-commerce, the competition of ticketing platforms, and the stable market share.
In addition to the factor of movie ticket pricing, Ren Chao believes that the reason for the high ticket price of Spring Festival movies is that the Spring Festival itself has an important holiday significance.
During the Spring Festival, the demand for movie viewing is the strongest during the Spring Festival. There are many moviegoers during the Spring Festival, which is the peak time for relatives and friends to go out for gatherings; many people are willing to pay for the entertainment activities during the festival, and the factors of high labor cost during the Spring Festival are that the ticket price of the Spring Festival is higher than that of the Spring Festival. usual reasons.
In addition, Ren Chao mentioned that the impact of the epidemic is also one of the factors.
"Affected by the epidemic in the past two years, the number of online films has decreased, the cost of killing the epidemic has increased, and the income from watching movies, snacks and beverages has dropped sharply. When the epidemic is severe, cinemas often have to close their business and limit the current flow. The long-term sluggish box office has caused heavy losses to the cinema. This is a good opportunity for many theaters to raise ticket prices and look forward to 'partial recovery'."
Yang Min, a lawyer from Beijing Yingke Law Firm, told reporters that the Spring Festival stalls are one of the most popular schedules for movie viewing, and the profit demand of theaters as operators has also pushed up ticket prices; at the same time, during the epidemic prevention and control period, various local epidemic prevention Departmental demands to limit theater attendance have also indirectly pushed up ticket prices.
According to the China Consumers Association, the structural problems of excess screens and content shortages in the film market, as well as various practical challenges due to the fluctuation of the epidemic and the impact of policies, have forced theaters to ease the dilemma of tight cash flow by raising ticket prices. It may be understandable, but the fact that the number of moviegoers has generally decreased and the frequency of moviegoing has continued to decline shows that simply relying on ticket prices is tantamount to exhausting the pond to fish and drinking poison to quench thirst.
Listen to consumer opinions
Guide healthy competition in the market
The high ticket price of the movie has aroused the resentment of the masses and attracted the attention of the relevant departments.
On February 3, a cinema media person broke the news that they had received a notice from the State Film Administration, "The high ticket prices have affected the overall image of Chinese films, and the audience's negative emotional response was strong. The State Film Administration is highly concerned about this. , theaters quickly adjust scientific pricing."
On February 5, the film "Sniper" lowered the minimum settlement price with the theater, becoming the first film to lower the price limit among the 8 new films in the Spring Festival this year; subsequently, "Changjin Lake Water Gate Bridge", "Miracle Stupid Child", etc. Movies have also dropped in price.
On February 17, the reporter found through the ticket purchase platform that, taking several cinemas in Chaoyang District, Beijing as an example, the ticket prices of several Spring Festival movies have basically returned to the daily level, and the ticket prices are mostly below 50 yuan.
Do you need to worry about excessive movie ticket prices?
How to manage?
The China Consumers Association said that to seek a balance between the dependence of the cinema's profit path and the reasonable tolerance of consumers, and to seek a positive interaction between the long-term and healthy development of the industry and the upgrading of cultural consumption, it requires continuous research and exploration by relevant industries and departments.
As a member of the film and television industry, Su Beiqi called for a rational view of the phenomenon of "the most expensive Spring Festival stalls in history".
She said that it is indeed a problem that high movie ticket prices affect the enthusiasm for movie watching. If we want to solve this problem from a macro perspective, we must first solve the content of the program. Only by continuously releasing good-looking movies can the audience continue to consume.
"A reality after the epidemic is that people who used to watch movies every week now watch one movie a month; people who used to watch four or five movies during the Spring Festival may only watch one movie now. In fact, This is an ecological problem in the entire film and television industry, and how to solve this problem from the market perspective is a top priority." Su Beiqi said.
Ren Chao said that my country has long released the right to set movie ticket prices, so movie ticket prices have always been dominated by theaters, which is a market behavior.
Relevant departments such as the State Film Administration can regulate by formulating guidelines.
The formulation of fares requires the guidance of the government rather than too much intervention. The adjustment of the market and the willingness of the audience are the important factors in determining the reasonable range of fares.
If there is a price gouging or extremely unreasonable sky-high movie tickets in the market, the price control department can intervene and control, but it has not yet reached this level.
Ren Chao said that China's film industry is in the growth stage, and it is necessary to give some free space to the market mechanism, let go and boost the development of China's film industry, listen to the voices of the market and consumers' opinions, and guide healthy market competition. Government departments should Only intervene when absolutely necessary.
Only in this way can we bring about an innovative and orderly film market, and promote the sustainable development of the entertainment industry and even the economy and society.