Sino-Singapore Jingwei, January 24th (Zhao Jiaran) On the third day of the Lunar New Year, have you gone to the movies?
As of 8:23 on January 24, the total box office (including pre-sales) of the 2023 Spring Festival stalls has exceeded 3 billion yuan, of which the single-day box office on the first and second day of the Lunar New Year both exceeded 1 billion yuan.
Different from the "most expensive Spring Festival file" in 2022, 2023 will usher in the "longest Spring Festival file": According to statistics, the average length of the Spring Festival file in 2023 is the longest in history, and the ticket price has dropped for the first time since 2016. "Increase the quantity without increasing the price".
The Spring Festival movie is getting longer and longer, what is the reason behind it?
Will "increasing the quantity without increasing the price" have an impact on the box office?
We chatted with practitioners.
With an average duration of 130 minutes, the longest Spring Festival stall in history is here
The Beacon Professional Edition shows that there are currently 7 films scheduled for the 2023 Spring Festival, namely "The Wandering Earth 2", "Man Jianghong", "Deep Sea", "Unnamed", "Exchanging Life", "Chinese Ping Pong: The Jedi Counterattack" and "Bear Infested Companion". My "Bear Core", the theme covers comedy, science fiction, history, sports, animation, etc. Behind it involves many film and television companies such as Enlight Media, Bona Pictures, Alibaba Pictures, Tianjin Maoyan, Wanda Films, Huayi Brothers, etc.
It is worth noting that 4 of the 7 movies are longer than 2 hours, and 2 other movies are close to 2 hours. Among them, the duration of "Wandering Earth 2" and "Man Jianghong" are as high as 173 minutes and 159 minutes respectively. Close to 3 hours.
The data shows that the average length of the 7 films in the Spring Festival file in 2023 will exceed 130 minutes, which is the longest history since the concept of the Spring Festival file, an increase of 27.64% from the average of 102.4 minutes in 2016.
At the same time, the length of the longest movie in the Spring Festival file has also been on the rise in recent years. In 2016, the longest movie was the 120-minute "Journey to the West: Monkey King: Three Fighting the Bones", and in 2021 it was the 136-minute "Detective Chinatown 3"; It is the 149-minute "Shuimen Bridge of Changjin Lake".
The duration of "The Wandering Earth 2" is more than 40% longer than that of "Journey to the West: Monkey King Three Fights the Bone Demon".
Sino-Singapore Jingwei noticed that the Spring Festival file is not an exclusive schedule for "long movies".
For example, the American movie "Avatar: The Way of Water" released at the end of 2022 is 192 minutes long; the "Changjin Lake" released in 2021 is 176 minutes long.
In discussions on social platforms, netizens have different opinions on the topic of "whether the length of a movie affects the viewing experience".
Some netizens said that no matter how long the time is for their favorite movies, they will enjoy watching them with gusto; there are also opinions that the current movie theaters may be a bit too long, and they can only last one without drinking water.
Why are Spring Festival movies getting longer and longer?
From more than one hour to nearly three hours, what is the reason behind the change in the length of the Spring Festival movie?
"In the past, movies in the Spring Festival stalls were basically about 100 minutes on average, which is more beneficial to the box office. In 2023, it is indeed uncommon for movies to last two to three hours." Screenwriter Mao Haiqing was interviewed by Sino-Singapore Jingwei He said that behind the increasing number of high-quality feature films, it reflects that the cognition and habits of moviegoers have changed.
"Audiences now believe that
the longer the movie, the more satisfying and entertaining they will be, so they will look forward to it more, and in a sense make themselves worth the ticket price. In addition, due to the impact of the epidemic in recent years, movie theaters It is relatively unfamiliar to the audience, so the film studio needs to use this kind of "extra long enjoyment" to attract the audience who have not been in the cinema for a long time.
And putting the feature film in the Spring Festival file is also considering that everyone has less leisure time during the long holiday. more, more opportunities to spend time in the cinema, if it is usually not convenient for many people to spend two or three hours watching movies." Mao Haiqing said.
Lu Jianmin, chairman and producer of Spring Times Films, said in an interview with Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the length of a film is mainly affected by the content of the script, the creator, and the shooting cycle.
"Some stories are relatively simple, while others are relatively grand. In addition, the creators express their language in different ways, just like the speed of each person's speech, which is also an important factor affecting the overall length of the film; of course, there is also the production Influenced by factors such as cost, shooting cycle, cast and crew schedule, etc. The
production cost of a longer film will definitely be higher, and the producer will choose the most box-office release date for release, hoping to get better box office results; The film is the period with the largest box office release, so it is inevitable that big-budget films will be released during the Spring Festival.
”
Lu Jianmin further pointed out that for the producer, when the script is obtained and the director is determined, the director of the film has been roughly confirmed.
In terms of income, the length of the film is not necessarily related to the box office.
"If box office and attendance are considered at the script or the initial stage, I think it is neither realistic nor possible to create a good work. The biggest factor that determines the box office of a movie is a good story. In recent years, the Chinese film market has become more mature. , As long as the story is recognized by the audience, it will achieve corresponding box office results."
Industry: Optimistic about the 2023 Spring Festival stalls, the length of time has little effect on the box office
For the increasingly long Spring Festival movies, some people in the industry worry that the number of movies in theaters will be reduced, resulting in loss of revenue; in addition, the audience's willingness to watch movies may also be affected.
"For theaters, a movie of 90-120 minutes is just enough to tell a story, and at the same time, the audience will not experience aesthetic fatigue. Especially when the whole family is watching movies, it is difficult for children to keep paying attention to a two- to three-hour feature film power." Liu Anxing, head of the Dujiangyan branch of Youdu Cinemas, told Sino-Singapore Jingwei that longer movies have an impact on audiences' willingness to watch movies and theater scheduling.
Liu Anxing said that during the Spring Festival in 2023, the number of films scheduled in theaters will be significantly reduced compared with previous years.
"Taking the first day of the Lunar New Year as an example, our seven halls have a total of 43 films scheduled from 9:00 to 2:00 am, while in the same period in previous years we could arrange at least 50 shows, which is affected by the length of the film. Given that the ticket price is higher than that in 2022 If
it is flat, the box office may be affected; however,
if the follow-up attendance rate is high, the overall box office still does not need to worry.
” Liu Anxing said that judging from the current trend, although the audience’s willingness to watch movies during the Spring Festival in 2023 is not as good as the peak period before the epidemic , but it is still a big boost compared to previous years.
Chen Jin, a data analyst of Beacon Professional Edition, believes that the "longest Spring Festival file in history" will have an impact on the turnover rate of theater screenings; however, it is currently expected that the proportion of audiences who buy tickets will increase. Compared with previous years, the types of films for the Spring Festival in 2023 will be more diverse and themes will be richer, and the box office is still expected to surpass that of 2022.
"Judging from the current box office results, the two films "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Man Jianghong" lead the Spring Festival. The rise also reflects that the audience has basically returned to the movie-watching mentality before the epidemic, and the
market has "returned to the past" to a certain extent. We expect this good start to lead the film market to return to the prosperity and development before the epidemic throughout the year, driving upstream production The end-to-theatre projection terminal industry has regained confidence.
" Chen Jin said to Sino-Singapore Jingwei.
(Sino-Singapore Jingwei APP)