China News Service Client Beijing, April 26 (Yuan Xiuyue) Compared with 2018, the development of documentary film in 2019 can be described as cold in many ways. From the recently published "Research Report on the Development of Chinese Documentary Film 2020", we can glimpse one or two.
The report shows that the growth rate of documentary film production in 2019 is the lowest in the past 10 years. The documentary box office has recorded a major decline, and TV ratings and advertising have fallen sharply. On the other hand, the documentary has performed strongly in the new media, and the social impact and quality of the work are remarkable.
Cover of "China Documentary Development Research Report 2020"
Documentaries in 2019: TV and video websites, supplemented by cinemas
According to the incomplete statistics of the research team of "China Documentary Development Research Report", the total input of China's documentary production in 2019 was 5.036 billion yuan, an increase of 9.4% year-on-year, and the annual gross output value was about 6.660 billion yuan, an increase of 3.3% year-on-year, an increase of nearly 10 years The lowest value.
The decrease in the growth of the documentary industry is partly due to the fact that the macroeconomic situation in 2019 has a partial impact on the documentary industry. On the other hand, it is also because of the record slide of the movie box office. The box office of record movies dropped from 534 million yuan in 2018 to 149 million yuan in 2019, a decrease of 72%, the lowest since 2016.
However, Zhang Tongdao, director of the Beijing Normal University's documentary research center, said that if only the total output value of television and new media documentaries is counted, it will increase by 10% year-on-year in 2019. The documentary industry is actually still in a benign upward path, but the growth rate has slowed down compared to before 2016.
"Freehand Rock Climbing" Poster
Taken together, the distribution of Chinese documentaries in 2019 will be dominated by television stations and video websites, supplemented by movie theaters. The current status of documentaries relying on explosive models has not changed, especially documentary movies. In the past two years, there have been explosive works such as "Twenty-two", which recorded that the box office of the movie has been rising all the way. But in addition to the explosion, the box office results of most domestic documentaries are still not optimistic, and many have high reputation and low box office.
Someone once thought that the spring of domestic documentaries is coming. But Zhang Tongdao told a reporter from ChinaNews that he did not agree with these concepts. He felt that it was the most crucial thing to see the industry move forward step by step.
"Four Springs" poster
Global documentary film: lack of phenomenal communication
From a global perspective, the performance of documentary films in 2019 is not very prominent.
The report shows that in 2019, 19 domestic record films were released, with a box office of 53.19 million yuan, and the champion was "Four Springs", with a box office of 11.47 million yuan; 5 imported films were released, with a box office of 95.84 million yuan, and the box office of the "Mayday Life Unlimited Company" 50.22 million yuan, the second place "freehand climbing" is 36.41 million yuan. The number of domestic films with a box office of more than 5 million has increased significantly, with a total of 5 films, and the echelon is evenly distributed within the range of 5-12 million.
In terms of content, the number of realistic themes has increased, presenting the richness and complexity of contemporary social culture. For example, "Four Springs" tells the sadness and separation of a family, "After Zero" expresses the current state of Chinese education in the international context, "Dahe Chang" and "Shakuhachi Ichi" are sad stories about national music, etc. .
"Mayday Life Unlimited Company" poster
In 2019, the only documentary films to be screened globally are "Freehand Rock Climbing" and "They Are Not Old" produced by the United States. The box office worldwide is $ 28.6 million and $ 20.9 million, respectively.
From various countries, the United States released 141 films with a total box office of 88 million US dollars, which is also worse than 2018. The box office champion was "They Are Not Old", about 18 million US dollars. Among them, Netflix's "American Factory" won the 92nd Oscar for best documentary.
68 Korean documentary films were released, with a total box office of about 40.6 million yuan. The box office champion was "Church Brother", which was about 5.2 million yuan. French record film masterpieces continue, but the box office is more bland.
Poster of "The World"
TV documentary decay, new media documentary rise
As far as documentaries are concerned, television communication is slowly declining, while new media communication is rapidly increasing.
From the domestic situation, the overall ratings of TV and advertising have declined, and the living environment of documentaries has become more severe. The report shows that the total annual production investment of TV stations is 2.313 billion yuan, which is basically the same as the same period last year. The TV documentary broadcasts are based on professional documentary channels, CCTV and first-line satellites, and local channels are supplemented. The pattern of professional documentary channels has undergone large-scale adjustments and differentiation. obvious.
In the works, last year's TV documentary also has such masterpieces as "The Second Season of Human World", "24 Hours in the City", "Two Hundred Years of Surgery", and "Chinese Plants Affecting the World".
On the other hand, new media documentaries have risen rapidly, with both high-quality blue-chip blockbuster films and light and dexterous short videos, such as "Breakfast China", "Life String 2", "History Those Things 2", and "One Hundred Years Long" "Wait."
The report shows that the total investment of new media is about 1.3 billion yuan, an increase of 18.2% year-on-year. The international cooperation of new media is getting closer and closer, and the rules and layout of documentary films are being reshaped.
"Life in a Row 2" poster
In addition, the report also shows that there is no overlap between the works on the top ten lists of Chinese TV documentaries and online documentaries, which shows that the audience is becoming more and more divided, and the intersection of the two groups is getting less and less.
In terms of content, the most popular new media documentary in 2019 is still a gourmet show. Like the global streaming market, the competition for high-quality content is becoming increasingly fierce.
In foreign countries, streaming media giant Netflix is facing competition, and Disney, Warner Bros., NBC, BBC, etc. have all begun to launch streaming media platforms. Some analysts said, "The days of Netflix's dominance are over." (Finish)