About 130 million audiences returned to theaters, with a total box office of over 6.8 billion yuan, the second best result in history
Chinese films set off again, starting with certain confidence
"The steady recovery of the market in the future is certain, the continuous renewal of new Chinese film forces is certain, and the relevant parties' policy support for the market is also certain. These together build the confidence that Chinese films will have when they start again." China Film Critics Society Chairman Rao Shuguang judged that confidence is the biggest harvest of this year's Spring Festival.
The national film market in the new year of Guimao is continuing to release potential energy.
Lighthouse Professional Edition data shows that during the Spring Festival in 2023, about 130 million audiences will return to theaters, and the total box office of the schedule will exceed 6.8 billion yuan, surpassing last year and reaching the second best result in history.
The two films "Man Jianghong" and "The Wandering Earth 2" broke through the 2 billion yuan mark, and the two super blockbusters, together with "Unknown", "Bear Infested·Stay with me "Bear Core", "Deep Sea" and "Exchange Life", etc., cover the types of Science fiction, suspense, comedy, animation, etc., meet the multi-level consumption needs of the audience with rich expressions.
The average word-of-mouth ratings of the six new films have also been recognized by the audience. Whether on ticketing platforms such as Taopiaopiao or communities such as Douban, they have all received the highest scores for Spring Festival stalls over the years.
Yin Hong, vice chairman of the China Film Association and vice chairman of the China Literary Critics Association, also mentioned the special highlights of this year's Spring Festival.
Compared with previous years, the box office was concentrated on the first and second days of the Lunar New Year, showing an obvious trend of decreasing day by day. From the first to sixth day of the Lunar New Year in Guimao, the single-day box office exceeded one billion yuan in the first five days. The one-day box office is also fixed at 970 million yuan.
"Audiences always have a desire to consume a variety of good films. In the Spring Festival, when all details will be magnified, the strong box office trend reflects audience satisfaction to a certain extent. With the return of tourist crowds, relatively high-quality supply is expected to provide This year’s Spring Festival stalls will have a greater long-tail effect.”
The emergence of new forces predestined the "promising future" of Chinese films
Numbers can prove that the market is recovering, but what excites scholars most is the people who created these data-it is the emergence of a group of new forces that give Chinese filmmakers the confidence to shout "the future is promising."
Taking stock of the directors behind the Spring Festival films, Zhang Yimou, born in the 50s, led the Spring Festival with "Man Jianghong"; Guo Fan, born in the 80s, repositioned the height of Chinese science fiction movies with "The Wandering Earth 2"; Pursue the eclectic combination of genre elements and personal artistic style in "No Name", the latter spent seven years polishing "Deep Sea"; "Exchanging Life" by Su Lun, born in the 1980s, handed over another achievement of a female director in a romantic comedy Shan; "Bear Infested: Stay with Me "Bear Core"" stands behind not only two directors, but an animation creation team of this series of nine major films in ten years.
▼Downloaded to the third edition (continued from the first edition) The seniors are still exploring their vigorous creative vitality. A group of "young people" who have not yet reached the "golden creative age of directors" have grown into a mature force and even the backbone of Chinese films strength.
However, it is obviously too narrow to define "new power" only by the director's age.
In the eyes of scholars and industry insiders, the real "new power" is more apparent in the long subtitles at the end of each film.
Planning, production, screenwriting, actors, and the scientific and technological talents needed for visual effects and production... These are the talents at all levels of the Chinese film industry and industrial development, who can win the future for Chinese films in the uncertain global industry changes.
"The Wandering Earth 2" is quite a typical manifestation of "new power".
In the production special released by the film studio, there are more than 20,000 staff working in front of and behind the scenes of the film.
The huge team has fulfilled many "impossible tasks" of Chinese science fiction films in the past, such as using biotechnology combined with artificial intelligence to enable actors to "go back in time" to perform their own youth, such as iterating the ability to produce a precise shot Ability to produce 1000 pieces in batches.
All of these present the latest standards for the industrialization of Chinese films.
The first-class visual effects of "Deep Sea" also have the same purpose. The film's first "particle ink painting" has a passport for Chinese animation to go to the world in the eyes of critics.
The consumption demand of Chinese audiences for movies is still there, as long as there are good content
Long before the opening of tickets for the Spring Festival, a batch of new films at home and abroad have been officially announced and confirmed, conveying the good news of the post-Spring Festival.
In this regard, Yin Hong remains cautiously optimistic: "Market recovery does not happen overnight, it depends on sufficient product supply, and depends on the audience." The audience is exactly the key item recognized by all scholars and practitioners.
Rao Shuguang said that in the past, talents, capital and audiences did not leave the arena, which was the "iron triangle" that propped up China to become the world's second largest ticket warehouse.
After three years of the industry's cold winter brought about by the epidemic, it is undeniable that hot money has left the show, and some audiences have become unfamiliar with the habit of going to theaters to watch movies.
"If we can determine N things this Spring Festival, then the audience is the variable."
Winning back the audience, in the final analysis, depends on high-quality content.
Several new films in this year's Spring Festival file reflect the multiple paths of creators to adapt to the needs of the audience and lead the audience's aesthetics.
In Yin Hong's view, "Man Jianghong" is Zhang Yimou's effective attempt to broaden the "movie-viewing population". Passionate, more friendly to low-frequency moviegoers, especially those who only watch movies once a year during the Spring Festival.”
Cheng Er's strong authorial style has brought "No Name" a certain viewing threshold.
Professor Shi Chuan of Shanghai Theater Academy commented: ""No Name" does not win by the twists and turns of the story line and the ups and downs. The overtones." He and several critics agreed that "the Chinese film market needs such "Anonymous", and also needs an author who insists on his personal style, so as to cultivate audiences with different aesthetic interests."
"Bear Infested: Stay with me "Bear Core"" appeared in the third place in the box office of the new film during the Spring Festival, which is unexpected and reasonable.
This series of animation movies derived from TV animation has been handing over a new work every Spring Festival since 2013. It has been with small audiences, and its relatively fixed audience has approached one billion yuan.
A young IP to gain "stable happiness" is not just a trick of targeting a specific audience.
Yin Hong said: "Intertextuality and co-creation of the same IP in multi-media, the self-innovation ability of IP itself changing without change, identifying themes such as science fiction and family affection that adapt to social emotions, and the technological improvement in 3D animation production etc., can provide inspiration for Chinese film creators." Rao Shuguang saw the vitality of the series of films: "We can't emphasize originality too much, but in the composition of the film industry and the film industry, series films and brand films should be It can become an important part of the future development.”
Someone once predicted: Generation Z audiences will bid farewell to the theater.
The experts' answer is: "The cultivation of the future generation of audiences requires long-term efforts as a strategic task. As long as there is good content, the audience will be there. This year's Spring Festival file proves that as long as the genre is rich enough, the story is good enough, and the content is hardcore enough , The emotion is enough to burn, and the audience is willing to enter the theater, regardless of age." (Our reporter Wang Yan)
(Source: Wen Wei Po 3rd Edition, January 28, 2023)