Reporter Li Haoyue
The box office of the New Year's Day stalls in 2024 has set a new record for the Chinese film and television box office, and whether the Spring Festival stalls can achieve another good result has become the focus of market attention.
Beacon data shows that as of January 1, 14 films have been confirmed to be released on the first day of the 6 Lunar New Year (February 2024). According to the number of people who want to see it, they are "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space", "Hot and Hot", "Mr. Red Carpet", "Flying Life 2", "Article 10" and "Let's Shake the Sun Together".
"As an important schedule in the Chinese film market, the Spring Festival has been fiercely competitive over the years. Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the Spring Festival stalls are a key node to increase the total box office of the year, and the performance of the Spring Festival stalls is very important to the direction of the total box office in 2024.
Spring Festival comedy movies are piled up
As of now, the number of films released on the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2024 is the same as that on the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2023. In terms of subject matter, 6 of the 5 films released on the first day of the Lunar New Year this year are comedies, and the 2023 films released on the first day of the Lunar New Year in 6 cover suspense, science fiction, spy war, comedy and fantasy themes respectively. From the box office point of view, the total box office of the Spring Festival stalls in 2023 will be 67.58 billion yuan, and the 2023 box office champions and runners-up "Man Jianghong" (45.4 billion yuan) and "The Wandering Earth 2" (40.3 billion yuan) were born. This also means that if this year's Spring Festival stalls want to exceed the results of the same period last year, at least two popular movies need to appear.
There is a lack of science and technology films in the "The Wandering Earth 2024" type in the Spring Festival in 2, but Zhang Yimou, who won the box office championship in 2023, will compete this year with his new comedy "Article 2023". Beacon data shows that the producers of the film are Light Pictures and the Film and Television Center of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and it is a comedy film focusing on realistic themes in terms of content. It is worth mentioning that reality movies have swept the box office in <>, with the third place on the annual list "All or Nothing", the fourth place "Disappearing Her", and the sixth place "In the Octagon Cage" are all movies focusing on social issues.
In addition, "Bear Infested: Reversal of Time and Space", which has the leading number of people to watch, also has a lot of competitive strength, and this movie is the tenth film in the bear infested series. Producers include Huaqiang Fangte, Hengdian Film and Television, China Film, Tianjin Maoyan, Wanda Film, etc. For a long time, the bear infested series of movies will be released on the Spring Festival, and the box office has also risen overall in recent years. The box office of "Bear Infested: Wild Continent" released in 2021 will reach 5 million yuan, the box office of "Bear Infested: Return to Earth" released in 95 will reach 2022 million yuan, and the box office of "Bear Infested: Stay with Me "Bear Core" released in 9 will finally earn 77.2023 billion yuan.
Animated movies will also be popular in 2023, such as "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an" in the summer. From the perspective of industry insiders, the field of animated films has extremely high growth potential. On January 1, Yang Hai, deputy general manager of Ruyi Films, said at the 11 China Entertainment Industry Annual Conference that animated films are the most direct genre to connect young audiences, and they are also an important growth point in the future.
Institutions are optimistic about the performance of the film market
The investment in marketing and publicity also affects the audience's desire to watch the movie. Jia Ling used "100 pounds to lose weight" to promote the topic of the movie "Hot and Hot" directed by her, and the hot search data shows that the hot search volume of "Hot and Hot" far exceeds that of the Spring Festival movies in the same period, helping the audience of "Hot and Hot" to rank second among the 6 films. The producers of "Hot and Hot" include Xinli Media, China Film, Alibaba Pictures and other companies.
According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, there are a total of more than 6 film and television listed companies behind the current 10 works to participate in the competition. Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst of iiMedia Consulting, told the "Securities Daily" reporter that for listed companies, the Spring Festival is a must to fight. On the one hand, the Spring Festival stalls will have an important impact on the company's performance, and on the other hand, the Spring Festival stalls will play an exemplary role in the film market throughout the year, and good results will help the recovery of the entertainment sector this year.
At the same time, many institutions are optimistic about the performance of the Spring Festival stalls. Everbright Securities said that in terms of certainty, based on the steady improvement of the box office market, ticketing and distribution in the middle and lower reaches of the film industry and cinema film investment companies have shown growth potential. In terms of flexibility, based on the quality of the film, publicity, word-of-mouth, etc., the box office forecast is rationally viewed, and the production company with the potential for blockbuster films is expected to obtain greater performance flexibility.
Guolian Securities said that it is optimistic about the performance of the industry in 2024, and the recovery of the market will bring investment opportunities, and the growth of the film and television theater industry driven by the increase in the number of screens has become flat, and the future development opportunities lie in the supply of high-quality content. (Securities Daily)