In the past seven years, the number of films released before the Spring Festival has been decreasing. The Beijing News interviewed theater operators and audience representatives calling for more high-quality films to enter this period to heat up the film market.
The time slot before the Spring Festival should not be wasted
From the release of "Temporary Heist" on January 19 to the first day of the Lunar New Year on February 10, in the 22 days in between, there has not yet been a significant new film scheduled. In the movie market one month before this year’s Spring Festival, audiences are already facing a situation of “no new films to watch.” The Beijing News reporter interviewed several theaters in Beijing and some audiences. Among them, the speeches and suggestions of Mr. Chen, a theater manager in Beijing, and Mr. Ma, a movie fan, were very representative. They both believed that this period should not be wasted and hoped that there would be More small and medium-cost, high-quality films can make full use of this opportunity to release, tap market resources in unpopular schedules, make the film schedule relatively balanced, attract more audiences to theaters, and boost confidence in the industry.
A small number of new films released before the Spring Festival has gradually become the norm
As of January 30, the top three films in the mainland film market's single-day box office list are "The Annual Party Can't Stop!" ""Provisional Heist" and "Goldfinger" have a total box office of 1.118 billion, 172 million and 511 million respectively, and these three movies have been released for 33 days, 12 days and 32 days respectively.
Since the release of "Temporary Heist" on January 19, no significant movie has been released in the mainland market in the past two weeks, and basically no new movies will be released in the week before the Spring Festival. This also means that in the three weeks before the Spring Festival, there is a gap in the mainland film market. The film lineup of theaters is basically supported by "old films", and there are no new films for the audience to watch. Some netizens commented, "The annual meeting cannot be stopped!" "The box office can exceed 1 billion. In addition to the excellent quality of the film (8.2 points on Douban), there are almost no competitors in the same period. It is also an important factor.
A similar situation also occurred before the Spring Festival in 2020. At that time, the top three positions in the box office list of the mainland film market were basically occupied by three films: "The Favorite", "Ip Man 4" and "Manslaughter", and the three films were released 24 days before the Spring Festival. , 35 days, and 42 days. The ultra-long screening time also pushed the two films "Ip Man 4" and "Manslaughter" into the 1 billion box office club.
The reporter combed through the key films released in mainland theaters one month before the Spring Festival in the past seven years from 2018 to 2024, and found that the data in 2018 and 2019 were pretty good in terms of the number of films released and the box office performance of the films. In 2018, "The Greatest Showman" and "Antarctic Love" were only released two weeks before the Spring Festival, but they ended up taking 101 million and 234 million box office respectively, which was not easy. In 2019, "Deadpool 2" was released 10 days before the Spring Festival, and it even made 286 million in box office. In recent years, the number of new films in mainland theaters has decreased significantly in the month before the Spring Festival, and there are basically no new films released in the last two weeks.
One month before this year's Spring Festival, four new films were released, including "What's in the Zoo", "The Beekeeper", "Heavy Rain" and "Temporary Heist". Only "Temporary Heist" has a box office of over 100 million, and currently has a box office of 172 million. In fact, some films were released during this period, but the size or quality of the films were worrying and did not cause much splash in the market. For example, "A Thousand Bones", which was released on January 20, was adapted from the TV series of the same name. However, after its release, the box office was dismal, earning only more than 6 million yuan. It also encountered widespread negative reviews, with a Douban score of only 3.3 points. In response, the director also recorded a video on social platforms to apologize to investors. On January 26, a Thai movie "The World Owes Me" was introduced to the mainland, but no one paid attention to it, with a box office of only 414,000.
In sharp contrast to the fact that no new films have been scheduled before the Spring Festival, many films have set their schedules after the Spring Festival. Currently, the films that have been officially announced include "Argyle: The Secret Agent" and "I Still Think You're the Best 2" to be released in the second half of February, and "Dune 2", "The Three Evils" and "Mrs. Spider" to be released in March. : Psychic Awakening", "Killing", "I Lost You", "Kong Soo", "She's Brilliant", "Kung Fu Panda 4", "Falling Judgment", "Godzilla vs. Kong 2: Rise of an Empire", etc., and "Oppenheimer" and "Dune" will be re-released.
Why are there no films to release before the Spring Festival? Because of "schedule dependence syndrome"
Mr. Chen, a representative of the theater manager, said in an interview with the Beijing News that the embarrassing situation of no films to be released in the mainland market before the Spring Festival has been around since the Spring Festival period became popular, and many films will basically avoid the period before the Spring Festival. Because the release cycle of large-scale movies in theaters is one month, and the Spring Festival is approaching, the fiercely competitive Spring Festival basically will not give any chance to "old movies", so new movies released two weeks or even a week before the Spring Festival will not be released in the theaters during the Spring Festival. The first day of the new year will be "cut in half", and the window period of theaters will be shortened.
As the mainland film market’s largest schedule of the year, the status of the Spring Festival schedule is unquestionable. The annual box office in 2023 is 54.927 billion, and the Spring Festival box office is 6.765 billion. The seven-day box office results account for 12% of the total box office for the whole year. Manager Chen said that both the film studios, theaters and audiences have serious "schedule dependence" on the Spring Festival schedule. Film studios will bet important films on the most important schedule of the year and invest a large amount of publicity funds, just to win a win. The box office; theaters have prepared various materials in advance for the Spring Festival, striving to serve the audience well and strive for maximum box office revenue; the audience has tightened their pockets before the Spring Festival, preparing to spend their money wisely. This has formed a "vicious cycle". Film producers are unwilling to release movies a few weeks before the Spring Festival. As a result, there are no new movies to be screened in theaters, and audiences have no movies to watch, and they are even less willing to go into theaters to consume.
Mr. Ma, a fan representative, told the Beijing News that he goes to the theater once a month on average. The last time he went to see "The Annual Party Can't Stop!" was on New Year's Day. ", it has been a month since I went to the theater. "There are no movies that I am interested in, and there are no new movies. There are too few movies to choose from." At the same time, some viewers said that they will be busy with work before the Spring Festival and do not have time to go to the cinema. They also have some personal relationships and prepare New Year's goods. The cost during this period is relatively high and they do not want to spend money on watching movies.
In Manager Chen’s view, this reliance on important schedules will mislead the audience’s consumption habits. Audiences will develop the habit of not watching movies at ordinary times and only consuming during important schedules. This will lead to polarization in the film market. Phenomenon, theaters are full during important schedules such as Spring Festival and National Day, but during normal non-important schedules, the market is deserted and theaters are empty. This is harmful to the entire film market, especially for some small and medium-cost films. It will be more difficult to survive.
For film studios, if they want small and medium-cost films to enter some popular schedules, without stars, resources, and budget, they will not be able to schedule films at all, and the pressure on distribution will increase. And if it is shown during an unpopular period, I am worried that the entire market will be too cold and not many audiences will come to the theater to support it. As a result, a rather embarrassing situation has formed: top films are highly competitive and their box office is getting higher and higher, while some small and medium-cost films, especially some literary and artistic films, are becoming increasingly difficult to survive in the market. The film market still needs to pay attention to the balanced development of schedules, and there must be room for both blockbusters and small films.
It is necessary to fully tap the market resources of unpopular schedules
Although the Spring Festival period is important, the period one month before the Spring Festival period is equally important and should not be wasted. How to make good use of the schedules before the Spring Festival, tap the market resources of unpopular schedules, and make the schedules more balanced, this is the relatively healthy development trend of the film market.
Mr. Ma, a movie fan, said that the period before the Spring Festival is when students are on winter vacation, and some film studios can put some animated films in this period. Currently, three animated films have been scheduled for this year's Spring Festival. Compared with "Bear Bears Reversal of Time and Space", the other two "Bajie: The Lower World of the Canopy" and "Huang Pi: The God of Wealth Cat from Heaven" are likely to be scheduled later. They were greatly squeezed and could not achieve the ideal box office, but if they were released a few weeks before the Spring Festival, since there would be no competition, they might be able to win more box office.
In addition, the period before the Spring Festival is also a good time for the release of some artistic and approved films. Manager Chen said that the competition for popular schedules is fierce, and it is difficult for small-scale films to get good screenings. Most of them are "one-day tours", and some are not even scheduled. But if these literary and artistic films with good reputations and approved films are placed in During non-popular schedules, relying on word-of-mouth fermentation, it may achieve good box office results. The documentaries "Four Spring" and "Wuhan Days and Nights" released before the Spring Festival in 2019 and 2021 received box office of 11.47 million and 24.3 million respectively. The two Japanese-approved films "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas" and "The Rise of Ultraman Iron Dragon" released on January 18, 2019, took in 23.9 million and 44.65 million box office respectively, which shows that this unpopular period still has potential. Can be dug.
In response to the shortage of films in the pre-Spring Festival period, film critic Sha Dan recently posted on a social platform: In fact, new films are hesitant during this period, which is completely understandable. May I suggest that we release more classic films together? For example, just imagine, wouldn't it be great to take advantage of the popularity of Wong Kar-Wai's "Flowers" to re-screen the 4K restored versions of "Days of Being Wild" and "In the Mood for Love"?
Regarding the idea of re-screening classic films, Manager Chen said that the film studio is completely able to operate it. The film studio can contact the copyrights of some classic films. The price will not be too high. If they are released on non-important schedules in the mainland, they may achieve good box office results. Because classic films have a guaranteed reputation and are relatively well-known to audiences, part of the publicity and distribution costs are saved. On January 3, 2020, three weeks before the Spring Festival, "Life is Beautiful", the Oscar-winning foreign language film, was re-released in the mainland, taking in a box office of 59.78 million. This result is quite good for a re-released film.
In the view of Mr. Ma, a movie fan, it may be a waste of resources that movies are released during popular periods. Because the ticket prices for movies in popular schedules are higher, after all, viewers will only choose the one or two movies they are most interested in watching, and the frequency of movie viewing will decrease. The average ticket price in the mainland market in 2023 is 42.2 yuan, while the average ticket price during the Spring Festival in 2023 is 52.3 yuan, which is a full 10 yuan higher.
Manager Chen said that in order to fundamentally solve the "schedule dependence" of film producers and audiences, we must allow truly competitive blockbusters to dare to enter unpopular schedules, use the resources of popular movies to drive consumption of unpopular schedules, and let the market as a whole take precedence. Warm up. In Manager Chen’s view, some film producers must dare to be pioneers in the market and have the courage to blaze a trail for the market. "Some heavyweight films should not be squeezed into those big schedules. If they have big stars, big directors, and big scenes, they just want to go to the Spring Festival schedule. This kind of distribution idea has become a routine. Film producers are still too cautious in choosing schedules. You have to be innovative.” Manager Chen believes that the schedule is just a marketing tool. The most important thing for a movie is its content and quality. As long as the film is of excellent quality, no matter which schedule it is placed in, there is a chance that word-of-mouth will translate into box office and achieve good results. Instead of competing for success in popular schedules, it is better to present more films with different themes and diverse types to the audience during ordinary schedules. This is a healthy film market environment. (Beijing News reporter Teng Chao)