8 days, over 8 billion! The 2024 Spring Festival stalls are off to a good start, with prosperous results. Not only did the total box office for the period exceed the historical record of 7.842 billion in 2021, the total number of moviegoers was 163 million, and the total number of screenings was 3.937 million, it also set a new record for the best results in history, setting a new high for the same period in Chinese film history.
There are fewer blockbusters and more small characters. Comedies earn laughter and tears. This year’s Spring Festival season was not optimistic before. One of the main reasons was the absence of super blockbusters, and even the pre-sale results were not as good as last year. Compared with the past, the Spring Festival festival relied on big-budget movies such as hard science fiction and costume fantasy to drive the box office. This year’s Spring Festival festival “in addition to realistic-themed comedies, the rest are cartoons.” But this year's lineup also brings surprises to the audience and the market: "Hot and Spicy" tells the story of the "waste" girl Le Ying's transformation from fat to thin, from pleasing others to loving herself, and "Flying Life 2" targets a certain "Article 20" focuses on the efforts to safeguard fairness and justice through the story of temporary prosecutor Han Ming. The narrative styles are different, but both Handed in a good answer sheet. This once again proves the golden rule that content is king: you don’t have to be superstitious about big themes and scenes, pay attention to the joys and sorrows and values of ordinary people, and tell good stories sincerely to gain positive feedback.
The ticket price has become lower, the film length has become shorter, and it has achieved a win-win situation at the box office and word of mouth. According to relevant platform data, the average ticket price during this year’s Spring Festival is 49.2 yuan, which is lower than last year and the same period the year before last. From film studio ticket replenishment to local cultural subsidies to benefit the people, lower ticket prices attract more audiences to the theater. At the same time, compared with the movie duration of 160-170 minutes in previous years, this year’s Spring Festival movies are generally around 120 minutes. These two changes are not only supported by data, but also in line with the "feelings" of ordinary viewers. However, "reducing price" and "reducing quantity" do not "reducing quality". On the one hand, "Bear Bears", "Hot and Furious" and "Article 20" respectively won the box office champion of the Spring Festival animated films, the box office champion of Valentine's Day dramas and the The box office champion of family films, "Flying Life 2" surpassed its predecessor; at the other end, in the Chinese movie audience satisfaction survey, the overall audience satisfaction score was 85.9 points, and 4 films exceeded 85 points. This year’s Spring Festival stall is a hit and a hit.
What deserves attention and consideration is that there are many movies that have been withdrawn from the Spring Festival this year. On February 14, "Let's Shake the Sun Together" announced that it would withdraw from the Spring Festival schedule. Subsequently, "Mr. Red Carpet", "Huang Pi: The God of Wealth Cat from Heaven" and "Bajie: Under the Canopy" also announced their withdrawal. In response to this, some viewers laughed and said that the withdrawn films "cannot afford it", while others commented that the withdrawn films were "obedient" and believed that they were just left in a schedule that was not suitable for them in the first place. It needs to be noted that the withdrawal of a film is a commercial act and involves multiple considerations including costs and benefits. But this also left a revelation to the creators. Just because the Spring Festival stalls are big, it doesn’t mean that everyone can get a piece of the pie. As competition becomes increasingly fierce, schedule selection needs to be more cautious. Not only direct factors such as subject matter and style, but also promotion and film arrangement must be taken into consideration.
The Spring Festival is the first important period of the year and the cornerstone of the year-round film market. This year’s Spring Festival brings “steady happiness” and brings more confidence. We look forward to the emergence of more high-quality works in the film market this year, constantly refreshing the data, and bringing more surprises and satisfaction to the audience. (Sirui)