March and April are often regarded as "unpopular periods" by people in the film industry, but this year’s film market is particularly lively: there are different types and themes of films released every weekend. In March, 37 new films have been filed together, and in April, 29 new films will be filed, and major film companies and new films are being filed one after another. Among them, films such as "Keep You Safe", "Journey of Bells and Buds" and "Titanic" have been the dark horses and explosions predicted by major film platforms. In this chilly spring season, the "warm spring" of China’s films is coming.
"Keep you safe" leads the way
The film market was very lively in March.
In the past few years, March and April have been the traditional off-season of the mainland film market: from the audience’s point of view, students return to campus, and office workers also start a year of intense work; From the market point of view, Chinese New Year blockbusters have been released one after another, and the box office trend that is still being released has also reached a dead end. However, it is too early for May Day, and the audience’s willingness to go into the cinema is not strong, so few domestic films choose to be released in this schedule.
This year, both the arrangement of statutory holidays and the booking of new films are somewhat different from previous years: there is only one holiday in Tomb-Sweeping Day on Wednesday, April 5 this year, and five holidays on May Day, which means that there will be no small holiday before May Day this year. This did not affect the willingness to file movies. According to the Lighthouse Professional Edition, more than 100 movies were scheduled from February to April, a record high in the past three years. It can be said that the film market in China is breaking the popular habit of "relying on" small holidays and other holidays in the past few years.
In 2023, the box office has broken 15 billion yuan
The successful model is Dapeng’s new film "Keep You Safe", which was originally planned to be released on holidays, and finally the schedule was chosen on March 10, which is no small challenge. It is gratifying that this film became the first film with a box office of 400 million yuan after the Spring Festival, and the total box office predicted by Cat’s Eye Professional Edition also rose from 400 million yuan+to 700 million yuan+,exceeding the market expectation before the film was released.
In addition, Cloister Pavilion, which was released on the same day as Keep You Safe, is about to reach the 200 million mark from the original forecast of tens of millions. In March of this year, there were Broken Net, Wasteland and Thunder Shazan! The wrath of the gods, Megan and other films have been released one after another, breaking the dilemma of "the cold spot after the Spring Festival" in previous years.
"The reason why the national box office has been doing well in the past two months this year is that the Spring Festival movie market is hot and the long tail effect is obvious. After the Spring Festival, the abundant supply of movies can not only stimulate the audience’s desire to return to the cinema, but also lay a solid foundation for the recovery of the market and box office. When a certain number and quality of films are released every week, we are confident that the audience will return to the cinema, "Lighthouse Professional Data Analyst told reporters.
According to the professional edition of lighthouse data, the number of people watching movies this year has exceeded 40% of the total number of people watching movies last year, but the number of screenings is less than a quarter of the total number of screenings last year, which shows that the attendance rate has risen sharply. As of 17: 00 on March 19th, the total box office of China movies in 2023 has exceeded 15 billion yuan, about two months ahead of 2022, and the film market has obviously picked up compared with the previous two years. Judging from the films currently on file, it is estimated that by the end of March, the box office in the first quarter of this year will reach 15.3 billion to 15.5 billion yuan, and the box office in the whole year is expected to recover to more than 50 billion yuan, hitting the 60 billion yuan mark again.
Poster of Cosmic Exploration Editorial Department
There is an ample supply of films to be shown.
Titanic may become an explosion again.
In March and April, 2022, due to the epidemic, half of the cinemas in the country were closed, and the box office was even more bleak. The national box office was even less than 10 million yuan for several consecutive days. In March and April of this year, the "off-season" of the film market was not "light"-according to the data of Cat’s Eye Professional Edition, as of March 12, 37 Chinese and foreign new films had been released in March, and 29 new films will be released in April.
In the last week of March, the film market was very lively. The films released were mainly comedies, fantasy films and realism, and the overall atmosphere of the cinema was relaxed and happy.
As for comedies, the domestic films Great Night and Cosmic Exploration Editorial Department will be released on March 31st and April 1st. Cosmic Exploration Editorial Department is a high-scoring film with a wide brain opening. After the film appeared at Pingyao International Film Festival in 2021, it scored 8.7 points in Douban. The film tells the story that Tang Zhijun (Yang Haoyu), editor-in-chief of the editorial department of Cosmic Exploration, accidentally receives an abnormal signal from the depths of the universe, so he gathers his friends in we are both unhappy — to the sky’s end and embarks on a journey to find aliens. On Douban. com, nearly 160,000 people clicked "Want to see" this film where the earth people and aliens meet thousands of miles away.
Poster of "Journey of Bell Bud"
As for imported comedies, the Swedish-American co-production Otto has been released, as well as "Made in India" from India and "Mrs. Harris Breaking into Paris" from Britain will be released on March 31st (Friday). Domestic films also have realistic themes such as "Not Stop" and "Loyal Dogs and Eight Men". So many films are released together, which can be compared with the "Qingming file" in previous years.
Fantasy films are mainly imported from the United States and Japan. On March 31st, two American fantasy adventure films were released, including Dungeons and Dragons: Glory of Grand Theft and Escape from Cretaceous 65, which tells the story of traveling back to prehistoric earth 65 million years ago. The fantasy animated film "Journey to the Bell Bud" directed by Japanese Makoto Shinkai premiered on March 24th, and the pre-sale box office of the film had exceeded 100 million yuan the day before its release, making it the first imported film to break 100 million yuan at the box office in the three years since the epidemic.
"It’s not just the single-day box office on February 14th, May 20th and July 7th of the lunar calendar. On March 8th this year, the single-day box office of Women’s Day reached 57,659,400, an increase of at least three times compared with the previous two days. Therefore, although this year’s Qingming file only has a one-day holiday, it is still very attractive to the film, "said Mr. Cao, a staff member of a cinema in quancheng road.
Judging from the number of films to be shown at present, during the first week of April, where Tomb-Sweeping Day was located, movies were shown almost every day: the 25th anniversary of Titanic was shown on April 3rd, Detective Conan: The Dead of Baker Street was restored and shown on April 4th, the Super Mario Bros. movie was shown in Tomb-Sweeping Day on April 5th, and the Dragon Horse Spirit and Notre Dame de Paris were shown on Friday April 7th.
Among them, the replayed classics have the most explosive faces. "Titanic" won nearly 1 billion yuan at the box office when it was re-released in 2012. Every time it is shown on a small scale at major film festivals, it will become the "popularity king" snapped up by fans. The theatrical version of Detective Conan’s The Dead of Baker Street is a lot of childhood memories of the post-90s generation, and the IP influence of Super Mary is also huge. These films can capture many young audiences, and Titanic is likely to become one of the most popular films in Tomb-Sweeping Day this year.
Poster of "Journey of Bell Bud"
Limit gear setting phenomenon disappears.
The market is developing healthily.
Mr. Cao, a staff member of a cinema in quancheng road, said that as a staff member of the cinema, he deeply felt that the film market was gradually recovering and developing in a healthier and more stable way.
In addition to the recent good trend of "there are new films every week", Mr. Cao said that what makes him most happy is that the phenomenon of "limit booking", which has been common in the past few years, has not appeared again so far this year.
According to reports, the film side has carried out purposeful publicity and distribution around the film release schedule, which is already a relatively perfect business model. For example, films for National Day and Spring Festival are scheduled several months in advance. Mainly to give fans time and opportunity to fully understand the material information of the film, which is conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of the public audience. In the past few years, the phenomenon of "sudden withdrawal of files" and "limit file setting" frequently occurred, which are two direct factors affecting box office performance.
"Fortunately, this year’s Spring Festival and May Day films were announced early, and some small and medium-sized films in March and April were also promoted rhythmically. As the terminal of film screening, the cinema usually needs to consider how to arrange films according to the audience’s preferences, which gives the studio staff more leisurely time to prepare for film screening and gives the audience more choices, "Mr. Cao said.
There are also some films that fans are looking forward to, which have already been made and are now able to return to the big screen. For example, Ke Bai, Vivi and Zhang Songwen starred in "Endless", which was released on March 24th, and took advantage of the popularity of Zhang Song’s diploma The Knockout to promote it. This film tells the story of an investigative reporter who went deep into a dark place at the beginning of this century to expose social reality, which is quite like another Dying to Survive.
New Yellow River reporter: Xing Yuan
