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The summer season generally extends from June 6 to August 1, and in recent years, a number of domestic phenomenal films with good reputation and box office have made the summer a period for incubating miracles. This year's summer season has started hotly, and the dark horse is galloping.
"Compared with last year's summer file, this year's 'summer file' not only has more films, but also the quality of individual films has also improved significantly." Chongqing movie fan Liu Hongkui said.
When we were still worried about the recovery of the film market in the first half of the year, the summer file in the second half of the year suddenly broke box office records with a thunderous trend, and by July 7, the summer box office had exceeded 22 billion yuan. These days, the film industry and shareholders are completely hi. Chinese films seem to have been given some kind of magic, on the fast track of a strong recovery.
Tianyan inspection data shows that up to now, there are nearly 7,2022 theater-related enterprises in the country. Among them, more than 8540,14 new registered enterprises will be added in 8, with a growth rate of 3220.<>%; In the first half of this year, more than <>,<> new registered enterprises were added.
The ceiling of the summer box office keeps rising
As one of the three major schedules alongside the Spring Festival file and the National Day file, the summer file has a long time span and many types of films to be released, which is a "must-fight place" for major film parties. In fact, the box office of movies in the first half of this year has exceeded 262.52 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.114%. Many insiders predict that the "strongest summer file in history" with 150 films has been set, and the box office of the film is expected to reach 177 billion yuan, or hit the record of <>.<> billion yuan.
The reporter found that the box office of nearly 6 billion yuan in 10 days of release, and the movie "Disappearing Her" was a box office hit; "In the Octagon Cage" is adapted from the sensational "fighting orphan" incident, which is very realistic; "Chang'an 48,<> Li" uses animation to show the literary style of great poets such as Li Bai and Du Fu, and the <> Tang poems that appear in the movie have made many netizens call "blood awakening"; "Warm" uses a special street dance theme to tell a story of youth chasing dreams... Plus a number of imported films are released, which together constitute a feast of light and shadow this summer.
"I have never encountered a situation where so many movies that I want to see are released in a concentrated manner, and this summer vacation is very happy for people who love to watch movies." Miss Peng of Chongqing, who is keen on watching movies, told reporters that she bought several movies last weekend and watched them continuously.
Wang Xing, director of publicity of Chongqing UME Cinema, told reporters on July 7 that taking UME Cinema as an example, since entering the "summer season", the attendance rate of theaters has basically remained above 23%, and most of the prime time is more than 40% or even full.
"Today's audiences watching movies, in fact, are not simply watching movies, but can produce a certain topic effect, even people who usually only talk about work, have begun to talk about movies!" Wang Xing said.
IN FACT, IN ORDER TO COOPERATE WITH THE NEW ROUND OF MOVIE-WATCHING, IN THE FIRST HALF OF THIS YEAR, THE DOMESTIC FILM INDUSTRY INVESTED HEAVILY IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CINITY CINEMAS. CHINESE FILM COMPANIES HAVE OPENED NEARLY 140 CINITY CINEMAS. Wanda Film said that in the first half of the year, the company opened 35 new theaters, including 6 directly operated theaters, 29 asset-light cinemas, and 857 opened theaters and 7203 screens in China.
Western Securities predicts that as the rhythm of domestic films returns to normal, imported films are introduced one after another, the film market is expected to usher in a double vibration of supply and demand in 2023, and the annual box office is expected to be 450 billion ~ 500 billion yuan.
Capital is becoming more calm and conservative towards the film industry
Since the beginning of this year, the domestic film market is recovering strongly, and there are more than 30 film and television concept stocks in A-shares. From the perspective of stock price performance, film and television concept stocks rose by an average of 29.14%, significantly outperforming the market, of which Shanghai Film, Aofei Entertainment, and Tangde Film and Television all rose by more than 100% during the year.
From a film country to a film power, China's film industry still has a key way to go, and the entry of capital is also an important part of it. Take the popular movie "In the Octagon Cage" as an example, although it received a good box office, when the film was established in 2021, Wang Baoqiang searched for domestic capital, but hit a wall one by one. In the end, three of the four companies produced by the film's owner are Wang Baoqiang's own company, and only one is another investor - Maoyan, and Maoyan is likely to be "invested by Xuan".
Every film from creation to the big screen is inseparable from the help of capital. Until a few years after the outbreak, the film industry became a special hardship industry, and capital was almost completely withdrawn. "It's normal, there is no money to earn, and capital will definitely not pour into the film industry." Huang Qunfei, executive deputy general manager of Huaxia Film, said, "In the past three years, many companies that have been transferred to making films by laymen have basically stopped and withdrawn, but we have always stuck to this position. We are firmly optimistic about the future of the Chinese film market. ”
"From the successful experience of developed countries, it can be seen that without the promotion of the financial industry, a large film industry cannot be formed by relying only on films to attract funds, nor can it form the sustainable development of the film industry." Zhang Pimin, chairman of the China Film Foundation, said that in order to solve the problem of "financing difficulty" for films, it is necessary to establish a "completion guarantee" system with Chinese characteristics, build a complete financial system, legal system and industrial system as soon as possible, and strengthen the confidence of capital in investment and financing in the film industry from the policy level.
"Coming up with good works that are suitable for the moment will make investors more confident." Liu Ruifang, general manager of Zhenle Dao Cultural Communication Co., Ltd., suggested that a longer-term investment and financing mechanism should be established. For example, bank credit, funds, and institutional direct investment allow investors and producers to sit together and communicate and find more ways to cooperate.
Fortunately, this year, the film authorities have also resumed their original response within 20 working days in the filing and project approval of films. Coupled with the certain reduction of special funds for films, everyone has strengthened their confidence, and funds that have been away from the film industry for a long time are also eager to return to the industry. Zhu Yuqing, director of the China Film Foundation's Film Investment and Financing Development Special Fund, said that with the full recovery of creation, investment, production, distribution, screening and other links, the film market has accelerated its recovery, industry confidence has risen again, and the film industry has ushered in new opportunities for development.
Get rid of the dependence on the "holiday effect"
"We need to focus on small and medium-sized film and television production companies, not just industry giants. If the off-season box office market is also so good, it is really good. Xiang Kai, director of China's young playwright, told reporters that he hoped that the film and television industry would have long-term strategic policies to promote real recovery and let the audience see more good works.
However, in the view of Du Qingchun, associate professor of the literature department of the Beijing Film Academy, the current performance of small and medium-cost films is weak, and it is still a short board in the film market. There are many small and medium-cost films that are ignored by the market because of factors such as weak casts and insufficient publicity funds.
Yin Hong, vice chairman of the China Film Association and professor at Tsinghua University, believes that at present, some small-cost films with realistic themes are more than warm and lack sharpness. Compared with the important schedule with fierce competition, the daily viewing demand has not been fully released. Small and medium-cost films need to have higher pursuits from form, theme, narrative to performance, and provide audiences with "cinematicness" that cannot be replaced by other products.
Film is not only an artistic creation, a set of box office figures, but also an economic activity. Wang Bei, director of China Film Co., Ltd., said that in order to drive the market and expand consumption, it is not enough to strengthen supply from the creative side, but also to improve the adaptability and flexibility of the distribution and screening end to changes in demand with an innovative model.
She believes that China's film industry urgently needs to get rid of its dependence on the "holiday effect". There are more than 40 weekends a year, and doing a good job of "weekend files" and allowing more powerful films to be set on weekends will become the key to driving the continuous growth of the film market.
"In order to attract audiences, studios and producers launched a series of innovative marketing strategies during the summer. For example, the increase in investment in film publicity and promotion advertising, and the interaction between stars and audiences, etc., have provided strong support for the popularity of the film market. Liu Fan, vice chairman of the Chongqing Film Association, believes that for the expanding Internet generation, how to adjust the integration of traditional films and modern online dramas, and how to explore the power of Internet users, is a problem that any contemporary film should think about.
Li Guo
(Daily Worker)