The movie market, which had been deserted for several months due to the epidemic, finally came back to life in the summer season. " Life Events ", which is currently being screened in theaters, has exceeded 500 million in box office within 7 days of its release. Maoyan Professional Edition predicts that the total box office has also risen to 1.445 billion. The movie received a high score of over 9.6 on the Maotao ticketing platform, making it the first local film to hit both box office and reputation since the Spring Festival.
The film focuses on the funeral industry, but it does not seriously discuss death, but tells how specific people face life. The whole film has a warm temperament, and the genre-based narrative keeps the pace tight and provides many laughs. In the post-epidemic era, such a realistic-themed work gives consumers a reason to return to theaters.
was affected by the epidemic. Previously, the business of many major ticket warehouse areas such as Shanghai and Beijing was damaged, and "Life Events" was also withdrawn from the Qingming Festival, which was considered the most suitable. But now movies are on the rise in the summer season, which carries a richer variety of genres and a more diverse audience of moviegoers. It has made a good start for the restart of the movie market, and it has also reminded audiences that watching movies is still a daily entertainment choice.
A heartwarming story with laughter and tears
In "Life Events", practitioners in the funeral industry are called "people who plant stars". At first, it was just a romantic interpretation of children. In the end, the protagonist "set off fireworks" when dealing with his father's last wish. His behavior completely added a physical footnote to this description.
In fact, the theme of the movie is more about the mutual help of low-level characters. Through the combination of the characters of the unruly uncle and the unruly lolita, many dramatic conflicts are produced. The director also added a lot of traditional mythological imagery into the plot. For example, the image and personality of Loli are very close to Nezha, and the third brother played by Zhu Yilong always compares himself to Sun Wukong, and the relationship between the characters also changes accordingly. The comedy plot offsets the film's heaviness in discussing life and death, and the rhythm is more flexible.
Chinese people are very secretive about the topic of death, and it is even more inappropriate to discuss related topics in public. This also led to the absence of movies on this theme in theaters. The first hit movie with a related plot in theaters was "If You Are the One" directed by Feng Xiaogang at the end of 2010. Li Xiangshan, played by Sun Honglei, had a "cancer" during his lifetime after suffering from cancer. "Funeral" bid farewell to friends, and its absurdity is repeated in another version by the empty nester in "Life Events".
Until the summer of 2015, "Get Out!" directed by Han Yan. "Tumor King" is released, domestic theaters have officially released a commercial film with the theme of terminal illness. But at that time, an explosion occurred in Tanggu, Tianjin. A theater scheduling manager said, "The film needs to change its publicity direction for secondary marketing, and stop using tragedy as its biggest selling point." In fact, this film is not originally a sad drama, but a reflection on life wrapped in a light comedy form. The film's box office ended up being 510 million yuan, making it one of the top three most popular films in the summer season that year.
In recent years, realistic-themed works have gradually received increasing attention, and their commercial space has been verified. At the end of 2020, Han Yan explored the love and fear of cancer patients through " Give You a Little Red Flower ", and ultimately received a box office of 1.432 billion. Now, Han Yan is also the producer of "Life Events", providing support to new director Liu Jiangjiang in the creation of related themes.
In 2019, Liu Jiangjiang was shortlisted for the venture capital unit of the Pingyao Film Festival with his original script "Going to Heaven". After receiving approval from the investors, the project was officially launched soon, and Han Yan later became the film's producer. "Han Yan is the backbone of the project and can use his rich experience to help the team grasp the scale." Liu Jiangjiang once said in an interview, "There is no big deal in life except death. We made this movie. Ultimately, we still hope that everyone can live well. "
It is worth mentioning that "Life Events" has been planned to shoot a sequel, which will tell the love story of a girl suffering from cancer and a boy who opens a small shop next to the cancer hospital. Different from previous films with strong commercial attributes, big IP, strong genre, and emphasis on visual effects, the significance of the "Life Events 2" project is to expand the domestic sequel series of films into the blue ocean of realistic themes.The production methodology of the company behind
The registered screenwriter of "Life Events 2" Yu Min is the producer of " My Sister ". The producers of these two films are Lianrui Pictures. The former ranked ninth at the Chinese movie box office in 2021, and the latter set the highest box office record for domestic films during the Qingming Festival in mainland film history. Lianrui Pictures is also the main producer of "A Little Red Flower for You" directed by Han Yan.
It can be said that this type of drama film that is based on the real social context of China and explores emotional resonance has become the brand content of Lianrui Pictures. Mid-cost productions of non-A-level sizes are easier to recoup, and they also provide more opportunities for experimenting with genre films with different themes. At the same time, the compatibility with real society makes it easier to gain emotional recognition from the audience and become a dark horse or even a hit in the market.
Lianrui Pictures has participated in the production, production and distribution of 75 films since its establishment in 2013, with a total of 9 films with a box office of more than 1 billion, including "Hello, Li Huanying " and " Chinatown Detective 2" "" mermaid " is a hit with a box office of more than 3 billion. Among them, "My Sister" is Lianrui Pictures' first integrated production, distribution and production work, with a final box office of 860 million yuan. This time "Life Events" is its second full-chain investment work, and is expected to break through 1 billion box office mark.
Wanda Group is also one of the main producers of the film. As a cinema giant, Wanda not only participates in the production of films during important schedules, but also works hard to build momentum when the films are released. On June 24, the day "Life Events" premiered, Wanda Films announced that it would launch the "Wanda Films 2022 Shareholder Feedback" activity and sell movie theaters with an average market value of 200 to 400 yuan at a price of 1 yuan. Voucher gift packs and stored-value cards.
Two months ago, Wanda released its 2021 annual report and 2022 first quarter financial report. The annual report shows that Wanda’s revenue in 2021 was 12.49 billion, a year-on-year increase of 98.4%; the net profit attributable to the parent company was 106 million, and the net profit attributable to the parent company after deduction of non-profit items was 12.77 million, turning a loss into a profit year-on-year. However, in the first quarter of 2022, revenue fell by 16.01% year-on-year, and net profit fell by 91.42% year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2021, Wanda recovered from the epidemic with the Spring Festival film " Chinatown Detective 3". The business of its domestic affiliated theaters has gradually returned to normal levels. At that time, Wanda Film had a total of 712 theaters across the country, 56 more than before the epidemic in 2019.
Since movie viewing revenue accounts for more than 50% of its revenue, Wanda’s performance fluctuates with the epidemic situation. The financial report for the first quarter of 2022 shows that at most, more than 400 of Wanda’s domestic theaters were suspended. The box office was 1.94 billion (excluding service fees), a year-on-year decrease of 14.3%; the number of moviegoers was 44.2 million, a year-on-year decrease of 20%.
In this summer's summer release, the films " You Are My Spring ", " Mozart in Outer Space " and "Undersea Column: Cave Adventure", which are invested and controlled by Wanda, will also appear on the screen. The previously withdrawn movies "Hello, Brother" is also expected to be released in the summer. They not only carry Wanda’s revenue expectations, but also determine whether the summer season can continue to contribute to the growth of the market this year.
The summer season needs more hits
Based on past experience, the summer season usually contributes an average of about 25% of the annual ticket sales. It is the period with the best chance of earning tens of billions in box office except the Spring Festival season. The existence of
's summer schedule relies on the emergence of hot hits that are discussed by the whole people. For example, in the three years before the epidemic, "Wolf Warrior 2", " I'm Not the God of Medicine " and " Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes into the World " appeared respectively. The summer season contributed 5.6 billion, 3.1 billion, and 5 billion box office. However, among the 41 new films currently scheduled to be released, Maoyan Professional Edition shows that there are only 5 works that have more than 100,000 people wanting to watch them. Among them, the most anticipated ones are "Mozart from Outer Space" directed by Chen Sicheng and Animated movie "New God List: Yang Jian".
Due to the epidemic and other reasons, a batch of scheduled films last year have been withdrawn. Among them, there are many Happy Twist works with hit potential " Super Family " and " Alone on the Moon ". The number of people who want to watch them is respectively It exceeded 590,000 and 300,000. In addition, big-budget films such as Caitiaowu's "Deep Sea " and Beijing Culture's "Fengshen Trilogy " have not been finalized yet.According to industry insiders, the recent review and approval work has been delayed, and many films that are expected to be released in the summer are still waiting for approval.
Before the release of "Life Events", the imported film " Jurassic Park 3" first brought a certain amount of popularity to the market on weekdays after theaters resumed operations. Since its release on June 10, excluding special circumstances such as premieres, the box office on weekdays has basically remained at 30 million-40 million, which is the same as before the outbreak of the epidemic in early March. However, compared with the same period last year, there are still 10 million-level box office gap.
In addition, the film has also become the box office champion of imported films in 2022, but this is related to the lack of a large number of imported films. As of press time, the film's box office has still not exceeded 1 billion, which is less than half of the Hollywood blockbusters in previous years. This also shows that the audience is immune to Hollywood narratives, and our local stories and innovative types have more opportunities to impress the audience.
Looking back at 2020, theaters were completely shut down for 180 days, and theaters were only able to resume operations on July 20. The summer schedule was almost completely lost, but the market began to be activated with " 八百". At that time, the operating rates of important ticket warehouses such as Beijing and Shanghai reached more than 70%. The first day of screening and the first day of release were also the two peaks in the daily growth of theaters that resumed operations, and ultimately contributed 3.1 billion in box office.
In 2021, a period dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Party, the summer schedule will almost consist of theme films such as " Chinese Doctor ", "1921", and " Revolutionary ". In the past two years, it is precisely because of the box office revenue of top-themed films that the film market has regained its vitality. However, on the other hand, the themes of the films in the main schedules have been too single. Long-term audiences will inevitably be tired of aesthetics, and gradually lack expectations for theaters.
Judging from the current situation, the main theme film still occupies a major position in the market and is the main choice for the current ideological . Twenty domestic films, including " Changjin Lake " and " Operation Red Sea ", have been re-screened since July 1. It is not yet known how much they can contribute to the box office, but it illustrates the current insufficient supply in the film market. , there is great pressure in all aspects.
Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Filmmakers Association Ishikawa once said in an interview that the insufficient supply of films is on the one hand because the epidemic has caused many companies to close or cannot resume normal production, and on the other hand, film studios are afraid to invest because the policy is unclear. He believes that this is not only a waste of resources, but also dampens the investment enthusiasm of the industry. It is more of a wait-and-see attitude.
