Rao Shuguang
In addition to the total box office of 6.758 billion yuan, this year’s Spring Festival stalls are also known as “the strongest Spring Festival stalls in history”, “the strongest Spring Festival stalls in word of mouth”, “the longest Spring Festival stalls in history” and so on. From these titles, we can see not only the recognition of all parties on the overall quality of the Spring Festival file, but also the expectations of all parties for Chinese movies in the new year.
Looking back at the entire Spring Festival file, there are both excitement and surprises, as well as disappointment and regret. In this way, the 2023 Spring Festival file carries the expectations of all parties, and strives to move towards the new hope and new future of Chinese films.
Topic is an important guarantee for a film’s high box office
Movies are an attention economy. It needs to arouse the audience’s maximum attention and attention in a unit of time, and attract the largest audience. One of the keys to this is that the film should generate topics in every possible way, or in the words of young netizens, “buried”, which will trigger collective discussions among the audience, and then extend to the whole society’s attention to the film. The level of topicality not only plays an important role in the early stage of the film’s release, but also has key significance for the market trend of the film after it is released.
According to the data of Maoyan Professional Edition, in the situation of “two heroes and more strong” in this year’s Spring Festival, “Manjianghong” and “Wandering Earth 2” ranked the top two in the total box office list. And delving into the reasons why the two films can stand out in such a fiercely competitive schedule, one of the common points is that the two have maintained a good degree of discussion before and after the release of the film. First of all, from the perspective of the main creative teams of the two. The director of “Man Jianghong” Zhang Yimou, starring Shen Teng, Yi Yanqianxi, Yue Yunpeng, etc., “The Wandering Earth 2” starring Wu Jing, Andy Lau, etc., all have their own traffic and topicality. Similarly, because of the high awareness and popularity of the first film among the audience, “The Wandering Earth 2” has attracted the attention of many audiences before it was released. At the same time, the film starring Wu Jing, Andy Lau and others also have their own traffic and topicality. Secondly, judging from the themes of the two, “Manjianghong” naturally has big IPs such as poems of the same name and Yue Fei, while “Wandering Earth 2” has the recognition and popularity of the previous work. Therefore, according to the data provided by the professional version of Maoyan, the cumulative number of topics and discussions on the hot search list of the two films also occupy the forefront of the films released in the same period.
The good topicality of the film has attracted more viewers’ attention to the film, thereby attracting more viewers to watch. The viewing of more audiences and the better quality of the film itself further make it more topical and discussed, which in turn attracts more audiences to pay attention to and even watch the film. The two films became the “dual heroes” at the box office during the Spring Festival amidst such a benign change of topics. Therefore, from many perspectives, topicality is still one of the important and effective ways for Chinese films to get good feedback.
Of course, behind the topicality is the taste and quality of the film. Without the guarantee and support of film taste and quality, topicality itself cannot go too far.
The genre covers a variety, but “family carnival” and its core are still dominant
In the past, most viewers’ impressions of the schedule formed by the Spring Festival movies were comedies, family carnivals, etc. In this year’s Spring Festival, this impression has not been completely broken and subverted, but with the continuous optimization and maturity of the schedule, it has gradually developed towards diversification. Impressions, on the other hand, hope to obtain a family carnival expression and effect in the announcement or presentation of the story content.
For example, “Man Jianghong” is a work full of suspenseful elements, but the film’s announcement and marketing focus on “comedy”, which highlights the comedy effect that the film may bring. The slogan of the film is “Enough Suspense, Laugh to the Last”. Yang Qianxi’s performance also tried her best to create a joyous and festive atmosphere. What cannot be ignored is that the selection of actors with obvious comedy labels such as Shen Teng and Yue Yunpeng also shows to a certain extent that the relevant parties of the film hope to increase the comedy impression and comedy effect of the film to the audience.
Similarly, “The Wandering Earth 2” is more inclined to the most basic human emotions such as family, friendship, and love, whether in the expression of film content or in the focus of publicity and marketing. In the film, Liu Peiqiang took his wife back to her hometown in Shanghai in order to realize her last wish. The two missed their former home in the ruins; Tu Hengyu lost his daughter by accident, and he hoped to create a digital life for his daughter through numbers; astronaut Zhang Peng At the last moment of his life, he pointed out the way for Liu Peiqiang to survive, and the film always emphasizes that he should “fight for his family” and “fight for the next generation”. In terms of marketing, the theme song of the film emphasizes “love and companionship”; single-person trailers such as Liu Peiqiang and Tu Hengyu also revolve around relatives and lovers.
Whether it is the emphasis on comedy in “Man Jianghong” or the emphasis on family, family, friendship, and love in “Wandering Earth 2”, they all hope to realize the expression and presentation of family carnival, so as to arouse a wider audience. More audiences’ enthusiasm for watching movies. At the same time, “Bear Infested: Stay with Me “Bear Core”” was able to occupy the third place in the box office in the fierce competition for the Spring Festival, which also shows the influence of the family carnival to a certain extent.
In addition, the movie “Deep Sea” incorporates more fantasy genres and concerns about depression groups in the form of animation suitable for all ages; “Exchanging Lives” is a comedy movie, and its content expression implies some current hot spots question.
From the above analysis combined with the box office performance of the Spring Festival file, it can be seen that although the types of films are diverse, for now, family carnival still occupies an important position in the Spring Festival file, which is the key to the good benefits of the Spring Festival file. From another point of view, there is still a relatively obvious schedule dependence in current Chinese films, and if Chinese films want to achieve healthy development, it is inevitable to optimize their schedules. Audiences’ movie consumption and appreciation are diversified, so one of the keys to optimizing important schedules such as the Spring Festival is to provide diversified, multi-type, and multi-variety movies to meet the viewing needs of different audiences. In this way, although this year’s Spring Festival film variety has not achieved substantial and obvious results, it is to a certain extent a reflection of the development of Chinese films in recent years, and it also provides more possibilities for the development of Chinese films.
The series of movies show the advantages and effects of the series
Another notable phenomenon in this year’s Spring Festival file is the advantages and effects of the series of movies. This advantage and effect is prominently reflected in the comparison of the box office and attendance before and after the release of the movie “No Name” and “Bear Infested: Be with me “Bear Core””.
“No Name” is a film directed by Cheng Er, starring Tony Leung, Wang Yibo and others. Before it was released, the strong influence of the main creative team brought a high degree of attention and topicality to the film. Before its release, “No Name” once surpassed “Man Jianghong” and “The Wandering Earth 2” to become the number one box office pre-sale during the Spring Festival. According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, when the film was officially released on the first day of junior high school, “No Name” achieved a box office of 137 million, ranking third at the box office, and “Bear Infested: Stay with Me “Bear Core”” ranked fourth. But on the second day after its release, “Bear Infested: Stay with Me “Bear Core”” surpassed “No Name” and ranked third, and it continued to maintain it. At the same time, although “Bear Infested: Stay with Me “Bear Core”” was not as good as “Unknown” at the box office on the first day of its release, the film’s 59.9% attendance rate was significantly higher than “Unknown”‘s 41.8% attendance rate, ranking among the most popular during the Spring Festival that day. The first place among all the films released in the file.
Of course there are many reasons for this, but a very important one is the advantages and effects of the series of movies in “Bear Infested: Be with Me “Bear Core”” itself. This film is the ninth part of the “Bear Infested” series. With the accumulation of the first eight films, this series has formed a relatively stable series of film brands, forming a “reliability trust” and even “honesty trust” with the audience. “, can provide target audience groups with “guaranteed viewing pleasure”. This also means that there is more emotional connection and stable relationship between the two, thus establishing a long-term relationship. At this time, the audience’s consumption of the series is not only a “transactional psychological contract” but a “relational psychological contract”. This will prompt the audience to consume the series of movies, including the selection and consumption of the new movie “Bear Infested·Stay with Me “Bear Core”” in the series of movies.
Compared with “Bear Infested: Stay with Me “Bear Core”, “No Name” has a good topicality, but it has not established “honest trust” with more audiences. It is still a “transactional psychological contract”, and there are more transactional relationships. In addition, after the film was released, the film lacked in establishing empathy and resonance with most audiences, so it was slightly weak in the face of the “Bear Infested” series, which has established emotional connections and stable relationships with many audiences.
The same is true for “The Wandering Earth 2”. The signal that the first movie won the audience’s “reliability and trust” was released, which provided the audience with the quality signal of the series of movies more directly, and promoted the audience’s attention, choice and consumption of “The Wandering Earth 2”.
The 2023 Spring Festival file carries too much meaning, including obvious “retaliatory consumption”; and its many performances have also made many Chinese filmmakers who were once confused and even disappointed see the possibility and hope of Chinese films again. According to the author’s personal observation, there will also be a retaliatory rebound in tourism during the Spring Festival in 2023, diverting a considerable part of the audience. Therefore, the author predicts that after the Spring Festival in 2023, there may be the strongest “post-Spring Festival” in history. In any case, in the face of Chinese films that urgently need structural adjustment and upgrading, Chinese filmmakers should take this year’s Spring Festival as an opportunity to work hard and strive to create a better tomorrow for Chinese films.
(The author is a film theorist and president of the China Film Critics Society)
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责编：张晓荣 ]
