Various industries gather together to cross-border nugget the film and television industry is booming on the surface, 95% is a bubble

China's movie box office revenue is expected to surpass the United States in 2017 and become the world's largest ticket position; global box office revenue is expected to rise to US$49.3 billion in 2020 at a compound average annual growth rate of 5.97%, of which China will account for US$15.08 billion, more than one-third.

Another wave of film companies has hit the original title: 95% is a bubble, some scripts have not yet been written, and projects have been launched first. Since 2012, films have become more and more popular in mainland China. To be precise, the film market is becoming more and more popular in mainland China.

According to data released by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the total box office of movies nationwide in 2012 was 17.073 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.18%; in 2013, the total box office of movies nationwide was 21.769 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.51%; In 2014, the total box office of movies nationwide was 29.639 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.15%; In 2015, the total box office of movies nationwide was 44.069 billion yuan, the largest growth rate in the world, with a year-on-year increase of 48.7%.

More than a month ago, the "Global Entertainment and Media Industry Outlook 2016 - 2020" released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a world-renowned consulting firm, is particularly optimistic about the prospects of the Chinese film market: Chinese film box office revenue is expected to surpass the United States in 2017 and become the world's largest ticket market; In 2020, global box office revenue is expected to rise to US$49.3 billion at a compound average annual growth rate of 5.97%, of which China will account for US$15.08 billion, more than one-third.

One of the driving forces for the increasing prosperity of the film market in mainland China is the increasing number of film and television companies, which is also the result of market prosperity. Not only BAT, but also Internet companies such as Xiaomi, Jumei Premium, and 58 Tongcheng have also entered the film and television industry and established film companies. Moreover, as long as they are in the content industry and can get involved in movies, they have also established film companies, including content creators such as directors, writers and artists; video websites such as LeTV, Youku Tudou, and iQiyi; game companies such as Youzu, Langang, and Giant; in addition, there are also film companies founded by executives who left traditional film and television companies, etc.

Optimistic about China's film market, a large number of film companies have flocked to film companies established by directors, writers or artists (11). Many well-known online writers have established their own studios or film and television companies, but those with original text may not necessarily be able to develop films. Therefore, such companies generally sell their IP to film and television companies, or cooperate with film and television companies to develop their own IP. However, for developing films themselves, neither the funds nor the production capabilities are available.

Another example is a film and television company established by a director. They have their own connections and creative resources, and also have the ability to create films. They also have some high-quality movie scripts in their hands. However, when developing films, such companies will also cooperate with other film and television companies to share risks, and they will need to rely on more professional companies in the publicity process. This type of film and television company is actually closer to a traditional form, such as Galaxy Image founded by Hong Kong directors To Qifeng and Wei Ka-fai, Zedong Film Company founded by Wong Kar-wai and Liu Zhen-wei, and Stephen Chow's Starlight Company; for example, Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's Ghibli Studio, Kitano Takeshi Studio, etc. are all models of commercial success and artistic influence.

Film companies established by video websites (6) Why did video websites establish film and television companies one after another?

For the video industry, extending to the upstream content production industry chain must be an inevitable trend. The cost of video websites, both in terms of bandwidth and the purchase of film and television drama rights, is very alarming, and without original and exclusive content, they cannot compete with competitors. Therefore, video websites have been very active in making homemade dramas, homemade programs, introducing self-media, and establishing film and television companies in recent years, lest they fall behind.

Movies and games are the most popular forms of entertainment in the film companies (6)."Movie-game linkage" is generally considered to have huge market potential. There are also some successful cases of Movie-game linkage in European and American countries, such as "Resident Evil" and "Tomb Raider", especially "Warcraft", which has made a lot of money in China this year, has made many game companies jealous.

For them, with so many game IPs in their hands, how to increase the added value of games, enhance interaction with audiences, how to develop more value on IP, integrate the industrial chain, and create a large entertainment ecosystem are all things they are thinking about.

However, games and movies are different after all. The conversion and adaptation of game IP into movies is difficult to adapt, and second, the creative thinking is also different. This may also be the reason why there are not many game-based movies around the world. Before Shanda, today's Tencent has so many years of game accumulation, but it has not yet made a game movie. Also, Perfect World Film and Television has been established for nearly 10 years, and there have been no movie results.

Film companies (four) owned by financial or Internet companies saw that LeTV and BAT both had their own film companies. Xiaomi finally couldn't help but establish a film company in February this year.

He also jointly invested in Xinshengtang Pictures with Huayi Brothers in January. As early as November 2015, before Chen Tong, former editor-in-chief of Sina, joined Xiaomi, Xiaomi had begun to invest intensively in the content field, generally investing in Xunlei, Youku Tudou, iQiyi, etc. This is a top priority for Xiaomi, a company with many hardware and lack of content.

In addition, financial companies, e-commerce companies and O2O companies have also established their own film companies, which fully demonstrates how much capital is piled up in the industry.

Other newly established film companies (8) These film companies are listed above. Some of these film companies are newly founded by executives from previous film or cultural companies, there are also film companies jointly invested by Internet companies, and there are also wholly-owned subsidiaries of film and television companies.

Unlike film companies founded by directors, writers or artists, these film companies founded by film company executives have unique advantages. For such founders, they have a lot of resources and experience. It is easier to get film and television projects and are familiar with the operation of the entire industry chain of film and television works, so the probability of success is greater.

In addition to the varying degrees of cooperation between Wanda Cinema Line and Alibaba Pictures with Hollywood, there are more and more Sino-foreign joint ventures and cooperation projects in the film field. For example, Flagship Pictures, Aurora Alliance Pictures, and Oriental DreamWorks are all Sino-US joint ventures. The company basically adopts a Hollywood production team + China element stories + cooperation between Chinese and American actors.

The newly established animation film companies (4) and above film companies mainly produce animation films.

Sky City Pictures is well known for the commercial success of "Return of the Great Sage". It mainly focuses on the oriental fantasy themes of film and television effects and wonders; Color Bar House Pictures is a film company under Enlight Pictures with animation, comics, and fantasy elements as its core; Oriental DreamWorks is an animation and live-action film company jointly established by China and DreamWorks Studios... In recent years, domestic animated films have shown an upward trend in both quantity and quality, and local animation IP has gradually become the mainstream of the film market. Therefore, some animation film companies have emerged.

Mining IP uses all means to do, but they are not as keen on high-quality content as they say."What do China companies that raise pigs, make dairy products, open restaurants, make metal pipes, sell hardware, and set off fireworks have in common?

Answer: They have all become film and television companies." This is a popular saying in the investment circle in the past two years. Although it is exaggerated, without this exaggeration, it seems that it cannot describe the enthusiasm of capital and entrepreneurs for entrepreneurship in the film and television industry.

Nowadays, whether it is a film company established by an Internet giant such as BAT or a small and medium-sized start-up company, they talk about IP in any public occasion, and do everything they can to explore so-called IP resources. These include: adaptations and re-adaptations of literary classics: "Journey to the West","Strange Stories from a Liaozhai","The Assassin Nie Yinnian", etc.; adaptations of online literature: "Tomb Robbing Notes","Ghost Blows Out the Lantern","How to Sheng Xiao Mo","Lovelorn 33 Days", etc.; adaptations of works by popular writers:"Massage "," Little Times "," Jue Ji "," A City "," Taking Weihu Mountain (Forest Sea and Snowfield)", etc.; historical events and real events: " Hongmen Banquet "," Red Cliff "," Nanjing Massacre "," Dear"," Sauerong Husbandry Case"," Pacific Escape", etc.; Reproduction of real characters: " Confucius"," Hua Mulan"," The Last Emperor"," Mei Lanfang"," Ip Man"," Bruce Lee"," Golden Age"," The Legend of Li Na", etc.; Documentary films: " The Dream of Life"," The Emperor Penguin Diary", etc.; domestic and foreign IP movie remakes:" Spring in a Small Town"," Twelve Angry Men"," Blood Maze"," 100% Men"," The Little Thing of First Love"," Fate"," Hunting", etc.; game IP adaptations: Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Warcraft (There are no game-based movies in China for the time being), etc.; IP adaptations of songs: " Gardenia Blooms"," You at the Same Table"," Brother Sleeping on My Top Bunk"," Grandma's Penghu Bay"," The First Experience of Love", etc.; script completed purely for filming:" The Intruder"," The Old Man in the Mountains and Rivers"," Big Fish and Begonia"," Roadside Picnic", etc.... Although the sources of film themes are so extensive, in fact, China has not produced many excellent film works. This is too incompatible with the multi-topic China (whether in history or reality).

If you want to make a movie that is popular and popular, the first foundation is the script. A good IP may not be changed into a good script, and a good script may not be made into a good movie. That's not to mention scripts and movies created to catch up with this craze and purely to make money, such as the songs IP "Gardenia Blooms" and "Brother Sleeping on My Top Bunk".

There is another bad situation. All game companies dream of adapting their games into movies to make money like "Warcraft", but looking around, no one can be filmed. Those game companies are just saying that they have so many IP resources.

Almost all domestic film companies have announced their IP development plans to the media, such as how many films they will invest in one or two years. The actual situation is that making films is not as easy as they say. According to industry experience around the world, it is normal for a film project to be filmed for ten or eight years, and there are many projects that are eventually abandoned.

Wang Zhonglei, executive president of Huayi Brothers, complained at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival: "Those film companies have released hundreds of film lists and countless plans, but 95% of them are bubbles. There are very few good films, which has caused superficial prosperity and waste of resources. Some scripts have not yet been written, and projects have been launched first."

Many of the start-up film companies have a big appetite. In addition to the above-mentioned investment plans that are not commensurate with their own capabilities, there is also their so-called IP industry chain layout. They all talk about building their own entertainment systems and forming entertainment closed-loop, making movies, TV series, making derivatives, and even building theme parks... This is obviously to imitate the rhythm of Disney. But let's make two films first. The quality of domestic films cannot be slowed down while the quality of domestic films is slowing down.

The influx of large amounts of hot money should also be viewed rationally. Capital can prosper the market to a certain extent, help film practitioners make more films faster and more, and give more talented newcomers the opportunity to create. However, if China's film market is manipulated by capital or is excessively influenced by capital, how can we ensure the aesthetic taste of the film? Without the aesthetic taste and the pursuit of excellence in films, film practitioners will no longer patiently tell stories, and audiences will give up their hope for domestic films. In that case, won't capital's business dream also be lost?

Fortunately, in every era, there are always sober people around us to kindly remind us. Ang Lee's words at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival are still ringing in his ears: "In China, film is a very emerging industry.

Because there has been no such thing in the past few decades, there is a sense of novelty now, and hot money has also come in. Everyone's desire for knowledge is so high, I hope this is a beginning, not a peak. I opened it when I was 36 years old, and I am a very late acquaintance. Looking back now, I am grateful for my long childish period. When something can be touching, mature, and established, it has a natural power. Growth itself needs to be nurtured. Whether it is nurtured by the environment or young people allowing themselves to be nurtured, I think we must encourage you not to be too eager for quick success. Many things cannot be successful in one go."

Editor: Nancy