Domestic animated films still need the power of the wild, good stories and good reputation

Overall, this year's domestic animated films are still on the track of "losing more and making less". Perhaps, we should also give domestic animated films some time and patience.

Think about it, from the beginning of the year to the present, the best recognized animated movie is "Zootopia". I thought "Big Fish Begonia" would become a hit this year, but I still had a little regret in the end. However, no matter what, it was the best-performing domestic film this summer, and it made 4000 crowdfunding people make a fortune. Full bowl. Overall, this year's domestic animated films are still on the track of "losing more and making less". Perhaps, we should also give domestic animated films some time and patience.

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Big Fish Begonia", which has been working hard for 12 years, failed to replicate the grand scene of "The Return of the Great Sage" last summer, although the film's first day box office exceeded 70 million yuan, almost 4 times that of "The Return of the Great Sage", and ultimately earned 565 million yuan.

"New Big-headed Son and Small-headed Father 2: Becoming a Talent in One Day" was released on the big screen on August 19 this year, truly reproducing the essence of the original animation and letting the warm family love moisten things silently. On the day of its premiere, the film made great progress, with a schedule rate of 11%, an attendance rate of about 50% and a box office of 18 million yuan, stirring up this summer's summer season and becoming the most eye-catching parent-child animated movie this summer.

In comparison, although "The Throne of the Elves" has excellent pictures, it cannot make up for the gaps in the play. The box office in the first week was less than 20 million yuan, which is less than half of "The New Big Son and Small Dad 2".

Domestic animated films are so, the performance of sub-account animated films is more eye-catching,"Angry Birds" box office 514 million yuan,"Fantasy Forest" box office 980 million yuan,"Kung Fu Panda 3" 1 billion yuan,"Crazy Animal City" 1.53 billion yuan,"Looking for traces" can know China audience's demand and preference for content.

"The box office is the result of matching a movie with the audience, and the result of the audience paying for tickets one by one. Only when the two match well can there be a high box office." Film market analyst Nan Rumin believes that it is not that this audience is not good, but that there are problems with the film itself, which has triggered a series of effects.

For a film that should have a difficult market,"Fantasy Forest" is very subtle. After all, last year's box office of "Peter Pan" of the same genre and audience was less than 30 million yuan. Fortunately,"Fantasy Forest" has built a path entirely through word of mouth and special effects. "Of course, the choice of schedule plays a very big role, and the lack of films to watch during the same period also creates opportunities. Otherwise, films focusing on the children and family market will be extremely embarrassing in the market." Nan Rumin said.

As of now, the champion of the split film is the dark horse "Zootopia", which achieved such results through counterattack. Nan Rumin said: "The content ultimately won. It defeated gimmicks and IP. There are almost no shortcuts in the market. How you treat the audience, the audience will give back to you. Nowadays, everyone is beginning to pay attention to the script and content, but no matter how much you pay attention, this emphasis has to be multiplied by 5 to be its real energy. There is no doubt that this phenomenon will become more obvious in the future."

Domestic animated films have difficulty in financing, low scheduling, and short release cycles

. In recent years, both the production technology of the animation itself and the storytelling nature of the animation screenwriter have improved significantly compared with previous years. However, compared with commercial films, animated films still have many problems such as long production cycles, low industrialization levels, and uncertain returns. Therefore, problems such as financing difficulties and low release rates have not been solved for many years.

What investors spend is real money, and every key element must be weighed whether to invest or not. Liang Xuan, director of "Big Fish Begonia", once said that it took five years from the completion of the production of the samples to the receipt of the investment."During the five years, our team could only support it by taking on commercial projects."

From an investment perspective,"Rock Tibetan Mastiff" does not lack money, but there are various misjudgments about the market, causing a good movie to become a victim in the fierce competition. Markets are unpredictable and big data sometimes fails, which is confirmed again in this film.

In terms of distribution strategy, mature markets like to "chew slowly". For example, foreign animated film distribution is a long-term catch for big fish, and small-scale animated films are screened on a small scale. China, on the other hand, likes to be "short, flat, and fast" to make quick money. The release of animated films is operated and marketed like commercial films, which actually hurts the boundary spillover effect of domestic animated films. Even "The Return of the Great Sage", which has achieved both popularity and box office, has a screening cycle of only 53 days, and its effectiveness has not been fully released.

In addition, once domestic cinemas find that the performance of animated films is not eye-catching enough, they immediately down-stream them, making a considerable number of domestic animated films unable to last a week, or even just a "one-day trip", seriously affecting the box office output of animated films. Take this year's many animated films such as "Super Sun Duck","Throne of the Elf" and "Rock and Roll Tibetan Mastiff" as examples. Once they were released, they were distributed to 4000 theaters, and the final investment was difficult to get a return.

In Nan Rumin's view, this year the market blindly catered to the audience, but it lost guidance and self, so there were problems in every aspect of the film. Take "Kung Fu Panda 3" as an example, the schedule arrangement is its biggest weakness. If this film was released during the summer period, it would be almost the same size as "Monster Hunt", but the film was scheduled for the Spring Festival period, resulting in poor box office performance.

Lack of soft power is still a weak spot.

Historically, China's animated films have been extremely brilliant, creating world-recognized excellent animated films such as "Making a fuss in Heaven","Nezha Making a fuss in the Sea","The Magic Brush Ma Liang" and "Little Tadpole Finding Mother". Domestic animated films are not without strength in winning box office. 2015's "Return of the Great Sage" are good examples.

Relevant data shows that the number and box office of domestic animated films have increased year by year in recent years. In 2012, a total of 33 domestic animated films were released, earning 405 million yuan in box office; in 2013, there were 26 films, earning 581 million yuan in box office; in 2014, there were 28 films, earning 1.1 billion yuan in box office; in 2015, there were 37 films, earning more than 4 billion yuan in box office. The number of films has increased, and the box office has also increased exponentially. However, there are also shortcomings. According to relevant data, the box office of a single unit in the North American market in the summer of 2016 was US$154 million, 11.6 times that of China. Therefore, whether it is word of mouth or box office, it ultimately comes down to the creative level of domestic animated films.

Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Society, believes that on the whole, the creation and production of animated films in China lack stability. It seems that only occasionally a work such as "Return of the Great Sage" can emerge like a peak rising from the ground, lacking necessary brand protection and expectations. Moreover, low childhood, pediatric awareness and concepts still occupy the minds of many people. Therefore, so far, few first-class screenwriters and directors have intervened in the creation and production of animated films.

In the past, domestic animated films were prone to the disease of "young children". Last year,"Return of the Great Sage" opened up a space for imagination and creation for the industry, but it seems unrealistic to expect a "Return of the Great Sage" a year. The weakness of soft power such as creativity, stories, and ideological connotations is the weakness of domestic animated films.

Rao Shuguang said that if you compare China animated films with American animated films, a basic conclusion is that the gap is greater than the overall gap between China films and American films. There is no doubt that China's animated films have made great progress after more than 10 years of careful cultivation. The "Return of the Great Sage" and "Big Fish Begonia" that appear from time to time are surprising. "Although we once had the unique style and aesthetics of China animated films, and although we have formed a China school that has impressed the world, the road of China animated films from a big country to a strong country is still very difficult, rugged and tortuous." Rao Shuguang said.

Editor: vian