Internet companies 'cross-border film and television paths are blocked or they can learn from Amazon Pictures' experience

The life of Internet companies in the film industry is not as fish in water as imagined. At present, the movie landscape of several major Internet giants such as "BAT"(Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) is obviously quite resistant and requires a difficult journey.

hot money for China movies. Due to the low barriers to entry, all walks of life are flocking to it. Under the banner of "Internet +", Internet companies are invading on a large scale, and are no longer limited to the end of the film industry, but are determined to control all aspects of the film industry. Although such ideals are full, the reality is very bony. The life of Internet companies in the film industry is not as fish in water as imagined. At present, the movie landscape of several major Internet giants such as "BAT"(Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) is obviously quite resistant and requires a difficult journey.

Xiaomi Pictures: Disbanded the film publicity department and

Internet companies to enter movies. Xiaomi Pictures is quite representative. In June 2016, Xiaomi Pictures was established. During the Shanghai Film Festival, relevant officials said that Xiaomi Pictures 'focus is on production rather than investment. On January 18 this year, Xiaomi Pictures reported that the publicity department would be disbanded. It was said that the reason for compressing the publicity department was,"Xiaomi wants to put its business center on its mobile phone and is not preparing to become a real film company. It will not have its own films, so there will be no publicity demand."

The adjusted core function of Xiaomi Pictures is to help the Xiaomi brand, mainly doing investment and implantation work, and no longer involving production. However, Xiaomi co-founder and senior vice president Li Wanqiang said at the time that he was still optimistic about Xiaomi's film path.

Currently, Xiaomi Pictures is participating in the final release of its first film. The film is the police and gangster film "The Bomb Removal Expert" produced and starred by Andy Lau. It will be released on April 28. However, the main producers of the film are Bona Pictures, Universe Entertainment and Andy Lau's companies, and Xiaomi Pictures is only one of the co-producers.

The work of investment and implantation does not involve production, which is obviously far from the original intention of entering the film industry. Although Internet film companies have advantages in users, marketing, and funding, they still have shortcomings in content production and professional talents. It is not easy to gain a foothold in the film industry.

Alibaba Pictures: It has suffered losses for six consecutive quarters

due to its lack of content production and professional talents. Alibaba Pictures chose to purchase shares in traditional film companies. The result of this spending is that Huayi Brothers, Enlight Media and Bona Pictures all have shareholders of Alibaba Pictures, so you will find that many domestic films you see in theaters will appear in the four big characters of "Alibaba Pictures".

However, everyone knows that content is king, so Alibaba Pictures is not willing to have no control over the movie. As a result, in 2016, there was "The Ferry Man", which was studded with stars but had a low reputation. This is the first film project controlled by Alibaba Pictures, but unfortunately it failed to get off to a good start. It is said that only after the box office exceeds 1 billion yuan will the film not lose money, and the final box office will be less than 500 million yuan. On July 22, 2016, Alibaba Pictures issued a performance warning announcement, stating that the company's expected loss in the first half of 2016 will increase by nearly 300% compared with the same period last year. This is the sixth quarter that Alibaba Pictures has continued to lose money.

Tencent Pictures: The box office of the first film was flat

. Like Alibaba Pictures, Tencent Pictures 'first main filming of "Juvenile" also failed to make its first hit.

In September 2015, Tencent Pictures was announced for its establishment, and Cheng Wu, vice president of Tencent Group, became CEO. Tencent Pictures 'investment in games, animation, and literature is popular in various fields, and it has a large amount of IP resources. Unlike competitors 'willingness to integrate vertically, Tencent Pictures pursues a content ecosystem chain, focusing on the industry's most upstream resources. Although the box office of the main works is average, the box office of movies such as "World of Warcraft" and "Smile" that Tencent Pictures previously participated in have good. "For movies, the biggest investment is patience," Cheng Wu said.

Tencent, which is not short of money, can take its time. But what's interesting is that Tencent has also established Penguin Films, Penguin Films and Tencent Pictures, which even industry reporters often don't understand. Penguin Films's original name was Penguin Films, and later changed to Penguin Films. Whether the dual-track operation will work well remains to be seen.

LeTV Pictures: The overall valuation has shrunk by 30%.

LeTV entered the film industry early and was established in 2011. In 2016, LeTV Pictures participated in 11 films, all of which achieved box office results exceeding 100 million. Among them,"Tomb Robber Notes" and "The Great Wall" exceeded 1 billion. However, the company's current valuation is only 7 billion yuan, compared with 9.8 billion yuan in May 2016.

It is reported that the box office failure of "Grand Ji", which LeTV Pictures controlled its investment, caused it to suffer heavy losses. Previously, it was analyzed that it would be profitable only if the box office was no less than 500 million yuan. In fact, the film's final box office was 383 million yuan. On the evening of February 10, LeTV announced that the reorganization of LeTV Pictures was still in progress, and all parties were discussing the valuation of LeTV Pictures. From 9.8 billion yuan to 7 billion yuan, Le Pictures 'overall valuation shrank by 30%.

Baidu Nuomi: The "opening profit" does not rely on the production

of many Internet companies that have entered the movie industry. Only Baidu Nuomi Pictures announced a high-profile "opening profit". It is reported that since July and August last year, Baidu Nuomi has begun to focus on empowering merchants, using platform technology traffic to help merchants manage membership and promote marketing. Under the guidance of the business empowerment concept, Baidu glutinous rice movies, an important vertical category of Baidu glutinous rice, have long abandoned the simple and crude method of ticket replacement, empowered merchant theaters through big data technology, and focused on integrated solutions to member ticketing and sales information. Solutions, theater business district position advertising, refined film distribution and other fields.

It can be seen that Baidu Nuomi Pictures 'profits do not rely on content production, but on O2O commercial operations. It integrates online and offline resources through the advantages of the Internet, comprehensively improves resource integration and operational efficiency, and creates a closed-loop model that integrates product resources, accurate data, promotion channels, and customer retention, bringing more considerable sustainable benefits to theaters, business districts, and advertisers.

Stone from other mountains: Amazon Pictures is not eager to chase box office

. Domestic Internet companies can compare it to Amazon Pictures in the United States. The company, which has just launched its original film business for more than a year, became the first Internet company to be nominated for Best Picture this year with "Manchester by the Sea"-"Manchester by the Sea" won six Oscars. Nominations.

Amazon said that in the future, the company will reduce purchases at film festivals and release more films it develops and produces, including "Boyhood" director Richard. "The Last Flag Flying" directed by Linklater. It can be seen that whether it is Netflix, which produces House of Cards, or Amazon Pictures, the purpose of their investment in movies is not at the box office, but to let well-known directors and actors see their determination and strength in content, thereby attracting More content producers work with themselves to develop homemade content.

Editor: Nancy