The domestic theater market has ended and the battle between the various groups has begun

When the domestic film production and distribution industry has shown a situation in which several major companies each occupy the top of the mountain, domestic theaters have also begun to end the chaotic battle among the various groups and started a "snowball" model, constantly expanding their own market share through various methods such as expansion, mergers, and acquisitions.

Original title: There are a total of 47 theaters in China, and the number is too large. Buying and buying frequently occurs in acquisitions, mergers, etc., and theaters have begun to "snowball"

. When the domestic film production and distribution industry has already shown a situation where several major companies each occupy the top of the mountain, domestic theaters have also begun to end the chaotic battle among others and launched a "snowball" model to continuously expand their market share through various methods such as expansion, mergers, and acquisitions. When theaters with scale effects are formed, audiences will be able to get a better movie viewing experience.

"Buying" theaters is more efficient than building theaters

. As a member of the third echelon of domestic movie theaters, Poly Theater has used the power of capital to start a "snowball" journey of acquiring theaters. On March 7, Poly Culture announced that its subsidiary Poly Pictures would acquire 100% equity interest in Xingxing Culture for 680 million yuan. Xingxing Culture has 21 studios that have been opened, 4 studios under construction, and 12 studios that have been contracted but have not opened. Among them, 10 are studios jointly opened with South Korean cinema giant CGV, mostly distributed in first-and second-tier cities. This coincides with the high-end theater route that Poly Cinema has always adhered to.

Talking about the purpose of this acquisition, Liu Jianfeng, assistant general manager of Poly Pictures, bluntly stated that he wanted to quickly expand market share and lay out theater and theater resources in advance."To directly build theaters one by one, the efficiency is too low, so we should still use the power of capital to leverage faster."

After the completion of this acquisition, the number of theaters under Poly Cinema will increase from the previous 90 to more than 110, including more than 50 directly operated theaters. Although the scale is far from comparable to leading theaters such as Wanda and Dadi, it is the first time for Poly to break through the barrier of 100 theaters. All acquired theaters will also be renamed under Poly and incorporated into its unified management system. Liu Jianfeng also revealed that Poly will continue to pay attention to the domestic theater situation and will continue to acquire if there are suitable projects.

Dadi Theater, which firmly ranks second in domestic theaters, has not slackened in the process of "buying, buying". On January 25, Nanhai Holdings, the parent company of Dadi Cinema Group, announced that it expected to acquire all mainland theaters in China owned by Orange Sky Jiahe Entertainment (Group) Co., Ltd. for 3.286 billion yuan. Orange Sky Jiahe currently ranks among the top ten film investment companies in China, and already has 76 theaters with a total of 531 screens in China.

On March 10, Dadi Cinema made two more major moves. The first was to acquire a 40% stake in a film and television investment company in Enshi, which owns a total of 5 cinemas in Enshi and Wuhan; the second was to jointly invest with a company in Shaanxi A new cinema investment company was established with a registered capital of 10 million yuan, of which Dadi Cinema invested 4 million yuan.

After several rounds of acquisitions, the number of theaters in Dadi Cinema has reached 491, making it the largest number of theaters in the country. The reporter once tried to interview Dadi Theater Line, but the other party said that it was not convenient to disclose too much at the moment.

There are too many 47 theaters and low market concentration

."Domestic theaters are currently at an integration stage, and capital hopes to have more market share and competitiveness." Liu Jianfeng believes that mergers and acquisitions integration is an inevitable trend in the future development of the film screening industry. There have been no less than ten mergers and acquisitions in theaters in the past year alone. Wanda, China Film and Alibaba Pictures are all stepping up the layout of theaters.

According to the latest statistics from China Film Distribution and Screening Association, there are currently 47 theaters in China. In the view of film industry expert Jiang Yong, this figure means that there are a lot of domestic theaters and a low degree of market concentration."Except for the differences in brands and theater hardware, there are no particularly big differences between domestic theaters and theaters. The films played are all the same. If there are still so many quantities at similar levels, it is a waste of resources. Moreover, there are too many small and medium-sized theaters, which have high market risks and low competitiveness."

On the other hand, while theaters are constantly "consolidating", the number of domestic theaters and theaters is constantly growing. These two forces in completely opposite directions are tearing apart, which also makes the current concentration of theaters insufficient. According to statistics from the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, in 2016, there were 1612 new theaters and 9552 new screens nationwide, bringing the total number of screens to 41179, maintaining an average rate of 26 new screens per day throughout the year. The total number of screens in China has surpassed that in the United States, ranking first in the world. Small and medium-sized theaters continue to emerge, and the market share of large theaters has been diluted. Only when the number of screen construction begins to slow down will the effect of the collection of theaters gradually emerge.

Among the nearly 40,000 screens in the United States, the top 4 theaters account for 60% of the market, with large theaters accounting for the vast majority of box office revenue; South Korea is even more exaggerated, with 96% of the market being occupied by the top three theaters. In China, except for Wanda Cinema, which has a market share of more than 10%, the market share of other theaters is still relatively small. In other words, there is still a lot of room for integration in domestic theaters.

"Most of the current integrations still stay at the capital level, mainly to expand market share. The true deep integration is a natural adjustment based on the competitiveness of cinemas and will promote the healthy development of the industry." Liu Jianfeng predicts that within two to three years, more and more theaters will be acquired or closed due to lack of competitiveness, and domestic theaters will also usher in deeper industrial integration.

Only the audience will benefit from improving management and service levels

. What impact will it have on China films after the continuous integration of theaters? At the very least, for audiences, integration may lead to a better viewing experience.

Fan Jiadong, deputy general manager of Chengdu Runyun Cultural Communication Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Xingmei Group, said that when the number of domestic theaters reaches a certain scale, internal management will be deeply explored. "For cinemas, the core of the future is to strive for quality, service and marketing capabilities. Theater lines will help theaters improve their software and hardware levels, such as updating projection equipment and building the theater's brand influence."

Fan Jiadong pointed out that when theaters continue to integrate, theater resources will be utilized to the greatest extent, whether in the film distribution stage or in terms of promotion and marketing, and the cooperation method with the upstream film industry will be more direct.

However, if theaters cannot follow up on their own management levels in a timely manner, even if they are integrated, it will be difficult to achieve a better management effect on theaters. Zhang Xiaobing, director of operations at UME Film Investment, expressed some concern,"Is more than 40 theaters a lot now? If there are only a dozen large theaters in the future, it means that one theater will have to manage thousands of theaters. Do they have such management and service levels?"

Zhang Xiaobing bluntly said, If only say theater integration trend, Anyone can judge very optimistically, But after the integration of service management can keep up with, Is another key issue.

"The service of cinemas to cinemas is not in place now, and even the quality is still declining. Apart from making copies of films, theatres offer few services. So I have to ask first, what do theaters do for theaters?" She cited the release of "College Entrance Examination 1977" as an example to illustrate the current decline in the quality of theater services. In order to promote the film, some theaters printed the 1978 college entrance examination papers and sent them to the theaters. Many viewers felt very cordial after seeing the papers."Such creative publicity activities are almost gone now. The reason why cinemas join theaters is that they hope that cinemas can provide some support in various aspects, such as major customer activities, actor activity resources, etc. The human, financial and professionalism of cinemas are related to the service capabilities of their cinemas."

Editor: Nancy