The box office performance in the first quarter fell short of the 2016 influx of imported blockbusters into the hard-to-change market decline

The popularity of the Spring Festival period once triggered expectations in the industry for this year's film market. However, as the main films of the Spring Festival period gradually delisted, following the decline in the box office of movies in February, the box office performance in March also continued the decline in February.

The popularity of the Spring Festival period once triggered expectations in the industry for this year's film market. However, as the main films in the Spring Festival period gradually delisted, following the decline in the box office in February, the box office performance in March also continued the decline in February. According to data, as of press time, the box office of movies in March was 3.14 billion yuan, a gap of 600 million yuan compared with the 3.76 billion yuan in March last year. In addition, starting from this year, online ticketing service fees have been included in box office statistics. If this factor is excluded, the box office of movies in March will drop even more.

Judging from the released films, there are still many popular films throughout March. Imported blockbusters such as "Wolverine 3: The Battle of the Death","King Kong: Skull Island","A Dog's Mission", and "Beauty and the Beast" accounted for more than 3 billion yuan's box office results accounted for most of the movie box office in March. However, judging from the final results, due to the relatively sluggish performance of domestic films, the best box office performance film "Happy Comedian" even had less than 100 million yuan. The repeated release of many popular imported blockbusters has intensified competition for the film, and the box office results have also fallen short of expectations.

"Although there were many imported films in March this year, due to the audience's movie-watching habits, March after the Spring Festival holiday has always been the off-season for movies in China. In addition, compared to series films such as "Transformers", special effects blockbusters such as "Wolverine 3: The Battle of the Death" and "King Kong: Skull Island" are still medium-sized films. From the evaluation point of view, the movie plots are also too Hollywood routine. As the audience gradually rationalizes watching movies, it is difficult for such imported blockbusters to achieve phenomenal box office performance." Liu Jianfeng, director of the public affairs department of Poly Pictures Investment Co., Ltd., said this.

In addition to the impact of the schedule and the film itself, the decline in box office also stems from the reduction in ticket compensation efforts on online ticketing platforms. Previously, in order to expand market share, online ticketing platforms vigorously promoted ticket subsidies, with movie ticket prices as low as a dozen yuan or even a few yuan. However, since 2016, the overall growth rate of the film market has slowed down, and online ticketing platforms have also begun to reduce the scale of ticket compensation, turning to the upper reaches of the film industry chain by taking advantage of Internet technology and other advantages. "In the past few years, due to the leverage effect brought by the capital boom, the film market has also ushered in a period of rapid development. However, this is not the norm in the film market. As capital becomes more rational, the decline in the box office of movies is also an inevitable stage. The future development of the film market also needs to be deleveraging and return to the creation of the essential content of the film." Liu Jianfeng said.

Currently, there are a few days left in March. Although imported films such as "King Kong: Skull Island" still have room for box office growth, at the end of the month, there are also four different films, including "The Kidnapper","Extraordinary Mission", and "The Sacrifice of Suspect X". Domestic films are released, and the box office may usher in new growth. However, overall, the possibility of completely detonating the film market in the short term is still small. However, what is worth looking forward to is that in the following April, domestic films will begin to recover, with films such as "Nail Clipper","Master of Memory","Spring Beauty Rescues Zhiming","Bomb Removal Expert", and "Like You" each having their own characteristics. Imported films with box office appeal such as "Speed and Passion 8","Mobile Team in the Shell", and "Smurfs: Searching for the Mysterious Village" have also been finalized. In addition, the film market was relatively sluggish in April last year. Among the new films, only "Fantasy Forest" and "Hot Pot Hero" performed well at the box office. The film market is expected to grow in April this year.

Editor: Nancy