"Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons" has opened high and low at the box office. Is Stephen Chow's IP capitalization exhausted?

Industry insiders believe that despite the blessing from the "Stephen Chow Effect", Stephen Chow's own creative speed and level are the main factors in maintaining PDAL's performance and attracting capital investment from multiple parties.

The 2017 Spring Festival season is coming to an end, and after the movie box office cooling in 2016, the box office results at the beginning of the Year of the Rooster ushered in a good start. With the combination of "Journey to the West" and Stephen Chow's IP, the previously popular "Journey to the West" won the box office championship during the Spring Festival with a box office score of nearly 1.4 billion yuan. The film's excellent box office performance will help the performance of the capital behind the film to a certain extent. However, given the film's high-cost production and the fact that the box office was overtaken by "Kung Fu Yoga" within four days of release, it is obviously difficult for "Journey to the West: Fuyao Chapter" to replicate the box office myth of "Mermaid". For Stephen Chow and the companies behind him such as Xinghui Overseas Co., Ltd. and Shanghai New Culture Media Group Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as "New Culture"), it is unknown how far the economic effects brought by Stephen Chow can go.

The

combination of "Journey to the West" and Stephen Chow's IP has undoubtedly made "Journey to the West" the biggest hit during the Spring Festival in 2017. The 21 capitalists behind the film have gathered online and offline resources for the film. On January 28,"Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons" lived up to expectations on its first day of release and became the single-day box office champion of Chinese films with a box office score of 354 million yuan. At the same time, the film also broke many film records such as 200 million yuan and 300 million yuan for Chinese films.

The high box office trend allowed "Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons" to remain at the top of the Spring Festival box office, but this trend did not last for long. The film was overtaken by "Kung Fu Yoga" starring Jackie Chan in the box office only four days after its release. After that, the box office that day was also difficult to maintain the score of hundreds of millions of yuan. "The high box office of" Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons "is related to the effect of concentrated consumption during the Spring Festival, which gives the film a certain box office base. But the subsequent box office trend still needs to be guaranteed by the film's reputation." Chen Shaofeng, deputy dean of the Institute of Cultural Industry at Peking University, said this.

According to data, as of press time,"Journey to the West: Fu Yao Chapter" has won 1.38 billion yuan in box office results. However, with the film's production cost exceeding 400 million yuan and the publicity cost of 120 million yuan, the box office of "Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons" is not ideal at this stage. Previously, it was reported that a company had guaranteed a minimum of 3 billion yuan for "Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons". Judging from the current box office trend of the film,"Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons" is obviously difficult to achieve this expected goal.

"Xingye" IP is the key to the box office

. As the second part of Stephen Chow's Journey to the West trilogy, the high box office of "Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons" is undoubtedly related to the economic effect brought by Stephen Chow's IP. On the one hand, films such as "The God of Cookery" and "Journey to the West" have established Stephen Chow's status as the "king of comedy"; on the other hand, the box office myths created by "Journey to the West: Demon Conquering" and "Mermaid" have enhanced Stephen Chow's ability to attract money. At the same time, it also allows Stephen Chow to continue to use his personal brand influence to continue to expand his layout in the film and television business.

On January 3, 2017, New Culture Media Hong Kong Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Culture, and Young&Young International Corporation planned to purchase a 51% stake in Stephen Chow's PREMIUMDATA ASSOCIATES LIMITED (hereinafter referred to as "PDAL") company for 1.326 billion yuan, binding Stephen Chow's IP and participating in the Journey to the West. The production and publicity of "Fu Yao Chapter". At the same time, PDAL also made performance commitments, achieving net profit targets of no less than 170 million yuan, 221 million yuan, 287.3 million yuan and 361.7 million yuan respectively from 2016 to 2019.

In addition, according to information released by the State Administration of Information, Radio, Film and Television, the investors behind "Journey to the West: Fuyao Chapter" involve 21 film and television capital companies such as Wanda Film and Television Media Co., Ltd., Shanghai Taoxiao Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd., and Huayi Brothers Film Co., Ltd., which not only covers theater resources, but also supports resources from online e-commerce platforms. Industry insiders believe that despite the blessing from the "Stephen Chow Effect", Stephen Chow's own creative speed and level are the main factors in maintaining PDAL's performance and attracting capital investment from multiple parties.

Star effect is not a long-term solution

. In 2016, the feeling of "owing Star a movie ticket" gave birth to "Mermaid", the domestic box office record. During the Spring Festival of 2017,"Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons" produced by Stephen Chow once again broke many domestic box office records. But compared with "Mermaid", the polarization of reputation and high and low box office of "Journey to the West: Fuyao" seem to mean that the "Stephen Chow Effect" is no longer a magic weapon. Wei Pengju, dean of the Institute of Culture and Economics at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said,"Stars are scarce resources, and using their own gold-absorbing effect can certainly enhance the company's competitiveness. However, in the context of the current accelerated market iteration speed and the increasing phenomenon of star IP capitalization, Relying solely on the star effect brought by Stephen Chow is not a long-term solution for enterprise development."

According to an announcement released by New Culture, PDAL's operating income in 2015 was 1.174 million yuan and net profit was 348,000 yuan; in 2016, the company's performance rose rapidly. As of September 30, 2016, PDAL's operating income was 81.175 million yuan and net profit was 64.185 million yuan. Although the performance is relatively stable, it is not so simple whether PDAL, which faces a total net profit commitment of 1.04 billion yuan in four fiscal years, can complete its performance.

"In fact, in the film" Journey to the West: Fugitive Demons ", Stephen Chow only serves as a producer. It is unknown how much he participated in the film, but for the audience, the main factor that determines them to go to the theater to watch the movie is still the content of the film." Chen Shaofeng said. In addition, for film and television companies, star resources are a rare advantage, but how to maximize the value of resources while avoiding excessive consumption is the most important factor in the sustainable development of film and television companies and star resources.

Editor: Nancy