Carnival and rationality in 50 billion: domestic films should pay attention to quality and endogenous growth.

when you are excited, you still need to be calm. Industry insiders point out that 50 billion yuan cannot become an anesthetic for film practitioners, and China still has a long way to go from a big film country to a powerful country.

by November 20th, the annual box office of Chinese films exceeded 50 billion yuan for the first time. Riding on the east wind of the Lunar New year, a breakthrough of 55 billion yuan is about to be realized.

looking back at the film market in recent years, in 2010, the total annual box office of Chinese films was about 10.17 billion yuan, breaking the 10 billion mark for the first time. On December 8, 2013, the annual box office of Chinese films exceeded 20 billion yuan for the first time. On September 5, 2015, the annual box office of Chinese films exceeded 30 billion yuan for the first time. On December 3, 2015, the annual box office of Chinese films exceeded 40 billion yuan for the first time.

the film market entered a "cooling-off period" in 2016, ending with only 45.7 billion yuan. Therefore, the belated 50 billion yuan has a certain milestone significance. it means that the Chinese film market has stepped out of the slow growth of the past year, the Chinese market is getting closer and closer to the North American market, and the status of "film power" has been digitally recognized.

while excited, we still need to be calm. Industry insiders point out that 50 billion yuan cannot become an anesthetic for film practitioners, and China still has a long way to go from a big film country to a powerful country.

strong > Fashion style of the year IP / strong >

if you want to choose this year's movie "Fashion style," Wolf Warriors 2 is certain.

among the "phenomenal" films in mainland China, the first film to break 1 billion yuan at the box office was lost in Thailand in 2012, and Monster Hunt in 2015 for the first time. It was the 2016 Mermaid that earned 3 billion yuan at the box office for the first time.

Wolf Warriors 2, released at the end of July, created a stunning box office myth, earning more than 100 million yuan in four hours, 1 billion yuan in 83 hours, 2 billion yuan in eight days, and more than 3 billion yuan in 11 days. Finally, the cumulative box office is about 5.7 billion yuan. The single-film box office accounted for about 35% of the total box office in the summer, close to 11.2% of the total box office from January to November.

according to statistics, this year's summer box office champion "Wolf Warriors 2", National Day box office champion "shy Iron fist" and Spring Festival box office champion "Kung Fu Yoga" grossed nearly 9.5 billion yuan, accounting for about 19% of the total box office from January to November, which is enough to boost the overall box office of the year.

this is a miracle, and it also exposes hidden worries. When it comes to "worry", the malfunctioning "big IP" is a typical one.

in the hottest years of the Chinese film market, as long as you came up with "Big IP+ and Little fresh Meat", it was not a problem to easily pass 500 million or 1 billion yuan at the box office, and big variety films without content could easily lie down and make money. This year, "fan movies" such as "three generations and Ten Mile Peach Blossom", "Psychological Crime", "Biography of mackerel Pearl", "Great cause of Building the Army" and "Legend of Wukong" have collectively failed, not only the reputation continues to decline, but also at the box office is not ideal.

however, it must also be seen that "big IP+ and fresh meat" is a sign of the influx of capital into the film industry, even if word-of-mouth is low, this model is still emulated by most film and television companies. What the market does, it has its own market test. After all, capital harvests young idols one after another. When the face grows old, the "fresh meat" will be out of date; when the "human setting" collapses, the "fresh meat" will also be out of date. The unpolished "Big IP" is naturally reduced to a gimmick.

some film critics said that when domestic films are still in the stage of relying on popular styles to drive the box office, the overall quality of films needs to be improved.

strong > online ticketing changes and legal norms / strong >

data from the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press, publication, Radio, Film and Television show that as of November 30, 2017, the number of domestic moviegoers was about 1.47 billion, an increase of about 224 million over the same period last year, or about 18% over the same period last year. The number of screenings was about 85.87 million, an increase of about 18.12 million over the same period last year, an increase of nearly 27% over the same period last year. At present, the number of cinemas in the country is about 9400, with about 49700 screens.

it can be seen that cinemas in China are expanding rapidly, and the number of screens continues to increase. In contrast, there is a set of data worth noting. A survey by a data consulting firm specializing in the film market found that the average annual viewing frequency of users dropped to 5.80% from 7.36% last year, and the attendance rate also dropped to 13.3%. Far lower than 45% in Japan and more than 30% in North America.

the deficiency of attendance and average attendance has become a big problem in today's market. With a low attendance of 13%, it is not easy to generate 50 billion yuan at the box office. Li Jie, senior vice president of Ali Pictures and president of Taobaipiao, believes that the main factor in the reduction of desire to watch movies is the lack of user experience.

in order to attract audiences to the cinema, in recent years, the fast-growing online ticketing platform does not hesitate to use a large number of subsidy policies to attract users. From 2014 to 2016, the entire online ticketing market was growing rapidly, with the proportion of online ticketing rising from 30 per cent to 83 per cent, according to Prida, a consultancy. However, in 2017, there has been almost no increase in the proportion of Chinese films' online votes to the total number of movie tickets.

also in the last three years, the online ticketing market has changed frequently, from the initial competition of the top four to the killing of the three Kingdoms, and then to the duo of Taobaopiao and Maoyan. When the overall online ticketing market tends to be saturated, how to change and how to develop the increment of the film market is an unavoidable proposition.

if the cake of the film market is to become bigger and bigger, legal norms are indispensable. The Law on the Promotion of the Film Industry, which was fully implemented on March 1 this year, is the first law in the field of China's cultural industry, which is quite timely and necessary.

for a long time, the most criticized by all sectors of society is the existence of omissions and false reports in the film market. The Film Industry Promotion Law closed down hundreds of illegal cinemas for rectification when it was less than one month into force. On the other hand, the law cancels the examination and approval of film production units, "film production license (single film)" and so on, and devolves a number of administrative examination and approval items such as film censorship. Ding Yaping, director of the Film and Television Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts, said that this "means that the threshold for market entry has been lowered, and enterprises or organizations that meet the necessary funds and personnel for film production can apply to make films." It can be predicted that there will be more film projects in the future, film creation will be more diverse and rich, and the themes and types will be more extensive, so that the film industry will show a blowout scene of 'blooming everywhere'.

strong > Art Film Breakthrough and rational return / strong >

"blossoming everywhere", naturally, the types of movies are more diverse. One bright spot in China's film market this year is that art films and documentaries have gained a place in the domestic film market in the first 11 months of 2017.

in June this year, under the encirclement of a number of imported blockbusters, Director Zhang Yang's "Gang Rinpozi" was released, thanks to the help of market word-of-mouth, it made about 100 million yuan at the box office, which is a great breakthrough for art films. In August, the documentary "22" was released. This small-budget film with a production cost of only 2 million yuan and a publicity cost of only 1 million yuan has won the spontaneous support of many people inside and outside the industry. It has counterattacked only 1.5 percent of the film on its first day and earned a cumulative total of about 160 million yuan. It finally became the first documentary film in China that grossed more than 100 million yuan.

the road of art cinema line in China's film market is not smooth, but the breakthroughs made by films such as Gang Rinpozi and 22 show that domestic audiences are no longer satisfied with the visual experience brought by "popcorn movies". They are also willing to pay for art films and are willing to try and appreciate films with more tastes and dimensions.

the essence of the aesthetic improvement of the audience has returned to the most primitive topic, paying attention to the "increment" of the film market while paying attention to the "quality" of the film. People in the industry all understand that content is the essence of a film. No matter how good the publicity and distribution of a film is, it is difficult to solve the problem of whether the film story is good or bad.

at this year's "China Film and Television leaders Summit" at the Shanghai Film Festival, Huayi Brothers CEO Wang Zhonglei put forward two criteria for a film power, one is the proportion of good films produced each year, and the other is the quality and quantity of realistic films.

"now is a favorable time for structural adjustment." Rao Shuguang, secretary general of the filmmakers Association, hopes that Chinese films will not be carried away by beautiful box office figures. "the growth of more than 30% for many years has excessively consumed the effective resources of Chinese films. Chinese films should be liberated from the orgy of the box office and pay more attention to quality and endogenous growth."

Edit: yvonne