Wang Changtian of Enlight Media: "I care about profits" IP will continue to dominate China films

On the day of announcing that the box office broke 20 billion yuan, Wang Changtian put forward several anxiety points in his internal letter and gave the light staff a 15% raise. At the same time, holding cat's eye at a price of 8.5 billion yuan; announcing the cessation of its video website's business, and completing a round of layoffs; transferring blue arc culture; and investing in the preparation of Zhongguancun Bank... what is the leader's anxiety?

Since the beginning of this year, the film industry has shown a slowdown in growth.

While the overall market data is slowing down, Light recently announced that its cumulative box office over the past 10 years has exceeded 20 billion yuan. This year's first few films have also made Light the box office champion for three consecutive years.

On the day of announcing that the box office broke 20 billion yuan, Wang Changtian put forward several anxiety points in his internal letter and gave the light staff a 15% raise. At the same time, holding cat's eye at a price of 8.5 billion yuan; announcing the cessation of its video website's business, and completing a round of layoffs; transferring blue arc culture; and investing in the preparation of Zhongguancun Bank... what is the leader's anxiety?

Reporter: As the box office champion for three consecutive years, what do you think is the reason why the Rays continue to lead the industry?

Wang Changtian: There are several reasons. One is the focus on content. In fact, we have been shrinking the front line in recent years. Human, material and financial resources are all devoted to movies. We should be the company that invests the most in the film field.

Secondly, we talk about box office, and box office audiences pay the bill. The market value of the film itself is the most important. We have achieved some good box office results because we have produced some leading products and created some market miracles. For example,"Mermaid","Passing Through Your World", etc.

Third, commercial success is very important to Rays, and we care about film profits. Film companies in China are actually very weak. The false reputation of not making money and only seeking box office is actually meaningless. For example, production costs and marketing costs are high, and if you don't make money, you will fall into a vicious cycle. Only by making money can we be able to subsidize loss-making films, try innovative films or art films, or support new directors. This is an important business idea for us.

Reporter: How do you view the relationship between distribution and channels? Does Light have plans to build its own channels or more deeply bind to a certain theater line?

Wang Changtian: Generally speaking, the market has entered an era when content is king. This characteristic is present in most sub-segments of the entire cultural and entertainment fields, but the value of channels cannot be underestimated. The value presented by a TV series on Hunan Satellite TV and second-and third-line satellite TV is different. It is not the change of the work, but the added value brought by the channel itself.

Light's thinking about channels is that if this channel is market-oriented and relatively fully competitive, then we may not necessarily have a channel. We hope to have such a market environment not because we have to control a channel to achieve this kind of fairness.

So far, we have not invested in theaters. Of course, channels have their own value. If we value the value of channels, rather than just monopolizing a channel and providing barrier-free communication of my works, it does not rule out interfering in channels at an appropriate time.

But we will choose the method and compare its value, instead of taking a gamble and building a complete industrial chain to open up upstream and downstream.

Reporter: When you made layoffs this year, you mentioned that Light plans to establish a team of producers. What are the current progress and difficulties?

Wang Changtian: The most important thing is to cultivate people one by one. Many people in the company have been involved in all aspects of the project from the early start to the later stage. I hope that through project operation, these producers can understand the entire creative process. Determining projects, scripts, selecting directors and actors, filming supervision and participation, determination and process of marketing strategies, and development of future derivatives.

Now basically five or six people have met my requirements, and my goal is 20. It still takes more time to cultivate. Generally speaking, a person will become more mature after going through two or three projects.

For example, Liu Tong has experienced "Whose Youth Is Not Lost", and Sun Yonghuan has experienced "Left Ear"... I choose people to break the boundaries of departments. He may be the person in charge of the film company below, or he may be an artist below, publicity, product packaging, etc., they bring the experience of their own departments and need to supplement their experience in other aspects.

Reporter: What is your judgment on the third-and fourth-tier markets? What is the layout of light for this?

Wang Changtian: After Light invested in Cat's Eye, we found that Cat's Eye team has better advantages in third-and fourth-tier cities.

First, it has a large number, and second, they have experienced many projects. Cat's annual turnover is more than 15 billion yuan, and the box office size of Light cannot compare with it.

Cat's Eye is involved in almost every aspect of the film industry, including pre-sales, local promotion, theater coordination, etc. Light's original team and cat's eye have a closer combination. Cat's Eye has more advantages in dealing with theaters. In terms of publicity, roadshows, and activities, including communication with theaters, the two teams will be appropriately integrated.

In terms of total box office volume, third-and fourth-tier cities exceed the first-tier and even second-tier markets. They are indeed a vast market. We attach importance to it, but we will integrate resources through appropriate means.

Reporter: What do you think of IP movies? How to judge its future trend?

Wang Changtian: In fact, no matter how we view IP movies, they will dominate the film market in the future. This trend must be seen.

In the United States, series films will become the dominant force in the box office of movies, and most of the series films come from IP. China films spend a quarter of the time walking the path of American films. I think this trend will be consistent.

In China, IP movies are still in their early stages of development, and some unsuccessful IP movies have influenced audiences 'views on IP movies. The problem lies not in IP, but in film production, impetuousness, low quality, etc. The next thing to pay attention to is how to improve quality during the IP conversion process.

China's film market will be occupied by about 20 IP films in the future. In some fields, such as comedy and original films with unique styles, IP may not have much effect; but in major fields such as science fiction, magic, fantasy, and animation, IP films may be the main ones.

Editor: yvette