In the past few days, the attention-grabbing new film trend has come again. According to the Cat’s Eye Professional Edition schedule calendar, as many as 30 new films have been released in February this year alone, covering crime, love, action-adventure, comedy and other genres, an increase from the same period last year.
What’s more worth mentioning is that even the horror thrillers that haven’t landed on the mainland big screen for a long time have come!
On February 17, the domestic thriller "Mingjue Village" ushered in its premiere; on February 14, the horror film "Meghan", produced by well-known director Wen Ziren, also announced that the mainland would be set for March 17.
The audience cried out:"I didn’t expect to be able to watch horror movies in the cinema again!"
For the entire film market, this wave of new films in the first half of this year has not only enriched the film supply reserves of the cinema chain, but also revealed profound changes in the industry unlike before.
A large number of non-core moviegoers are admitted
The box office opening of the Spring Festival is still going strong, and the increase in the number of films released and the flourishing of themes will inevitably attract more audiences who have not often entered the cinema before to enter the cinema experience.
The release of "Megan" is an opportunity to attract a more niche audience of horror films. After its release, "Megan" was second only to "Avatar 2" in the United States and Canada in its first week at the box office. For the audience who are thirsty for "fear", this film is undoubtedly the best choice.
Xiao Ai’s friend, a Japanese anime enthusiast, visits cinemas on weekdays almost as an "annual" movie, but has planned to see the premiere of Makoto Shinkai’s new film "Journey to Suzuya" on March 24. As of February 16, more than 350,000 people wanted to see the imported film "Journey to Suzuya" on the Maoyan platform.
Image source: Cat’s Eye Professional Edition
The richness of film themes will inevitably attract a large number of non-core movie-watching groups, and the theater’s environmental configuration, audio-visual sound and painting effects experience, service experience, etc. will become the standard for them to review and measure the cinema’s image.
For cinemas, speeding up the iteration of projection technology and polishing service quality are of course the next long-term work. In addition, relying on the arrival of new films, the means of film arrangement and publicity planning that cinemas can make in the short term have also become more diverse.
01
Meeting diverse movie viewing needs
Judging from the number of films currently in theaters in mid-February, a number of films in the Spring Festival "The Wandering Earth 2", "The Deep Sea", "The Red River" and "Nameless" have all announced key postponements, and the top blockbusters continue to release the "long tail effect" of the box office. On the one hand; on the other hand, in early February, there are also "Black Panther 2", "Sadness Without Tears" and other films released, not to mention the upcoming "Ant-Man 3" and "China Ping Pong’s Jedi Counterattack".
A studio manager in Hangzhou mentioned to Xiao Ai: "Before the Spring Festival, the top films were all long, which will also bring some restrictions on the studio’s production. Some more niche films with less than ideal attendance may give way during the schedule, and the audience who want to watch this film will naturally miss the opportunity. Now that the popularity of the Spring Festival is slowly subsiding, and the situation of new films is facing one after another, the studio’s production will also be adjusted accordingly. In the past two days, our studio has increased the number of movies" Nameless ", which has achieved good attendance. And" Black Panther 2 "," Ant-Man 3 "," Internet Disconnection "," China Ping Pong "and many other new films will always have options that meet the tastes of audiences with different viewing preferences."
02
Special movie viewing activities have a wider reach
Taking the previous special movie viewing activities of animated movies such as "One Piece: The Red-haired Singer", "Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween" and "Dragon Ball Super: Super Artificial Man" as an example, in addition to bringing box office gains to the theater through the way of watching the movie, it also received great praise from the audience.
In the first half of this year, "Black Panther 2" and "Ant-Man 3" Marvel movies returned again, and they could only generate a lot more heat. During Valentine’s Day, Wanda Film launched in the Douyin live stream"65 yuan Marvel Return General Hall double movie ticket"The audience can even watch two movies of Ant-Man Black Panther. This is not a big attraction for Marvel fans who haven’t met in front of the big screen in a long time.
Image Source: Wanda Films
Recently, Marvel fan viewing groups in Beijing and Shenzhen have organized an offline movie screening of "Black Panther 2". The viewing group organized and sent out a number of posters and self-made postcards, attracting more than 300 fans to sign up. With the official opening day of "Ant-Man 3", there will be more and more linkage between the next two films.Cinemas rely on proactive publicity, make full use of material resources, and do a good job in audience interaction, so as to attract more fans to the event.
After all, with more new films as carriers, the audience’s reach has become wider, and it also provides more space for the cinema to organize targeted event planning in the future.
03
Determine the right moment for the film
In addition, some niche-themed, low-exposure films may also see a turnaround when they are scheduled for the festival. For example, the new film "Wasteland" starring Ren Suxi is very suitable for the female theme. The film, which is released on March 3, has been recommended by theater managers to promote this film as the main film of Women’s Day.
Cinemas can also do something about "Cosmos Exploration Editorial Office," a rather nonsensical sci-fi comedy with a trailer that coincides with April Fool’s Day.
In the first half of this year, although there are no other traditional small holidays or golden schedules except May Day, there are still many major festivals, such as Valentine’s Day, Women’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Tomb-sweeping Day, Labor Day, and so on. There are as many as five or six festivals, and with the corresponding characteristic tone of the film, the ordinary off-season will also add a lot of color.
Senior theater manager mentioned to Xiao Ai: "March and April this year can be said to be a watershed:Due to the small number of large-scale film schedules, the number and type of film supply have increased by leaps and bounds, and the importance of the so-called’golden schedule ‘will gradually decline…Among them, many medium-sized new films are released on Fridays on weekdays, which further tests the studio manager’s level of control over film scheduling and publicity planning. If the audience’s enthusiasm for watching movies can be routinely stimulated during ordinary holidays, then correspondingly, the possibility of theaters getting rid of the’schedule-only theory ‘will also increase, which is a welcome fact for the studio. "
The arrival of the new film trend in the first half of this year can be said to have thrown a spark into the film market, but how to control this flame to effectively stimulate the audience’s viewing enthusiasm and make it a raging fire that ignites the box office is a big test for cinema promotion and marketing.
After all, the increase in films only creates conditions for the increase in revenue, and the real "revenue increase" depends more on the efforts of the theaters themselves.Faced with the current situation of the industry from start to finish, the industry should promptly correct the passive mindset of "watching movies and eating" in the past, and convert the resource advantage into box office output as soon as possible.
The epidemic is still in the past, the film supply is safe, and the cinema industry has come to see the real chapter in 2023.
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