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After the news that "the film scared an 8-year-old child and received complaints" was reported last weekend and became a hot topic, "Alien: Taken Flight", which originally had a "low-key" opening and had a screening rate hovering around 14% in the first two days of its release, suddenly whetted the appetite of many people.

Since August 18, the screening schedule of "Alien: Rescue" has been rising continuously, and the box office on that day exceeded 80 million yuan, winning the daily box office championship. Subsequently, its pre-sale schedule on August 22 exceeded 26%, surpassing other summer movies; the number of screenings also increased from more than 50,000 per day to more than 100,000 per day, and the box office also firmly sat on the first throne. As of 22:00 on August 21, "Alien: Rescue" had collected more than 342 million yuan in box office after six days of release, and its daily box office was far ahead of the second-place "Resurgence".

Image source: Maoyan Professional Edition

The reporter of Daily Economic News counted the top 10 summer box office movies from 2017 to date and found that the most popular themes are science fiction, animation, comedy, drama, etc. Why did "Alien: Taken" as a "horror movie" break through this year? The film also brought out the public's attention to horror-themed movies. After sorting out the high-grossing movies of the same theme such as "Alien: Covenant" and "A Quiet Place", the reporter found that the love of urban white-collar workers helped boost the box office of this type of movie.

Moreover, the "Alien" fever has not only spread in the film market, but even video platforms have quickly caught up with the "horror" theme.

This summer, "Alien" has emerged

Audience members buy tickets together

The first movie based on the "Alien" IP was released in 1979. It has been 45 years since then, and a total of seven works have been released, including "Alien", "Alien 2", "Alien 3", "Alien 4", "Prometheus", "Alien: Covenant" and "Alien: Taken".

Image source: Screenshot of the ratings of some Alien movies on Douban

"We hope to return the film to its roots of science fiction and horror, not only in terms of story, but also in terms of visual style." Fed Alvarez, one of the film's directors, once said this when talking about his creative concept.

As a world-renowned IP, the influence of "Alien" is huge and far-reaching. On the one hand, through the film works, the "Alien" was created as a terrifying alien creature, which became a classic in film history. Hans Rudolf Giger, the creator of the "Alien" image, also won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. On the other hand, the "Alien" IP has also inspired countless derivative works and adaptations. Its influence covers many fields such as film and television, animation, literature, toys, and architectural design, and even formed a huge cultural phenomenon.

Image source: Stills from "Alien: Death Stranding"

On August 16, the latest work of the "Alien" IP, "Alien: Deathstroke", was released in China. Its Douban movie score has now reached 7.6 points, surpassing its predecessor "Alien: Covenant".

"'Alien' itself is a super IP with high public recognition and a good innate foundation; the hot search topic of 'Alien is too scary' was a great assist, which made the film popular and aroused the audience's curiosity about how scary it is. After it became popular, both platform audiences and cinemas paid more attention to it, forming a huge wave effect, which further promoted the box office of the film." Film industry observer "Liancheng Yicui" told the "Daily Economic News" reporter.

In the United States, Alien: Revenge is an R-rated film, and those under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to watch it. The film's producer, 20th Century Fox, has repeatedly reminded "underage viewers to choose carefully when watching the film" on its official Weibo account, and the film's poster also reminds "underage viewers to choose carefully when watching the film."

Looking back at previous summer movie seasons, the reporter compiled market data for the past eight years and found that the most popular themes were mostly science fiction, cartoons, comedies, dramas, etc. However, this summer, "Alien: Death Stratos" set off a movie-watching craze with its rare horror theme.

Every reporter sorted out the map

"Alien has attracted more and more audiences to the cinema thanks to its word-of-mouth and excellent quality, adding vitality to the tepid summer market." Li Yanlu, manager of Jinan New Century Cinema, observed that the summer box office exceeded 10 billion yuan last weekend, boosted by Alien: Taken. "The audience's demand for big-budget horror movies is still there. The novelty and heavy taste are all attractive. People prefer to watch this kind of movie on the big screen, rather than waiting for it to be available online to watch on the small screen."

So, which cities’ audiences prefer to watch the film? The reporter analyzed the data provided by Lighthouse Professional Edition and found that male users accounted for 52.5% of ticket purchases, slightly higher than female users.Users who watched Alien: Taken Flight were mainly concentrated in first- and second-tier cities, accounting for nearly 75% of the total.. Unlike other types of films, the phenomenon of "watching the movie together" was particularly obvious for "Alien: Taken Flight". Among the ticket-buying audiences, those who chose to buy two, three or more tickets accounted for more than 62%.

Image source: Data provided by Lighthouse Professional Edition

"Liancheng Yicui" pointed out to reporters that "Alien: Rescue Ship" is one of the most large-scale horror films currently released in China. "It is rare that the film has not been cut. It has played a certain role in promoting the film market this summer, but it is limited overall." There are still 10 days before the summer season ends. As of 15:00 on August 21, the box office of the 2024 summer season has just exceeded 10.5 billion yuan, 10 billion yuan behind the 2023 summer season.

Expected to top the horror movie box office

Attracting platforms to "join in the fun"

"Alien: Taken" entered the public eye as a dark horse and also sparked heated discussions about horror themes.

According to Lighthouse Professional Edition, the horror film with the highest box office in my country is "Beijing No. 81" starring Ruby Lin and others, with a cumulative box office of 412 million yuan. Based on the current schedule and word-of-mouth trend of "Alien: Taken Flight", Maoyan Professional Edition and Lighthouse Professional Edition have predicted that the total box office of the film will exceed 800 million yuan.

This means that "Alien: Revenge" is expected to become one of the most successful Hollywood movies in the 2024 summer season, and may surpass "Beijing No. 81" to become the number one horror film in the Chinese film market.

The main force behind my country's high-grossing horror movies is urban white-collar workers. The reporter of "Daily Economic News" sorted out the audience portraits of the top 10 horror movies in my country and found that among them, the corresponding "first- and second-tier city audiences" for "Beijing No. 81", "G.I. Joe: Retaliation", "Alien: Covenant", "A Quiet Place" and "Resident Evil 4: Resurrection" accounted for 70.4%, 66.3%, 68.9%, 70.8% and 62.3% respectively; the corresponding audiences with a bachelor's degree and above accounted for 62.4%, 81.2%, 75.6%, 77% and 74.2% respectively; the corresponding occupation information was "white-collar/staff" accounted for 60.8%, 65.3%, 63%, 55.2% and 59.6% respectively.

Image source: Data provided by Lighthouse Professional Edition

In this regard, Liancheng Yicui analyzed that audiences in first- and second-tier cities have long preferred Hollywood blockbusters, and foreign blockbusters tend to pay more attention to publicity in first- and second-tier cities, thus forming a good interaction. "Special effects movies are very dependent on giant screen brands such as IMAX, and these giant screen halls are mostly located in first- and second-tier cities."

As for the top ten horror movies in my country, eight of them are overseas blockbusters. The popularity of "Alien" has not only attracted much attention in the film market, but also attracted the attention of video platforms. "Youku, iQiyi and Tencent Video" have keenly captured the "Alien" craze and have "strongly recommended" it on their platforms. Some have directly put it on the homepage, and some have released "Alien" viewing guides. On the three major video platforms, many movies in the "Alien" series are among the top 3 horror movies.

Image source: Youku screenshot

"The platform follows whatever is 'hot'. When there is a new Marvel movie on the market, the video platform will also launch a compilation. During the Paris Olympics, some platforms also launched a compilation of French movies." A senior industry insider familiar with the video platforms told reporters.

However, "Liancheng Yicui" believes that although the popularity of "Alien: Taken" will attract the attention of some filmmakers to the horror genre, there will not be a large number of horror films in the market.

"Alien: Reaper has reached a high level in terms of special effects and plot, and has maintained the consistent tense and exciting atmosphere of the Alien series, bringing the audience a very good viewing experience." Li Yanlu told reporters that this shows that as long as the content is good enough, the audience is still willing to pay for it. "I hope this can stimulate domestic films to further improve their quality. After all, healthy competition can make the entire industry continue to progress."

Source: Daily Economic News