why the summer movie box office fell behind
2024-09-02
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as of 21:00 on august 31, the 2024 summer season (june 1 to august 31) ended with a box office of 11.633 billion yuan, a total of 284 million moviegoers, and a total of 38.247 million screenings, breaking the record for the total number of screenings in the summer season in chinese film history. during the period, a total of 26 films broke the 100 million yuan mark, the largest number in the past six years.
compared with last year's "strongest summer season in history" with a total box office of 20.63 billion yuan, this year's summer season's total box office has fallen far behind, with a total box office of 11.6 billion yuan, which has shrunk in market size. this year, there are also high-grossing films such as "catch the doll" with 3.2 billion yuan and "silent killer" with 1.3 billion yuan. why did they fail to drive a leap in the overall box office of the summer season? why did the summer season fall behind this year? is it a problem of film quality or a change in audience tastes?
box office performance: total number of screenings broke records, but failed to be “one super, many strong”
by comparing the box office data of this year's summer movies with that of last year, we can see the box office performance of this year's summer movies.
the total box office of the 2023 summer season was 20.63 billion yuan, 135 films were released, and the number of moviegoers was 505 million. both the box office and the number of moviegoers set a record high. the market broke 100 million yuan for 72 consecutive days, the highest in history. the top five box office hits were "all or nothing", "gone with the wind", "the legend of the gods part 1", "octagonal cage" with a box office of over 2 billion yuan, and "30,000 miles in chang'an" with a box office of 1.8 billion yuan. there were three films with a box office of 500 million to 1 billion yuan, including "hot".
the total box office of the 2024 summer season is 11.6 billion yuan, 139 films were released, and the number of moviegoers was 284 million. the highest-grossing film was "catch the doll" with over 3.2 billion yuan, and the second highest-grossing film was "the silence" with 1.3 billion yuan. the only film in the 500 million-1 billion range was "alien: taken" with 600 million yuan. among them, "catch the doll" became the box office champion of this summer season with a box office of 3.25 billion yuan, and also broke the box office record of chinese summer comedy films in film history. it is currently ranked third in the annual box office list. the box office of most films during the period was concentrated below 500 million yuan, with 4 films exceeding 500 million yuan and a total of 26 films exceeding 100 million yuan.
the box office pattern of the 2023 summer season is 5 super head films and more than a dozen super waist films, forming a "multi-head and multi-strong" pattern, which in turn led to the box office performance of the "strongest summer season in history". in addition to the super box office pattern in 2023, in general years, the summer season will present a "one super and many strong" box office pattern. for example, in 2019, "nezha: the devil boy comes to the world", which had a high box office of 4.7 billion yuan, had 5 films with a box office of more than 1 billion yuan, and the "one super and many strong" pattern was obvious. in the 2024 summer season, "catching dolls" was the only one, and together with the two films "silent killing", it supported the box office of the schedule for more than a month, forming a box office pattern similar to "one super and one strong". many films regarded as box office dark horses, such as "retrograde life", "under the alien", "decryption", and "legend", failed at the box office.
film style: fewer "strongly emotional" films, more emphasis on style diversity and innovation
is the lagging of this year's summer box office due to the quality of the films? this year's summer film genres include dramas, animations, documentaries, comedies, action films, crime films, romances, etc. there are works with a super high reputation of 9 points. many films such as "falling into the mortal realm", "go and go", "safe evacuation from the 21st century", "negatives make positives", and "hedgehog" have audience ratings of over 7 points. whether it is domestic films or imported films, they are remarkable in terms of subject matter and style innovation, meeting the needs of the audience.
however, from the perspective of public perception, there is almost no movie that has triggered a hot topic on the internet this summer. the movies that can trigger a hot topic on the internet need to accurately hit the general social sentiment behind the topic. in this regard, the top movies in last year's summer season all won the box office by social topics. the movies focused on southeast asian fraud, pregnant women falling off cliffs, fighting orphans, and traditional cultural crazes. in particular, the movies that focus on real-life issues such as fraud and women being deceived successfully connect with the audience's fear and real anxiety, arouse a wave of discussion, and also trigger box office explosions.
the lack of "topicality" or "reality" in the 2024 summer movies has also lost the opportunity to attract attention and box office. "catching dolls" tells the story of a rich man raising his son in poverty and making him suffer. although it involves some topics about chinese intergenerational relationships, the film does not accurately focus on the real parent-child relationship and the anxiety and anxiety of the original family, which makes the audience less emotionally resonant. the film is a funny comedy from the perspective of the parents in power. the high box office mainly comes from the appeal of two top comedians, shen teng and ma li, and the entertainment of the story.
it is worth praising that the films with good quality such as "under the alien", "decryption", "stop and go", "safe evacuation from the 21st century", "negatives make positives", "hedgehog", and "falling into the mortal world" are more artistic breakthroughs and technological innovations. for example, films such as "under the alien" and "legend" have made the application of ai technology in film creation a new trend that attracts attention. the ai application of the former makes the special effects cooler, and the "ai jackie chan" in the latter has sparked discussion. films such as "decryption", "stop and go", "safe evacuation from the 21st century", and "hedgehog" are very stylized directorial works. "white snake: floating life" and "falling into the mortal world" present the ultimate traditional chinese aesthetics. "under the alien" and "safe evacuation from the 21st century" present imaginative animation and two-dimensional stories. the unique innovations of these films have impressed the audience.
the quality of imported films in this summer season is also good, bringing more distinctive works to the audience and more choices for watching movies. "alien: reaper" continues the horror style, and superhero and family-friendly hollywood films such as "deadpool vs. wolverine", "despicable me 4" and "inside out 2" seem to be free of burden and more interesting.
cause analysis: comprehensive factors affect box office
last year, a large number of high-quality films were released in the summer, saving many cinemas that were about to close, bringing back blood to the film market and driving the further development of the film industry. this year, the spring festival films such as "hot and scorching", "speeding life 2" and "article 20" were released, and the box office was impressive. the summer season launched high-anticipated films such as "decryption", "reverse life" and "under the alien", making everyone look forward to this period. but at the end of the period, most of the films that were regarded as box office hopes failed.
analyzing the reasons, from the perspective of audience demand, this summer's films that focus on real society, have social functions and emotional resonance are fewer, which may affect more audiences other than movie fans to go to the theater; the increase in multi-type films such as comic adaptations, spectacle blockbusters, two-dimensional stories, and artistic works has made film creation more diverse, but it is more difficult to produce a market hit. from the perspective of the movie viewing market, the lack of topical blockbusters, the olympic diversion, and more young people staying away from theaters may all have an impact on the movie market.
the film industry itself is also looking for more reasons. some filmmakers gave reasons such as "the industry's cash flow is tight, the film companies' capital chain is still tight, and there were not enough films put into production last year." these factors have affected the overall supply of high-quality, large-scale films in this summer. some industry insiders also mentioned that there are few large-scale productions that represent the level of film industry and technology in the market, a serious shortage of film creation talents, and weak film companies, etc., which are the industry's weaknesses.
any market has ups and downs, and the rise and fall of movie box office is also a normal market. what is more worthy of attention is the diversity and new vitality of film creation. there is enough supply of top and mid-level films, the types are diverse, the market is active, and there are enough innovations, so there is no need to worry about regaining lost audiences.
(reporter shi wenjing of dazhong news)
