The changes and changes behind the reversal of the hottest summer season in history, with a record breaking total box office of 8.717 billion yuan in July | Box office | Summer season

According to data from Cat's Eye Professional Edition, in the past July, there were 212 million viewers nationwide, with a total box office of 8.717 billion yuan, setting a new high in Chinese film history in July. It is also expected to further boost the summer and annual box office.

According to data from the Lighthouse Professional Edition, the top five films in total box office in July were "In the Octagonal Cage," "The Disappearing She," "Three Thousand Miles in Chang'an," "The First Episode of Fengshen," and "Warmth," with both films continuing from the Dragon Boat Festival and those just released at the end of July.

Unlike in the past where box office revenue is determined immediately upon release, this summer's competition has become a protracted battle. Some movies have become dark horses, while others suddenly explode in the later stages, causing box office trends to fluctuate.

What changes have occurred in the film market during the reversal?

Record breaking box office for movies in July

The box office forecast is too poor, and "advanced screening" has failed?

"Isn't" In the Octagonal Cage "released at the same time as" The Disappearing She "? Many people have the question of Mr. Shi, the audience.". The movie "Octagonal Cage", which was officially released on July 6th, has been showing for an extended period since the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, causing industry controversy due to "breaking rules". The film earned over 66 million yuan from a three-day screening during the Dragon Boat Festival, which was not ideal, and its reputation did not explode. Some media even commented that "Wang Baoqiang's new film was in a slump.". However, after its official release, the film's box office continued to soar, surpassing 2 billion yuan as of August 2nd, far exceeding the previously predicted 700 to 1 billion yuan.

Coincidentally, although the 168 minute animated film "Chang'an 30000 Miles" has a good reputation, some people are concerned about the quality of the music. At the beginning of its release, many people thought it was difficult to break through the box office ceiling of 550 million yuan for Chinese animated films in recent years, but the film made a comeback after 9 days of release and won the championship of the day.

The movie "Passionate" has been released nationwide since July 22nd, and its box office has already exceeded 100 million yuan. However, when it was officially released on July 28th, it failed to shake the position of the box office champion of "Fengshen Part 1", which had already been released for 8 days. However, some cinema managers are still optimistic about the "long tail effect" of "Passion" because the film has a good reputation, and coupled with the precedent of several films being preemptive during the summer season, "the" good luck "of" Passion "is still ahead."

"In the Octagonal Cage" is Wang Baoqiang's second directorial work

This summer, there have been frequent attempts to suppress the trend, but has Dianying already expired? Mr. Xiao, who works in film promotion, believes that the success of "Octagonal Cage" in achieving its current box office results is due to its advanced screening. He introduced that the timing of screening depends on the film's promotional strategy. There is no unified standard for pre screening, and there is a week or a month before its release. "Generally speaking, the more confident a film's reputation is, the earlier it will start pre screening, which can fully ferment its reputation." The Eight Cornered Cage "was first screened at this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, and received a round of praise from the media and film critics. It is believed that the good pre screening reputation received at the Shanghai Film Festival has strengthened the confidence of the film industry. Therefore, they later chose to conduct large-scale pre screening at the Dragon Boat Festival."

At present, "Octagonal Cage" has achieved box office revenue of over 2 billion yuan. "If all of this is considered 'point-to-point without effect', I can't think of a better effect," Mr. Xiao said.

Waiting for friends to "benefit", has the reputation of summer stalls slowed down?

Recently, the premiere of "Barbarian Invasion", which will be released on August 10th, was held at the Thousand People Hall of Shanghai Cinema. Over 300 new short reviews were added overnight on Douban, with ratings rising from 7.5 to 7.6. The film won the Jury Award at the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival. By accumulating word-of-mouth through screening, it is expected to strive for more opportunities to be seen after the film is released.

Compared to the past where word-of-mouth ratings can directly drive subsequent box office revenue, this summer's multiple films only achieved a comeback a few days after their release. Is it because word-of-mouth ratings have slowed down?

"The audience is becoming more and more cautious, and they have gradually lost trust in online ratings and the so-called 'hype' of social media. It is important to have people around them agree before going to watch it." Ms. Song, the audience member, brushed through "Passionate" four times and spared no effort in promoting the film on her social media circle.

In the eyes of some viewers, some films have a slow word-of-mouth fermentation and are paying the price for the mistakes made by creators, investors, and even similar films. Before its release on July 8th, the pre-sale box office of "Three Thousand Miles in Chang'an" only exceeded 40 million yuan, ranking fifth on the "Want to See List". Its popularity was not as high as animated films such as "New God List: Yang Jian" that had previously been released. Many netizens also expressed that they were "discouraged" by the realistic style of the film. In the eyes of some industry insiders, this is related to the mismatch in audience expectations caused by the emphasis on fine arts over scripts in the previous works of ray tracing animation.

At first, some viewers were worried that "Chang'an 30000 Miles" would prioritize art over script

In Mr. Xiao's view, the lengthy premiere of "In the Octagonal Cage" has not yet quickly ignited its reputation, and it is also related to the audience's questioning caused by the poor reputation of Wang Baoqiang's previous work "Big Trouble in India". "If it weren't for the solid advance screening and word-of-mouth accumulation in the early stage, many viewers wouldn't have walked into the cinema to support 'Octagonal Cage'."

He believes that the speed of word-of-mouth fermentation in some films has slowed down. Firstly, word-of-mouth fermentation is inherently lagging behind; The second is that the competitive environment is different. This year's summer box office has surpassed previous years, which is related to the consecutive concentrated release of many strong films. "Expert competition takes time, but films with poor reputation, such as' The Supernatural Family ', will be quickly cut off in less than a round."

"Many movies in this summer's season did not initially become so popular that it was difficult to get a single ticket, but later they were able to maintain box office performance and even went against the trend during a downturn in film production." Liu Huiming, deputy manager of the cinema at SFC Shanghai Film Studio's Hong Kong Hui Wing Wah Branch, said that several movies have experienced this situation in a row, and cinema production has become conservative. "The market has changed. In the past, everyone only needed to give enough film production to hit the box office, but now cinemas are like dragonflies skimming water. Each movie is clicked, watching the waves spread, and only then do they know which one can go further."

Entering August, can the summer box office still be thriving?

This summer, there is also a prominent phenomenon: Hollywood blockbusters are losing their appeal in the Chinese market. Even Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible 7 has only won the Japanese box office championship in Shanghai and Beijing. Barbie, which scored 8.3 points on Douban, can be considered the best acclaimed film of the summer season this year, but currently its domestic box office has just surpassed 200 million yuan. However, in the eyes of industry insiders, the success of "Barbie" is indeed not easy. "Considering its promotional budget in China, the current result may be the best, especially considering less than 2% of the production on the first day."

"The audience of Hollywood blockbusters is constantly losing in both the domestic market in the United States and the global market represented by the Chinese market." In Mr. Xiao's view, the reason is simple: "Hollywood, with the five major studios as its core, has been unprecedentedly lacking in progress in recent years." He believes that Hollywood continues to launch or restart various IP series films, continuing to rely on the creativity of its predecessors, lacking innovation, and using the old ways of 20 or 30 years ago to deal with audiences whose aesthetics have already been updated. Of course, no one is willing to pay the bill.

Jaws 2: Abyss will be released globally on August 4th in sync

The Shanghai produced film "Shark 2: Abyss", starring Jason Stanson and Wu Jing, will be released globally on August 4th. The Shanghai produced film "desperate", produced by Ning Hao and directed by the Olympic bid, will be released on August 11th. Many fans are eagerly anticipating that Nolan's directed "Oppenheimer" will also be released on August 30th.

Will the box office record created in July continue until August? "We are very close to a definite answer, but we still need to wait before reaching a conclusion." Liu Huiming introduced that films such as "All in One's Name" and "Shark 2" released in August this year have had a high pre release popularity, and the time interval is relatively reasonable, which is expected to bring new growth points to the box office. Moreover, several films released in July still have good trends, and the box office parabola is expected to continue until early to mid August. "In terms of the number of films, there hasn't been a situation in August where large films were released one after another like in July. However, considering the unexpected trend of multiple films going viral in July, it's not easy to make a judgment on the market in August."

Liu Huiming is quite pleased that this summer's films have achieved a good long tail effect. Taking SFC Shanghai Film City Ganghui Yonghua Branch as an example, its box office in July this year was 5.1662 million yuan, an increase of 217% compared to July 2021; The number of viewers was 68749, an increase of 155% from July 2021. "Nowadays, compared to researching what types are more marketable, it's better to think about how to make the films on the market more diverse."