Why can’t the world’s box office champion sell better than a “convenience store” in China?
The Disney Pixar animation "Inside Out 2" was released recently. According to Maoyan Professional Edition, as of June 28, the film had a North American box office of 400 million yuan and a global box office of 820 million yuan, surpassing "Dune 2" to temporarily become the champion, but in China it was just as critically acclaimed as the first film.
As of June 28, the film has a Douban score of 8.4 and a box office of 120 million yuan, which is less than the domestic film "A Small Shop at the Edge of the Clouds" released at the same time. The latter has a Douban score of only 5.3 and has a box office of 278 million yuan so far, becoming the national box office champion for 6 consecutive days. Why can't the global box office champion sell better in China than "A Small Shop"?
"Inside Out" tells the story of how the five emotions in the little girl Riley's brain help her adapt to a new environment, live and grow together. "Inside Out 2" focuses on the troubles of adolescence. Riley grows from an elementary school student to a high school student, and four new emotions are added to her mind, Jiao Jiao, representing anxiety, Mu Mu, representing admiration, Sang Sang, representing boredom, and Gan Gan, representing embarrassment. They love and hate the first five emotions. The story presents thoughts on how to resolve anxiety and reconcile with oneself.
Inside Out 2 is not a strictly family-friendly animation. Its portrayal of anxiety resonates with many adult audiences and has a healing effect on the soul to some extent, but its visual style and the influence of the Disney brand always attract many parent-child audiences. When Lele said, "Maybe I won't be so happy when I grow up," a 6-year-old audience member next to the reporter whispered, "I think I will be happy when I grow up." Obviously, his life experience is not enough to understand the connotation of this sentence.
Some people think that, like the first film, "Inside Out 2" has the problem of unclear audience positioning. It seems to be for children, but children actually can't understand it, and adults stay away from it because of the animation type.
If "Inside Out 2" is about a young man who does not know the taste of sorrow, "A Shop at the Edge of the Clouds" is a typical example of a forced expression of sorrow. Liu Shisan, played by Peng Yuchang, suffered failures in his career and love. After signing a bet with his manager of "a thousand policies a year", he got drunk and woke up to find himself suddenly returning from the city to his hometown, Yunbian Town, sleeping in the shop run by his grandmother Wang Yingying. Cheng Shuang, Liu Shisan's childhood friend, also came suddenly. The two formed a partnership and started selling insurance in Yunbian Town, which led to many joys and sorrows that happened here.
The movie uses a lot of empty shots to show the pure beauty of the fictional place Yunbian Town, but life here is not leisurely. The people of Yunbian Town can be described as "no one is not wronged, and love is sin". The local boss set fire and went to jail to win the heart of the beautiful woman. Just when the clouds were about to clear and the moon was bright, the lady was attacked and disfigured by a madman. The deaf and mute sister who opened a foot massage shop was harassed by her brother who was fighting for the property. In her heart, she endured humiliation in order to see him every day. In the end, she bought a large amount of insurance for him and married far away. The homeless little girl who suddenly jumped out called the male and female protagonists "Mom and Dad", but there was actually a mad father behind her.
The experiences of the hero and heroine are even more tragic. At the end, Liu Shisan suddenly discovered that he was "kidnapped" back overnight by his terminally ill grandmother driving a tractor. His grandmother had just passed away, and Cheng Shuang, who had already regarded each other as lovers, started to attack again. It turned out that she claimed to have a terminal illness at the beginning. Even though she looked like a normal person most of the time in the film, she could not escape the entanglement of the disease, and her life and death were unpredictable. "There is a Small Shop at the Edge of the Cloud" is as warm as the beginning, and there are as many tearful moments in the end. It is dense and hits the emotional needs of the target audience.
It is worth mentioning that the film has an all-star cast, and many people only have one scene. For example, Ma Boqian plays Liu Shisan's roommate, Liu Haoran plays the hotel manager who comes to collect the bill, Meng Ziyi plays the police officer at the police station, Chen Yanxi plays the elementary school principal, and even Zhao Lusi plays the waiter who flashes by in the restaurant scene that has almost no role in promoting the plot.
The greater driving force of traffic may come from the original work itself. The film is adapted from Zhang Jiajia's novel of the same name, and Zhang Jiajia served as the screenwriter and director. He once said that this movie is an agreement with readers, "This is a gift I give them, and it is also a two-way rush between us." Judging from the positive reviews of "There is a Small Shop on the Edge of the Cloud" on social platforms, fans of the original work account for a considerable proportion, and their expectations for watching the movie are roughly equivalent to the expectations of fans of "Twinkle, Twinkle Star" for the movie version. The sense of ritual of going to the cinema to witness the characters appear on the big screen, and the seemingly happy ending of the hero and heroine, can basically satisfy this part of the audience. What's more, some details in the original work are sublimated in the movie, and even the Easter eggs of Zhang Jiajia's other work "Passing by Your World" are hidden, which is more popular with book fans.
Compared with "Inside Out 2", "The Shop at the Edge of the Cloud" can be said to have a precise market positioning. Although some people think that its plot is disorganized and forcedly sensational, and it is the "worst movie of 2024", some people cried several times with real feelings and liked it from the bottom of their hearts.
This sense of disconnection in online comments reminds me of Twinkle Twinkle Star at the beginning of the year. Whether it is the charm of "Zhang Wansen, it's snowing" or the tearful moment in "The Shop" when Liu Shisan held an umbrella for Cheng Shuang who was eating noodles in the rain, although it is difficult for outsiders to understand, the movie-watching interests of some young people are also worthy of respect and exploration, and may reap rich market returns.
On the other hand, although many people appreciate the wonderful creativity and deep thinking of "Inside Out 2", the story also has the defect of continuing the routine of the first film. The two works have almost the same template, which is a problem that imported films have been criticized by domestic audiences in recent years. As an IP sequel, the first film failed to gain popularity in China, and it is even more difficult to expect the second film to make a comeback with the "same formula, same taste". "Dune" and "Dune 2" are in the same boat. From the perspective of IP, it is not unfair for "Inside Out 2" to lose to "A Small Shop at the Edge of the Clouds", which has a huge fan base of the original work.
Lighthouse Professional Edition: Shanghai cinema schedule and box office situation on June 27
Lighthouse Professional Edition: National cinema schedule and box office situation on June 27
Lighthouse Professional Edition National Province Box Office Champion Distribution Map
In a Shanghai cinema, Inside Out 2 and Haikyuu!: The Battle of the Garbage Dump were placed in the center.
However, the tastes of Shanghai audiences are not in sync with those of the rest of the country. Among the 19 animated films released from 2022 to 2024, Shanghai ranked first in the country in terms of attendance. According to the distribution map of box office champions in various provinces in the Lighthouse Professional Edition, Inside Out 2 is the box office champion in Shanghai, with a higher box office share and a higher share of screenings than The Shop at the Edge of the Clouds. On June 28, the reporter found in a Shanghai cinema that the posters of the two animated films Inside Out 2 and Haikyuu!: The Garbage Dump Showdown were placed in the most prominent position in the theater, which may be seen as a manifestation of accurate market positioning.
