Where is the ceiling of the single box office of China movies? What are the common characteristics of those movies that have exceeded 1 billion at the box office? What are the advantages of China film marketing company compared with the traditional Hollywood film marketing? Can movie word-of-mouth really be made? Yesterday morning, the forum "How to Advance to the Billion Box Office" sponsored by Phoenix Entertainment was held in Beijing. As the official forum of the 8th Beijing International Film Festival, Zhu Weijie, Chairman of Infinite Freedom Media, Yue Xiang, Chairman of Red Fruit Culture Communication Co., Ltd., and YIN FANG, an actor, were invited to attend the event, which was hosted by Zhou Liming, a famous film critic. Four guests from different film posts made an in-depth analysis of the current film market in China.
In this year’s Spring Festival, two films, Operation Red Sea and Detective Story 2 in Chinatown, made an impressive box office breakthrough of 3 billion, while the previous "Ex-3: Goodbye to Ex-3" had a cumulative box office close to 2 billion. The box office of the Spring Festival alone broke through the 10 billion mark, with a year-on-year increase of more than 65%, which not only broke the monthly box office record of 7.37 billion yuan with the help of Wolf Warriors 2 last August, but also set a new record for the global film market. Up to now, in this year’s global box office rankings, besides Marvel Comics’s film Black Panther, Operation Red Sea and Chinatown Detective 2 ranked second and third respectively, Spielberg’s new film Ready Player One ranked fourth with US$ 490 million, Ready Player One’s box office in North America was only US$ 130 million, and in China, the box office of this film is about to exceed RMB 1.3 billion. It can be said that the China film market is increasingly showing a huge share in the global market.
Billion movies
It takes longer to prepare.
Yue Xiang said, "Detective Chinatown 2" is also the first time that their company has made a 1 billion-level film. "We have to start with 1 billion in anticipation of starting this film, because it was just flat when it was 1 billion. We have to calculate an account at the beginning. If we dare to spend more than 300 million, we will eventually get a box office of 1 billion to make it flat. The biggest difference between this level of film and the previous small and medium-sized films is that its preparation is more perfect, and film preparation began several months before shooting. "
"When we were in detective chinatown 1, we predicted that Chinatown Detective 2 would be filmed in new york. At that time, we didn’t realize that new york might be the most complicated place to make movies in the world, and it might also be the most expensive place to make movies in the world. It took us about two years to do basic research and preparation. My biggest feeling is that if I want to make a 1 billion film, I will take at least one to two years to prepare. This is my intuitive feeling. "
Zhu Weijie said that for publicity and marketing companies, 1 billion is more like "our honor. Choosing and participating in the 1 billion box office is a very important point in my work." "Infinite Freedom" has participated in many movies with a billion box office in recent years, including Pancake Man, goodbye mr. loser, Tomb Raider Notes, including Ex-3 years ago. After this series of movies, it is found that the movies with a billion box office are unique. "Many movies can exceed 1 billion, not because of marketing, but because the content can exceed 1 billion, because this movie has such a foundation, like Tomb Raider, which exceeds 1 billion. In fact, we know that it will definitely exceed 1 billion, and then it is how to live and when to work."
"I have always thought that marketing is a work to contribute to the film. A film that originally sold 100 million yuan, we achieved 200 million through marketing, which is success. Finding a 1 billion movie and participating in it to achieve 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion is a greater success. I have always enjoyed discovering it and participating in it. " Zhu Weijie believes that a billion-dollar movie must have natural characteristics. Take "Previous 3" as an example, there are no more suitable actors than Han Geng and Ryan in terms of their performances. From all the way, their combination has given people a very good foundation since "Previous 1". "I think" Ex-3 "is a film prepared by the screenwriter and director for the whole adolescence, and all the stalks are reflected in ordinary life and friends’ jokes. When it has this trait, as a marketing company, we will go all out to participate in it and do it well. "
China movies are on schedule.
Learn from Hollywood
YIN FANG, as an actor, gives priority to the script, the role and the director when choosing a movie, while the brokerage company may consider the response and box office. For him, when choosing a commercial film, he will expect the box office to be successful, and when choosing an art film, he will pay more attention to the quality of the work. If several films are released in the same period and interact with each other, it is a good thing for the actor.
On the schedule selection of Operation Red Sea, YIN FANG revealed the details at that time. At first, everyone thought "Red Sea" was not suitable for the atmosphere of family fun during the Spring Festival. Originally, it was intended to be released in the 11th file, but due to the construction period, director Lin Chaoxian could not catch up with this schedule, and he was unwilling to compromise the quality for the schedule. After the bold spring festival, facing the strong films like a cloud, the initial arrangement of "Red Sea" was the lowest, but the final counterattack gave the film another possibility to choose the schedule.
Yue Xiang thinks that China movies should learn from Hollywood in terms of schedule. "Most American films have been scheduled before shooting, at least two years in advance, which can reduce the waste of resources and reduce the expected consumption of the audience. It is a good thing that strong films are scattered to various schedules in a year. There may be only us in the world, and all companies put their strongest films in the Spring Festival and National Day files. In fact, we should achieve a tacit understanding, and the schedules of important films of various companies are staggered. "
Zhu Weijie said frankly that the schedule of the film is sometimes really strong. "The documentary" Twenty-two "has achieved great success, largely because the release time is behind" Wolf Warriors 2 ".When the whole national mood is transferred there, it will be very beneficial to" Twenty-two ".
He agrees with Yue Xiang’s point of view that important films should have a tacit understanding on the schedule. "Now marketing companies are like spies, asking each other about the schedule, which is very headache. Moreover, the uncertainty of the schedule also has an impact on the publicity schedule created by the actors. "
Marketing companies can’t change word of mouth.
As an actor, YIN FANG often participates in roadshow publicity activities. He admits that he had doubts about the role of roadshows in the past, but later he found that it played a great role. "This is an obligation for actors."
As a producer, Yue Xiang believes that good word-of-mouth comes from good content. When some films are insufficient in content, there is no need to invest too much in marketing costs. At the same time, word-of-mouth has to resonate with the people, such as the success of Twenty-two.
Zhu Weijie said that marketing companies can promote word of mouth but can’t change word of mouth. What’s more important is to do basic work. "The success of film marketing is inseparable from the content of the film. We respect the content and respect the content. Only by starting from the content and moving people’s hearts with the content, marketing is useful."
He believes that the marketing of China movies far exceeds that of Hollywood, and the status and speed of China netizens’ contact with the Internet is also very rapid. Nowadays, the marketing has shifted from media-driven to audience-driven. "Once a report can drive people to go to the movies, now we change channels very quickly from watching news to watching self-media and then watching short videos, so we must know the channels well at different stages. I don’t know what the next channel is. "
In the rapidly changing environment, it is very important to reach a reasonable combination and make information effectively transmitted and transformed. "We can’t say that television and newspapers are not important. If we want to make an art film, the in-depth analysis and cultural orientation of the print media are quite important. For example, Jia Zhangke’s film "Children of the Rivers and Lakes", which we are going to do next, is completely different from "Former 3" in marketing mix, and will be done through the direction of the times and culture. "
Another key point is to break the circle. "For example, if you do" Red Sea ",you can let YIN FANG talk to the real snipers in reality, so that people who have experienced in the military can also understand the film and break the audience circle."
Regarding the recent controversy over the promotion of Marvel Comics films in China, Zhu Weijie believes that it does have its role to find traffic stars and local stars to promote, but it needs to face an appropriate and moderate problem.
Realistic movies will become more and more popular.
Zhu Weijie said that films in small languages, such as Indian films and Thai films, are becoming more and more popular in the China market. The Indian film played by Aamir Hussain Khan pays close attention to reality, and although it is a bit exaggerated, it is very entertaining. Those domestic films that are not entertaining and pay attention to reality, such as "Youth", "Don’t Ask West East" and "mr. six", are often used as feature films. Such films were previously considered as the most unattractive. In recent years, Oscar-winning films and nominated films are basically in this category. Such films used to be thankless in the China market, but recently they have changed, and Youth has reached 1 billion. Although there is less than 1 billion, the performance of "No Questions, West and East" has exceeded everyone’s imagination. This kind of drama film tells a story seriously, perhaps with or without history, but it does not take entertainment as the ultimate goal, so the prospect of this kind of film in China will be better and better.
YIN FANG said that it is an obvious progress for China films to see such a good performance, and it is also the result of the increasing and diversified audience base and higher taste of China films. It must be a very good thing for all filmmakers.
Single chip billions
You can expect it in three or four years.
At the forum, Yue Xiang also expressed his views on the reason that "China’s film marketing level surpasses Hollywood, but the production level is still far behind Hollywood". "This is an institutional problem. Publicity and marketing companies are regular troops, and most of the crew management is like greenwood hero. When a call-up order is issued, it will be scattered after the filming. There is no work unit and five insurances and one gold, which does not give the practitioners a sense of pride, and they can’t work hard and stay. This may be caused by our overemphasis on the particularity of art and the lack of emphasis on industrial functions. "
He introduced that "Tang Detective 2" was his first time to make an "all-trade union" film, and he hired American industrial workers. He found that their treatment was very good and they could see their own upward path. Usually, some staff members can work in a certain type of work for a lifetime and achieve the ultimate. This is what China’s films need to learn from.
At the end of this forum, several guests made predictions about the future goal of "10 billion films" in China. Zhu Weijie thinks that we can expect it within three or four years, YIN FANG guesses it for three years, and Yue Xiang thinks that there will be a "single-chip" film within two years.
At the same time, because literary dramas such as "Fanghua", "Don’t ask about the West" and "mr. six" have also gained high box office, YIN FANG is also very optimistic about the prospects of such films. "It shows that the audience in China is more diversified and the audience watching various types of movies has increased, which is very encouraging for filmmakers."
Our reporter Wang Jinyue
