A few days ago, some movie screening venues in Shanghai resumed screening in an orderly manner. The picture above shows the audience in the Paragon Studios in Huangpu District, Shanghai. The audience scanned the theater code, checked the negative nucleic acid test certificate within 72 hours, and took their temperature to enter the theater in an orderly manner.

In a movie theater in Shanghai, the audience wore masks and sat at intervals to watch the movie. Visual China Map

Entering the summer vacation, the movie market continued to pick up, and the scene of "hard to get a ticket" in the past reappeared in certain regions.
According to the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of 17:00 on August 6, the total box office of the 2022 summer box office has exceeded 6.5 billion, and "Lone on the Moon", "Life Events" and "Jurassic World 3" ranked the top three in the summer box office.
The summer season is one of the most important seasons in the year, with the advantages of long duration, rich film types, and meeting the needs of multi-level viewing. What's behind the hot summer vacation? What are the changes in the film market that has experienced the test of the epidemic? Can the next movie market maintain this momentum and revive the big screen with high-quality content? The reporter interviewed relevant industry insiders.
"Cinema is buzzing again"
On the afternoon of August 3, Beijing continued the "steaming" mode of midsummer. Despite this, in a cinema in Chaoyang District, there were still a lot of viewers who came to watch "Walking on the Moon" despite the high temperature. From time to time, there were rumors of "surprisingly many people" and "the cinema has become lively again" in the queue to collect tickets. And so sigh.
"It's been a long time!" Ms. Sun, who was watching the movie, told reporters that the repeated epidemics had disrupted her movie viewing plans, "Now that the epidemic situation has gradually stabilized, cool movie theaters are also a good place to escape the summer heat, plus There are good films released in theaters, and you must not miss them.”
The reporter visited many theaters in Beijing and learned that with the arrival of the summer vacation, the attendance rate of the theaters has gradually increased, and the audience is mainly young groups. The same scene plays out across the country. According to data from the Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of August 5, the total number of operating theaters nationwide reached 10,361, with an operating rate of 84.8%.
Relevant data shows that the film market in various places continues to heat up. Taking the Xidan store of Beijing Capital Cinema as an example, the total box office revenue in June was 489,000 yuan. In the first half of July, the theater’s box office revenue reached 1.539 million yuan, more than three times the total box office revenue in June.
The recovery of the theater operating rate has driven more high-quality films to be released, and many summer films have box office exceeding 100 million yuan. Among them, "Lonely Walking on the Moon" was officially announced on July 19th and opened for pre-sale on July 20th. The fastest box office to break the record of 10 million.
Industry insiders said that with the release of many good films, the audience's demand for movie viewing has been further released, and the single-day box office limit of the summer season is expected to continue to increase.
Movies are the quintessential attention economy. Observe the recently scheduled films, covering parent-child, spy war, sci-fi, suspense and other types, covering multiple age groups. At the same time, the films did not choose to be released together, but staggered according to the rhythm to maintain a certain degree of attention. It also keeps the whole market hot.
The summer season is crucial for the movie market. Historical data shows that its box office accounts for nearly 30% of the year. On the total box office list, 5.695 billion "Wolf Warriors 2", 5.036 billion "Nezha's Devil Child", 3.111 billion "Eight Hundred", 3.1 billion "I'm Not the God of Medicine" and other films are all in the summer vacation. file show.
Compared with last year's summer season, this year's market has released more positive signals. On the occasion of Qixi Festival, romantic films such as "Meet You", "We Look Like Love", "Meet You in Lixiang" and "We Met Songhua Lake" were released. On August 5, the mecha blockbuster "Tomorrow's War" was released. In addition, there will also be animated films targeting children, such as "Farewell to the Monsters in the Classic of Mountains and Seas", which will be released in August.
The hot performance of the summer season is an obvious signal that the Chinese film industry has bottomed out in the medium and long-term cycle since the epidemic
The crew built a moon base with 100% real scenes, and there are nearly 2,000 special effects shots in the whole film, accounting for more than 95% of all shots... The sci-fi comedy "Lone on the Moon" produced by companies such as Happy Twist, China Film and Ali Pictures is in the summer file. attracted a lot of audience.
In the view of Sun Jiashan, an associate researcher at the China National Academy of Arts, the appearance of "Walking on the Moon" proves that the "comedy + sci-fi" type practice is feasible. "Compared with the 'high-cold' Hollywood blockbuster, 'Lone on the Moon' is more popular and down-to-earth, and the live broadcast, short videos and other elements in it also give the movie a greater 'sinking' space and market."
Not only that, but the content and production level of "Lone on the Moon" is also very high, "The biological expression special effects technology in the film is leading even in the world, which also serves as a demonstration for Chinese films to 'go out'. "Sun Jiashan said.
Chen Jin, a data analyst for the Lighthouse Professional Edition, told reporters when analyzing its box office data, "The industry and mainstream media commented that the advancement of science and technology has provided a wider perspective for literary and artistic creation. In recent years, my country's aerospace, Mars exploration, quantum Forging ahead in frontier fields such as communications has continuously stimulated the technological imagination of cultural creation. At the same time, technological progress has also promoted the iteration of the special effects level of literary and artistic works. The special effects are often used in the industry to measure the industrialization level of sci-fi films.”
The family fantasy comedy movie "Mozart in Outer Space", which has a box office of more than 200 million, discusses topics such as family and dreams from the perspective of children. after all". Li Jie, vice chairman of the ESG Working Committee of Alibaba Entertainment, introduced to reporters that this is the first film in China to organize public welfare screenings in rural areas within the first month of its release.
The creative side is constantly updated in order to give the cinema projection side more confidence. As the movie market continues to recover, multiple films are making steady progress. For example, "The Red River" directed by Zhang Yimou has started filming in Shanxi, and a sequel to the hit film "Life Events" is being approved, and "Sneak" supervised by Andy Lau is under shooting.
In Sun Jiashan's view, this summer, the film industry is ushering in the bottoming out stage of the medium and long-term cycle since the epidemic. First, the market environment of the industry began to gradually return to normal, and the confidence of ordinary movie audiences began to recover. Large-scale production films with special effects such as "Lone on the Moon" that have reached the Hollywood A-level appeared in the summer season and performed well, indicating that the cultural industry level of Chinese films has not been greatly affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and it is still going on. Evolve and Ascend. At the same time, the performance of the summer program also conveys the confidence that the film industry will resume operations and continue to improve. This is an obvious signal that my country's film industry is ushering in a bottoming out in the medium and long-term cycle since the epidemic. As the epidemic is further controlled, the market will recover further. I believe that the film market is expected to usher in a better performance in the National Day.
The film industry strengthens epidemic prevention and builds a solid bottom line, and many places have introduced policies to support the film market that is in trouble due to the epidemic
In the first half of 2022, domestic epidemics frequently spread. According to the requirements of epidemic prevention and control, cinemas in medium and high-risk areas will not be open for the time being, and some cinemas in low-risk areas will take measures such as current restrictions or closures. When the epidemic was at its worst, more than half of the country's theaters were closed, and many popular films were withdrawn.
As the epidemic situation gradually stabilizes, while the offline theaters are fully recovering, epidemic prevention and control is still a top priority.
On the afternoon of August 2, the reporter came to the Heshenghui store of Huanying Cinema in Chaoyang District, Beijing. At the ticket gate, the ticket inspectors remind the audience one by one to scan the code to enter, and carefully check the nucleic acid test records of the audience, measure their body temperature, and provide free hand sanitizer in the lobby.
"Our staff have carried out strict nucleic acid screening, and carried out sterilization of key facilities such as armrests and seats in the cinema one after another, and the bathroom is sterilized every two hours." An employee of Huanying Cinema told reporters, "There are often staff who come to spot checks, and the string of epidemic prevention cannot be loosened for a moment."
The reporter saw at the scene that the spectators who checked the tickets consciously kept their distance and displayed the negative nucleic acid test certificates within 72 hours in turn. "The daily epidemic prevention measures such as scanning the code to enter the venue, wearing masks, automatic temperature measurement, and reducing manual contact are very mature. Although it is a bit complicated, it is also to ensure the safety of the audience, and everyone understands it." The employee said.
In addition to taking prescribed actions, improving theater management efficiency and technical support is also an important way for the film industry to strengthen epidemic prevention.
The relevant person in charge of Alibaba Pictures told reporters that in order to meet the requirements of normalized epidemic prevention and control, ensure the health and safety of audiences, and assist theater managers to improve work efficiency, Phoenix Yunzhi, a theater system platform under Alibaba Pictures, has developed a "One-Click". "Separate ticket sales" setting function, which eliminates the adjustment process of closing the seats one by one. On the system operation page, theater administrators can quickly change the ticketing system to the mode of selling tickets in separate seats with one-click settings.
It is worth noting that since the beginning of this year, a number of policies have been introduced from the central to local governments to support the film market that has been in trouble due to the epidemic.
On April 29, the State Film Administration held a video conference on the work of the film system in response to the epidemic. Zhejiang, Hainan, Shandong, Beijing and other places have successively launched a series of relief policies to help enterprises, including tax and fee reductions, rent reductions and exemptions, and the issuance of consumer coupons.
Among them, movie theaters located in the downstream of the industry have become the focus of care. Shanghai has boosted confidence in the industry and promoted the recovery of the film market through eight relief policies, including the issuance of cinema subsidies; Hubei Province has provided assistance and subsidies for normally operating cinemas, according to the "monthly subsidy of 25 yuan per seat for a total of 3 months. ” standard, directly subsidize movie theaters; Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province has given movie theaters a special policy of targeted relief subsidies, giving 3 months of subsidies based on the number of seats in the theater, 25 yuan per seat per month. As of the end of June, the policy has benefited 112 theaters across the city, and more than 8.5 million yuan has been invested in bailout funds.
In addition, many places have arranged special funds or established bailout funds for cultural enterprises including film and television companies to promote the development of the film and television industry. In June of this year, the Fuzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism of Fujian Province issued an announcement soliciting opinions on "Several Measures of Fuzhou City to Support the Development of the Film and Television Industry", stating that it supports the creation of original film and television scripts, encourages local original film and television scripts and deeply reflects Fuzhou's traditional history, culture and Real life movie script.
Good works are the last word. The prosperity of the film market ultimately depends on the high quality of the works.
In the era of multi-screen competition, audiences' desire for high-quality content has not changed. In Sun Jiashan's view, the "ceremonial sense" of watching a movie in a movie theater is the source of the unique charm of a movie. Replacement."
Sun Jiashan also pointed out that the audience's habit of watching movies on TV, mobile phones, and tablets does have an impact on the rhythm of movie playback. "For example, watching movies on other platforms can fast-forward and rewind, which will undoubtedly affect the expression of the movie image itself. On the other hand, factors such as excessive leverage of financial leverage also affect the original production and production system of the movie. The impact of the film caused the quality of the film to be mixed for a period of time."
Sun Jiashan said that the performance of this year's "summer file" was better than expected, but the next trend still needs to focus on the situation of the epidemic and the quality of the film itself.
Earlier, Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critic Society, once issued a document saying that all problems in Chinese films cannot be simply attributed to the epidemic. In addition to the epidemic, it is necessary to further analyze some deep-seated structural contradictions and problems within the film industry itself. In the final analysis, good works are the last word, which requires continuous improvement of the productivity of Chinese films and optimization of the allocation of film resources.
"When the epidemic first arrived in the past two years, the two 'overcapacity' problems in the film industry—the structural problems of film overcapacity and theater chain overcapacity—already existed. But today, it is no longer a problem of overcapacity in films. It is the lack of film supply. Effectively increasing the supply of high-quality films and high-quality films is the key to solving the problem." Sun Jiashan told reporters that the existence of the epidemic has forced the structural adjustment of Chinese films because of the large IP and production. , The set of big stars is useless and cannot be copied anymore. Movies must rely on their own quality and content to attract audiences. In the long run, this will make the Chinese film industry return to the essence of film: actors speak by acting skills, directors and screenwriters speak by professionalism, and films speak by quality and content.
At present, it is a critical period for the high-quality upgrading and development of my country's films. It is an important strategic period for my country to move from a big film country to a film power and finally realize the goal of a cultural power. Despite the impact and impact of the epidemic, the overall upward development trend of the film industry has not changed. For major film companies, in the post-epidemic era, it is more important to compete for high-quality products and internal strength.
The audience's yearning for a better life and the pursuit of high-quality content are still improving. These will be the driving force for the sustainable development of Chinese films in the future. "The film industry should achieve diversified and differentiated supply of various types of films. This requires our film products to complete the transition from 'family fun', 'everyone's love' and other production modes that try to satisfy all audiences, to diversification and differences. The systematic transformation of the supply chain - not only for the summer season, but even for the entire Chinese film industry, this is an industry-wide basic task that must be completed in the foreseeable future." Sun Jiashan said.