In the 2023 Spring Festival, "The Wandering Earth 2", "Man Jianghong" and other films with different themes were released together, with a total box office of 6.758 billion yuan, the second best result in the history of the Spring Festival schedule. On January 31, the box office of my country's movies in 2023 will exceed the 10 billion mark. The Chinese film market has swept away last year's decline, showing a strong momentum of continuous recovery.

On February 8, the "2023 Spring Festival Movie Phenomenon Seminar" hosted by the China Film Association and undertaken by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Film Art Center and the Theoretical Review Working Committee of the China Film Association was held in Beijing.

Seminar site

The Spring Festival stalls are off to a good start

Zhang Hong, Secretary of the Party Group of the China Film Association, said that due to the impact of the epidemic, the film industry will be listed as one of the 22 extremely difficult industries by the State Council in 2022. "This has never happened in history. The operating rate of theaters across the country once fell below 50%. A large number of theaters have been closed for a long time. Many well-known new high-end theaters have disappeared from the crowd's sight. It is not uncommon for the national single-day box office to be several million. , The industry has been in a state of loss for a long time. Affected by various epidemic prevention and control policies, the intermittent operation of theaters has broken the audience's viewing habits and greatly weakened the entire industrial chain."

"This year's Spring Festival is a special period after the three-year epidemic. The box office growth of Spring Festival movies is strong, and it can be said to be 'popular' across the board. The number of viewers reached 129 million, which shows that the popularity of movies in the hearts of audiences has not diminished, which has greatly boosted It has strengthened the confidence of the film industry, which shows that the talents, audiences and market are still there." Zhang Hong said.

Zhang Pimin, chairman of the China Film Foundation, believes that the excellent performance of the Spring Festival in 2023 is a qualified answer sheet submitted by Chinese filmmakers. He hopes that film workers will continue to work hard in subject creation and film supply in the future, and make new achievements in publicity, the establishment of distribution systems, and the improvement of the overall industrialization level.

Professor Wang Yichuan, vice chairman of the Chinese Association of Literary Critics, summed up the six films released during the Spring Festival in 2023 as "Going to Heaven ("Wandering Earth 2")", "Going to Earth ("No Name"), "Going to the Sea ("Deep Sea"), and "Replacement". ("Man Jianghong", "Exchanging Life", "Bear Infested·Stay with Me Bear's Core")" 4 key words, it is believed that the diverse genre styles and high production standards of the 6 films reflect the creative level of contemporary Chinese films , It also highly fits the mood of the current audience.

According to Hou Keming, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy, "Audiences not only went to the cinema to watch movies, but also engaged in heated discussions on various social platforms. 'Movie Spring Festival' has become a hot topic during the Spring Festival, which reflects that the creators of Spring Festival movies There are audiences in their hearts, and the audience has given back to the creators' unremitting efforts with their own word of mouth and enthusiasm."

Li Chunli, Deputy Director of the Literature and Art Department of "Guangming Daily" was deeply impressed by the diverse themes of the Spring Festival in 2023 and the movie-watching experience of the family. "Wake up the Spring" topic." From the perspective of the media, she paid attention to the effect of the movie after the screening, "that is, the so-called "post-movie effect". Tickets are free, and there are also thoughts on how to be good parents after watching "Bear Infested With Bear Core". This kind of strong field effect formed by the participation of the whole people, even the previous "Avatar 2" did not achieve it."

what to do next

"Chinese filmmakers did not lie down, did not give up, did not slack off, and did not lower their standards. I have witnessed many works with my own eyes, and they have created a predictable situation when the future is unpredictable. In 2021, I will go to "" The crew of "The Wandering Earth 2" visited the set. They didn't know what their future would be like. Director Guo Fan only slept for two and a half hours a day, and he was trading his life for a movie; "Chinese Ping Pong" just arrived in Tianjin for filming, and Tianjin was closed. , transferred to Qingdao and was closed again, it was extremely difficult..." said Zhao Ningyu, a professor of acting at the Beijing Film Academy who was born as an actor.

He said, "At present, the Spring Festival file has come to an end, and the relevant departments have also carried out centralized scheduling. Not only are there many films waiting to be screened in April, but the market structure of the May 1st file has also taken shape. During the next New Year, we have enough 'bullets' and enough 'food'. As practitioners, we both 'charge' forward, and also 'transport military food' and 'make military shoes' in the rear. Everyone is eight thousand miles away Cloud and Moon, go all the way to the end."

Tao Jing, a professor and sound engineer at the Communication University of China, pointed out in his speech that taking advantage of the great momentum of the Spring Festival, we should take the initiative in the next step. "This year's Spring Festival file is very special. From the perspective of works, some movies are not specially made for the Spring Festival file. In the past, the Spring Festival file, such as the high-grossing "Hello, Li Huanying", was very purposeful. In the future, we can't just focus on A few good films, and many young filmmakers, many directors and producers with their own ideas, their films (also worthy of attention)."

Liu Peng, director of the Maoyan Research Institute, pointed out in his speech that although the Spring Festival this year is very prosperous, reaching more than 6 billion, not every film makes money, and half of the films lose money. "In particular, the number of movies at the waist is decreasing, and there are fewer and fewer movies between 50 million and 500 million. How to improve this situation? We have market accumulation and audience insight. It’s time to do more combinations, hoping to make a clearer genre.”

filmmakers are ready

Since its release in mainland China on the first day of the Lunar New Year this year, "The Wandering Earth 2" has earned a total of 3.468 billion box office within 18 days. It is worth mentioning that although it is still the runner-up in the box office during the Spring Festival, since February 3, the daily box office of "The Wandering Earth 2" has surpassed "Manjianghong" for 5 consecutive days.

Producer and screenwriter Gong Ge said that "The Wandering Earth 2" received strong support from the National Film Bureau before and after its release. "China's light and heavy industry manufacturing industry, as well as China's smart manufacturing industry, the two major 'Made in China' have provided strong confidence and endorsement for this filming. On March 6, the film will be released in Russia. At the end of March and early April , will be released in Africa. So far, "The Wandering Earth 2" has been screened in 398 overseas theaters, with a box office of 8 million US dollars. The number of overseas releases is being further increased, so that this Chinese film can be shared with more world audiences. Meet."

"The Wandering Earth 2" producer and screenwriter Gong Ge

As the producer of "The Wandering Earth 2", Wang Hongwei, vice president of the China Film Directors Association and professor of the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy, first responded to the concerns and discussions that have arisen since the film was released. "When creating "The Wandering Earth", the intention was not to create a movie that maximizes the market. If the threshold is lowered this time, the clues are cut, and the duration is compressed, the box office may be higher. But we did not choose this Road, because we bear a greater responsibility, that is to make a better movie, a newer movie, a movie that is more in line with the concept of science fiction movies, instead of hitting a certain box office record."

"Actually, Chinese audiences' acceptance and understanding of "The Wandering Earth 2" has exceeded our expectations. Now many audiences hope to see more challenging plots, so that they can burn their brains and make up their minds. If filmmakers Still going backwards, constantly lowering the threshold of movie viewing, in order to sink the market, try to make movies as simple, funny, and vulgar as possible, not only sorry for movie audiences, but also narrow the future development of Chinese movies. This so-called adventure It's worth it."

"The various recent initiatives of the Film Bureau, including the Spring Festival as the representative, show the direction of restarting a hundred flowers. I am particularly pleased and full of expectations. The Film Bureau keeps the red line, the bottom line, the ceiling, diversification, and the so-called "let a hundred flowers bloom." Let the filmmakers do it. Leaders can rest assured that the backbone of the film academy cultivated in the 1980s and 1990s knows what to do and what not to do. They are a generation with a market vision, but not a generation that only markets , They are trustworthy." Wang Hongwei finally said.