The 2023 summer season is about to officially end. According to the Beacon Professional Edition, as of 21:00 on August 31, the 2023 summer vacation (June 1-August 31) has roughly reported a box office of 20.609 billion, far exceeding the previous record of 17.7 billion. At the same time, the total number of moviegoers reached 504 million, and the total number of screenings reached 34.607 million, both setting new summer records in Chinese film history.

The competition in the summer season is very intense, and almost every weekend can bring new surprises to the audience. From domestic masterpieces to imported blockbusters, from comedy genres to realistic themes, from animated Chinese comics to mythological epics, many audiences who have not seen the cinema for a long time have returned to the cinema this summer.

According to Beacon Professional Edition data, as of 20:47 on August 31, the box office of "All or Nothing" exceeded 3.523 billion, topping the 2023 summer box office list. "The Lost Girl" has maintained its summer dominance since the Dragon Boat Festival, but was overtaken by "All or Nothing" on the last day of summer vacation. In the end, the top five summer movies were "Desperate", "She Disappeared", "Apotheosis Part 1", "In the Octagon" and "Chang'an 30,000 Miles".

Data source: Lighthouse Professional Edition

"Whether the film market can recover this year depends entirely on the summer season." This is the expectation of Chen Zhixi, the producer of the film "Passion", for the upcoming summer season at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June this year. At that time, when she and director Wu Ershan were interviewed as youth venture capital mentors, when they talked about the still sluggish Chinese film market environment, they both stated that no matter what type of subject matter the filmmakers are working on, the important thing is to unite and make good use of their works. Audiences are brought back to the cinema. Also during the film festival, Wang Baoqiang made his debut with "In the Octagonal Cage". At the premiere, his friend Chen Sicheng joined forces to help out on the spot. Lianlian Interaction has successively contracted the popularity of the early summer season.

"China has the best market, the largest audience, and the best audience. As long as you meet his basic needs and provide emotional value, he will praise you." Wu Ershan's "best audience" did not disappoint the filmmakers. Pay it forward, the 2023 summer season will be the strongest in history. This kind of "strength" is not only the record-breaking box office figures, but also the collective explosion of film quality and the blossoming of a hundred flowers. Films that are realistic and emotional, and have both good-looking and social significance make the audience continue to resonate and dialogue with the film. . In this sense, this summer season is indeed the most "hot" summer for Chinese movies.

At the end of this summer, let’s look back at this summer vacation that was occupied by movies through some keywords.

Double 3.5 billion + "Anti-Fraud Guide"

The suspense of the championship is kept until the last moment

In this year's summer season, a total of two blockbuster hits of 3.5 billion+ were born. The suspense over who will win the summer season between "The Missing Her" and "Desperate for All" lasted until the last moment. The two films also have a similar core in "grabbing" the audience's emotions. Both films are related to the matter of "cheating", cheating money, cheating lives and cheating feelings. The content of the former is highly suitable for social topics such as the case of a pregnant woman falling off a cliff in Thailand, while the latter is based on a large number of real cases collected by the director. While telling the audience shocking and spectacle stories, grasp the insecurities in real social emotions, so as to amplify emotions through movies to achieve the social effect of breaking the topic.

"She Disappeared" poster

"She Disappeared" advanced the traditional breaking point of the summer season by a month. Since the film was released on the Dragon Boat Festival, the box office has been on the decline for many days. The topics on social networking sites have expanded from the initial discussion of actors' acting skills and modeling to the analysis and decryption of suspenseful plots, and then extended to topics such as love brain and gender situation. Fermentation, hot searches continue. As a theater hit this summer, it transcended the movie itself and became a social topic. For a suspense film that is not a big IP and does not have dazzling visual effects, from excavating and adapting the text to fitting the local context of the times, producer Chen Sicheng dispatched industry resources while arousing the emotions of the audience on and off the screen, and finally won the box office. "Win the pot".

A noteworthy phenomenon is that the ticket purchase portraits of the Beacon database show that the proportion of female audiences in "The Vanishing She" has reached nearly 80%. The secret to success lies in releasing a large amount of women’s consumption power. Looking back at the hot screening of the film, it just hit the social emotions of women who have a strong sense of insecurity in their marriage and love relationships, and accurately hit the collective anxiety of the current young female group. #迷失的她续恋爱脑##纸眖看见迷了的她失了# and other topics have been popping up on hot searches one after another, and there are endless interpretations of true and false on short video websites.

"All or Nothing" focuses on "one more person watching the movie and one less person being deceived". It also took advantage of several shocking news incidents of fraud in northern Myanmar this year. The director used skillful film techniques to film the "anti-fraud propaganda film" with every detail of the plot, the rhythm is tense and compelling, and the characters have distinctive personalities. The empathy of the audience and the triggering of social topics benefit from the strong relationship between the subject matter itself and public life. Correlation. Compared with the urban legend about the "human pig" in "The Lost Girl", the incidence of fraud in northern Myanmar is much higher in reality. Regardless of the slogan of "beautiful dealers deal online" or "sleep on the floor today, sleep with the boss tomorrow", all kinds of "famous scenes" are extremely suitable for the material of the second creation of short videos, so that relevant movie materials can be used in short videos such as Douyin. It quickly gathered on the platform and attracted a lot of eyeballs and attention in the sinking market.

"All or Nothing" poster

Realism explodes

Movies resonate with society

Among the top ten in this year’s summer box office list, 8 are domestic films. "All or Nothing", "In the Octagon", "Study Dad" and "I Love You!" 》The four realism-themed films are all small and medium-sized in terms of production costs, but they generate huge energy in resonating with the audience's emotions, allowing the audience to feel the filmmakers' participation and attention in contemporary life.

If, in "All or Nothing", we can see a perfect example of the rigid needs of the genre, the victory of marketing, the audience's accumulated entertainment needs, and the current social sentiment, the success of "The Octagon" is even more The audience affirmed the sincere Wang Baoqiang's years of hard work in "all-or-nothing" creation.

The children in the mountains in the film come from poverty-stricken areas. Their homes are bare and they don’t have enough to eat, let alone receive an education. These large numbers of left-behind children in rural China have been a reality that has not been seen for a long time. Wang Baoqiang used a story of a fight to break out of the "octagonal cage" to focus people's attention on this. Regarding the way out of poverty, personal destiny and social restrictions, some scenes that are tacit but not vividly portrayed have also triggered heated discussions on social networks.

The film was screened on a large scale in the early stage, which made the reputation sink deeper and wider, and finally gained good results and good reputation in the summer season. Wang Baoqiang's second directorial work has made a wonderful turnaround after the failure of "Havoc in Tianzhu".

In addition, the hidden pain of educational issues in "School Dad", topics that contemporary parents cannot escape, such as chicken babies, involution, school district housing, and anxiety about entering higher education, are wrapped in family interactions with laughter and tears, which are still heart-breaking; "I love you! "Facing the inner emotional world of the elderly, it seems that love is sweeter than love, but in fact it is a shocking reminder about the situation of the elderly in the contemporary aging society and how young people should pay attention to the lives of the elderly; " Films such as "Barbie", "I Walked Through the Storm" and "Barbarians Invasion" have also discussed female topics from different perspectives such as self-realization, violence, and fertility, etc., which have become the intersection of films and ordinary audiences' emotional connection. This summer's films have a sense of participation at a social and emotional level. Full.

Tap water and good movies go both ways

The first time the "Tap Water" group made an impact in the film market was in the summer release of "The Return of the Monkey King" in 2015, and this year, the cinema once again witnessed the power of this group.

The one who should be most grateful to "Tap Water" must be the movie "Fengshen Part 1". This epoch-making Eastern magical epic blockbuster can be said to be rescued from the "ICU" by "Tap Water" with all its efforts.

"Fengshen Part 1" poster

The movie "Fengshen Part 1" released on July 20 is the first domestic movie to be shot in three consecutive parts. Director Wu Ershan and his top behind-the-scenes team have a production cycle of 18 months. From preparation to release, it is After ten years of hard work, the scenes, costumes, props, etc. all reflect the ingenuity of "the wise create things, the skillful describe them, keep the world, and call it craftsmanship". It is precisely because of the huge production that the pressure faced by the film is far greater than that of small and medium-sized productions in the same period. However, large-scale productions with fantasy themes have been away from the market for a long time. In addition, the dissatisfaction of many similar films many years ago has overstretched the public's expectations for this genre. The start of "Fengshen Part 1" is not optimistic.

Fortunately, the film's watchable quality, pride in the progress of the fantasy genre industry, and the "show" sense of the "Proton Brigade" boy band have attracted a wave of "fandom girls" to contribute ideas to the film. A group of "tap water" who were unwilling to bury their pearls "run around telling each other" joined the film's online publicity army. Afterwards, the film changed its "grand and grand" style on the Internet and became full of Internet feel, and the creators also listened to the advice. Fei Xiang, who is in his sixties, and the audience are completely "business-speaking", and the young actor They formed "Fengshen Proton Edition 101". The interaction between the official and netizens is full of love, and for "tap water", it also has a sense of accomplishment.

Similar to the Spring Festival "The Wandering Earth 2", the crew has ideals and devoted themselves to making arduous and successful explorations for China's heavy film industry, which has become the emotional motivation to attract "tap water" to contribute to the box office and "vote to support "Feng Shen" "To vote is equivalent to saving China's heavy film industry. This is a watershed in the battle against evil capital in the film industry." It has become the "justice" defended by some movie fans.

"Chang'an Thirty Thousand Miles" poster

Another film with a strong "tap water" foundation is "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an", which also led the industry's technological advancement and the oriental aesthetic upsurge. The domestic animation "Thirty Thousand Miles from Chang'an" shows the magnificent style of the Tang Dynasty and the portraits of poets. Through the legendary stories of the well-known poets Gao Shi, Li Bai and other stars of the Tang Dynasty, it shows the audience the majestic spirit of the Tang Dynasty and the heroic spirit of historical celebrities. Aspirations and the classic charm of Tang poetry that has been passed down for thousands of years, let audiences from all over the country and even the world feel the beauty of Chinese culture together.

At the beginning of its release, due to the dominance of the market by hit projects at the same time, the lack of benchmark samples for the genre and theme of this film, and the 168-minute ultra-long film length that puts a lot of pressure on the audience... The combination of various factors has led to Expectations for this film were not high. The beginning of the film was indeed not strong, but as word-of-mouth fermented in the later stage, the stamina of "Thirty Thousand Miles in Chang'an" also began to be stimulated. After completing the first box office reversal on the second day of its release, the film continued to make great efforts, and rose to the runner-up of the daily chart on the fifth day of its release, and won the daily box office crown for the first time on its ninth day of release. In the end, the box office of more than 1.7 billion also made "Three Thousand Miles of Chang'an" the highest-grossing summer animation after "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes into the World". Not only that, since the film was released, its Douban score has also risen from 8.0 at the beginning of its release to 8.3, making it the highest-rated domestic theater film in the summer, and the highest-rated work by the producer Chasing Light Animation so far.

In addition to the story of the film, controversies about history have also fermented the culture of the Tang Dynasty. Some people questioned that "Three Thousand Miles of Chang'an" obliterated the sense of existence of Luoyang. , well-founded and detailed answers. Among the core audiences of the film, lovers of ancient poetry and parent-child audiences, all provide a solid foundation for the long-term effect of the film.

Various records are constantly being refreshed

The meaning behind the data is gratifying

In addition to the box office figures, the number of movie screenings and the number of moviegoers in this summer's file set new records. The total number of summer screenings this year exceeded 34.6 million, continuing to refresh the highest box office record in Chinese film history, and the number of movie viewers exceeded 504 million, which also proved that this is the most intimate summer for movies and audiences.

Compared with the past summer files, which often lead the way with top films, this year's summer files will be much more "evenly matched". Chen Jin, an analyst at Lighthouse, said in an interview that this year’s summer vacation shows a grand occasion of “frequent blockbusters” and “a hundred flowers blooming”. There are already 4 films with a box office of more than 2 billion, which is the largest number in history. It can be said that domestic films are “ "Frequent hits" have supported this summer's sales. Such a good box office performance is firstly due to the excellent quality of the films. Whether it is the audience ratings of Tao Piao Tickets or Douban fan ratings, the overall performance has been significantly improved compared with previous summer films; secondly, the themes and topics of these films With high popularity and strong marketability, the publicity and distribution on the Douyin channel has achieved excellent circle-breaking effects.

In addition, one of the reasons for the explosion of the summer box office is related to the overall increase in movie ticket prices: in 2019, the average price of each movie ticket in the summer file was 35.4 yuan, and this year it rose to 40.8 yuan. But the ticket price can’t just be based on the number itself. This year’s summer movies are all long, and some even exceed 170 minutes. In the case of a large possibility of reduction, theaters will definitely have to increase prices to maintain profitability. People in the industry believe that this year's price is reasonable based on the length of the film.

Another gratifying phenomenon is that, according to data from the Beacon Professional Edition, 52.7% of the audience in this year's summer file went to the cinema for the first time this year, which is a significant increase from 44.6% in 2019. Chen Jin said, "This year's summer movies have brought low-frequency audiences back into the cinema. Many movies such as "The Disappearing She", "Desperate", and "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an" all have more than 10% of newcomers. Ability is of far-reaching significance to the sustainable and healthy development of the Chinese film market."

In the overall ticket purchase portrait of the summer file in 2023, the proportion of female ticket purchases is very prominent, reaching more than 60%, and it is also the summer file with the highest proportion of female audiences since statistics. "Half the Sky". In terms of age, the proportion of audiences aged 35 and above is also a record high in the summer file, and the proportion of three or more people watching movies in groups has also reached a new high. There are a lot of family audiences watching movies together with their families and children.

Another phenomenon that cannot be ignored is that large-scale pre-screening of summer movies has become popular this year, represented by "In the Octagonal Cage". Tens of millions of people watched the movie in advance, and 562,000 screenings were scheduled. And the ever-extending key has also made the characters such as "Slam Dunk", "King of the Sky" and "I Love You!" " and other films continue to be active in the summer film schedule. Whether it is large-scale screenings or key extensions, it undoubtedly demonstrates the filmmaker's confidence in the film and the audience's continued recognition of good movies. In terms of film quality, this summer's success is due to the film's "improvement".

"In the Octagon" poster

In the background user data of Beacon, the proportion of watching two, three or more summer files this year has basically returned to the level before 2019, which is very positive for the recovery of the film industry. "Many films this year have a very good reputation among senior Douban fans. For example, "Three Thousand Miles of Chang'an" has a Douban score of 8.3, and "Fengshen No. 1" has a Douban score of 7.9, and the Douban scores have continued to rise with the release of the films. High-frequency users are a very important base for our film market, and their increased vitality is also a positive signal for market recovery," Chen Jin said.

Since the first day of the release of "The Missing She", the single-day box office has exceeded 150 million for 63 consecutive days, creating a record in film history, and the weekend box office has remained at a high level of more than 400 million for many consecutive weeks. Prior to this, the industry and academic circles have raised the concern that the Chinese film market is overly dependent on large schedules, and the market is stable and positive for a long time. It is necessary to form a "weekend file" that has movies to watch every weekend and good-looking ones. This summer session also delivered strong results in the implementation of the "weekend schedule".

It is worth mentioning that after the summer season ended in previous years, the industry directly began to look forward to the National Day season. This year, there are already "Volunteer Army: The Great Soldier Attack" directed by Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou's new work "Sturdy as a Rock", and Qiu Litao's "93 International Train Robbery: Operation Moscow" is scheduled for National Day. However, in the September film market, there are still quality new films including "Worthwhile Trip", "The Eighth Suspect", "Parrot Killing", "Yong'an Town Stories" and other high-quality films that also have realistic texture and author's expression, waiting for the audience to review.