Three years have passed, and his prophecies have been fulfilled one by one. The next year, Stephen Chow's comedy "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" won the annual box office championship, while Jiang Zhiqiang's "Storm", which is almost the same type as "Cold War", received "only" more than 300 million at the box office. At that time, Jiang Zhiqiang thought: "When making movies in the future, we must take into account that the average age of Chinese audiences is getting younger and younger. Few movies may be like "Avatar", which will attract any age. If you want to make commercial movies, you have to go in the direction of youth. Think." It turns out that just being younger isn't enough. After two years of remorse, he released a comedy film "Monster Hunt", which was suitable for all ages, breaking the record for the highest box office of a domestic film that had been silent for three years. "Monster Hunt" has swept the box office of more than 2 billion yuan, and this number is still growing, and it is even expected to break the record of 2.426 billion set by "The Fast and the Furious 7", the highest-grossing film in Chinese film history.
In terms of its own quality, "Monster Hunt", like "Thailand", is a qualified but unremarkable movie, so what is the secret to its great commercial success? After careful analysis, I can conclude a few points: For example, although "Monster Hunt" cannot be said to be a conscience of a domestic film, it tells a complete story. This seemingly inconspicuous advantage is the biggest domestic film Sick, the screenwriter Yuan Jinlin said: "When it comes to future movies, we always talk about technology and marketing. In fact, audiences will still watch stories. Only by telling good stories can Chinese blockbusters really go out." Another example, Compared with Jiang Zhiqiang's previous theory of "attracting young people", "Monster Hunt" can be said to be suitable for all ages in terms of subject matter. It does not make adults feel that the story is childish, but also allows children to understand the truth in a subtle way. It is suitable for the whole family to watch together. . For another example, we can also take credit for Internet concepts such as omni-directional penetration and multi-screen interactive marketing in the "Internet +" era... But all of the above are actually just appearances. The big sale of "Monster Hunt" is far from that. Simple.
According to Yien.com's data, the box office of ordinary blockbusters in first-tier cities accounts for about 24%, while "Monster Hunt" only accounts for about 19%. That said, "Monster Hunt" is more popular in China's most extensive second- to fifth-tier cities than other films. On the one hand, this phenomenon is a trend: the share of the four first-tier cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the national box office has dropped from 32.8% in 2008 to 22.3% this year. On the other hand, this is also the result of the deliberate change of "Monster Hunt": Shengmeng Longyuan Company, which is responsible for the promotion of the film, is a film "prefecture-level marketing company" focusing on third- to fifth-tier cities. "Those who win the youth in the small town will win the world", this is probably the strategic decision made by China's gold medal producer Jiang Zhiqiang after careful consideration. The far-reaching impact of this phenomenon on Chinese films is probably inestimable - a large part of the super-selling films with box office of 5 billion and 10 billion we expect will depend on the choices of young people in non-first-tier cities.
So far, can we draw the conclusion that the spring of domestic films has arrived? I would like to pour a ladle of cold water. The success of "Monster Hunt" is inevitable, but it is also the product of China's deformed "policy market". Those who are familiar with Chinese films may know that there is a "domestic film protection month": from July to August every year, in order to support domestic films, the state does not encourage the introduction of overseas blockbuster films. Just imagine, if faced with the fair competition of "Terminator: Genesis", "Minions", "Mission Impossible 5", "Ant-Man", "Monster Hunt" can still win 2 billion box office so easily ? Moreover, China's film market is not completely open. The number of ordinary and special-type films imported from overseas every year is only more than 30. If the film market really opens up one day, will domestic films still have the confidence to compete with them? Challenging? This is a question that everyone who loves movies should face and think about, otherwise, even if the eyes are full of pink and willow green, it can only be a silent spring within the walls.
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