It took Marvel a decade to make a one-man movie until Avengers 4 reached its peak at the box office. In "Reversing Time and Space", Xiong Da Xiong Er leads classic characters such as Luo Xiaohei and Xiong Hong through ten years to face new challenges together. "Bear Infested", which has also produced a series of movies for ten years, brought together popular characters from the past 9 works in this year's "Bear Infested: Reversal of Time and Space" (referred to as "Reversal of Time and Space") and ushered in its own "Avenger Moment".
The ** of the picture of "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space" is Douban.
This gift is given to the fans of "Bear Infested" as a gift of growth to celebrate the 10th anniversary. "In this gift of growth, we have worked hard to bring together ten years of hard work to present an unprecedented audio-visual feast to the fans of "Bear Infested". Shang Linlin, executive president of Huaqiang Fantawild Group, revealed to Poison Eyes. Not only that, the success of "Bear Infested" also highlights the rise and growth of China's animated film industry. As a rare film brand representative in China, Poison Eye (ID: DumoreDumou) conducted in-depth research on the film production strategy and brand building of "Bear Infested" as early as two years ago.
After two years, the box office revenue of "Bear Infested" has climbed to an unprecedented high. Before the release of Poison Eyes, the AI** box office of the Maotao dual platform had reached 225.7 billion and 221.2 billion, which is 14 better than last year's series9.5 billion is an order of magnitude higher. "Bear Infested" is a very successful animated film. Although there is a general discussion in the film market about the narrative of "returning to pre-pandemic x", the film "Bear Infested" is still in the ascending narrative.
Data taken from: The pro version of Maoyan.
In the past Spring Festival schedule, when "Bear Infested" was mentioned, people often used the phrase "making a fortune with a loud voice", but now, this statement has become "making a fortune with a loud voice." While no one has yet been able to determine the position of the ceiling for Bear Infested, no one has actually been able to consistently rise. This is not only because of its amazing box office results, but also because of its significance for the reconstruction of the market structure and commercial map of domestic blockbusters. More striking than the rising box office revenues is the robustness of the brand's films, which provides a key reference for Chinese films to free themselves from the "box office theory".
For many, it may be difficult for them to imagine that Bear Infested has become very popular now.
The first popular thing is the packaging design, and the concept of "time fragment" in "Reversing Time and Space" is very close to the concept of "multiverse" that has become popular overseas in recent years, but this setting is still quite rare in China.
In an article last year, Poison Eye analyzed that the "multiverse" has become one of the most popular story settings in Hollywood commercial blockbusters in recent years, and has even triggered "multiverse fatigue" among overseas audiences to a certain extent. In "Reversing Time and Space", the concept of the multiverse is given a new interpretation, triggering the audience's endless reverie about the dislocation of time and space. However, in the domestic market, few large-scale commercial films have begun to adopt this setting, and "Reversing Time and Space" is undoubtedly the closest one.
The ** of the movie "Spider-Man: Across the Universe" comes from Douban.
Shang Linlin mentioned in a conversation with Poison Eyes that the production cycle of "Reversal of Time and Space" was longer than the previous "Bear Infested", reaching more than three years. The earliest idea dates back to 2020. "Actually, we don't see it as a 'multiverse' and focus more on how bald people are redefining life," she added. In order to better connect the first nine films, that is, the life trajectory of the bald head, we introduced the concept of 'time fragmentation'. In terms of packaging design, it has many similarities to the 'multiverse' we have seen before. ”
It's fair to say that Hollywood's "multiverse" movies are primarily aimed at younger audiences, but it may be a little difficult to truly satisfy the viewing preferences of young audiences.
The creative team of Days Back originally chose "time fragments" as its core concept, and had feared that it might be too complicated for children. Therefore, they have specially created passages such as 'Small Chapter Class' in the hope of explaining all the concepts to everyone in a concentrated section. In the plot, they repeatedly emphasize the definition of 'key events' and their importance, and make several changes to the relevant lines and plot. ”
In order to better match the emotional depth of the characters in the previous 9 films, "Reversal of Time and Space" has also made further improvements in visual effects. In this film, the use of special effects can be described as quite large and complex. Throughout the film, 70% of the shots are related to special effects, and there are more than 1,300 such shots in total. Shang Linlin shared, "There are more than 500 original characters reappearing in the film, and in the most exciting part, the number of characters even exceeds thousands. All of these characters and scenes needed to be remastered or refurbished, and the scale of the production was quite large. In the climactic scene, each character has special effects such as explosions, bullets, smoke, flames, etc. Some shots have more than 100 layers of effects, more than 400 nodes in compositing, and dozens of hours of rendering time for a single frame. For best results, there were more than 40 iterations of the version, and the entire production process took up to 6 months. ”
Obviously, this film has many similarities with Marvel and other large overseas commercial films, which has also become the main focus of controversy in the current negative reviews of the film. The audience craves freshness, and only by digging deep into the local culture and giving the story more ethnic colors can it stand out. For Bear Infested, how to differentiate and localize in packaging design may be one of the key directions of its future efforts.
The film not only shows fashion elements in the packaging design, but also the core theme it wants to convey is also fashionable. In this year's sci-fi blockbuster, we see more concepts and elements such as "harmony between humans and animals", "artificial intelligence", etc. Last year's film "Bear Infested: Stay with Me "Bear Core" mainly explored the question of whether robots can arouse human emotions. Although this has become a common theme in foreign science fiction films, in China, the development of science fiction films is relatively late, and there are few similar thematic expressions.
Bear Infested, Stay with Me "Bear Core"" is Douban.
This year's "Reversal of Time and Space" delves into the differences between life in big cities and small cities, with realism at its core. On this familiar and unfamiliar journey home, people's moods seem to have traveled through time and space. Issues such as "escaping from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" and "returning to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" often become the focus of heated discussions during the annual Spring Festival homecoming, but they are rarely mentioned in domestic films.
Interestingly, science fiction and realism are both areas in which domestic films have rapidly emerged in recent years, and the film planning of "Bear Infested" not only has a strong market appeal, but also shows a certain forward-looking thinking.
The popularity trend of the kernel can stir up controversy, and another negative review of "Days Reversed" is "Is this suitable for children?" ”
The logical basis for this evaluation is that the movie "Bear Infested" is designed for children. This impression seems to be correct in the eyes of many people, because they know that the bear is a character in the cartoon. However, the current "Bear Infested" can no longer be simply described by this fixed concept.
Shang Linlin revealed to Poison Eyes: "In the movie user portrait of "Bear Infested", the number of young viewers who do not have children at all is increasing year by year. ”
It is not difficult to understand that the first TV anime of "Bear Infested" first aired in January 2012, when the child audience who liked ** is now exactly between the ages of 18-25. At this special point in time, the audience may no longer be the simple children of the past, and they are facing more social pressure and responsibility. This group also constitutes the main audience of the Chinese film market. "Reversing Time and Space" cuts in from a unique perspective, skillfully integrating the realistic theme of "social animals" with childhood memories, outlining a picture full of nostalgia and thinking. Therefore, at the moment of celebrating the 10th anniversary of "Bear Fans", the children who used to be have now become "social animals", which is also the starting point of the creation of "Reversing Time and Space" with the theme of "social animals".
As the "bear fans" grow up, we can observe a shift in the underlying chain of contempt. "Bear fans" gradually discovered that their favorite "Bear Infested" is not a simple cartoon, but an emotional resonance. Shang Linlin recalled, "I used to have high expectations for Hollywood animation or foreign anime and thought they were at the top of the chain of contempt. At that time, I thought that "Bear Infested" might not be so confident. But in recent years, as more audiences have walked into the cinema and truly appreciated the movie "Bear Infested", its quality has been affirmed by more people. ”
In various discussions during the Spring Festival, the work "Bear Infested" is often overlooked. Although the "Bear Infested" series of movies is not common during the Spring Festival, it has gradually occupied a place in the hearts of the audience in recent years. "Whenever I go through the audience reviews of a movie, I always hear a lot of people say things like, 'I've seen 5 movies,' and the Bear Infested movie always seems to be inadvertently missed. When everyone discusses the movies on the Spring Festival schedule, the name "Bear Infested" is rarely mentioned. But today, its presence has gradually increased. ”
Whether it's an animation-based chain of contempt or a live-action movie-based chain of contempt, at its core is the transfer of the audience's right to speak. In China, the growth of the Internet has made it possible for people to focus only on what they love. In a previous article on game research, Poison Eye made it clear that the core problem with the chain of contempt is whether the audience behind it really has the right to speak. As the number of Bears fans grows to the point where they can have a voice on the Internet, it is almost inevitable that Bears will emerge from the chain of contempt.
This has also led to an increase in the number of viewers, which is also one of the key factors for the continuous breakthrough of "Bear Infested" at the box office in recent years. From another point of view, new young audiences are also constantly bringing new vitality to the group of "bear fans".
Currently, the TV animation of Bear Infested is mainly designed for child audiences. Especially for children aged 3-6 and 6-12, there are two different series, which are named "Bears" series and "Bear Paradise" and "Bear Gang Gang". In the "Big Bear" series, the previous launch was "Bear Infested Monster Project", and this year's upcoming release is "Bear Infested Small World". It is worth noting that "Bear Infested: A Small World" is a story line derived from the fifth film "Bear Infested Metamorphosis".
"Bear Paradise", "Bear Gang Gang" and "Bear Infested Small World" (*Douban).
Despite being a work called "Turning Back Time and Space", it is not designed for adult audiences, and it still sticks to the style of a family-friendly movie. "Yes, what we want to present to children is not only a thrilling adventure, but also an exploration and inspiration for life. Shang Linlin elaborated on this point: "For the children, we expect this story to be like a preview of life. Although we often mention IQ and EQ, in the current social environment, people will realize the importance of reverse quotient. Therefore, we hope that through a film like this, children will think about how you will respond if you encounter a similar situation in the future or are judged by others. ”
Undoubtedly, whether it is a new audience group or an existing audience, their core identity logic of "Bear Infested", or the high-quality movie-going experience brought by each previous movie, has shaped its unique brand influence.
During the pre-sale period of this year's Spring Festival, although the fees for sub-line distribution and film scheduling were canceled, the ticket supplement war has become the only way to compete for market share in the film schedule, and the film "Reversal of Time and Space" is the only work that did not participate in the ticket supplement. "Reversal of Time and Space", as a work with both word-of-mouth and box office success, has been widely praised by the market and the audience. Since its release, according to Tuopu's statistics, the attendance rate of "Reversal of Time and Space" is still the highest in the schedule, reaching 3432%, which is more than 5 percentage points higher than other films.
Especially in the deep market, the superiority of "Bear Infested" is more obvious. This huge gap reveals the strong performance of "Reversal of Time and Space" in fourth-tier cities, which may be closely related to the preference of audiences in the region for film genre and content. According to the data of Maoyan Professional Edition, before the release of Poison Eye, "Reversal of Time and Space" accounted for 66 percent of the box office in third- and fourth-tier cities1%, while in "Hot and Hot", "Flying Life 2" and "Article 20", this proportion is only. 4% and 595%。Especially among the fourth-tier cities, the proportion of fourth-tier cities in "Reversing Time and Space" is as high as 423%, which is 4 to 5 percentage points higher than the other three cities.
The Spring Festival schedule has become the main time for in-market viewing, and in-market audiences are often the most difficult part of regular promotional activities. At this time, "Bear Infested", as a well-known film brand, began to show its obvious advantages. Thanks to the deep emotion of the audience, there is no need to increase a large amount of publicity expenses every year, and it is still possible to maintain a stable screening ratio and ensure a stable audience attendance rate in the cinema.
After the release of "Avengers 4", Marvel's career has gradually declined, which proves that relying solely on the assembly of characters and hidden easter eggs is not the real secret of wealth, and only a story that can touch people's hearts is the real wealth**.
From the first to the tenth part of the film, "Bear Infested" has created a film path that has never been seen before in Japan, and even in Japan, where there are many film versions, there are only a handful of animated IPs that can produce ten or more films. "Bear Infested" is China's first animated film with the theme of animation, which not only created a new model of Chinese animation production, but also made people see the hope for the development of the domestic animation industry. Over the past decade, "Bear Infested" has consumed a lot of conventional material, and there are few seniors whose experience can guide us in the future direction.
Shang Linlin believes that the most central part of the film is undoubtedly the core of the story, and one way to find a compelling story is to explore the growth path of the characters so as to resonate with the audience. In "Return to Earth", Xiong Er embarks on a journey to find his lost family members and bravely faces difficulties. One of the significant advantages of the film "Bear Infested" is that because its protagonist group is composed of three members, Xiong Da, Xiong Er and Bald Qiang, the content of the film can be deeply explored from these three characters one by one every year. These three films vividly show the inner world of each protagonist, and the audience can not only see their growth and change, but also feel the resonance with their own hearts. In the past three years, in the three works of "Return to Earth", "Stay with Me "Bear Core" and "Reverse Time and Space", the main character with a growth trajectory is Xiong.
Second, Xiong Da and bald strong.
In addition to the previously mentioned "Little Bear" and "Big Bear" series, in 2023, Huaqiang Fantawild will also release a TV animation based on the IP of "Bear Infested", called "Zhao Lin's Adventure Diary". The animated series "Zhao Lin's Adventure Diary" has been widely popular, and the audience likes to follow Zhao Lin on a thrilling adventure. However, Shang Linlin said that there are currently no plans to launch IP-based derivative works in the film field. "We release a new film every year, and we usually have two or three creative teams working on a big film project like Bear Infested in parallel, and the future direction is going to be completely new. ”
A work titled "Zhao Lin's Adventure Diary".
One of the most interesting topics in the book "Reversing Time and Space" is the practical application of product placement. In the feature film, Bald Qiang and Xiong Da encounter a mysterious robot in the forest. In the film's advertising patch, Bald Qiang, Xiong Da and Xiong Er were chosen as the brand's spokespersons. And in the feature film of the film, the bald head Qiang once again inadvertently mentions the brand's products, thus forming a linkage effect.
Although this is a relatively old diversified film revenue channel, in the domestic film market in recent years, especially in the field of animated films, "Bear Infested" has almost become the only income**. In this unique film revenue model, experimenting with product placement is not an easy task. Shang Linlin revealed that the movie "Bear Infested" has already introduced product placement in its second and third parts. This is due to our many years of brand experience and long-term relationships with all derivative licensing partners. Whether it's product placement or product licensing, we have long-term relationships with some of our partners. ”
According to Huaqiang Fantawild 2023 semi-annual report, during the reporting period, Huaqiang Fantawild launched more than 100 new products in terms of brand licensing, and added a number of new categories such as three-dimensional plush, collectible cards and handbook cultural creativity. At the same time, Huaqiang Fantawild also actively expands the international market and cooperates with well-known cultural institutions in Japan, South Korea and other places, which further enhances the company's influence in the world. Through cross-border cooperation with platforms such as Map, Meitu App, Douyin, People**, and Criminal Investigation Drama of the Ministry of Public Security, Bear Infested IP has successfully expanded its influence in the fields of beauty travel, government-enterprise cooperation, and public welfare. The significant increase in operating income in the digital animation category demonstrates the strong strength of Huaqiang Fantawild in the field of digital entertainment. Huaqiang Fantawild "digital animation" business revenue reached 36.9 billion, an increase of 54 compared to last year81% growth.
*Source: Huaqiang Fantawild 2023 semi-annual report.
However, Shang Linlin also pointed out that compared with the epidemic, the revenue of brand licensing has only rebounded slightly, but it has not yet returned to the pre-pandemic level.
The application of AIGC has been the focus of heated discussions among animation companies since last year. Shang Linlin revealed that Huaqiang Fantawild had already paid attention to the application scenarios of AI technology before the outbreak of AIGC last year. At present, the company's application of AI processes mainly focuses on conceptual design and detailed design of characters and scenes, while there are relatively few parts that can be directly applied in the formal 3D production stage. In fact, the AIGC tool will be even more effective when it comes to games or live-action movie CGs. For those animated films with a ** style, the difficulty of applying AIGC may increase due to its unique style or the need for some extraordinary, imaginative graphics. ”
No one can sustain an ascending narrative permanently. The decline of the "Bear Infested" series is not accidental, it reflects the changing tastes of the audience and the intensification of market competition. Looking back on the past ten years, although "Bear Infested" has broken its own record every year, it has actually experienced a stage of decline. The box office of the seventh "Bear Infested: Wild Continent" may decline, but this is not the end of the road. Compared with the previous year, the third part of "Bear Infested: The Return of the Bear Heart" has decreased at the box office, and some industry experts at the time believed that 300 million could be the highest box office of the "Bear Infested" series. The seventh installment of "Bear Infested: Wild Continent" also suffered a box office decline, with some industry experts even believing that 800 million or 1 billion could be the upper limit of the series' box office.
The ** of the picture of "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space" is Douban.
Until this year, "Bear Infested" is expected to break the 2 billion mark, but no one has yet been able to determine exactly where its ceiling lies. The development of this industry is truly jaw-dropping, and the growth in numbers is incredible. Shang Linlin shared: "I think the real ceiling may be the subjective judgment of a certain period. Ten years ago, when we first started making animated films, the box office of Chinese animated films exceeded 100 million, which was huge, and now this number is difficult to estimate. Therefore, I firmly believe that whether it is an animated or live-action film, as long as its quality continues to improve, the box office will definitely grow. For us, ensuring the quality of every piece is of paramount importance. ”
Although the box office has remained stable every year, the industry should pay more attention to its business strategy as a branded film. The key to the success of "Bear Infested" lies in the first step of brand awareness. The movie "Bear Infested" uses the content of the film to guide the development direction of the brand, and maintains the influence of the brand through the brand's authorization and multi-leading operation strategy, thereby bringing returns to the box office. The precedence of brand awareness will inject new commercial imagination into the Chinese film industry. Rather than building a brand based on existing film content, cultivating brand awareness first is more likely to stimulate business creativity in the Chinese film industry.
Instead of expecting to see "Hot and Hot" during the Spring Festival every year to stimulate the heat of the market, a healthier market prospect is that the work "Bear Infested" is in its infancy.