Economic Observer reporter Xie ChuchuOn February 18, according to the preliminary statistics of the National Film Administration, the national film box office during the Spring Festival holiday in 2024 (February 10 to February 17) will be 801.6 billion yuan, and the number of moviegoers was 16.3 billion, an increase of 18 percent at the box office and number of people during the Spring Festival holiday in 202347% and 2636%, all of which set a new record in the same period.
Still, individual theaters feel different levels of the market. A manager of Sanya Cinema said that the overall ticket price was relatively lower than last year, but the total number of visitors increased, which led to an increase in the total box office, and the number of people and box office revenue of his cinema during the Spring Festival this year were lower than the same period last year. The manager of another cinema in a fifth-tier city also said that revenue was the same as last year.
Cai Xiaoxue, director of operations of Shanghai Chinese Cinema UME Film Group, said that a major feature of this year's Spring Festival stalls is that the sinking market is particularly hot, which is related to the long 8-day holiday and homecoming fever this year. This year's Spring Festival market has also made a good start, giving the film industry hope.
Judging from the performance of specific films, Lai Li, an analyst of Maoyan Entertainment Market, said that this year's Spring Festival file presents a situation of "two supers and two strong". Among them, "Hot and Hot" and "Flying Life 2" led the box office, both exceeding 2 billion yuan; "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space" and "Article 20" both exceeded 1 billion yuan, and the number of films that exceeded 1 billion during this year's Spring Festival is the largest in history.
On February 18, the Spring Festival stalls came to an end, and "Hot and Hot" starring Jia Ling won the box office championship, with a current box office of 276.8 billion yuan.
In the opinion of Zhu Yuqing, the founder of Juyinghui, the reason why "Hot and Hot" can stand out among the four popular movies is because of the popularity and trust that Jia Ling has accumulated since "Hello, Li Huanying". In addition, the film is genuine, simple, and emphasizes self-growth. What's more, the film itself can especially meet the hearts of the audience during the Chinese New Year and is suitable for all kinds of movie-watching groups**.
Although the overall reputation of this year's Spring Festival movies is good, Lai Li also said that the lack of waist films during the schedule, the "Matthew effect" is becoming more and more significant, and the withdrawal of many films also needs attention.
With "Let's Shake the Sun Together" taking the lead in withdrawing, "Huang Pi: The God of Wealth Cat from the Sky", "Mr. Red Carpet" and "Eight Rings: The Nether of the Canopy" have been announced to be withdrawn one after another, and as of February 17, half of the films in the Spring Festival file have been withdrawn.
Among them, the withdrawal of "Mr. Red Carpet" and "Let's Shake the Sun Together" surprised Zhu Yuqing. Starring Peng Yuchang and produced by the owner of Lianrui Film, "Let's Shake the Sun Together" tells a story about life and death and agreements. In the withdrawal statement, the filmmaker said that "there was a major mistake in the selection of schedules". The main producer of "Mr. Red Carpet" is Huanxi Media, which was founded by Dong Ping, Ning Hao, Xu Zheng, etc. In the withdrawal statement, the filmmaker said that "Mr. Red Carpet" is a minimalist absurd comedy, a work that has become complete because of the communication with the audience. As of February 18, the box office of "Mr. Red Carpet" was 83.3 million yuan.
Let's Shake the Sun Together" is too sad, the tonality is not in line with the happy Spring Festival file for the whole family, and the withdrawal of "Mr. Red Carpet" is also due to the unsatisfactory market performance, including Andy Lau, the cast and production are very strong, but the audience doesn't buy it, this situation is similar to "If You Are Honest Do Not Disturb 3", it has to be more important to have a sense of truth". Zhu Yuqing believes that the biggest inspiration for the industry during this year's Spring Festival is that the producer needs to make a fuss about the movie-watching psychology of the schedule, and the types must be rich enough to encourage more people to enter the theater, and if it goes against the market demand, the result may not be ideal.