The pre-sale of new films for the 2024 Spring Festival is in full swing.
Although this year's Spring Festival schedule has been criticized for its lack of support for heavy industrial special effects blockbusters, it turns out that this kind of family carnival does need comedy. At present, the advance box office of the three comedies, "Flying Life 2", "Hot and Hot" and "Article 20", has exceeded 50 million, and their competition can be described as fierce.
*The arrival of the schedule is always a joy to be made, but it can also make others feel anxious.
Andy Lau tried his best, but "Mr. Red Carpet" only received a box office of 16 million in the pre-sale stage, and the cost was as high as 2600 million. What are the problems with this film?
A total of 9 new films were released during the Spring Festival this year, except for the three giants and "Bear Infested", the remaining 5 new films performed quite unsatinishly.
Especially "Mr. Red Carpet".
As of February 20:4, the total box office of "Mr. Red Carpet" was more than 16 million yuan, and the proportion of pre-rehearsal films on the first day was only 8%.
The films of Shen Teng, Jia Ling and Zhang Yimou, the three heavyweight filmmakers, obviously can't compete with "Bear Infested: Reversing Time and Space". And movies released at the same time usually don't have a pre-sale advantage, so they can't beat "Bear Infested: Reverse Time and Space". The total pre-sale box office of the film has reached 24.55 million, and the proportion of pre-rehearsal films on the first day is 108%。
"Bear Infested" is known as a national IP, and the gap between "Mr. Red Carpet" and "Let's Shake the Sun Together" is embarrassing and difficult to ignore.
The total pre-sale box office of the movie "Let's Shake the Sun Together" reached 15 million, and the proportion of pre-rehearsed films on the first day was 69%。
"Mr. Red Carpet" has very little box office data compared to other films, while "Let's Shake the Sun" is at a middling level in terms of production costs and star cast.
Peng Yuchang and Li Gengxi are both young non-traffic stars, and it is certain that their salaries will definitely not be very high, and "Let's Shake the Sun Together" will have very little pressure on recovering the cost.
However, "Mr. Red Carpet" is different!
This year's Spring Festival stalls lack special effects blockbusters, which means how much the cost of these blockbusters will drop.
This pure comedy "Mr. Red Carpet" actually cost as much as 2600 million, and this data was released by the producer Huanxi's official financial report.
According to the financial report, it can be learned that the production cost of "Mr. Red Carpet" is as high as 2600 million, of which the director's salary is 24.6 million, and the actor's salary is as high as 100 million, so half of the cost has been spent.
During the Spring Festival, the high cost of publicity and promotion was increased.
According to the calculation of 38% of the box office share according to the ** party, it is expected that the box office of "Mr. Red Carpet" will be more than 900 million to achieve profitability.
Judging from the current pre-sale situation and the popularity of the film, the pressure on the film to achieve cost recovery is indeed very huge.
Obviously, the creators feel the same way. Recently, Andy Lau and other main creators have launched a series of publicity activities, focusing on exposing and satirizing the entertainment industry. I have to admit that Andy Lau is really very dedicated, and he has worked tirelessly to actively participate in live broadcasts and short **, and it can be said that he has done his best in publicity.
"Mr. Red Carpet" is just mediocre, what is wrong? It's a pity.
Canceling a booking and rescheduling, doesn't it work even with a lot of influencer promotion? Will "Mr. Red Carpet" be able to achieve a counterattack?
I don't think the performance of "Mr. Red Carpet" is ideal, and the main reason may be that the subject matter has not attracted the audience.
The movie uses the story of Hong Kong superstar Lau Weichi as a clue to show a variety of different life situations in the entertainment industry. Obviously, this movie is Ning Hao's best satirical comedy, and the audience can see from the trailer that a large number of scenes and details in the film are satirizing many major events in the entertainment industry.
This name is even a combination of Andy Lau, Tony Leung and Stephen Chow, just like Stephen Lau.
This idea sounds good, but in today's era of information, the audience already has a certain understanding of the so-called insider of the entertainment industry. Even if the story to be told by "Mr. Red Carpet" is not bold, the audience knows very well, what can be new about "Mr. Red Carpet"? is nothing more than a subtle way to ridicule some celebrities and lace news in the entertainment industry. The audience is smart.
Will Ning Hao and Andy Lau take the risk of challenging the real big scale? Will they be desperate for this?
Even if Andy Lau works hard to publicize, and even mentions the hidden marriage experience that he doesn't want to mention, he can talk about it now. He even went to the Internet celebrity live broadcast room to sell movie tickets, and listened attentively to Dong Yuhui's eloquent talk like a student.
Unfortunately, none of these measures have worked. In fact, the movie was originally planned to be released in the 2023 Chinese New Year file, but because it has not reached the expected popularity, it was finally decided to withdraw and release it during the Spring Festival instead.
What I didn't expect was that they were still continuing their previous propaganda methods, but now young audiences are no longer affected by it.
Secondly, there is the issue of budget control.
A comedy invested nearly 300 million in production. Although comedy is a hot theme in the market, only Shen Teng and Wu Jing have been able to ensure that the box office of the movie exceeds 1 billion recently, and Andy Lau is undoubtedly the most appealing Hong Kong actor at present.
In addition to the IP production "The Wandering Earth 2", Andy Lau's film works "Anti-Drug 2" and "Bomb Disposal Expert 2" have also achieved a box office result of 1 billion, and other well-known stars such as Louis Koo are also in these films. During the Spring Festival, Andy Lau's most outstanding work is "The Crowd" in 2021, which has a box office of 76.5 billion. Even with the addition of director Ning Hao's work "Mr. Red Carpet", it cannot ensure that the box office will exceed 1 billion.
Mr. Red Carpet is a true adventure.
There are too many comedies released during the Spring Festival this year, Shen Teng and Jia Ling are undoubtedly the most appealing comedy stars, and "Mr. Red Carpet" has not received enough attention.
I hope that "Mr. Red Carpet" can also usher in a counterattack after the Spring Festival holiday, like "The Crowd", and strive to sprint to at least break 1 billion box office and save the capital.
Andy Lau