The films in this year's Spring Festival schedule have started the competition for the box office in advance.
After "Hello, Li Huanying", Jia Ling once again directed and acted in her masterpiece "Hot and Hot", and the pre-sale amount of this work has exceeded 29 million.
followed by "Flying Life 2" starring Shen Teng, whose box office revenue also reached 29 million.
In third place is "Article 20", which received 26 million advance ticket office, which is still a long way from "Flying Life 2" and "Hot and Hot".
However, relying on the cast of "Article 20" and Zhang Yimou's good reputation as a national teacher, it is not a problem to change the current situation.
In fourth place is the movie "Mr. Red Carpet" directed by Ning Hao and starring Andy Lau, with a box office of only 7 million, which is undoubtedly a cliff-like backwardness.
They rarely have the opportunity to surpass the first three works, and the distance between them and works such as "Let's Shake the Sun Together" and "Bear Infested" has not widened, and there is a risk of being surpassed by other works in the future.
Judging by the box office data of the premiere, "Mr. Red Carpet" seems to have lagged behind.
However, the shocking truth of the 2024 Spring Festival stalls has been vividly shown in the two stars, Andy Lau and Ning Hao.
Theaters passively accepted the rigid way of scheduling films.
Who is in the hands of the decision-making power for film scheduling? It was originally a movie theater, but it was adjusted according to word-of-mouth and audience preferences.
However, in recent years, due to the increasingly assertive attitude of producers, cinemas have lost their decision-making power over how films are scheduled.
Regarding the film scheduling notice of "Article 20" and "Flying Life 2" during the Spring Festival, it has been confirmed on the Internet that the proportion of film scheduling will exceed 22%.
The most critical thing is the scheduling plan of the film, and the theater has almost no chance of refusal. For example, in "Flying Life 2", according to tradition, only studios that meet the film scheduling criteria are eligible to sign up.
Although this seems to be a choice for theaters, in fact, theaters that can meet this standard of scheduling have a chance to make a profit, while theaters that fail to meet this standard of scheduling have no room for profit.
The notice clearly states: "Cinemas that do not participate will not provide the key to this film".
This also means that if this kind of film schedule is not provided, then on the first and second days of the Lunar New Year, **Flying Life 2" will become out of reach.
Given that the film stars Shen Teng and that his debut work was widely acclaimed, the number of viewers who choose this work is sure to be quite impressive.
The current pre-sale box office is competing with "Hot and Hot" starring Jia Ling for the first place, and without the support of the key and "Flying Life 2", the loss will be unimaginable.
The way of the movie "Article 20" is the same, you only need to register to get the key, and if you don't register, you don't have the right to the movie.
In order to ensure profitability in the first two days of the Spring Festival schedule, most cinemas will allocate 22% of the schedule for two films, which undoubtedly puts pressure on several other films.
At present, in the context of producers actively competing for film scheduling opportunities, only two films, "Hot and Hot" and "Mr. Red Carpet", have competed for 22% and 12% of the box office results.
The pre-sale box office of "Hot and Hot" has a good chance of being in the first place, whether it is 22% of the film schedule in the cinema or the producer competing for 22% of the film, it is almost inevitable, so the remaining 12% of "Mr. Red Carpet" is like this.
In addition to these, "Bear Infested" accounted for 10%, while "Let's Shake the Sun Together" accounted for 12%.
In addition, this year's Spring Festival schedule also includes two works, "Eight Rings: The Nether of the Canopy" and "Huang Pixiu: God of Wealth from the Sky".
Even if these two films do not compete for the opportunity to schedule films, at least a certain proportion of films need to be scheduled, then the proportion of "Mr. Red Carpet" may not even reach 12%.
Popular movies like Mr. Red Carpet can become insignificant.
In the current context, the popularity of popular films such as "Flying Life 2", "Article 20" and "Hot and Hot" during this year's Spring Festival is expected to be higher, and more films will also attract more audiences to participate.
Conversely, the time of the screening schedule will also be affected, resulting in a sharp drop in the number of audiences who choose the film.
Mr. Red Carpet is likely to be the less popular movie of the year.
Although Ning Hao and Andy Lau have made great efforts to promote the movie, they also specially went to the live broadcast space of "Walking with Hui".
In just ten minutes, ninety thousand movie tickets have been sold.
However, even in this context, the advance box office of "Mr. Red Carpet" only broke the 5 million mark.
The financial backing behind this film is not sufficient, and the lack of self-confidence like "Flying Life 2" and "Article 20" is just one of the reasons.
However, this is also closely tied to the theme and cast of "Mr. Red Carpet".
Director Ning Hao has successfully produced many popular films.
Andy Lau's popularity among viewers is quite high, but this has become the main attraction of the "Mr. Red Carpet" show.
Although Andy Lau is loved by the audience, there is still a significant difference in his appeal at the box office compared to Shen Teng and others, especially in the movie "The Wandering Earth 2", which performed very well at the box office.
However, a large number of viewers mainly came because of Wu Jing or the combination of Wu Jing and Andy Lau. Just put Andy Lau alone, he can personally attract a box office income of one billion, which is undoubtedly the pinnacle of his art.
According to the trailer released by the current movie, many viewers are quite confused and puzzled about what kind of story "Mr. Red Carpet" tells.
While the core idea of "Mr. Red Carpet" is to avoid hot memes, not to pursue gossip, not to pursue family fun, and not to go with the flow, it does have a profound impact on the audience's initial decision-making.
I'm not sure if this is the genre I want to **, and I'm not sure if the movie is really eye-catching, enough to make Ning Hao and Andy Lau full of confidence, even if they don't rush to schedule films, they may shine, I believe that the audience with a wait-and-see attitude will definitely support this movie more than ironclad.
However, the current film scheduling process is indeed very cruel, and the lack of strong producers has turned out to be a potential problem. Especially behind "Flying Life 2" and "Hot and Hot", the company behind it is actually one of the two major ticketing platforms, Taopiao, and they control the absolute right to speak.
Lianrui Pictures launched the two works "Let's Shake the Sun Together" and "Bear Infested", apparently through ** sales. As for Article 20, there is no need to elaborate on it. The film was produced by Guangguang Pictures and the Film and Television Center of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and it was completed with the support of Big Tree.
In the work "Mr. Red Carpet", the main investor is Ning Hao's mischievous mischief, and Andy Lau also participated in the production through two different film and television companies. However, after fierce competition with a number of capital giants, "Mr. Red Carpet" is indeed a little less enjoyable.
While "Mr. Red Carpet" could have made a good profit by not allocating too many companies, this competition for capital has a good chance of leading to the complete failure of "Mr. Red Carpet".
Summary section. For "Mr. Red Carpet," the only way to break the ice was through high-quality screening, and audiences would only be willing to pay for the film if they could submit a work that far exceeded their expectations.
Although the producers have prepared for the cinema in advance during the film scheduling activities on the first and second days of the Lunar New Year, it is also an excellent opportunity for the movie "Mr. Red Carpet" to improve word-of-mouth.
Whether the duo of Ning Hao and Andy Lau can reverse the current decline depends on how high the quality of their submissions is.