On May 1st, the pre-sale box office was not good, and 8 films announced the withdrawal of May 1st
Only 7 films in the May 1st this year stick to the schedule
It is a bit exaggerated to say that this year’s May 1st gear has become a “no film gear”. However, the current May 1st gear will indeed face the most severe test. It is difficult to determine whether it is an opportunity or a tragic moment for those films that stick to the schedule, but , following many predictions, the situation is not optimistic, and the probability of a miracle reversal is small.
Several films have been withdrawn
On the evening of April 24, the film “Meet You” originally planned to be released on May 1 was announced to be postponed; on April 25, the animated films “Awakening of the Mini World” and “I Am Tyrannosaurus Rex” were announced to be cancelled. The plan to be released on the 30th, plus the previously announced withdrawal of “Keep You Safe”, “Brother, Hello”, “Prosecutors”, “Hello, Beijing”, “Pig Man Movie: Ocean Diary”, there are 8 movies. Announced May 1 withdrawal.
This “movie withdrawal wave” was anticipated by industry insiders before. On March 25, 4 domestic films originally scheduled to be released in the Qingming archives were withdrawn collectively. In the end, the total box office of the Qingming archives in 2022 was 120 million yuan, which is the highest in the past ten years ( Except for 2020), the box office has the lowest value during the Qingming period. The Qingming Festival has fallen to the freezing point, and the May 1st gear that follows is not optimistic. Due to the disruption caused by the epidemic, the recent data of various dimensions of the film market are not satisfactory.
According to the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, the national average attendance rate has been hovering below 5% in April this year, and even during the Qingming holiday, there are not many films with an attendance rate of over 10%. After the theater’s operating rate gradually recovered for several days, it was only regarding 52% on April 26. Experts believe that to make the May 1st gear hot, the national operating rate of theaters should be above 70%.
The popularity of popular schedules is difficult to continue
The May 1st holiday is one of the most popular times every year. In the past five years, the overall box office has been rising steadily. Last year’s May 1st stage was 5 days, and 12 films including “Your Wedding” and “Above the Cliff” were released, with a total box office of 1.63 billion yuan, exceeding the 1.527 billion yuan of the May 1st file in 2019, breaking the highest box-office history in this period. record.
As of 15:00 on April 27th, according to the professional version of Maoyan, the pre-sale box office on May 1st was only 87,000 yuan, and the first day of the May Day holiday (4 The pre-sale box office on March 30) was 352,200 yuan.
Despite this, there are still many films that choose to stay behind. As of press time, “I Really Hate Long-distance Relationships”, “Fight Out, Mom”, “As Long as You Live Better Than Me”, “Everest Captain”, “Bad League”, “Little Boy” The seven films of “The Fantastic Adventure of a Mermaid” and “The Adventure of a Stupid Bird” will be released on May 1st.
“I Really Hate Long-distance Relationships” has never wavered its release schedule since its official announcement. The documentary “Captain Everest” can be said to be bucking the current. The film was originally scheduled to be officially released on May 13, and was later announced to be released nationwide from April 29 to May 4 in advance. The official Weibo account of the film wrote: “Under the pessimism that the May 1st film has been withdrawn one following another and everyone is lamenting that the May 1st film will disappear once more, we have made a very irrational decision to the outside world: A “Captain Everest”, which was filmed at the cost of one’s life, has been released to the May 1st file for large-scale advance screening across the country.” At this time, the film chose to stand together with the theater, which is also commendable.
The market is close to freezing point and the industry is facing difficulties
The large number of withdrawals from the May 1st has made the original diversified themes of the May 1st become single, especially the lack of the audience’s favorite comedy films, which makes people who are looking for spiritual comfort during the epidemic a little disappointed.
Judging from the pre-sale results of May 1st, Guangguang’s “I Really Hate Long-distance Relationships” has the best pre-sale results so far. The youth romance films released by Guangguang have achieved good box office in recent years. Although the “Ten Years of Wen Ruyan” released on Valentine’s Day has a poor reputation, its box office exceeded 500 million yuan. Last year’s May 1st “Your Wedding” also It made a box office of 167 million yuan. The title of “I Really Hate Long-distance Relationship” is “Direct”, and the topic is very hot, so the film is quite the champion of May 1st. And “Fight, Mom” is an inspirational theme for women. It tells the story of Tan Zhuo’s mother who fights for her children and fights in the boxing world. It has both warmth and blood.
The documentary “Captain Everest” is China’s first immersive experience of the whole process of climbing Mount Everest. It truly records a folk mountaineering team composed of ordinary people. Under the leadership of professional mountain guide and captain Sula Wangping, they set foot on the dream The long journey to Mount Everest, the whole process of climbing to the top of the world step by step.
DreamWorks Animation’s “Bad Guys” is adapted from the popular comic of the same name. Its original work has been published in 16 million copies worldwide and has been on the authoritative bestseller list for more than 120 weeks. This time it is re-presented in the form of a movie. El Perifel is known in the industry for his role in the animation production of the “Kung Fu Panda” series of films.
The May 1st films also have their own characteristics and highlights. It depends on how the audience “choose on demand”. However, at present, theater managers are most worried regarding “popularity” and people lack the willingness to watch movies. What’s even more tragic is that many theaters failed to make it to the May 1st gear, and chose to “close stores”. On April 15, a number of theaters under Dadi Cinema Group issued a centralized store closure announcement, and the operation has been officially suspended since April 15. On April 18, Beijing Suning Studios Ciyun Temple Store also announced that it will be officially closed from that day. That has kept the number of theaters closed this year growing.
This year, the film industry is facing a difficult situation, and the market is close to freezing point. However, the May 1st gear, whether good or bad, is a temporary difficulty. As long as there is a high-quality film supply, when the cinema is fully open, there will naturally be a rebound in movie viewing. Compared with the success or failure of a certain schedule, the continuous creativity of the film industry is the key to attracting audiences. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, the film market and creation have also experienced some stagnation. Some film companies have stranded their shooting plans in the first half of the year. Whether there will be problems on the film supply side in the following year is probably a challenge that should be paid more attention to and solved.
Text / reporter Xiao Yang