Financial Services Association, May 26 (Reporter Cui Ming) The summer movie boom is coming soon, and the Dragon Boat Festival has become a hot spot for major movies to be screened. Pre-sale of 6 new Dragon Boat Festival movies, including “Negotiating Experts,” “I Don't Want to Be Your Friends,” and “Fight Black, Never Give Up,” has officially started pre-sale, and the box office has already surpassed 15 million yuan. However, considering the amazing box office of “Dark Horse” and “The Girl Who Disappeared” at the Dragon Boat Festival last year, industry insiders expect this year's Dragon Boat Festival to be less likely than last year's. Next, can blockbuster movies such as “Sauce Garden Alley” gather in the summer program to become a major highlight in the movie market.

12 videos “squeeze in” the Dragon Boat Festival

According to data from Cat's Eye Professional Edition, as of 14:40 today, the total pre-sale (including point screening) of new Dragon Boat Festival movies has surpassed 15 million yuan. “Negotiating Expert” produced by Hengdian Pictures, a subsidiary of Hengdian Film and Television (603103.SH), “I Shouldn't Be Friends with You” by Wanda Film (002739.SZ), and “Fight Black · Never Give Up”, which was hosted and distributed by Optical Media (300251.SZ), are temporarily in the top three.

Although the Dragon Boat Festival holiday is not long, as a prelude to the summer program, it plays a role in bringing popularity to the summer movie market to a certain extent, so there have been quite a few Dragon Boat Festival scheduled movies in recent years. The same is true this year. 12 movies will be screened at the Dragon Boat Festival, covering various genres such as crime, comedy, war, family, and suspense.

Judging from the current popularity, the two imported films “The American Civil War” and “Mad Max: Goddess of Fury” are increasing dramatically every day. In particular, “The American Civil War” is extremely topical in terms of publicity. Among domestic films, “Fight Blackmail: Never Give Up” is a popular “anti-blackmail” theme in recent years. The total number of people who want to watch Cat's Eye is the highest (over 130,000), and the youth comedy-type film “I Don't Want to Be Friends with You” also received a lot of attention under the IP support of the Xiaobang drama series of the same name. Furthermore, the Hong Kong film “Negotiating Experts”, where emperors Liu Qingyun and Wu Zhenyu sit, has attracted quite a bit of attention. Currently, it is leading the Dragon Boat Festival at the box office.

“Dragon Boat Festival movies can take on some summer student movie dividends after the schedule, but at the same time, they also have to withstand the impact of a large number of summer blockbusters in the future. Whether long-term screenings during the summer vacation can be achieved through marketing and word of mouth is the key to the overall box office performance of Dragon Boat Festival films.” Yin Tengyu, a senior analyst at the Cat's Eye Research Institute, told the Financial Federation.

In the absence of major blockbusters, promotion strategy and rhythm play a key role if a mid-size genre film wants to stand out. A CIFA reporter noticed that some of the new Dragon Boat Festival movies this year began promotion activities ahead of schedule, extending the promotion timeline even longer. For example, “I Don't Want to Be Your Friends” began releasing promotional materials more than a month until the Dragon Boat Festival.

Yin Tengyu told the Financial Federation reporter that films are usually announced 1-2 months in advance, and the intensive promotion period begins 1 month before screening. The film's launch time and promotion actions are mainly determined by the film or publisher's promotion budget and planning plan. Due to uncertainties during the pandemic, there are signs that the film's filing and promotion cycle has been significantly shortened during this time. However, after the end of the epidemic, this phenomenon is gradually returning to normal, and in the past two years, many films have returned to a normal pace of promotion.

At this point last year, “The Girl Who Disappeared” came out of nowhere, not only raised the Dragon Boat Festival box office, but also garnered 3.5 billion dollars in box office and a popular summer movie market. Film industry insiders told the Financial Federation reporter that there is potential for dark horses to appear in many of this year's Dragon Boat Festival film themes, but it is expected that it will be difficult to see a big dark horse that exceeds 3 billion dollars, so there is a small chance that this year's Dragon Boat Festival box office will surpass last year's.

A gathering of blockbusters and a “surging undercurrent” of summer programs?

Behind the crowded Dragon Boat Festival, there may be an implicit consideration of avoiding summer blockbuster competition.

Previously, it was widely reported on the internet that “Sauce Garden Alley”, “Fengshen Part 2”, “Legend”, “The Demon Boy in the Sea”, “The Legend of Condor Heroes: Demystified”, “Reinforcements Will Arrive Tomorrow”, and “White Snake: Floating” will all be screened in the summer program. The lineup is comparable to “Battle of the Fairies.” However, as summer vacation approaches, there may be variables in the final release list.

Recently, director Wu Ershan published an article stating that “Fengshen Part 2” could not be screened in time for this summer due to the increased workload and difficulty of visual effects in the later stages.

Also, the film “Chaoyuan Alley”, directed by Chen Kexin and directed by Huanxi Media (01003.HK), is currently being screened in Cannes, but no schedule has been announced. “The Legend of Condor Heroes: The Legend of Condor Heroes” by Xu Ke, produced by Chinese film (600977.SH) and directed by Alibaba Pictures (01060.HK) and directed by Chen Sicheng, has not progressed on schedule.

Up to now, Bona Pictures (001330.SZ) has produced “Legend”, “Reinforcements Will Arrive Tomorrow” produced by China's Confucius (00136.HK), and the movie “White Snake: Floating”, which was promoted by and participated in Wanda Film, have been scheduled to be screened in the summer. Light Media also responded to investors saying that “The Demon Boy Nao Nao Hai” has not changed.

“The production cost of commercial blockbusters is high, the cycle is long, and the output is low. Generally, they choose the Spring Festival, National Day, and summer C-level periods. Currently, there are only a few summer movies scheduled, and it is expected that more blockbuster movies will be scheduled for the summer season in the future.” Yin Tengyu said that in a market environment where there is a lack of commercial blockbusters on schedule, small but beautiful (small size, high reputation) and low-profile key films will have better room to release their box office, and gain a higher overall box office than expected through long-term screenings.