The movie "Claw Machine", starring Shen Teng and Ma Li, earned 500 million yuan at the box office before its release, leading to a reverse decline in the large cap movie market during the summer season. The producers of this film include Wanda Film, China Ruyi-owned Ruyi Film, and China Film, and the joint production companies include Hengdian Entertainment-owned Hengdian Film. Insiders believe that "Claw Machine" will be a strong competitor for this summer's box office champion and is expected to bring real heat to this year's summer movie season.
Cailian Press, July 16th (Reporter Cui Ming) The movie "Claw Machine", starring Shen Teng and Ma Li, earned an impressive 500 million yuan at the box office before its public release, heating up the summer movie market. Insiders believe that the movie will be a strong competitor for this summer's box office champion.
"Claw Machine" is officially released nationwide today. On July 13th, the film began a large-scale advance screening. On the first day of the advance screening, it earned 156 million yuan at the box office, driving the movie's box office over 300 million yuan for that day. This is also the first time that daily box office has returned to above 300 million yuan after the May Day holiday, 70 days later. As of 9am today, the total box office of the advance screening and pre-sales of "Claw Machine" has exceeded 500 million yuan.
Cailian Press has learned that "Claw Machine" was highly anticipated in the summer and was regarded as an important force in igniting the summer movie season, along with "Silent Assassins" and "Decryption". According to Beacon Professional, the total box office of "Claw Machine" is expected to reach 3.713 billion yuan.
One of the reasons why "Claw Machine" is highly anticipated is also due to the experience and expertise of its creative team in comedy film production. The film's director Yan Fei and Peng Damo previously co-directed the movies "Goodbye Mr. Loser" and "Hello, Mrs. Money". Cailian Press noticed that one of the producers behind "Claw Machine" is Xihongshi Film and Culture (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., with Peng Anyu (Peng Damo) and Yan Fei each holding 31% of the company's shares, and Kuaishou Ma Hua holding 15% of its shares.
Not only that, but the investors behind "Claw Machine" also involve multiple listed companies. Public information shows that the film is primarily invested in by Wanda Film (002739.SZ), and other participants include China Ruyi-owned Ruyi Film, China Film (600977.SH), and joint production companies like Hengdian Film owned by Hengdian Entertainment (603103.SH).
"As one of the top seeded players in this summer's movie season, "Claw Machine" is a strong competitor for the box office champion following its official release and is worth watching," said market analyst Lai Li of Maoyan Entertainment to Cailian Press.
A theater manager told Cailian Press that despite yesterday (July 15th) being a workday, "Claw Machine" still achieved impressive advance screening results, and the movie's release is expected to bring many viewers back to the cinema, thanks to the box office appeal of Shen Teng and Ma Li.
The summer movie season (June 1st to August 31st) has already passed its halfway point. According to Maoyan Professional, as of 9am today, the summer box office of this year has exceeded 4.4 billion yuan, lagging behind the same period in 2019 and 2023 and below industry expectations.
"Overall, the poor performance of the first half of the summer movie season is due to the absence of 1 billion+ blockbusters. Some analysts believe that the release of "Silent Assassins" has driven the box office of the July market, with its single-box office approaching 900 million yuan, and is expected to become the first movie to exceed 1 billion yuan at the box office this summer. At the same time, considering the strong momentum of "Claw Machine", it is also expected to bring a real heat to this year's summer movie season," said Lai Li, a market analyst.
There are still many anticipated domestic and foreign films of different genres to be released in the summer season, including "The Alienist" "Deadpool and Wolverine" "Decryption" "Life on the Line" and "White Snake: The Origin" among others. Analysts believe that the release of these key feature films will drive the entire year's film market upwards.
According to statistics from the State Film Administration, the total box office of the 2023 summer movie season (June 1st to August 31st) was 20.619 billion yuan, with a total of 505 million viewers. The market share of domestic film box offices was 87.58%, and these records all broke historical records. The top five movies during this season were "Raging Waters" "The Missing" "Zu: Time Warrior" "The Cage of Eight Trigrams" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night".
"It now appears that given the performance during the first half of the summer movie season, it will be difficult to surpass last year's box office. However, given that the upcoming films may exceed expectations one by one and drive the market up, a chance of reaching the goal cannot be ruled out. Last year's summer movie season has brought many surprises to the market, and I believe that this year's performance is also worth looking forward to," said Lai Li.