Breaking 100 million for 56 consecutive days! Summer movie box office has exceeded 17.3 billion yuan.

According to the data from the State Film Administration, as of August 15th, the box office of summer movies in 2023 reached 17.37 billion yuan, with domestic movies accounting for 85.85%. The film market in China has exceeded 100 million yuan for 56 consecutive days. Four films, such as Disappeared She, Put All Your Eggs in One Buckle, Gods in the Wind Part I: Singing in the Wind, and In an Octagonal Cage, have grossed more than 2 billion yuan. Chang ‘an San Wan Li topped 1.7 billion yuan at the box office, ranking second in the box office of China film history animated films.

This summer, the long-accumulated cultural and entertainment needs of China audiences were released, and China films crossed the downturn and stood at a new starting point of recovery.

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Break 100 million yuan for 56 consecutive days

The summer box office has exceeded 17.3 billion yuan.

Every evening, major cinemas gradually enter the prime time of screening, and there is an endless stream of visitors in the cinema. Many people choose to come to the cinema with their families and friends to enjoy the summer time.

Since the summer vacation, films such as Disappeared She, In an Octagonal Cage, Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an, The First Part of Gods, and Enthusiasm have been released one after another, which has aroused emotional resonance and triggered topic effect. A noteworthy phenomenon is that, under normal circumstances, the box office will reach its peak in the first weekend of film release, and then gradually decline in the second weekend. However, many films released in this summer’s file still maintained a high attendance rate after being released for many days.

Yu Chao, Deputy General Manager of Capital Cinema:In the 14 theaters of our cinema, there are almost 80 screenings every day, which should be said to be full of firepower. Including weekends and prime time, basically these films are in a state of being close to full. We can see so many good films released and so many viewers can go back to the cinema to watch movies, and we are still very confident about the future film market.

According to the statistics of the National Film Bureau, in July 2023, the national box office closed with an outstanding achievement of 8.716 billion yuan, which greatly increased the highest record in the same period held in July 2018 by 25%. As of August 15th, the box office of summer movies in 2023 reached 17.37 billion yuan, with domestic movies accounting for 85.85%. The film market in China has exceeded 100 million yuan for 56 consecutive days. A series of data boosted industry confidence.

Film data analyst Chen Jin:This year’s summer box office peaked a lot earlier, and a large number of viewers’ willingness to watch movies was reactivated and recalled. More than 20% of the audience entered the cinema for the first time in the past year. Judging from the summer file, the recovery speed of the film market this year is very amazing. We expect that the box office of this summer file will reach a record high this weekend, and the box office of the whole year will also exceed 40 billion.

Zhang Yan, Executive Director of the Asian and Chinese Film Research Center of Beijing Normal University: The box office of the summer movie continues to increase, and it may break through to the second place or enter the first place in the same period, so this performance actually allows us to see that China movies have a full speed, or an explosion and an acceleration development in its heyday. On the one hand, they responded to the creative power of our China film industry, and their confidence in the film, of course, also responded to the audience’s demand for China films.

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Diversified types and rich themes

Domestic films have obvious advantages in leading.

This summer, many domestic films triggered topic effect, paying tribute to Chinese excellent traditional culture in content and expanding the boundaries of genre films in subject matter, which stimulated the audience’s enthusiasm for watching movies, and the box office leading effect was obvious.

Although many imported films participated in the market competition this summer, domestic films have obvious advantages, with a market share of 85.69%, a record high. The benign interaction between China audience and domestic films also reflects the achievements of high-quality development of domestic films in recent years and the growing cultural consciousness of China audience.

The animated film Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an tells the friendship between Gao Shi and Li Bai from the perspective of the poet Gao Shi, with more than 40 Tang poems appearing in the film. With the help of the imagination of animation, the film presents the classic charm of Tang poetry which has been passed down for thousands of years.

Zou Jing, director of the film "Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an": Good animation works or good works of art, I think, can express people’s vigorous emotions pinned on this land and people’s breath and voice in this era.

Chen Caizhi, a researcher at the Institute of Literature of China Academy of Social Sciences:One of the biggest highlights of this film is that these poems are poeticized, one through specific scenes and the other through the perspective of characters. It is dynamic, it has a good kernel, and the content is of interest to us. It turns these calm and objective things into subjective ones, and the heat wave is rolling. The air in Chang ‘an and Luoyang in the whole Tang Dynasty is filled with the breath and taste of poetry.

From the prosperous scenery of Chang ‘an, to the poetic and picturesque moonlight in the south of the Yangtze River, and then to the Jin Ge Tiema in the battlefield in the border town, The Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an, which contains Chinese aesthetics, makes the audience feel the long history of Chinese excellent traditional culture and the meaningful charm of Three Hundred Tang Poems.

Xie Junwei, director of the film Chang ‘an Three Wan Li:Team China tells the story of China to the audience in China. We should explore the treasure house of China’s traditional culture. By combining China’s traditional culture with the spirit of the times, it can impress more audiences and resonate with more audiences.

The film "Feng Shen I", adapted from the classical literature "Feng Shen Romance", tells a mythical war more than 3,000 years ago, and presents "China people’s own mythical epic" on the big screen by using advanced film technology and contemporary interpretation. In order to resonate with the young audience, the film no longer focuses on Jiang Ziya to tell the story of King Wu’s conquest, but focuses on Ji Fa in his youth and tells the process of spiritual growth from the perspective of young people.

Zhang Yan, Executive Director of Asian and Chinese Film Research Center of Beijing Normal University:A traditional fairy tale is presented in a very heavy industrial aesthetics, and the whole image special effects are excellent, and it has a cultural style and characteristics of China, and the picture is very beautiful. We can see that our China films have reached an advanced level in terms of technical development, technical aesthetics and industry, which is of course an important dimension for our China films to enter the film power in 2035.

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Traditional culture has triggered a wave of watching movies.

Stimulate the consumption of cultural tourism

Among the films released in the summer file, China story and China culture are more attractive to the audience. A number of films showing China culture with strong oriental aesthetic characteristics are sought after by the audience, among which the animated film "Changan Wan Li" is the most typical, and the film has gained a good reputation and a good box office.

In an interview with a cinema in Xi ‘an, the reporter saw that although "Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an" has been released for more than a month, there are still a lot of films. The staff told reporters that the venue was almost full on weekends, and many parents came to watch with their children, and many foreign tourists came to watch the movie.

Ms. Shi, a tourist from Jiangxi:I just want to appreciate the culture of Datang here and enjoy the atmosphere here.

Gao Yuyao, a citizen of Xi ‘an: At the screening, I saw some children reading Tang poems along with them.

He Zichen, a tourist from Sichuan: You still have to visit these places to understand this cultural thing.

The popularity of the film also directly promoted the consumption of local cultural tourism in Xi’ an. Many historical and cultural scenic spots in Xi ‘an have also launched special projects related to Tang poetry. In Huaqing Palace, a landmark scenic spot of Tang Palace cultural tourism, a non-legacy research activity with the theme of "Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an, Tang Shiyue Millennium" was recently launched. While reading Tang poems, teenagers are immersed in the profound charm of architecture, culture and art in the Tang Dynasty. Experts said that the successful creation of film and television IP is forming a benign interaction with the consumption of cultural tourism, which will play a good demonstration role for the future development of China’s film and television industry.

Zhang Ali, Dean of Northwest University Film Academy:Cultural tourism is the inevitable product of the development and promotion of film and television IP. After the cultural tourism promotes the development, it will also feed back the film and television in a benign way, so it is necessary to enrich and diversify the supply structure of the film. In this way, our China films, especially at the box office, will form a new blowout development, which will drive the related cultural tourism and the development of our overall cultural industry. I think "Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an" has a very good enlightening effect.

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Key schedules have repeatedly achieved good results.

The future of China movies can be expected.

Since the beginning of this year, the box office of Chinese movies has always maintained a high level of operation, and the film market has performed well in many movie slots, including Spring Festival and May Day. Film consumption not only enriches people’s cultural life, but also makes positive contributions to economic and social development.

Take the children to see Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an to learn Tang poetry, take the elderly to see Put All Your Eggs to prevent fraud, and the whole family to watch Enthusiasm to embrace love … Many viewers said that the rating of summer movies this year seems to be less important. What is important is the topic effect they have produced, which makes China movies really enter the stage of "strong topic and strong interaction".

In the next summer, many new films such as "Learning Dad", "Missing Me" and "Burning Winter" will be released one after another, which will continue to bring diversified viewing options to the audience. Among them, the film "Learning Dad" focuses on the current hot topics in society, and takes the educational topic of "young to young" as an incision to discuss how to face the growth of children and self. The shell of comedy is wrapped in the core of family.

Statistics show that as of press time, the box office performance of Chinese movies in 2023 has exceeded 39.4 billion yuan.

Zhang Yan, Executive Director of Asian and Chinese Film Research Center of Beijing Normal University:In fact, China movies have been developing at an accelerated pace since the Lunar New Year in 2023. Moreover, our themes are richer, and our creators devote more works to launch, explore more types, explore more entertainment and commercial elements with incomparable enthusiasm, and more importantly, achieve a good balance between technical aesthetics and artistic aesthetics. So I think this is a very gratifying phenomenon. I believe that with the efforts of our entire filmmakers, including the further support of the entire national policy, and more on the basis of the enthusiasm of China audiences for domestic films, our China films will develop better and better. We also hope that at this speed and pace, our dream of becoming a movie power can be better realized.

Which ones did you contribute to the summer box office?

(Source: CCTV News, @ People’s Daily)