It has been 123 years since the first time Chinese people watched a movie. It was in Shanghai in 1895. People saw imported products such as "Western movies".
The first domestic film was produced at the turn of spring and summer in 1905, and the 1905 Movie Network under the movie channel also came from this time.
113 years ago, the first domestic film "Dingjun Mountain" was born, a story that most people know.
Over the past century, the domestic situation has been changeable, and the film industry has also undergone several tremendous changes.
However, in the past hundred years, even when the film industry reached its peak in the 1980s, with movies earning hundreds of millions at the box office basically every year, there has never been a law specifically targeting the film industry.
It was not until last year that the "Film Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China" was promulgated, and the film industry had its first law.
However, it is not of much use. Some of the rigid rules are violated all the time, and 80% of movie theaters are violating the law.
This provision, which has been written into the law, cannot be strictly enforced.
However, on the other hand, many of the regulations of the General Administration, the Film Bureau, and China Film and Television were issued verbally, but they were implemented more strictly.
No one abides by the law, but everyone abides by the words of the competent authority.
From very early on, the new regulations on TV drama censorship, variety show censorship, and film content censorship were no longer announced in any red-headed documents or guiding principles. Instead, they were communicated orally through phone calls, meetings, etc.
This time, Optoelectronics has not written the ban on ticket replenishment into the law, nor has it issued an official document.
I don’t know what happened, but all of a sudden, dozens of theater chains, more than a dozen large and medium-sized film and television companies, the four major platforms, and some media across the country received notices from above prohibiting ticket replacement.
After the upper echelons of the industry knew about it, it spread throughout the industry and the entire Internet, and everyone knew about it.
There was obviously no official written document, and no relevant regulations were promulgated. Everyone just knew about it, and then the matter was settled.
To some extent, this is more effective than the law.
Moreover, everyone abides by it and no one dares to violate it.
There is no official news on the Internet, and the most widely spread is a "New Deal" notice on the official website of Wanda Cinemas.
Of course, this new policy cannot be found in any official place. When the media interviews people from Optoelectronics, they will just nod and say that everything will focus on recent announcements.
No one is sure when this announcement will come out or whether it will come out.
The new policy has four main points: Films that have not obtained a public release license are not allowed to be pre-sold.
Issuers, producers, producers and theaters are not allowed to subsidize online ticket sales platforms. The sales price is the settlement price (excluding handling fees). The sales price cannot be higher than the settlement price and cannot be lower than the lowest price.
The billing cycle is changed to eight days.
The online ticketing platform service fee is set at 2 yuan: 1 yuan is charged by the system service provider and 1 yuan is charged by the online ticketing platform. Cinema lines and movie investors are not allowed to participate in the distribution of this part of the fee.
Among the entire "New Deal" of the Film Bureau, the most eye-catching one is the "cancellation of ticket subsidies".
Specifically, in fact, before each movie enters theaters, a "factory price" is set, which is the lowest price, generally ranging from 30 to 40 yuan.
When the movie arrives at the cinema, it is equivalent to the product arriving at the supermarket. The ticket price is set by the cinema, ranging from more than 30 yuan to more than 100 yuan, each of which is different. The 9.9 and 19.9 movie tickets are 20 or 30 yuan lower than the ex-factory price.
This approach is equivalent to the supermarket's price reduction reward.
But have you ever seen a supermarket that offers 30% off year-round and still guarantees the quality of its products?
For ticket reimbursement, you pay 9.9 or 19.9, and the film studio and the ticketing platform pay 20 yuan or 10 yuan, but the box office is still calculated as 30 yuan.
After the "New Deal" cancels the ticket subsidy, the online ticketing platform must settle based on how much the box office actually sells. Even if there is a ticket subsidy transaction secretly, the amount of the ticket subsidy will not be included in the movie box office.
In other words, even if you sell a ticket for 1 yuan and pay the theater more than 30 yuan, what is actually included in the box office is 1 yuan, not the previous 30 yuan.
Subsidies are allowed, but they are not included in the box office, that's what it means.
Since there had been a month of quarrels before, as soon as the "New Deal" came out, it was clearly explained by all parties within a few days.
After some viewers learned that the ticket subsidy could continue, but the subsidy would not be included in the box office, their reaction was not that big by then, and they still thought that the platform would continue to subsidize it.
However, viewers soon discovered that movie ticket prices on the four major platforms had returned to the original theater prices, which were all between RMB 30 and RMB 40.
As a result, the audience began to accuse the platform of being evil.
I didn't criticize the platform before because everyone thought that Optoelectronics would not allow the platform to sell low-price tickets, but now low-price tickets can continue to be sold, but because the subsidy part is not included in the box office, it is no longer discounted. Of course, the platform is to blame.
Movie fans have been very dissatisfied for a while, and the movie market in April also entered an unprecedented downturn.
The fares have increased and I’m not used to it.
The market is so low that it has set the lowest record in recent years, which is much lower than the beginning of the school year last year.
As a result, a piece of news appeared in a Canadian media with the title "Cancellation of ticket reimbursement is killing Chinese movies", and within a short time it became the number one trending topic on Weibo.
It is obvious that a large-scale, organized and disciplined troll army is attacking Optoelectronics.
The market is low, and there is indeed a reason for the increase in ticket prices. However, there are really no movies in April. The highest-grossing movie is "The Player Behind the Scenes" starring Xu Zheng.
It's not a comedy, it's a suspense film, with a box office of 40 million on the first day and a total box office of 350 million.
Various criticisms are also attacking domestic movies, such as rubbish that no one will watch domestic movies without ticket subsidy.
However, there is still no impact on the implementation of the New Deal. Except for the other three major platforms, the entire film industry fully complies with the New Deal.
For a time, the film industry seemed to have returned to the situation it had been five years ago.
However, the good times did not last long, and the confrontation between the platform and the industry continued.
In May, the movie "The Next Us" directed by Liu Ruoying, the last milk tea girl, was released. This romantic film, produced and distributed by Maoyan and Penguin, triggered a new round of confrontation.
Before the movie was released, pre-sales on the two major platforms Maoyan and Weipiaoer increased astonishingly, with pre-sales reaching as high as 90 million on the first day.
The two major platforms, Fare Escape and Future Movies, only had pre-sales of 30 million.
This is because Maoyan and micro-tickets have increased pre-sales, and theaters have given a full 60% of the first-day movie schedule. Ticket evasion and pre-sales of future movies can only reach 20 million.
Such a huge gap was not discovered at the beginning. After all, how many votes our platform produced cannot be discovered except by the theaters and our own platform.
Even if the theaters find that they are all from one platform, it is considered a coincidence. After all, countless theaters across the country will not exchange this data and will not conduct statistical work until the movie is released.
With such high pre-sales and film schedules, the box office of "The Last of Us" on its first day was as high as 250 million.
This is very abnormal data. The box office is only twice that of pre-sales.
At this time, many movie theaters broke the news about large-scale ticket refunds for "The Last of Us", and the whole truth came to light.
That is to say, at the beginning, a large amount of money was spent to buy pre-sale tickets. If the pre-sales were good, theaters would add more films. Then funds continued to enter the theater, keeping up with the growth of the film schedule, and the film schedule continued to grow.
At this time, real spectators who were watching were afraid that they would not be able to get a good seat, so they also entered the venue and bought tickets.
Immediately afterwards, a large amount of money began to be withdrawn, and the tickets were refunded and left before there were zero refund procedures.
But at this time, the theater has been kidnapped, and real audiences have bought tickets for the scheduled shows, so the schedule cannot be changed.
There are many theaters posting ticket refunds online. The worst case was that 400 tickets were refunded in one cinema.
Based on an average of 30 players per game, this is equivalent to 13 games with all players being withdrawn.
That cinema has 7 halls, and each hall has 7 shows a day, 49 shows a day, which means more than a quarter of the tickets have been returned.
However, the refund has little to do with the audience. In addition, due to the good control and review, various comments were posted on the Internet, and the short video platform was all about youth and "The Next Us" videos, and it still received 200 million box office the next day.
Cinemas are not fools either. In addition to various restrictions on refunds, they have also complained online about Maoyan and Weipiaoer.
However, the first theater just pointed its finger at the two major platforms, and the two platforms issued statements.
Anyway, it means that someone is using system loopholes to maliciously refund tickets, and it has nothing to do with the platform. Our platform is firmly opposed to such malicious competition and so on.
To sum it up, it’s just a matter of passing the blame.
However, the two major platforms are the main producers and distributors of movies, and they are the ones who benefit the most. Only a ghost would believe this.
Moreover, no one is more convenient than the platform for doing this kind of thing. The tickets are bought on their platform, and you can buy and refund yourself. It couldn't be more convenient.
Otherwise, why wouldn’t there be two major platforms for fare evasion and future movies?
However, they issued a statement of condemnation and blaming, and they continued to do whatever they needed to do.
"The Future of Us", which relied on falsifying its box office cost and swaying reviews, earned over one billion in box office without any competition, ending this farce.
In this battle between the platform and the cinemas, the platform has won.
However, there were no other movies in the same period, and the theaters suffered no losses. The platform even tricked many viewers into entering the theaters, and the theaters made a profit.
You make a profit and I make a profit, so who loses?
At the same time, the operation of the platform has also refreshed the knowledge of filmmakers in the industry, which is impressive. It is indeed an Internet capital.
Although they made a profit, cinemas that have learned a lesson have also begun to set various thresholds for refunds, and the requirement for zero handling fees has become more and more stringent.
Moreover, one month has passed since the promulgation of the New Deal. In order to attract audiences who were dissuaded by high ticket prices, cinemas and platforms have also begun to take action.
Cinemas have begun to vigorously promote cinema cards, and platforms have also launched city cards, national cards, or various membership cards that offer discounts.
Fare Escape Ticket was the first to launch subsidies, coupons, and movie viewing coupons.
Especially for movie viewing tickets, the audience first pays for the tickets, and then uses the tickets to buy full-price tickets.
In other words, 19.9 yuan buys a coupon, and the coupon is converted into a movie ticket worth more than 30 yuan. In fact, the audience spends less money, and the figure calculated at the box office is also more than 30 yuan.
Then, a large number of coupons are issued through external programs such as official accounts/Weibo/mini programs, as well as mini games, interactive sharing, etc.
However, coupled with the reduction of service fees and the shortening of the account period in the "New Deal", the alternative "ticket subsidy" behavior of the platform has been seriously restricted, and the coverage is far less broad than before.
The "New Deal"'s curbing effect on ticket subsidy is only about 50%. Audiences can still buy low-price tickets through this method, and public opinion has begun to subside.
However, the impact on the market is still there.
As the only blockbuster film of the same period, "Women's Federation 3" recovered despite having no rivals and a long period of cold market conditions, with a box office of over RMB 600 million on its first day.
However, the box office was all concentrated on the first day. When ticket prices recovered, the popcorn movie with a mediocre reputation plummeted, and the final total box office just exceeded 2 billion.
The initial 600 million has exhausted the potential, and movie tickets are expensive. Except for Marvel fans, audiences who don’t care about money have to be more cautious in their choices.
Word-of-mouth plays an increasingly important role in box office trends. Although "Jurassic World 2" in June only had 250 million on its first day, it was also a popcorn movie. However, its reputation was better, and its total box office was 1.6 billion. This ratio is higher than that of "Jurassic World 2".
"Women's Federation 3" is much better.
However, the overall market is still sluggish, especially those films with average reputation during the same period, which have almost all shrunk at the box office.
Comedy is an exception and has the least impact. Even if it is an ordinary comedy, as long as it can make some viewers laugh, the audience will be willing to buy tickets.
The market has been in the doldrums for four months, and the summer season has finally arrived. Four blockbusters, "The Truman Show 2", "Asura", "Detective Dee: The Empire of Heaven" and "The Tomato Man" will compete in July.
The first one to be released is "The Truman Show 2," a comedy film directed and starred by Zhou Xingchi. It will be released on July 8.
The title of the movie has not been changed, just added a 2. This movie is also about The Truman Show, so there is no need to change the name, like Journey to the West, Conquer the Demons, Conquer the Demons,
Before the release, Li Qian also held a grand premiere ceremony for the film.
After all, the last one was a classic and won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and the second one was taken over by comedy master Zhou Xingchi.
As an investor and the director of the previous film, Li Qian also attended the premiere and took the stage.
The reporter did not forget to stir up trouble and asked some pointed questions, such as asking him how he thought Zhou Xingchi's second film was shot, and which one was better between the sequel and the first film, etc.
"In the field of comedy, Director Zhou can definitely reassure everyone. We will have the answer later on as to how the movie is." Li Qian answered perfunctorily.
The reporter didn't let him go and asked, "What Director Li means is that Mr. Xing can only do comedies, but isn't he good at other genres?"
It's just that I'm looking for trouble, and I'm comparing Kidney Pain with Stephen Chow. "Tomatoes" starring Kidney Pain will be released soon.
Of course, I didn’t forget to ask when Li Qian’s new movie will start filming.
"Preparations for "Flight of Destiny" have been completed, and filming will officially begin after the summer vacation." Li Qian also gave reporters the answer.
Mainly waiting for Deng Chao. He had just finished filming "Shadow" and suffered a lot from that movie. One person played two roles and he had to lose weight like crazy.
After the ceremony, everyone stepped off the stage and waited for the movie to start.
As soon as the big screen came on, Zhou Xingchi turned around and talked about canceling tickets and making up for them.
"Director Li, the ticket rebate has been cancelled. It will have a big impact on the box office. I think the pre-sales are not as good as the Spring Festival movies."
Indeed, the pre-sales for "The Truman Show 2" were only 80 million, which is too low for director Zhou Xingchi, a sequel to a classic movie.
Ticket replenishment has a great impact on pre-sales. With fewer low-price tickets, there will be fewer viewers who buy tickets in advance. With this small number, more people will see that there are so many good shows with lots of tickets, so they will not be in a hurry to buy tickets.
A cycle, if you are not in a hurry, others are not in a hurry. Seeing that no one else is in a hurry, I am not in a hurry either.
Li Qian also knew what Zhou Xingchi was worried about. He sold some shares of one of his companies and signed something similar to a gambling contract. His 20% share of "The Truman Show 2" was placed in the sold shares.
In that company, the bet was completed based on this film.
Li Qian said with a smile, "Actually, without the ticket subsidy, only poor quality films will be affected. When there was no ticket subsidy, good movies were still selling well. "The Truman Show" sold over one billion a few years ago, and the sequel
Director Zhou doesn't have to worry about the box office. On the contrary, the market competitiveness of good movies will be strengthened, which is the biggest benefit to directors like you, Director Zhou."
Having said that, Zhou Xingchi has nothing to say. The first one sold over one billion yuan a few years ago. If he worries about it anymore, he will not make the second one. How can such an arrogant person reveal such a thing?
concerns.
On the big screen, Long Biao flashed past, and the screening of "The Truman Show 2" officially began.
Although he had already watched the finished film, Li Qian still found a comfortable position and was ready to enjoy the next 120 minutes.
He has never worried about the box office. The only loss he suffered from canceling the ticket reimbursement was that Future Films raised funds at a valuation of 12.6 billion, which was 2.4 billion less than previously estimated.
The biggest benefit is the enhanced competitiveness of high-quality movies and the stabilization of the 28% market share of the ticketing platform.