30 net big cumulative box office 528 million, online movies into a new era？
1905 movie network news In the first half of 2020, cinema movie viewing hit the pause button, but the online movie market was on the move.
According to public data statistics, in the first half of 2020, the number of online movies with box office share exceeding 10 million reached 30, double the number of 15 in the same period of 2019; the cumulative box office 528 million increased by 157.56% compared with the same period last year 205 million. Among them, the dual-platform broadcast of "Qimen Escape" created a new high for the single-piece box office of online movies.
As a yardstick for measuring the development of the industry, the breakthrough in the number of online movies with a box office share exceeding 10 million and the cumulative box office is not only an objective factor, but also related to the subjective factor of the collective improvement of the quality of the top works. More diverse themes, and the intersection of audiences and cinema films have become the keywords for the development of online movies in the first half of 2020.
30 works exceeded 10 million, and the number doubled year-on-year
After six years of precipitation, the development of online movies has passed the barbaric era of slash-and-burn cultivation and begun to move towards the era of high-quality industrial civilization. In the first half of 2020, the online movie market handed over a fairly good answer, dispelling the haze that the overall development of last year was less than expected.
It is understood that in the first half of 2019, 438 online movies were launched on major video platforms. Among them, there are 15 works with a share of tens of millions that can be checked. According to the latest public statistics, in the first half of 2020, 30 online movies with a share of tens of millions of box office reached 30. Among them, 20 works were broadcast on the iQIYI platform, 6 on Youku, and 5 on Tencent.
In terms of playback, except for the joint broadcast of "Qimen Escape" by iQiyi and Tencent Video, the remaining 29 works are all solo broadcasts. After 53 days of release, the cumulative box office share reached 53.034 million, setting a new record for the highest box office of a single online movie. This timeline is more than a year later than previously expected in the industry.
"Previously, there were simulcasts at the waist and tail, and the simulcast of the head work’Qimen Escape Armor ‘should be regarded as the first one." An online film practitioner said so. In her opinion, the dual-platform simulcast has too many accidental factors and is not representative. There may be no follow-up in the short term.
Although from the perspective of the film side, simulcast on different head platforms can maximize the box office revenue. But if there is no cooperation premise of independent broadcast, it is really difficult for the platform to give the optimal promotion resources and profit sharing in the station. In the future, the status quo of single-** broadcast of head works will continue.
Overall, the number of online movies released on major video platforms in the first half of 2020 was around 400, a significant decrease compared to 438 in the same period last year. For the industry, all this seems to be expected.
At China’s first online movie week held in October last year, iQIYI member and overseas business president Yang Xianghua revealed to the media that in the future, the platform will continue to reduce the number of online films and invest the budget in a smaller number of better films. It can be seen that reducing production has become the theme of online film development in 2020.
According to statistics, in 2019, there were nearly 40 online movies with a box office of 10 million. In the first half of 2020, this data has reached 30. On this basis, it is a foregone conclusion that the number of online movies with a box office of 10 million will exceed last year. In March this year, Tencent Video made public the rules and box office of online movies for the first time, which also made market data statistics more accurate.
Overall, the lack of cinema films in the first half of the year has played a certain role in boosting the market performance of online films. Coupled with the service and quality of the leading works themselves, the number of online films has increased sharply. Whether there will be more excellent works in the second half of the year still needs to be proved by the quality of the content.
Classic IP has strong ability to attract money, and the military and police themes perform well
In order to get a better return on investment, it has become the norm for online movies to be remade or adapted from classic IP. The innate audience base and emotional blessing can often make such movies get a lot of hidden dividends.
In the first half of 2020, online movies ranked among the top three at the box office, and the market popularity of "Qimen Escaping Jia", "A Thousand Women’s Ghost: Human Love", and "Ghost Blowing Lights in the Dragon Ridge Maze" all had IP effects. However, classic IP is also a double-edged sword. Many audiences will compare the original with the new work, and often criticize the latter more.
In the film genre, online movie audiences still prefer fantasy elements. At least ten of the 30 online movies with box office receipts exceeding 10 million contain this style.
In addition, the military and police themes that have performed well in theaters in recent years have also been sought after by online movie audiences. The four films of "Sniper", "Wolf Extermination Operation", "Wolf Eagle" and "SWAT Mission of the City Crisis" have obtained 2590.5 million, 18.932 million, 12.871 million and 10.147 million box office respectively.
Among them, "Sniper" was released on 3 days to break through 6 million box office, and the number of viewers exceeded 2.70 million. The iQIYI online movie March list shows that the film achieved 2445.7 million box office in 27 days, becoming the platform’s online movie box office champion in one fell swoop.
The addition of a professional production team guarantees the quality of such content. In the list of producers of "Sniper" and "Wolf Extermination Operation", Golden Shield Film and Television Center ranks among them. Before this, Golden Shield Film and Television Center has produced "In the Name of the People", "Sparrow", "King of Special Soldiers" and other film and television dramas. In 2016, "King of Special Soldiers" created a precedent for military-themed online movies.
Under the dual role of policy support and market demand, the theme of military and police has become the "new blue ocean" of online film creation. In the future, there may be more such excellent works in the market.
Audiences intersect, revenue channels increase
In the first half of 2020, among the leading online movies, "A Thousand Ghosts: Human Love" was undoubtedly one of the most discussed works by audiences.
Previously, the distinct cinema film and online film audience groups began to intersect. During the epidemic, the cinema film promotion company that changed the track upgraded the marketing methods brought by the online film, and also enhanced the market awareness of the film.
At present, 23,000 netizens have given this film an average score of 4.9 points on Douban. This reflects to a certain extent that Douban users, who are mainly audiences of cinema movies, have begun to pay attention to online movies with young people in small towns as the main audience.
In an interview, Liu Zhaohui, the film’s producer, said that "an online movie is finally facing everyone’s comments by cinema standards."
Without a doubt, good content is the best tool to break through the audience barrier between cinema movies and online movies.
An online movie "Pisces Meteorite" that did not perform well at the box office has attracted the attention of many theater audiences, precisely because the quality of the content it provides exceeds audience expectations. In a state of near naked publicity, relying on the tap water of the audience, 13,000 people gave a good score of 6.9 on the average of Douban.
"Facts have proved that even if a good story is based on a 50-cent special effect, it will still immerse people in it." One netizens’ evaluation was highly praised. Some viewers even suggested that the film could be remade into a cinema movie in the future.
"The new audience may not be the audience of online movies at ordinary times, and their requirements for online movies may be higher, so it is a good thing for the industry, but for practitioners, it will not have much impact. They all need to make solid content, and joining the top content competition is the last word for development," Long Jian, the head of Chongqing’s small bench film industry and the producer of the online movie "Please God Lamp 1", said in an interview.
In addition to the intersection of users, the profit channels of online movies have begun to converge with cinema movies. Liu Zhaohui said in an interview with 1905 Film Network that more than a dozen teams have come to negotiate overseas copyright matters for movies. In addition, the sale of derivatives around leading online movies will also be possible in the future.
It should be noted that obtaining the Dragon Label is a prerequisite for online movies to go overseas. In the first half of 2020, only 5 of the 30 online movies with a box office of over 10 million won the Dragon Label. This requires the producer to have relevant layout plans when they start to code the disc.
"In April and May, we saw that users were reducing their viewing time. Maybe they spent too much time watching videos during the epidemic and were a little tired, so this is a natural decline. Coupled with the resumption of work, production, school, etc., these factors will also reduce this consumption." On May 19, in a conference call after the earnings release, Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQIYI, explained the reasons for the recent decline in online movie data.
According to statistics, only two online movies broke the 10 million mark in May 2020. After achieving excellent results in the first half of the year, the overall trend of online movies in the second half is still full of variables. The only constant is that the audience and the market will not live up to good content.