Disappeared May 1st file： the first day’s pre-sale box office is only 50,000, and the light film industry will bet on youth films.

　　epidemicBefore and after, the scenery of the cinema was bleak, on April 24.sunOn this day, a wonderful and strong contrast was formed.

　　Cat’s Eye Professional Edition showed that the cumulative box office of the movie was 12,724,200 yuan, of which "Fantastic Animals: Dumbledore" led with 2,519,600 yuan, with an attendance rate of 1.5%.

　　On the same day three years ago (2019), it coincided with the release of Avengers: Endgame, and the cumulative box office on that day was about 545 million yuan, of which "Reunion 4" won about 538 million yuan, with an attendance rate of 34.7%, which can be described as a double crush of attendance and box office.

　　When communicating with film industry practitioners, Time Finance found that "miserable" is a word often mentioned. After 180 days of cinema suspension in 2020, the Qingming file in 2022 hit the lowest box office record in 10 years, and the May 1st file (April 30th to May 4th) also faced the situation that there was no film to watch.

　　According to Topp’s research data, affected by the epidemic, the operating rate of cinemas in China has been hovering around 50% since March 21 this year, and many cinemas in "ticket warehouses" have closed down, and many cinemas are facing a crisis of closure.

　　The delay in the release of the film also had an impact on the distributor. In this May Day movie, the producers involved Wanda Pictures, Alibaba Pictures, Iqiyi Pictures, Youku, etc., which made the long video platform "short of money" worse.

　　The pre-sale box office on the first day was only 50,000 yuan.

　　At the beginning of the month, eight domestic films, such as Qingming film, Life Events and You are My Spring, were all withdrawn. From April 3 to April 5, the national box office revenue was 122 million yuan, compared with 820 million yuan in the same period last year, down 85% year-on-year, setting the lowest box office value in the same period for nearly 10 years except 2020 (the cinema was closed during the Qingming holiday in 2020).

　　After the Qingming small holiday when the film was withdrawn and the box office was depressed, the May 1st file, which did not improve, became the sword of Damocles hanging over the movie head.

　　On April 18th, the sword fell, and "GG Bond Movie Ocean Diary" became the first film to withdraw from the May 1st file. Then "Hello, Brother", "Prosecutorial Storm", "Keep You Safe", "Hello, Beijing" and "Meet You" were successively withdrawn.

　　"The May 1 ST file is very miserable. Like the Qingming file, all the good films have been withdrawn." A manager of a chain cinema told Time Finance: "At present, the situation this year is worse than last year."

　　As of April 25th, there were only four new films left in the May 1st movie, including I really hate long-distance relationships, League of Bad Guys, The Little Mermaid’s Fantasy Adventure, Punch, Mom, including two animated films and two live-action movies. "The Adventure of Stupid Birds" and "As long as you live better than me" were re-screened, and there was no news that the films that had previously withdrawn from the Qingming archives were scheduled for May Day.

　　In addition, after the documentary "Captain Everest" announced the opening of the May 1st file, a film investment boss praised the film and the cinema in the circle of friends, which also reflected the dilemma of the current cinema. Any new film, even if it is just a screening, is always a long drought.

　　Cat’s Eye Professional Edition shows that as of 16: 00 on April 25th, the pre-sale box office on the first day of May 1st has just exceeded 50,000 yuan, among which "I really hate long-distance relationships" contributed more than half of the box office.

　　Compared with the same period last year and this year’s Spring Festival, the single-digit pre-sale results of the May 1 ST file are far from each other. According to the data of Cat’s Eye Professional Edition, the box office of the Spring Festival in 2022 was 6.036 billion yuan, ranking second in the box office of China Film History. In 2021, Qingming File and May Day File both broke the highest box office record in this period.

　　Wanda and Iqiyi retreated, and Light and Poly "gambled"

　　The May Day holiday is one of the golden schedules every year. However, when half of the cinemas in China are suspended and the pre-sale is not ideal, many films choose to withdraw their files.

　　Among the withdrawn films, the film Hello, Brother is undoubtedly one of the potential dark horses. The film is composed of Mahua FunAge’s common lineups-Mary, Changyuan and Wei Xiang, and the producers include Wanda Film, Mokexing Film and Maoyan Entertainment.

　　Previously, The Killer Not Too Cold starring Mary and Wei Xiang became a dark horse in the Spring Festival in 2022. Hello, Brother, which was co-produced by the original team, benefited from the accumulated reputation of the previous work, and it is expected to achieve results in the May 1st file, but it may cause losses to producers including Wanda after the file is withdrawn.

　　"Prosecutorial Fengyun" starring Johnny, Bai Baihe, etc., producers include the Supreme People’s Procuratorate film and television, (), pattern image, etc. The producers of "Meet You" are iQiyi Film and Xiamen Hengye Film; The producers of "Keep You Safe" include Cat’s Eye Culture and Alibaba Pictures. The producers of GG Bond Movie Ocean Diary include Youku and Guangdong Yongsheng Animation.

　　The cancellation of Meet You and GG Bond Movie Ocean Diary is undoubtedly a missed opportunity for Iqiyi and Youku, which are currently trying to save money.

　　The film distribution of a well-known film company in the industry told Time Finance: "The epidemic has a great impact on the film industry." She said that many companies have cut their salaries or stopped paying. "Whether the film industry can rebound ultimately depends on whether there is good content. Now it seems that there is a lack of quality content."

　　Among the films that stick to the May 1st file, "I really hate long-distance relationships" is the best pre-sale result at present. The film, produced by Light Film, emphasizes the advance and retreat together with the cinema, but there are also many commercial considerations.

　　Its same type of low-cost youth romantic film "Ten Years of One Product as Warm as Words" released on February 14th this year, although the Douban score was only 2.8, its box office was close to 200 million yuan. In the case that other films in the May 1 ST file were withdrawn, "I really hate long-distance relationships", as the only live-action movie, may be given a cake by virtue of its "rarity".

　　In addition, the film was originally scheduled for May 20 this year, which not only hit the same type of film "Unrequited Love with Orange in Huainan", but also the male lead of both films was Xin Yunlai. Instead of delaying it for 20 days, we will compete with similar films under the condition of uncertain whether the cinema will resume, and bet on a May 1st file or a better choice. "Punch, Mom", starring Tan Zhuo and Tian Yu, and produced by Poly Pictures, seems to have this consideration.

　　Light vs chasing light, summer file "fairy" fight

　　Compared with the bleak May 1 ST file, the summer file is expected to become a lifeline for the cinema.

　　Recently, () mentioned in the financial report that its film "Deep Sea" has been submitted for trial. Both the film and "Return of the Great Sage of Journey to the West" were directed by Tian Xiaopeng, who won a box office of 956 million yuan in 2015, with a douban score of 8.3, which was a double harvest in word-of-mouth box office. The Deep Sea, which is also blessed by the team, has also received much attention. According to the progress, it may be expected to land in the summer file.

　　In recent years, Horgos Striped House Film, a subsidiary of Light Media, has launched many popular and blockbuster animation films. Ne Zha won 5.035 billion yuan at the box office, and Legend of Deification, which landed in the National Day in 2020, also accumulated 1.603 billion yuan at the box office.

　　In the field of mythology, the competing light-chasing animation launched "New God List Yang Jian" and announced that it will be finalized in July this year. In recent years, the company has successively released three films, White Snake: The Origin and New Gods: Nezha Reborn White Snake 2: The Green Snake Robbed, which won 449 million yuan, 456 million yuan and 580 million yuan at the box office respectively.

　　Movies such as Life Events, Detective Wars, You Are My Spring, and Prosecutorial Fengyun, which were withdrawn from Qingming and May Day, may also flow to the summer file and the eleventh file. Among the imported films, Doctor Strange 2: How Far Is the Crazy Universe and Raytheon 4: Love and Thunder were released in Jurassic World 3 in the summer, and they are expected to be introduced to the mainland.

　　The manager of the above-mentioned chain cinemas also put his hopes on the summer file. He told Time Finance: "From the current situation, there is nothing the cinema can do. I can only hope that the summer file in July-August this year will resume and get a higher box office than the same period last year."