China Film Market Yearbook： In 1996, the champion of the main melody domestic film was criticized by the leaders.

Author/Tank

In the film market in 1996, with the gradual popularization of television in ordinary families, journalists who reported films turned their attention to television. Similarly, social investors and institutions who like movies have also scattered their money bags on TV, which has led to TV dramas becoming a hot topic for film and television audiences. The film has only become a "minority carnival" in some first-and second-tier cities.

However, the film reform is still going on. The opening of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee, the convening of the National Film Work Conference and the promulgation of the "Regulations on Film Management" issued by the State Council have subtly changed the film market. In addition, it was also from this year that 5% of the movie box office was drawn as a special fund. Prior to this, the special fund was 5 cents per movie ticket, and with the average ticket price exceeding that of 2 yuan in 1996, this rule was improved accordingly.

However, the film market in 1996 was not as stable as expected.

The main theme film won the domestic film championship,

But was criticized by the leaders.

　 　　

Compared with the box office performance of record-breaking domestic films such as Red Cherry and Sunny Days in 1995, the domestic film market in 1996 can only be described as a fiasco. On the one hand, it may be because the large-scale influx of imported sub-accounts has raised the taste of the audience. On the other hand, it is really the quality of domestic films.

Indeed, since 1995, when imported blockbusters officially stimulated the film market in China, many state-owned studios also fell into panic, and both their investment ability, market grasp and internal management of enterprises were in an embarrassing situation. Even more than half of the state-owned studios can only maintain the situation by selling factory logos, renting venues and charging staff to lend labor fees. It is precisely because of the overall sluggishness of the domestic film market that in March of that year, the working conference of the National Film Bureau was held in Changsha. The market prospect of domestic films was discussed.

At the meeting, China filmmakers put forward the requirements of the boutique strategy, specifically the "Ninth Five-Year Plan", that is, during the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, 10 films were made every year, and a total of 50 boutique films were made in five years.

However, the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" has not become the turning point of China’s film quality, and the pressure of the film bureau leaders on various studios has not turned into the motivation of quality, but has become a misunderstanding of the creative concept. After the meeting in Changsha in March, studios quickly adjusted their creative themes, and at one time a large number of biographies describing the heroes of the times almost became hot topics. Because of the low production cost, many films gradually came out after two or three months. But it has become a new disaster in the history of China movies.

In 1996, among the top ten box offices in China, only one domestic film entered the list, ranking ninth, and it was also the main theme film "Kong Fansen" with group ticket bonus. The film produced by Shandong Film Studio is expected to reach 60 million party member X2 yuan (average ticket price) = 120 million box office before release, setting a new box office record for domestic film history, but the film ended with only 36 million yuan.

In the academic journal The Art of Film, which is sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and specializes in film criticism and film theory research, Mr. Gao Jun commented that China doesn’t need too many domestic films of the type of Kong Fansen-"The hero theme can take many forms, including poetry, radio dramas, feature films, reportage, etc., and the film art has its own special rules, so it is not necessary to make all films."

The relevant leaders of the Film Bureau also criticized at the conclusion meeting at the end of the year, arguing that Kong Fansen had nothing to do with the film marketization, and even announced the water injection rate of the film. "Red-headed documents are pioneers, and group booking is the main source of its box office. According to the data reported by more than 20 provinces across the country, only about 5% of the audience pay for their own movies, while the proportion in Beijing is even only 0.51%." As a result, the situation that the film is full of seats is very serious throughout the country, wasting a lot of party fees and union dues as a supplement to the film market, which is contrary to the development law of socialist market economy.

To the surprise of all filmmakers at that time, 23 years later, such films have become the absolute mainstream of the domestic film market.

China Film lost its monopoly on imported films.

　 　

The discussion about China Film’s monopoly on imported sub-accounts has been discussed since 1994. Later, we know that the establishment of Huaxia in 2003 partially ended the monopoly of China Film’s import sub-accounts, but in fact, in 1996, the relevant reforms had tried to break this deadlock.

In 1996, 54 imported films were issued nationwide, of which 51 were issued by China Film, and the other three were Long Film, North Film and Shanghai Film, each of which issued some accounts.

However, the practice in those days was not dominated by these three state-owned companies. Instead, China Film Company still signed contracts with foreign investors, and then the three state-owned film companies signed agency distribution contracts with China Film Company respectively, and then distributed them independently throughout the country. Changying, Beiying and Shangying respectively chose Future Water World, The Game of the Brave and Toy Story to distribute in different accounts throughout the country. All three films have achieved good results, but this distribution model has not been systematically promoted on a large scale afterwards.

Jackie Chan’s never to lose 4, the box office champion in 1996, was translated into Bai Jinlong and introduced to the mainland of China in that year. Like Hongfan District, this film was also introduced during the Spring Festival in parallel with the Hong Kong market. Although the film did not achieve the success of "Hong Fan District", it still achieved 80 million box office results. In terms of imported movies, action movies still occupy the dominant position in the market, such as Tornado, Broken Arrow, Game of the Brave, Adventure Island, Mission Impossible, Future Water World, etc. Except The Bridges of Madison County, all other imported movies are action, adventure and sci-fi movies, which are basically consistent with the current imported film market. Among the Hong Kong films, Jackie Chan’s film is the most appealing, which has obvious advantages over other films.

In first-and second-tier cities, imported films have become the absolute main force of the market. In Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the box office revenue of imported films has reached more than 70-80% of the whole year. This phenomenon will continue for more than five years.

Market polarization is serious,

Where is the next step of reform?

　 　

With the gradual opening of the market, the competition intensifies. The polarization of China film market is becoming increasingly obvious.

In addition to the polarization of box office volume between domestic films and imported sub-accounts films, the polarization of ticket warehouse market is also intensifying. Developed provinces and big cities began to occupy more and more market share. Take the comparison between 1995 and 1996 as an example: among the 32 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, the top five provinces and municipalities accounted for 49% of the total box office in 1995, and the top ten accounted for 68%; In 1996, the top five provinces and cities rose to 56%, and the top ten provinces and cities rose to 75%, and the gap was getting bigger and bigger.

The beginning and end effects of the cinema are becoming more and more obvious. In 1996, there were about 500 cinemas in China, and the top 100 cinemas accounted for more than 35% of the box office. Of course, this was the overall trend of reform and opening up at that time. Let some people get rich first, that is, let some cities or cinemas prosper first. Polarization is also a normal phenomenon caused by fierce competition in the market.

Star Studios, since 1996, have also received more and more attention from the industry.

Among them, Shanghai Daguangming Studio is the first studio in China. This cinema alone has an annual box office output of 20 million, which is 1.69% of the national box office. The capital cinema, which is the number one in Beijing, scored exactly 20 million in 1996.

However, compared with the polarization of ticket warehouses, how to really produce good domestic blockbusters became the most puzzling problem for China filmmakers at that time. The problems faced during the period of institutional reform of the film industry were complicated, and how to carry out macro-control. The "Ninth Five-Year Plan" failed, and the rule that the number of domestic films and the proportion of films should account for more than two-thirds of the overall market at Changsha Conference has almost become a dead letter, but the road of "boutique strategy" for domestic films cannot be changed. Maybe the movie market in 1997 will give us a surprise?

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