v2 Chapter 899： Passerby market

With its own unique charm, Star Wars has evolved into a symbol, a permanent logo, and this culture has penetrated into all aspects of Americans. Knowledge of Star Wars has become a basic life literacy, and even Star Wars is The existence of God in American hearts is not exaggerated, just like the feelings of "Journey to the West" by the people on the other side of the Pacific.

There is no doubt that Star Wars is a national myth of the Americans, not a national myth of the Chinese.

"The box office of Chinese movies has explosive growth in 2013. This growth is reflected in the rapid growth of the entire movie box office, but also in the changes in the box office ratio of Chinese local movies and Hollywood movies."

In the Star Wars studio of Warner Studios, Duke looked at the Lucasfilm and Warner Bros. professionals who participated in the conference. He said very seriously, "The box office growth of Chinese movies has exceeded our expectations. At the end of this year, the entire Chinese box office market may exceed RMB 30 billion."

The importance of the Chinese market to Hollywood is unquestionable. If "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" wants to explode and maximize its benefits, the Chinese market must never be ignored.

"Here, I just want to say one thing." Duke said solemnly, "The promotion work we have done in the Chinese market is far from enough."

I have to say that the great success of the Star Wars series has also brought a false suggestion to many people at Lucasfilm and Warner Bros., making these people think that Star Wars could break out in Japan and South Korea, and also in the Chinese market. It will naturally explode.

But Duke knows that the truth is definitely not like this. If Chinese audiences want to buy Star Wars account, they need to pay more.

"I request a comprehensive promotion plan to double the resources invested in China." Duque specifically emphasized, "In the final stage before the release. I require the name of Star Wars to appear in front of every Chinese audience. "

This is certainly an exaggeration, but the potential of the Chinese market cannot be overstated, and Duke has seen the quiet changes in the Chinese film market in the data and reports passed from Warner Greater China.

In the past year, important changes have taken place in the box office ratios of Chinese and Hollywood films in China. Hollywood movies accounted for less than 60% of the box office in China for the first time in more than ten years. This major change is actually the result of the rapid growth of the Chinese film market in recent years.

The audience of Chinese films has grown rapidly in recent years, which is inevitable in the process of "nationalization" of Chinese films in recent years.

In recent years, the super metropolis formed since the 1990s has determined that the structure of China’s movie box office has undergone a fundamental transformation. This transformation comes from two new additions. The first is that the expansion of the Chinese middle class has rapidly formed a three-fourth The rapid expansion centered on tier cities; the second is that the young audience groups of the "post-80s" and "post-90s" have become the main force of current cultural consumption.

The superposition of these two elements happens to be the film "new audience" formed by the "small town youth" group that has attracted high attention from the public. The rise of these "new audiences" has fundamentally formed the increase in the number of Chinese movie audiences. The emergence of film culture and taste has fundamentally changed, which is actually the internal driving force for the continued growth of the Chinese film market. This internal driving force will dominate the Chinese movie box office to continue to achieve rapid growth of at least five to ten years.

This growth is due to the deepening of China’s “urbanization”. China’s new middle-class audience will make China an undisputed new center for Chinese-language movies and even global movies. These two forces are China’s most important consumption growth. The volume is also a new growth point for economic and social development. Under their influence, the box office of Chinese movies will have such an increase.

This is the result of the increase in infrastructure allocation. The rapid spread of cinemas in large shopping malls to third- and fourth-tier cities and the increase in the number of screens are necessary conditions for third- and fourth-tier cities to join the movie market. Middle-income earners The rapid expansion in recent years and the rapid income growth of ordinary workers have provided a sufficient basis for film consumption.

Young people have always been the main force in film consumption. But today's increase in young people is no longer the youth of the metropolis, but the youth of the third and fourth tier cities. Their interest has also had a huge impact on the film market. The enlargement of the film market today is precisely the agglomeration effect produced by the two overlapping increments of third- and fourth-tier cities and youth.

The first choice for young people in small towns to watch movies is often not Star Wars, but more popular Hollywood movies and down-to-earth domestic movies.

This will further deepen the "locality" of Chinese films.

Today, the North American film market has stagnated in recent years, and most Hollywood blockbusters appear in sequels. The lack of innovation is also getting worse.

Although Hollywood still has strong strength, the continued activity of the Chinese film market and film production has begun to change the overall pattern of the Chinese film market.

The first is to bring the cake bigger. Chinese films have been able to compete with Hollywood films in China. Especially with the help of a series of policies such as the domestic protection month, they are gradually becoming a tie with Hollywood films. This is also what few countries' film industry can do except India.

Secondly, it also brought the huge attraction of the Chinese film market to Hollywood and its central position in global Chinese-language films. Commercial giants such as Duke also made changes for this. For example, he used Daniel Wu.

How to attract new audiences in the Chinese film market is an important task for the promotion of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in China.

The previous "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" promotion plan failed, and the lesson is not unprofound.

Of course, there are many objective reasons for this.

For example, the Chinese audience did not meet Star Wars at the right time.

In 1977, the release of "Star Wars" left tens of thousands of people in the United States empty. That year, China had just ended a special ten-year period. During that decade, most Chinese people watched it on the threshing floor. After "eight model plays" several times, the "Star Wars" trilogy has never had a chance to be released in China.

Some things, if you miss it, you will miss it, and you won’t call when you meet at another time.

To this end, Duke asked Lucasfilm to make a targeted strategy, granting Chinese TV stations and video websites a period of free licensing of the six-part "Star Wars" to increase their chances of meeting Chinese audiences. .

Movies are the basis of derivative products. There are not many fans of "Star Wars" in China, and there are not too many people who care about the "Star Wars Universe". How to cultivate new ones in the film window period without "Star Wars Universe" What about Star Wars fans? In the end, it became a problem that the chicken did not lay eggs and the eggs did not hatch.

The extreme scarcity of the Chinese film derivatives market is also an important reason.

When "Star Wars Episode" was released in China, many of the theaters here did not have the business of selling derivatives, or even the purchase channels of genuine authorized derivatives. Occasionally, some theaters wanted to carry out this business and sent people to Hong Kong to purchase. , And the purchase volume is also very small, the theater can not stand the inventory backlog.

Missed the best viewing time, and there is no cultivation of derivative products, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will actually face in China a market close to passers-by, "memory" Chinese audiences do not, "myths" Chinese audiences do not At best, “pop culture” is just emerging in China, and these elements that firmly hold American audiences are impossible to talk about in China.

These are all objective reasons for existence, but one of the most failed publicity of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in China is that it did not attract the attention of ‘small town youth’.

With the development of the Chinese film market up to now, even Duke, who is far across the Pacific Ocean, has to admit that if a film wants to have a box office of 1 billion or more in China, it must be recognized by "small town youths."

Unfortunately, in the absence of eye-catching targeted publicity strategies, "small town youths" don't like Hollywood blockbusters at all, and local domestic comedies are what they like.

Even if they sometimes choose Hollywood blockbusters, they mostly focus on their fast-food entertainment functions, and sensory stimulation is the primary pursuit. Therefore, "Iron Man", "Avengers", "Transformers" and other big visual effects cards, movies filled with various fighting and explosion scenes are more popular among young people in small towns.

The previous "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" also has this element, but the weight is obviously not enough. Tell the "town youths" "conquer your fear, or you will fall into the dark side of the Force", they will probably The movie also rolled his eyes.

In Duke’s view, "Star Wars" is like "Journey to the West" in the United States. It is normal for Chinese audiences to be less enthusiastic, but he knows very well that in this world, almost everything is beautiful, as long as there are enough If you understand, you will know how to appreciate.

Perhaps this "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will not completely break out in the Chinese market as Duke expected, but he and Lucasfilm will not give up the layout of the Star Wars series in China.

Lucasfilm has decided to start filming "Star Wars Story: Rogue One" and the invitation to star Jiang Xiaojun and Wu Jing is an important signal.

As the Chinese film market matures, Chinese audiences, including "small town youths", will have higher acceptance of foreign culture; as the Chinese film derivatives market matures, Chinese film fans will become more and more engaged high.

Duke has fully promoted the dissemination of Star Wars culture in China from the day it acquired Lucasfilm. Lucasfilm's ceo Catherine Kennedy has personally traveled to China several times to formulate publicity and promotion with a number of partners. plan.

Although far less than the influence of Star Wars in Japan and South Korea, the influence of Star Wars in China is not the same level as before.

And in Duke's view, it is not difficult for Chinese audiences to understand the Star Wars culture with proper promotion and marketing. (To be continued.)

ps: Ask for monthly and recommended tickets!