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The Spring Festival in 2020 changed overnight because of the epidemic. The cinema stopped working, and the annual movie Spring Festival file disappeared. Some movies go online, and some movies are delayed.
A year later, although the epidemic has not yet dispersed and the film market all over the world is still in a difficult recovery stage, we have ushered in 2021, which has become the "strongest Spring Festival file" in history.
It is worth noting that this year’s "strongest Spring Festival file" belongs not only to China, but also to overseas Chinese all over the world. A Writer’s Odyssey’s three films "Nezha Rebirth" and "Crowd Surging" were released simultaneously in the world on February 12th, setting the largest scale of overseas release of Spring Festival films.
The overseas distributor of these three films is the Chinese film industry under CMC Inc Chinese Culture Group Company. Since its establishment in 2016, the Chinese film industry has made remarkable achievements in overseas distribution and is currently the largest overseas distribution platform for Chinese films. In the global film market, the Chinese film industry has not only raised the overseas awareness of Chinese films to a higher level, but also doubled the scale of Chinese films.
From the data point of view, before 2016, the scale of overseas distribution of Chinese films may be 30 to 40 cinemas, but now it is not difficult to arrange more than 100 cinemas in the North American market, and the starting capacity of Australia and New Zealand can also reach 50 to 60. On the other hand, the Chinese film industry has cooperated with North America in more than 20 cinemas, 16 in Australia and New Zealand, and more than 10 in Britain, all of which account for more than 90% in their respective local markets.
More and more cinemas, which did not arrange Chinese films in the past, slowly began to accept Chinese films. This is undoubtedly a good signal.
"We hope to bring the strongest Spring Festival file to overseas Chinese, and we also want to use the Spring Festival atmosphere created by the Spring Festival file to make a good start for 2021." Zhu Ranhua, director of the international distribution department of Chinese film industry, told Xiaoyu.
How was the "strongest Spring Festival file" belonging to overseas Chinese born?
During the Spring Festival, the Chinese film industry released three overseas films, A Writer’s Odyssey’s Rebirth of Nezha and Crowd. Zhu Ranhua also told Xiaoyu about the experience of Chinese film industry in choosing these three films.
The first of the three films was A Writer’s Odyssey, which was released in 2019. On January 10th, 2020, it was announced that the Spring Festival in 2021 was scheduled. After the domestic file was fixed, the Chinese film industry began to communicate with overseas distribution at the first time. Zhu Ranhua revealed that in early 2020, the cooperation of overseas distribution in A Writer’s Odyssey has been confirmed.
A Writer’s Odyssey was chosen because of its adaptability to the international market. It is a heroic story, but it is not a simple heroic revenge. Its elements are very rich, including martial arts, action and oriental fantasy elements. These elements are valued by the international market and are relatively easy to be promoted in local markets in various regions.
For Rebirth of Nezha, because it focuses on the very unique concepts of oriental punk and hero rebirth, the whole setting is also very novel. From the perspective of overseas distribution, Zhu Ranhua thinks it is very worthy of overseas promotion. "We have always been very concerned. After the first batch of materials of Nezha Rebirth came out, we liked it very much. After communicating with the light-chasing animation, we finally chose this animation."
As for the last film "Crowd", Zhu Ranhua said that just looking at the film’s main lineup, director Rao Xiaozhi, and the combination of Andy Lau, Shawn and Wan Qian is enough to attract attention. "Plus, it is adapted from the Japanese film" The Method of Stealing Keys ".We like the original story very much, so we especially want to see how the director will tell this story with three masters in today’s China society. It also combines elements of comedy, action and crime, so it is also a film that is very suitable for the Spring Festival. "
On the whole, the three films that Chinese film companies chose to release overseas during the Spring Festival are different in types, including fantasy, animation, crime and comedy, with very rich themes.
Zhu Ranhua told Xiaoyu that it will not be easy for overseas Chinese groups in 2020. They hope to take the strongest Spring Festival file in the history that everyone in China is discussing overseas, so that overseas Chinese can also feel the atmosphere of the Spring Festival in the motherland, and also let audiences who like any type of movies find suitable movies, so as to make the atmosphere of watching movies in the Spring Festival file more adequate.
Then how to make the atmosphere of "the strongest Spring Festival file" sufficient in overseas markets? Mainly in these two aspects: first, the larger distribution scale, and second, the special Spring Festival theme activities.
Among the three films, A Writer’s Odyssey has the largest overseas distribution scale. The Chinese film industry has obtained the global copyright distribution right of the film. On the first day of February 12th, it simultaneously landed on the big screens of three continents and nine regions around the world, and the release scale set a new record for Chinese films in the Spring Festival.
What’s different is that A Writer’s Odyssey was lucky enough to win the release permit in Taiwan Province this time, so he will also do simultaneous release. Zhu Ranhua said that this is also the first time in recent years that Chinese mainland’s Spring Festival films can be released simultaneously in Taiwan Province.
In terms of theme activities, A Writer’s Odyssey’s premiere event in Melbourne, Australia was held at Melbourne Museum, and its IMAX cinema is a common premiere place for Interstellar and other blockbusters. This time, the Melbourne Museum was selected as the premiere venue, in order to bring the best Spring Festival atmosphere to overseas Chinese audiences through the exquisite venue environment and excellent viewing effect during the overseas premiere of IMAX version on the first day of New Year’s Day.
The crisis is also a turning point, and the drive-in cinema may be able to prop up new channels for cinemas.
"In 2020, our best exercise is our mentality. Maybe you have done more things than before, but the effect is really not predictable. I think people don’t seem to care much about the box office forecast now, because you really don’t know what will happen. " Zhu yuhua said.
Although the scale of the Spring Festival release is refreshing the history, in the unprecedented turbulent market environment, Zhu Ranhua also admitted that the overseas distribution of Chinese films is still in a "dynamic" operation and should be constantly adjusted according to the policies of the local government.
It is reported that the current Australian and New Zealand markets have basically recovered, but most of them still have a 75% attendance limit. In Asia, Singapore has basically recovered, while cinemas in Malaysia and other places have not yet opened. The most unstable area is North America. The cinema is open this week, but it may be closed next week. The closed cinema this week may suddenly open in two days. These repeated situations may happen.
In 2020, it will definitely be difficult to carry out the business of overseas distribution. The most important cinema distribution plate of Chinese film industry is facing great challenges because the cinema is not open. However, there was also a turning point in the crisis, and the Chinese film industry also made the best use of this turning point.
The first is the accumulation and expansion of cinema channels and publicity resources.
In terms of cinemas, in 2020, the Chinese film industry not only developed many new cinema channels that had not arranged Chinese films before, but also opened up the film arrangement area of Chinese films in cooperative cinemas, and screened Chinese films to cinemas and places that had not arranged films in the past; In terms of publicity resources, it is mainly the new media publicity resources developed under the epidemic situation, and the localized and refined marketing operation system in various places has also been greatly improved and improved.
Specifically, the biggest channel update of Chinese film industry is to enter the overseas car theater field. Drive-in cinema, that is, the audience sit in their cars and watch open-air movies, is a safe and convenient viewing mode during the epidemic.
Zhu Ranhua told Xiaoyu that they found that although the cinema was bleak, the box office of the drive-in cinema was growing all the time. Take the United States as an example. At present, there are hundreds of drive-in cinemas, and their general income has also increased several times during the epidemic.
Therefore, the film The Eight Hundred became the first Chinese film to be shown in drive-in theaters in North America, Australia and New Zealand. The distribution method of drive-in cinema not only made many Chinese see the film for the first time, but also gained the experience of watching the film in drive-in cinema for the first time. Subsequently, films such as Buckwheat Grows Wild and The Rescue were shown in drive-in theaters, which really added a brand-new channel for overseas distribution of Chinese films.
Besides, the Chinese film industry has also done a lot of movie-watching activities for drive-in, such as "Tail Party" with themes such as Chinese Valentine’s Day and Christmas in Australia and New Zealand, which received good market feedback.
In addition, in July and August last year, the Chinese film industry arranged the reruns of The Wandering Earth and Nezha in New Capital of North America and Australia, and supported the overseas cinemas to resume work at the first time. At that time, the cinema had just begun to recover, and there were no suitable films. Replaying these two Chinese films with high box office and high recognition was the result of mutual support for the cinema and the Chinese film industry.
Secondly, the impact of the epidemic on overseas propaganda is reflected in the improvement of the importance of new media. In the past, the publicity of cinema and new media were relatively separated, and the new media would lag behind. During the epidemic, the early cinema publicity would start with the new media.
Therefore, for the overseas distribution team of Chinese film industry, the skills training and resource accumulation for new media announcements have been greatly improved in 2020, and cooperation has been established with Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, including local platforms in each region.
Zhu Ranhua said that when offline cinemas are closed in some areas, they will focus on when and which streaming media platforms propaganda film will be released, and the team will also make specific promotional materials for the streaming media platforms. For example, when The Eight Hundred is about to land on overseas streaming media platforms, the team will produce brand-new materials suitable for online communication, which will be promoted together with the promotional materials of the cinema.
From the release of art films to winning prizes, the next step is to become an international distribution team.
In 2020, there will be a major adjustment in the positioning of the overseas distribution team of Chinese films, that is, from the overseas distribution team of Chinese films to an international distribution team.
Zhu Ranhua told Xiaoyu that this adjustment was made because after more than five years of development, the system of overseas distribution of Chinese films has been relatively perfect and mature, so it is the first step to make use of these systems and resources and the operational ability of the team to distribute and publicize non-Chinese films, and to try the global distribution of the non-Chinese film The Runaway Woman for the first time.
The Runaway Woman is a Korean film directed by Hong Shangxiu and starring Jin Minxi. It is also an art film. It was shortlisted for the best film at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020, and director Hong Shangxiu won the Silver Bear Award for best director.
Through the release of a well-known art film "The Runaway Woman", the Chinese film industry has also made great breakthroughs in art theaters and publicity resources, not only reaching cooperation with the British MUBI platform, which is known as "Netflix in the art world", but also reaching cooperation with the CurzonHome Cinema platform under the British Colson Cinema. In addition, the expansion of self-media channels and community publicity channels in overseas channels, especially in South Korea, has also been fruitful, and progress has also been made in film festivals and cooperation with art theaters.
After the successful layout of art films, Zhu Ranhua revealed that the team’s next plan is to release non-Chinese commercial blockbusters, and also try some new directors and new types of films.
Another breakthrough of Chinese film industry in 2020 is the delivery operation of film festivals and awards, such as AACTA in The Eight Hundred, the delivery and operation of the Golden Globe Award, and the screening of The Runaway Woman at Brisbane Film Festival, London Korean Film Festival and Glasgow Film Festival.
"The Eight Hundred went to the home page of the Golden Globe Awards twice last year, the main purpose of which was to establish the consciousness of operating awards for Chinese films. It is difficult to nominate and win prizes, but it is precisely because Chinese films are relatively backward in the operation of grand prizes. We hope to gradually open up channels by operating blockbusters like The Eight Hundred and deliver suitable Chinese films to suitable awards. " Zhu Ranhua sighed, "This will be a very long-term process."
We should promote not only Chinese films, but also Chinese filmmakers, which is also a major change in the distribution strategy of Chinese films this year. Film Festival is a very important platform to promote directors and actors to the world through their works. Take A Writer’s Odyssey as an example. During the online Cannes last year, the Chinese film industry made a wide range of publicity and promotion for the film, arranged a series of interviews with overseas media such as Hollywood media Variety and directors such as Lu Yang and Yang Mi, and arranged a media viewing meeting, which received a good response.
Director Lu yang
Zhu Ranhua told Xiaoyu that the biggest goal of the overseas distribution team of Chinese film industry in 2021 is to change to the role of international distribution team.
"It is to walk on two legs. The first is to bring more suitable films to overseas Chinese to meet their viewing needs, and at the same time raise the proportion of overseas Chinese to a higher level; The second is to expand the local markets of various countries through appropriate films, with the aim of not being out of the circle on a large scale, but to let the films find their own specific target audience, and then gradually expand the local markets. To accomplish these two points, what we have to do is, on the one hand, to promote China films, and on the other hand, to go out with China filmmakers, hoping to shape the new international image of China films in the international market. "
