“Kill the chicken and take the egg and fish with all your strength.”
When it comes to the reality of this year’s Spring Festival, some shadow investment executives said frankly.
Behind it is that the most expensive Spring Festival stalls in history have had an impact on the market. According to the lighthouse data, on the third day of the Lunar New Year (February 3), the national box office reached 980 million yuan, while in the same period of the lunar calendar last year, the box office reached 1.472 billion yuan, a decrease of more than 30%.
The breakdown data shows the real difference. On the third day of this year, the total number of tickets issued was 18.4652 million , while last year, it reached 29.3299 million , with a decline of 10.8647 million in only one day.
Ticket prices have become an unavoidable core issue.
According to the lighthouse data, the average ticket price for the Spring Festival in 2021 was 48.88 yuan, the highest ever before. the average ticket price in 2019 was 44.66 yuan, and the average ticket price in earlier 2018 was 39.72 yuan. This year, the average ticket price reached 55.2 yuan, setting an all-time high again.
In Shijingshan Wanda cinema, which ranks first at the box office in Beijing, the highest ticket price for a VIP Hall of “shuimen bridge of Changjin Lake” is 199.9 yuan, and the highest ticket price for IMAX hall is 139.9 yuan. In fact, the consumption level of Shijingshan in Beijing is difficult to say high. At lumier cinema, Changying Tianjie, Chaoyang District, outside the East Fifth Ring Road, the average price of an IMAX version of “shuimen bridge of Changjin Lake” is 159 yuan.
The cold market under high ticket prices is an obvious problem.
“excess”
Objectively speaking, cinemas are the main driver of the increase in ticket prices.
Many film investment executives admitted to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that ticket prices have increased a lot this year, but there is a necessity behind it.
At present, due to the coldness of the film market, the profitability of cinemas is getting worse and worse. After the severe blow of the epidemic, they have reached the point of survival.
Taking Hengdian Entertainment Co.Ltd(603103) with cinema business as the main source of income as an example, its performance forecast in 2021 shows that it is expected to turn losses into profits in that year, with a net profit of 12 million yuan to 14 million yuan, but the deduction of non net profit is – 43 million yuan to – 41 million yuan.
The super lineup of the Spring Festival in the year of the tiger has become the only hope for cinemas.
The pricing chips of cinemas come from the super popularity of the Spring Festival last year and the successful price increase of “Changjin Lake”.
Some film investment executives do not deny that the core problem comes from screen surplus.
Driven by the policy, a large number of cinemas continued to enter the market and finally squeezed the market. On the third day of this year, the number of screenings nationwide reached 506100 , compared with 462100 in the same period last year.
The driving force comes from the continuous growth of the number of cinemas. On February 2, a total of 11703 cinemas in China were open.
According to the data of the state film administration, by the end of 2021, China Film Co.Ltd(600977) screens had reached 82200 , with an increase of 8% , ranking first in the world.
“Now we are in a dilemma. The policy subsidies are not in place. The market is cold to the freezing point, but we can’t get the money back, so we have to work hard.” A small film investment boss who has entered the market soon said.
“shortage”
However, other shadow investment executives said that the more critical problem was the shortage of content.
“We can’t live without films at ordinary times. We can only continue our life by relying on the Spring Festival file and the National Day file.” He said.
The lack of film has multiple factors. On the one hand, due to the epidemic and other reasons, the release of Hollywood blockbusters has decreased compared with previous years. On the other hand, the production capacity of Chinese films is insufficient.
In fact, in the industry regulation before the epidemic, the film industry was at the freezing point, and a large amount of capital fled. With the delay of project release after the epidemic, there was greater cash flow pressure. And the policy is still uncertain.
As a result, for the few resumption projects, the cash flow can not escape the tense state, and the film side can only hope to maximize and stabilize the benefits, and the core schedule of large films has become the norm.
This eventually becomes a vicious circle.
“I can’t see the future direction. The current project is subject to stability.” A head film company executive told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter.
Another person from a listed film company said that in order to disperse risks, the company rarely controls projects and focuses on investment. “It’s gray overall.” He said.
The solar term for the beginning of spring has arrived, but the film industry is still some distance from spring.
