1905 Movie Network Special Article In the just-concluded 2024 National Day file, the market finally ended with more than 2.1 billion, and more than ten new films undoubtedly brought more fierce competition to the market while providing the audience with multiple choices.
The animated film "New Big Head Son and Little Head Daddy 6: Mini Adventure" finally achieved about 24 million box office during the holiday. This data not only shrank by more than 40 million compared with the same period in 2022, but according to the current forecast trend, the box office of the film is also likely to become the low point of the series.
Nearly 30 years after its birth, the IP of "Big Head Son and Little Head Dad" has already formed its own brand in the ranks of domestic animation, and after entering the big screen, this series of achievements also proves that it can continue to attract its own audience in the market. However, whether it is vertically compared with itself, or horizontally compared with other animation works of the same type, the performance of this sequel is somewhat surprising.
The National Day was changed in the summer, the competition in the same schedule intensified, and the quality of IP content declined...... What influenced the always stable "Big Head Son and Little Head Dad"?
According to the data, "New Big Head Son and Little Head Dad 6" was originally scheduled to be released in July. For an animated film mainly aimed at low-age students, the summer file is the most regular and "safe" schedule.
In random interviews, the responses of the interviewed audience to the film's "rescheduling" were divided into two categories. A part of the group is the loyal audience of the IP of "New Big Head Son and Little Head Dad". Ms. D said that she had planned to take her children who like "big-headed sons" to watch this film in the summer, and the news of the change to the National Day surprised her: "The trailer that will be broadcast is full of atmosphere, and then I will look at the National Day before I go on, and I will forget it until the National Day." ”
In addition to the temporary rescheduling, Ms. D also expressed her confusion about the abandonment of the summer vacation market for animated films. "Summer vacation is the time when parents need to deal with their children on vacation, and they need movies and parent-child programs to 'save their lives'."
Although the National Day is also a holiday, there is basically no such rigid need: "Everyone will be very busy on the National Day, going to travel or doing schoolwork after the start of school." Ms. D also shared her "appearance" of the holiday arrangement: the National Day holiday has passed, and she took her children to the cinema to watch "The New Big Head Son and the Little Head Dad" after finishing outdoor play.
Most other viewers don't know the background of "New Big Head Son and Little Head Dad" that was considered to be released on other schedules, and the choice of this film during the National Day did not have a clear viewing goal, but more of a random decision of parent-child travel. Two parents revealed to us that they had originally planned to choose another family-themed movie, but they made adjustments due to inappropriate timing.
When asked which is more suitable for the type of film "Big Head Son and Little Head Dad" in the summer file or the National Day file, many people in this part of the audience said that they will have a more fixed and clear plan and demand for watching animated films during the summer vacation.
"In the National Day file, it has no absolute advantage in terms of type and reputation, and the box office during the schedule has basically determined the final result." Manager Wu, the person in charge of a cinema in Haidian District, bluntly said in an interview with us that the change of "New Big Head Son and Little Head Dad 6" is not wise.
Before the latest sequel, 3 of the 5 "New Big Head Son and Little Head Dad" movies chose to be released during the summer vacation, and these three works also created the top 3 box office results of the series. In 2022, "New Big Head Son and Little Head Dad" also chose the National Day schedule, but when the box office on the first day increased significantly compared with the previous work, it ultimately failed to increase the total box office.
Of course, the schedule selection of a movie is never fixed and single, but for series IPs, this point can increasingly become an important way to use their own characteristics and form box office competitiveness. For example, the "Bear Infested" series of the same type broke through in the Spring Festival stalls with the same strong players.
We also asked Manager Wu about it as an example, and he said that this is undoubtedly the most ideal environment for the development of series of IP. "Not only "Bear Infested", for example, "Doraemon" is also very dominant in the June 1st file, which is the accumulation of many movies for a longer period of time in the early stage, so that it finally has a stable audience."
But at the same time, Manager Wu also emphasized that this is not a decisive impression factor, before the formation of these external schedule advantages, these works also need to find enough core competitiveness - IP value, innovation, topicality, and stable output of content, in order to occupy their own position in the market in different time periods.