The lively National Day file is over, and a few families are happy and a few are sad.
"Volunteers: The Road to Survival" won the box office champion, "The Road to Fire" became a dark horse in the schedule, and "749 Bureau" was scolded while reaping the box office.
But in a corner where no one cares, "In and Out of Peace" directed by Liu Jiangjiang has become cannon fodder in fierce competition.
"In and Out of Peace"
The film was announced to be withdrawn 4 days after its release, with a cumulative box office of less than 20 million, ranking 10th on the box office list in the same period on the day of withdrawal.
announced the withdrawal at the same time, as well as another animated film "Pipiru and Luxixi's 309 Dark Room" during the schedule.
Today's [Time Observation] will talk about the withdrawal of a movie after it is released, is it the filmmaker's self-help? Or is it the senseless struggle of the loser?
When the box office of the film is too mushy, can it really solve the problem after "withdrawing"?
Those films that were "withdrawn after screening".
It is not uncommon for movies to be rescheduled before their release, and the reasons are varied.
The most common official reason is generally to change the file "for technical reasons".
However, after the film has been officially released, the number of films that have been announced to be withdrawn has suddenly increased in the past one or two years.
Especially in 2024, from the Spring Festival, May Day to the National Day, almost every key schedule has "lagging players" who will be temporarily withdrawn after the release.
For example, the movie "There Is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" (hereinafter referred to as "Hot Pot"), directed by Ding Sheng and starring Yang Mi and Yu Qian, announced its withdrawal on the last day of this year's May Day holiday.
The filmmaker said in the withdrawal statement: "Since its release, due to various environmental factors, the film has not met more audiences. ”
"Hot Pot" withdrawal statement
Obviously, the cumulative box office of 40 million during the May Day holiday, plus the total box office of more than 53 million screenings, could not satisfy the filmmakers of "Hot Pot".
The film was announced to be withdrawn on May 6 this year, and it was launched on the streaming platform on May 11, without re-entering the big screen.
This year's Spring Festival, "Mr. Red Carpet" directed by Ning Hao and "Let's Shake the Sun Together" directed by Han Yan, these two films were also announced to be withdrawn at the end of the Spring Festival holiday.
"Mr. Red Carpet" withdrawal statement
Before the withdrawal, the cumulative box office of the first round of these two films was 84 million and 93 million respectively, and the most popular "Hot and Hot" in the same schedule had a daily box office of about 300 million during the Spring Festival, and the gap is indeed too big.
In the withdrawal statement, Lianrui Pictures, the producer of "Shaking the Sun", admitted that "there was a major mistake in the selection of schedules, and it failed the hard work of the film's creators and staff." ”
In the 2023 Spring Festival, "Chinese Ping Pong: The Jedi Strikes Back" has also had a similar operation, this movie co-directed by Deng Chao and Yu Baimei has experienced many twists and turns of "finalization-file change-release-withdrawal-re-release".
On the third day of the film's release, when the cumulative box office was about 43 million, Hengye announced that the film would be adjusted to a small-scale screening, and large-scale screenings would resume on February 17.
"Chinese Ping Pong" withdrawal statement
One blow of strength, then decline, three and exhaustion. After two intensive withdrawals, as well as the turmoil of changing the title and character name, almost all the publicity and distribution costs in the early stage of the film were wasted, and many theaters couldn't even keep up with the printing and production of physical materials such as posters and display racks.
In the 2023 Spring Festival file during the same period, two blockbusters with a single-film box office of more than 4 billion yuan were produced, "Man Jianghong" and "The Wandering Earth 2", and "Chinese Ping Pong" finally ended dismally with a score of 100 million yuan.
The film is the worst box office performance among the four films co-directed by Deng Chao and Yu Baimei.
"Chinese Ping Pong" has become one of the turning points of Hengye's slide all the way to the "downhill road".
This year, the company has been caught in the "employee salary arrears turmoil", and there is no longer the glory of the past.
Further back, in the summer of 2018, the fantasy domestic film "Asura", which claimed to have invested 750 million yuan, urgently announced that the film would be withdrawn and suspended on the third day of release.
Stills from "Asura".
When "Asura" was first released, the filmmaker complained that the film had a weird large difference in ratings on the two platforms of Taopiao and Maoyan, which was a premeditated "blackwater attack".
However, Time netizens gave this movie a score of 4.0, because the overall style of this film is really "unChinese and not foreign".
Looking at the strange shape of the protagonist in the film, you can understand why he was ridiculed by netizens.
From the low score of the hand-torn ticket-buying platform to the gray and urgent withdrawal, a series of operations by the producer of "Asura" stunned the audience.
In the end, the film ended hastily with a box office of less than 50 million, and has not been re-screened so far.
After the film was released, it did not usher in a box office hit, but became a market deserter, which is obviously not glorious.
Looking at these films that were urgently withdrawn after their release, the various reasons given by the filmmakers are also very intriguing.
"In and Out of Safety" withdrawal statement
The producer of "In and Out of Peace" said: "The film has encountered unprecedented difficulties and challenges."
When Ding Sheng, director of "Hot Pot", talked about the reason for the withdrawal of the film, he publicly said that the film "has a threshold for watching the movie, and the audience can't understand it if they don't calm down, and it is difficult to publicize it", and also said that "the film wants to talk about the rules, but I encountered unruly things".
Only the filmmakers of "Shaking the Sun" and "Chinese Ping Pong" frankly admitted that it was because of "a major mistake in the selection of schedules".
In fact, there is only one core reason for withdrawing after the screening: the box office did not meet expectations, and the filmmaker had to take this countermeasure in order to stop the loss in time.
After the screening, can you turn the tables against the wind?
Judging from the box office figures, the re-release did not help much to the total box office of these films.
Movies that have been withdrawn after being released because of box office fiascos have few precedents for successful turnarounds.
Taking "Mr. Red Carpet" directed by Ning Hao as an example, the box office of the film was 84 million in the first round of release, and it was re-released on March 15 after being withdrawn.
"Mr. Red Carpet" re-screened at the box office on the first day
Under the suppression of the popular film "Eliminate Three Evils Around the Week" and the Hollywood blockbuster "Dune 2" in the same period, the single-day box office of "Mr. Red Carpet" was only 2.45 million yuan on the first day of re-screening, and it still did not exceed 100 million yuan 20 days after the re-screening.
Not only could it not beat the new film, but the box office on the first day of the film's re-screening couldn't even catch up with the "old rivals" "Article 20" and "Flying Life" during the Spring Festival, and the re-screening did not make a big splash at all, only about 10 million more box office.
According to the announcement of Huanxi Media, the producer of the film, the total production budget of the film alone reached 261 million yuan, of which the protagonist's salary was about 60.7 million yuan and the director's fee was about 24.6 million yuan.
In August this year, Huanxi Media issued a profit warning, and the group expected a net loss of about HK $89 million for the six months ended June 30, 2024. "Mr. Red Carpet" performed poorly at the box office, which obviously dragged down the company's performance.
Let's take a look at "Shaking the Sun", which was also released during the Spring Festival this year, with a box office of 93.143 million in the first round, and was re-screened on March 30 after being withdrawn, it received another 183 million box office, and the final box office result was 276 million.
The box office trend of "Shaking the Sun", the source of the picture is Maoyan Professional Edition
"Shake the Sun" is the only film with a re-release that grossed significantly better than the first round.
But if you look at it from another angle, it is difficult to say that this movie has "successfully turned the tables".
The film is the finale of director Han Yan's "Life Trilogy", the first two works "Get Out!" Tumor Jun (2015) and "Send You a Little Red Flower" (2020) won box office results of 510 million and 1.432 billion respectively, and the 2023 work "I Love You!" also has a box office of 427 million.
The reputation of "Shaking the Sun" is not bad, with a time score of 7.9 points and a Douban score of 8.1 points, but it is director Han Yan's lowest-grossing work in the past 6 years.
It's a pity that this film chose the wrong schedule, this story focusing on cancer patients, even if it is touching and tear-jerking, is obviously incompatible with the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival file.
If you change gears at the beginning, you probably can have better results.
For some movies that really can't make any noise in the market, it may be better to launch streaming media as soon as possible than to announce the withdrawal and re-release and spend a lot of publicity and distribution costs.
Maybe a different way can be seen by more potential audiences.
For example, "Treasure Land in Front of the Door" directed by Xu Haofeng and starring Xiang Zuo was released on September 20, with a box office of only 1.48 million a week, and it was launched on streaming on September 28.
Although the box office can't compete with the National Day blockbuster, Xiang Zuo's magical performance clip quickly exploded on the short video platform and earned a large wave of netizens' traffic.
The myth of blindly piling up
If you can't beat it, just run?
The "deserter" behavior of a film that was urgently withdrawn after its release is indeed easy to leave a bad impression on the audience.
Some movies would even rather choose "hard resistance" than announce their withdrawal.
For example, the movie "Journey Through the Moon", which was released on May 1st this year, can only be regarded as the bottom of the box office in the schedule, but producer Zhang Yu bluntly said on Weibo, "Lose, admit, but don't cowardice." ”
"Journey Through the Moon" producer Weibo
"Never retreat, you can die on the battlefield, but you don't retreat. Don't cry, don't write small essays, don't cry at every turn. ”
Similarly, there are also successful films of "hard resistance" this year. For example, the documentary "The Sinking of Lisbon Maru" directed by Fang Li had a cumulative box office of only 1.47 million in the first weekend of its release.
However, as the film's excellent reputation continued to ferment, it attracted the attention of more audiences in a month's time, and the cumulative box office has exceeded 40 million.
Among the films that were withdrawn after screening, part of it was because the film did not have a strong reputation, and it was a bad movie itself.
No matter how much you change the file, it can't change the fact that the film itself is ugly.
But there are also some films that blindly gather large schedules, and the temperament of the film does not match the schedule.
Filmmakers often overestimate themselves and underestimate their competitors.
The director and main creative team of the film are not bad, director Liu Jiangjiang's last work "Life Events" has won 1.7 billion box office, and the strength and popularity of the starring Xiao Yang and Nazha are not bad.
Even though the reputation of this film is not flawless, and there are some suspicions of "excessive sensationalism", it is surprising that the single-day box office can fall to 10th place on the 4th day of release.
If "In and Out of Peace" can be released on a schedule that is not too competitive, the results may be different.
In fact, the high popularity of popular schedules does not mean that the box office of a single film is high.
Especially in the popular schedules such as the Spring Festival and National Day, blockbusters from all walks of life are piled up, there are always some films that regret falling behind, and there are always some directors who humbly "ask for film scheduling".
In the Spring Festival of 2021, Rao Xiaozhifa, director of "The Crowd".
Every film hopes to be the winner of the popular schedule, but the more it is in the popular schedule, the more it fights to see the bayonet.
If a movie has a very low scheduling rate at the beginning of its release, people who want to watch it can't find a suitable time to watch it, and naturally the box office will not work.
If the box office lags behind, the theater manager will cut back even more, which forms a vicious circle.
But once the popular schedule ends, it may take half a month or even a month without a decent blockbuster to be released.
When there is a drought, he dies by drought, and when he dies when he is flooded.
It is really appropriate to use this sentence to summarize the popular schedule melee of domestic films.
The film market is always changing, and so are the preferences of audiences.
I hope that each film can be reasonably evaluated, recognize its own positioning, accurately find the target market and audience, and meet the audience in the most suitable channel and the most suitable schedule.
Instead of blindly following the trend and piling up the so-called big schedule, and then withdrawing when you find that the box office is not good.
The box office of the film is too mushy, and the withdrawal can't solve all the problems.
Author: Hidden Drink