CBN Friday Special丨High hope for summer box office as pandem

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S: Hi everyone. Welcome to CBN Friday Special. I’m Stephanie LI.

T: Hi, I’m Themis.

S: Hey Themis, I heard that you have been to the cinema last night. Did you enjoy it?

T: I did. It was great! The cinema was quite full, and I enjoyed watching a film with more fellow audience, especially after the past few months when many movie theatres were closed or open with a limited capacity due to pandemic control and prevention.

S: Indeed, more people return to the cinema as the coronavirus outbreaks are gradually under control. According to China's box office data provider Maoyan Pro, the accumulated box office in mainland China from June has exceeded 1.2 billion yuan as of June 22, far surpassing the results in the 5-day Labour Day break and the 3-day Dragon Boat Festival. This record also excites the movie industry, as it expects a summer box office boom.

T: Yes, and the period from June to August has been important in the domestic market for years, as millions of students start their summer holidays and have more time to enjoy movies. In mainland China, the domestic ticket sales spanning the summer holiday flew past the 100-billion-yuan mark in 2015 and has kept climbing after, except for the coronavirus-disrupted 2020 and 2021. 

S: Moreover, the summer box office could benefit from the recovering consumption. In the just-finished 618 online shopping gala, China's e-commerce giant JD.com said the total sales volume as of June 18 increased 10.3% year-on-year to 379 billion yuan. Other rivals such as Alibaba and Pinduoduo also reported a growth in revenue this year. 

T: And the cinemas across China are ready to welcome more movie fans back. According to Maoyan Pro, about 10,000 movie theatres have opened their doors since June 10, over 80% of the total in China. 

S: The box office earnings are on the rebound too. The total number reached 90.5 million yuan on June 19, while over 2.5 million tickets were sold, equal to 97% over the same period last year.

By cities, Shenzhen and Guangzhou dominate the list of top ten earners in box office with 6 theatres, according to Maoyan Pro. Among the seven-best performers with revenue of over 100 million yuan as of June 22, four are in Shenzhen and two in Guangzhou. 

T: So how about the movies in this summer season? I heard so much about Universal's "Jurassic World: Dominion” over the past few days, and some of the domestic movies are coming up soon too.

S: Well, "Jurassic World: Dominion" has been staying at the top spot since its debut on June 10. The data of Maoyao Pro shows the third sequel of the blockbuster has swept over 650 million yuan at China's box office so far and taken up more than 55% of the local market. The dinosaur stampede has attracted around 18 million viewers into the cinema. The American dino film is likely to be the top three sellers for the 2022 summer break, as its cumulative ticket sales have outperformed the third-best movie in 2020 and 2021, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" with 168 million yuan and the animated Chinese folktale "White Snake 2" with 514 million yuan respectively.

The domestic market seems to be heating up, as data from Maoyan Pro show that the top ten movies have all made more than 120 million yuan as of June 22, including pre-sales. Among them, the films from mainland China accounted for half, with a love-themed “My Blue summer" in the second place, earning around 1.2 billion yuan since June 2. 

T: Another Chinese film featuring young romances "One Week Friends" is keeping up with revenue of about 623 million yuan since June 18. The current fourth-best work stars a recently popular young Chinese actress, Zhao Jinmai, who impressed the Chinese audiences in a TV show hit on time-travel crime called "Reset" earlier this year.

The younger generation are paying for their childhood memories as well. "Doraemon: Nonita's Little Star Wars" in the fifth place, the famous Japanese cartoon, has taken in about 574 million yuan since debuting on May 28.

S: However, the audience are seemingly waiting for a bigger buzz compared to the dinosaurs from Hollywood, as more than 55% of viewers give the current top movie a moderate 3-star out of 5 in China's rating app Douban, resulting in the total score of 6.3 out of 10 as of June 22.

The audience expectation has partly shown on the top ten list which included two films to be released. One of them is "Lighting up the stars", the first movie produced in mainland China on funeral ceremony which the industry in China barely talked about as death is still a tattoo for public issues. In the film, Chinese actor Zhu Yilong stars the leading role as a mortician. The movie, which is about to screen today, has collected the interest of more than 350,000 viewers and over the 8.5-million-yuan worth of tickets sold in advance, recorded by China’s online ticket booking platform Taopiaopiao under Alibaba’s Tmall. 

T: With the exciting haul of the June releases, two comedies targeting family announced to join in July, "Mozart from Space" and “Papa". Both star China's leading comedian Huang Bo who is known for comedies such as "Crazy Stone (2006)" with 23.5 million yuan and "Lost in Thailand (2012)" with over 1.2 billion yuan.

An animated Chinese folktale "New God: Yang Jian" reportedly to be released during the summer break is also under the spotlight, after the Chinese animated fantasy film Ne Zha unexpectedly topped with about 4.3 billion yuan in 2019, only behind the War Wolf 2 with 5.1 billion yuan in 2017, and thus drew the industry's attention to adapting Chinese epic characters. However, the new film remains a question mark since the leading role "Yang Jian" is less well-known than “Ne Zha”.

S: Besides the films we mentioned above, the audiences will have more choices in July when about 40 movies are scheduled, suggesting the industry has high expectations on the upcoming movie frenzy in the summer season. 

T: The coming July and August have carried the ambition of China's movie industry to recover completely as the accumulated 1.2 billion yuan in June is far behind the total of 7.4 billion yuan in 2021. However, the sign of recovery beginning with Jurassic World 3 has injected confidence into the industry nearly in pause for three months. With more films coming, chances for the summer box office to boom in 2022 remain.

S: Wow, I’m very exited about this summer movie season, with so many wonderful choices. I can’t wait to go to the cinema! And that's all for today. Enjoy the movies and see you next week.

你有多久没有走进电影院看一场电影了？

随着各地疫情逐渐平复，暑期档或将迎来强势反弹。截至6月22日，今年内地电影暑期档票房已破12亿。

暑期档一向是片方和院线冲“业绩”的好时段。横跨三个月的长度加上众多学生放假，暑期档从2015年冲破百亿元大关之后，除去受疫情影响的2020年和2021年，每年都能刷新记录。即便是在去年，也有67.04亿的成绩。而今年，在6月17日累计票房破8亿，也已恢复到去年的7成。

而随着各地复工复产，居民消费水平也有所回升，暑期档或将受益。在刚刚过去的618购物狂欢节，多家电商平台宣布销售额比去年有增长。比如，京东618营业额超3793亿，同比上涨10.3%。

各地院线也纷纷开门准备迎接阔别三月的影迷们。据猫眼专业版，从6月10日起，全国影院营业数连续多日接近10000，营业率超80%。而6月19日，全国影院大盘票房9047.5万元，出票总数255.1万张，已恢复至去年同期的97%。

从城市来看，深圳、广州领跑票房。根据猫眼专业版，截至6月21日，全国累计分账票房前十里，有六家影院来自深圳和广州；前7名中，除了排名第四的来自兰州，深圳贡献了4席，广州贡献了2席，且前7家影院累计分账票房均超过了100万元。

而这把12亿的火是由《侏罗纪世纪3》点燃的。根据猫眼专业版数据，自在6月10日上映以来，侏罗纪3牢牢霸占头名，累积票房已超6.5亿元，票房占比超55%，目前已有1800万人次看过这部好莱坞的大IP。若以2020年和2021年的数据为标准，《侏罗纪世纪3》目前的累积票房已超过2020年和2021年的“探花”，分别是1.68亿的《哈利波特与魔法石》和5.14亿的《白蛇2:青蛇劫起》，如果后续没有黑马杀出重围，将锁定2022年暑期档内地票房的前三名。

其他暑期档电影也表现不俗。根据猫眼专业版数据，截至6月22日，目前的累积票房（含预售）前十的影片均已超过1200万，而且国产电影占了一半席位。排在《侏罗纪世纪3》之后的便是《暗恋·橘生淮南》。自6月2日上映以来，这部国产青春爱情电影的票房已超过1.2亿元人民币。同在前十榜单上的校园爱情电影还有重新定档6月18日的《一周的朋友》。由当红新生代女演员赵今麦主演，这部电影累计6227万的票房排在目前暑期档前十电影的第四位。

暑期档当然也少不了“童年回忆”。作为日本知名动画《哆啦A梦》的系列电影，《哆啦A梦：大雄的宇宙小战争》自5月28日上映以来，已收获5743万元的票房，是目前累计票房第五高的电影。

不过即便稳居目前榜单的头名，《侏罗纪世纪3》也口碑平平。这部好莱坞大片续作豆瓣评分6.3，超过一半的观影者给了不上不下的3星，可见观众们还在期待更精彩的影片。

而目前暑假档票房前十中，还有两部是尚未上映的电影，可见影迷们的期待。《人生大事》便是其中之一。由朱一龙主演，《人生大事》将于6月24日上映，是国内首部殡葬题材电影。或是因为少见的讨论死亡的题材，根据淘票票上的数据，“想看” 《人生大事》的人数已超35万，点映及预售票房已超850万。

或是目前暑期档的火热给了片方信心，两部由黄渤主演的亲子向喜剧《外太空的莫扎特》和《学爸》也宣布定档7月。黄渤过去主演的喜剧片成绩不俗，2006年上映的《疯狂的石头》赢的2350万左右的票房，而2012年上映的《人在囧途之泰囧》则斩获12亿元。

国产动画电影或许也会加入“战局”。业内传闻《新神榜：哪吒》的续作《新神榜：杨戬》也将在7月上映。业界对这类中国神话题材电影的期待来源于《哪吒：魔童降世》。这部动画在2019年以43亿勇夺2019年暑期档票房冠军，仅次于2017年的《战狼2》（51亿元）。但是《新神榜：杨戬》能否成为今年暑期档的“黑马”还需打一个问号，毕竟杨戬在“民间”的名声并没有哪吒响亮。

除了上述提到的影片，目前有约40部电影定档7月，试图赶上这次“热闹”的暑期档。毕竟受疫情影响，影院已经沉寂了3个月之久，已经对观众们的回归期待不已。

如今6月已接近尾声，比起2021年暑期档内地总票房73.81亿，目前的11.55亿累计票房仅有去年的1/6，想要追上去年同期的成绩，7、8月的票房还需加把劲。不过相比五一档和端午档，如今暑期档的热闹无疑是一针强心剂。随着更多电影加入，今年的暑期档值得期待。

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI, Themis QI

Writer: Stephanie LI, Themis QI

Sound Editor: XIE Kaishan

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

Presented by SFC

编委:  于晓娜

策划、编辑：李艳霞 

播音：李莹亮、戚婉莹

撰稿：李莹亮、戚婉莹

音频制作：谢凯珊

设计：郑文静、廖苑妮

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