Making proposals

Buoyed by the film's huge success, members of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference expressed great confidence in the prospect of Chinese films while making proposals during the two sessions on how to better develop the industry with the help of big data and artificial intelligence.

Wang Pingjiu, a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee and deputy editor-in-chief of State broadcaster China Central Television's movie channel, said that at first, he was worried about the Spring Festival box-office results because many people choose to spend the eight-day holiday traveling.

Also, there were no large-scale productions such as Creation of the Gods I or The Wandering Earth, but only comedies similar to YOLO, Wang said. Nevertheless, the box-office results were great. "Now we have very strong confidence in domestic films," he said.

Wang pointed out that many foreign films fail to impress at the box office today because they tend to tell cliched stories, but domestic productions can always deliver a pleasant surprise.

"They are getting closer to our life, so people become more interested," he said. "That's why I'm confident in China's film market. Sooner or later, the annual box-office revenue in China will surpass 100 billion yuan."

Wang also talked about a few problems the film industry in China has faced in recent years, such as an investment crunch and a lack of good scripts and acting talent.

"The challenge now is that if a film wants to succeed in China, everything needs to be right — its story, theme, value, investment, publicity, and actors and actresses. You cannot fool the audiences," he said.

Huangfu Yichuan, a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee and editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Contemporary Cinema, said he was able to predict the Spring Festival box-office success because the films released were different from each other despite all of them being comedies.

"The great success of Chinese films during this season has indeed given us great confidence in the film market in 2024," he said.

The confidence stems from the presence of a mature film market with more than 80,000 screens, a developing film industry with many well-trained young professionals who have mastered the most advanced technologies and keep upgrading their skills, the great support from China's fast-developing industry, and the flair of a group of creators who not only love making films but also care about audience sentiments, Huangfu said.

He highlighted that the demographics of film audiences have changed this year, and the number of moviegoers during the Spring Festival holiday was more compared with last year.

According to the China Film Administration, box-office earnings from third- and fourth-tier cities accounted for 54 percent of the total revenue, up from 50 percent in 2023.

Demographics have a big influence on China's film market. In recent years, the number of cinemas in counties and townships has increased, which effectively means the number of moviegoers in those places has also increased, Huangfu said.

The audiences in townships are different from those in first-tier cities. "You can tell what kind of films they like from the Spring Festival season. Since these audiences are people who return to their hometowns from first- or second-tier cities, it can be said that their preferences represent the collective preference of the Chinese people," he said.

The growing number of audiences in townships significantly influences the fate of new films thanks to discussions on social media, Huangfu said. "They love watching films and making amusing short videos. They often learn how to amuse their audiences with crosstalks and skits. And Jia is an outstanding actress of crosstalk and skit."