Today’s Film Review ｜ Will Hollywood IP series movies in 2024 still make money？

Special feature of 1905 film network In March this year, many Hollywood films landed strongly in domestic cinemas, but unlike the expectations of the industry before the release, many high-profile blockbusters did not perform well at the box office.

The box office of superheroes is less than 6 million yuan, and there are even many actors "backstab" attacking movies; Although the classic adaptation is out of the circle, the box office is less than 400 million yuan; Even the most promising ones have been squandered by the audience, and the box office has stopped at 300 million yuan. However, in the Qingming period, it is a sudden emergence, and the cumulative box office is almost 700 million yuan. Why does it stand out among many foreign films, and does it mean that Hollywood IP series still has room for development?

Ma Ruochi, a teacher from the Central Academy of Drama, was invited to explain the recent situation of Hollywood IP movies for us.

The Successful Strategy of "Godzilla and King Kong"

Among the imported films that have been released this year, only "Godzilla vs king kong 2: The Rise of the Empire" deus ex, especially in the Qingming period, won 300 million yuan at the box office in three days. The film was jointly produced by Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros., and its good box office results were also reflected in the capital market. The market value of the US stocks of the production company also rose by about 1.5 percentage points from the first day to the third day.

Judging from the audience’s acceptance, although the professional score of "Godzilla vs. king kong 2: Rise of the Empire" on foreign rotten tomato websites is only 55%, the fans’ preference is as high as 92%, and the domestic douban score is 7.3, which is higher than the previous work, and it also means that consumers’ recognition of the film and their willingness to spend are relatively high.

From the perspective of film products, the two behemoths in Godzilla vs. king kong 2: The Rise of the Empire, which were kings in the original IP, have now appeared together, realizing the benefits of IP plus one greater than two, and laying a strong foundation for the possibility of extending the series in the future.

From Godzilla vs. king kong 2: The Rise of the Empire, we can see that the new elements in the film, the freshness and integrity of the story, have attracted the preference of a large number of "monster lovers" audience.

China is an important ticket warehouse for major films, but the box office revenue of "Super English Films" in recent two years is not particularly ideal. Super films that are only satisfied with visual effects can no longer be unique in the contemporary market structure of diversified consumption, so more attention should be paid to satisfying consumers’ consumption preferences in different market segments to get more love and attention.

Did Hollywood IP fail?

Although the successful experience of Godzilla vs king kong 2: The Rise of the Empire is worth learning, it is an indisputable fact that the overall trend of Hollywood IP movies is declining compared with the box office achievements of Hollywood blockbusters in the past. Even The New York Times reported the phenomenon of "why China lost interest in Hollywood movies", so are Hollywood IP movies really invalid?

In this regard, Ma Ruochi said that "the failure of IP is only at a certain stage", and it may not perform well in terms of the income of cinema lines alone, but the income brought by the film still has various angles, including the copyright income brought by its network broadcast and TV broadcast, the corresponding advertising income and the extended derivative income.

For example, the production cost in Kung fu panda 4 is $85 million, and the box office income in the market is nearly $400 million. Although the results in the box office stage are not bright, the other income brought by Kung Fu Panda IP far exceeds the box office income, and the advertising fee, endorsement fee and copyright fee are considerable. The market consumption value brought by the mainland market has exceeded the threshold of one billion yuan.

Therefore, the IP failure in Hollywood cannot be simply generalized. The producers and producers behind the film products are listed companies, and the box office revenue we see is only the part that can be intuitively felt, and the invisible revenue comes from the financial market.

For example, in China’s A-share market, February to March this year was a small spring in the media sector, and the reason behind it was that the excellent performance of Spring Festival movies was reflected in the financial market, which brought very good market value to these listed companies.

Looking for vitality in a crisis

On the whole, Hollywood IP movies are still shrouded in a crisis, but there are often hidden vitality under the crisis.

Ma Ruochi put forward that "I hope that the film creators can change from audience thinking to user thinking, which is not only a new requirement for Hollywood, but also a meaningful reference for domestic producers." Satisfying the current consumption preference can also lay a stronger foundation for the subsequent market development.

Such series of works not only rely on well-known directors to improve product standards, but also seek consumers’ diversified and stylized preferences.

This year, Disney, Universal Pictures and other studios announced a series of highly anticipated big IP sequels waiting to be released, such as The Lion King Prequel: Mufasa, Daddy Sneaker 4 and other films. These IP updates will also bring some new hopes to the Hollywood market.

With the new technology, Hollywood’s film market is also facing its turning point, and it also puts forward new heights and high requirements for the future follow-up development of the film industry, so as to determine a direction for its own market.