Data Interpretation： The Road to the Growth of Guoman Films without the Label of ＂Younger＂

Stills of "Great Protector"

Special feature of 1905 film network Speaking of this year’s hottest domestic comic film (hereinafter referred to as "Guo Man"), this "China’s first self-rated" animated film has quickly set off a hot discussion on the Internet since it was announced. In recent years, the existence of China animation seems to be getting stronger and stronger. From the rise in 2011, to the sudden change of movies in 2014, and then to the running water frenzy, China animation is no longer just an animation for children, but more "adult-oriented" animation works are presented in people’s field of vision.

However, for the mainstream audience who love visual blockbusters, is the rise of Guo Man just a flash in the pan? Let’s use the data to interpret it one by one, and gradually break away from the "low-young" label of China animation growth road.

It is difficult to copy the phenomenon that network propaganda replaces road show "running water"

Different from live-action movies, animated movies often pay more attention to the way of publicity relying on the Internet. Since 2011, the emergence of Qui-Baa series has broken the popular definition of China’s animation "being young" and swept the Internet with its excellent production level; "100,000 Cold Jokes" relied on the way of "Comics-Network Animation-Cinema", which was settled for many years and accurately positioned, and finally succeeded in grossing over 100 million yuan, which opened a new counter-attack road for Guoman and also opened the transition from "cartoon" to "animation".

Of course, the success of a film alone can’t completely reverse the market situation. In 2015, The Return of the Great Sage was not optimistic at the beginning, and the first-day release rate was only 7.8%. Since then, the good word-of-mouth about this film has swept the network overnight, and the high popularity has formed a "tap water" phenomenon, which has prompted the daily release rate of the film to rise to 24.17%. Finally, the box office was 957 million.

Under the influence of the success boom of The Return of the Great Sage, more and more national IP have mushroomed in the public eye. Even though works such as the one have better box office, their word-of-mouth is mixed, and the phenomenon of the Great Sage can never be reproduced.

The investment prospect is clear year by year, and high-quality animation needs the test of time and money.

According to the crowdfunding and production cost shown in public information, the box office prospect of China animation has yet to be tested by the market, but for investors, the animation field is no longer a gray area of "not optimistic" and "not making money". More and more enterprises are beginning to invest in "testing the water", and making quick money with low investment is no longer a single mode of China animation.

The situation that there is no way to attract investment and only rely on crowdfunding and self-supporting production costs is gradually decreasing, production costs are gradually rising, and box office results are becoming clearer. However, high costs are not the same as high returns.Under the current cycle of producing 1-3 films a year, how to keep the balance between film quality and popularity, so as to obtain the corresponding box office returns, requires investors and animators to jointly control, further understand the development trend of the country, make works worth the fare, and don’t be eager for quick success, so as to make the country embark on a virtuous circle of development.

Digging deep into China’s traditional culture through the project of Guoman.

According to the statistics of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, 80 animated films have been put on record in 2017, up by 40.35% compared with the same period of last year. Among them, more than 20% of animated films are based on China’s traditional culture such as Shan Hai Jing and Journey to the West, and the producers are many well-known companies such as Light Film and Lithography Times.

In June this year, Shanghai Animation Film Studio, who once created countless classic animations, released 13 new animation films, including the remake of these classic animations. Not only that, in July, Meiying Factory, together with Penguin Film and Fuxi Film, announced the remake of the classic animation "I am a singer", which instantly formed an upsurge of reminiscing about childhood on the Internet.

In addition, the success of 100,000 jokes, The Return of the Great Sage and other films has affected the promotion of many domestic diffuse reform projects. Many companies have released diffuse reform film projects one after another. The "Biyi New Film Plan" announced the top ten diffuse reform films, and Light established the "Striped House Film" animation group, announced 22 film lists, and invested in 13 animation companies. In addition, it was called "the most valuable IP of Guoman".

American and Japanese local works occupy the mainstream position, and Guoman has great development potential.

At present, the cinematography of Guoman is still in its infancy, and the success of only two or three films can’t represent the whole field of Guoman. Looking overseas, Japan, the neighboring country, has a developed animation industry for a long time, while maintaining a strong mass base. According to statistics, in 2016, 42 films released in Japan exceeded 1 billion yen at the box office, of which Manbian films (including animations and real people) accounted for 57.14%.

As can be seen from the 2016 annual box office list in the United States, the top ten films at the box office are all animated films or random movies without exception, and all except two films have been introduced to China, and both of them have exceeded 100 million.

Then, as the second largest box office market in the world, China Mainland has become a popular culture for mainstream movie audiences in the 1980s and 1990s. Through more precise innovation and investment, Guoman has great room for development in both content and technology.

To sum up, Guoman has now reached the climax stage of creation, with IP, technology and investment, but the most important thing is to tell a good story and choose a good theme. China has a lot of materials for 5,000 years. While learning from the successful experience of American and Japanese diffuse reform, don’t be eager for quick success and challenge the bottom line of film quality. I believe Guoman can create more excellent works in the near future.