Special feature of 1905 film network With the release of, the slogan of "recognizing frames and watching movies" three years ago was shouted again.
According to the number of frames, there are three categories of this film in China: 24 frames, 60 frames and 120 frames. The 120-frame version is divided into two versions: Dolby Cinema which can play 2K definition and CINITY Cinema which can play 4K definition.
Both the cinema and the audience are expecting the performance of this film. But the day after its release, Ang Lee’s new film dropped from the single-day box office champion to the third place. The proportion of film arrangement on Monday also fell below 20%.
Someone has calculated an account for this action film with an investment of $140 million: judging from the current global box office revenue, Gemini Man may eventually lose $75 million. Among them, the estimated 200 million RMB box office in China has been regarded as the support of domestic audiences and cinemas for "An Shu" to make movies with heart.
On the second day of its release, Gemini Man fell from the single-day box office champion to the third place.
At present, there are 30 CINITY cinemas in China that can show 120 frames, 4K and 3D versions of Gemini Man. Three years ago, there were only one cinema in Shanghai and one in Beijing that could show the highest standard version, and the screening equipment was dismantled after the film went offline and was not used for long-term cinemas.
Before "Gemini Man" this year, CINITY version has been produced, and it enjoys a separate ranking number, which ranks alongside IMAX and China Giant Screen.
More and more subdivided screening types and different cinema formats have made the screening market blossom, and the construction of cinemas is quite hot. Among many new cinemas, IMAX Hall and Dolby Cinema have become standard. So is it possible for Gemini Man to be regarded as a tipping point, so that the emergence of new cinemas will become a breakthrough in the next round of cinema upgrading and screen number growth?
"Twenty years ago, when I first entered the business, we only had 1,800 effective screens. The annual box office of China movies is less than 900 million, and most cinemas are closed. " Yu Dong, president of Bona Film, who started from distribution, said that the development of China films in the past 20 years could not be separated from the hard work of the whole industry of production, distribution and projection.
He believes that in today’s era, there must be a new format to invite the audience back to the cinema from the hands of short videos: "At this time, we are facing the impact of the small screen era and the challenges brought by massive videos. If the cinema does not strengthen its theater effect, we will be overwhelmed by these massive short video small screens."
In fact, the last round of "self-help action" in cinemas happened to be 10 years ago. The release of "IMAX3D" has made 3D movies extremely popular, and people have entered theaters one after another. It is even harder to get a ticket for this visual blockbuster version of IMAX 3D. A cinema investor recalled that in 2007, there were only 82 3D screens in China, and in August 2009, the number increased to 330, which was surprising: "At the end of 2009, there were more than 600 3D screens in China, while there were only more than 1,000 3D screens in Asia at that time, and China accounted for more than half."
It is understood that the ordinary screen plays 3D movies because the brightness is not enough, so it is necessary to increase the power of the projection lamp, but it is easy to cause the xenon lamp to be damaged due to too high load. Therefore, when showing 3D movies, cinemas often choose metal screens with brightness coefficient above 2.0. Many screens in those days were not metal screens, so it is urgent to upgrade if you want to show 3D movies.
With the popularity of Avatar, many studios have been upgraded. Some insiders recalled the impact of Avatar screening on the domestic screening industry: the screening equipment in first-tier cities has already led the market. The popularity of Avatar, the box office profit created by the 3D version, and the first domestic 3D martial arts film of Avatar, these three reasons made the second and third tier cities with slightly backward hardware conditions complete the hardware upgrade of cinemas.
After that, China also entered a period of rapid growth in the number of screens. By 2018, the number of screens in China has reached 60,000, of which more than 50,000 can show 3D movies. It can be said that the chain reaction triggered by a film has accelerated the upgrading and development of the whole industry several times.
"Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk" promotes cinema upgrade.
Since the screening of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, we seem to have seen a new round of cinema upgrade. In 2016, when this 120-frame, 4K and 3D film was shown in the Mainland, although the highest version only had two screens to show, there were about 20,000 screens that could show the 60-frame version. According to a user on the Q&A platform, the current projection equipment can show 60-frame versions, but many cinemas can only show 24-frame versions because of the old servers instead of projection equipment.
Companies in the field of film projectors and other equipment production also introduced on the Q&A platform: the main requirement for high-format projection is the processing power of the server. At present, mainstream media servers in the digital film industry can support 4K resolution and high frame rate of 120fps, but these two indicators cannot be met at the same time.
Recalling the release and screening of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk in China, Yu Dong said: "We made a box office of 170 million. Many cinemas have been upgraded, and all the cinemas that can show up to 60 frames have been fully upgraded in that round. " However, he believes that it is difficult to establish a huge screening system with the help of one company.
This time, the lead is the Chinese film with 120 frames, 4K and 3D platforms, and behind it is the strength of 19 enterprises and institutions. In addition to several major film groups and studios, Huaxia Film’s shareholders also include several major domestic cinema companies such as New Film Association, Lianhe Cinema and Pacific Cinema. Therefore, when Gemini Man was released, it was supported by three cinemas, namely Jinyi, Bona and Wanda. There were 30 screens in China, which could show the highest standard.
Ang Lee and Fu Ruoqing (first from right) appeared in the post-screening activities of Gemini Man.
Fu Ruoqing, chairman of Huaxia Film, said that due to equipment supply problems, 100 screens could not be rolled out as scheduled before the release of Gemini Man, but the cinema has placed an order for 100 CINITY cinemas. He said: "When Gemini Man was released on the 18th this year, CINITY had about 30 screens in 18 cities that could be released on the 18th as scheduled. By the end of October, there will be nearly 50 screens and 100 screens by the end of the year."
So from the current point of view, in the three years from Billy Lynn to Gemini Man, the studios in China have been upgraded on the digital server. But at present, a CINITY cinema system has reached 5.5 million. For cinemas, the funds are huge. Fu Ruoqing believes that digital projection is a normal digital product in about five to six years. He has a favorable attitude towards the film investment company, the cinema and the film management company to continue to upgrade their projection equipment.
However, the fares of Gemini Man CINITY Cinema, Beijing and Shanghai have reached about 200 yuan; The fare in Hangzhou is higher than that in 100 yuan; Fuzhou even has a special ticket from 50 yuan. For first-tier cities, high-format movies still have high ticket prices.
In this regard, Fu Ruoqing also said that CINITY’s early development costs a lot, and hopes that it will drive down the overall cost in the future: "We also hope that the cost of shooting it by more people will drop, and the overall shooting quality will rise. Therefore, it is also a key thing to improve the overall quality of China’s film industry. I think it should be a very good thing. " It is understood that director Chen Kexin is shooting at a high frame rate.
"China Women’s Volleyball Team" was shot in high frame rate format.
From this point of view, compared with the upsurge of cinema upgrading and construction driven by Avatar, the high screening cost of 120 frames, 4K and 3D cannot be the motivation for the new round of renovation and upgrading of cinemas. But it has a far-reaching impact on the upgrading of screening quality. At the moment when the home entertainment system is constantly upgrading, cinemas really need to develop more top-level audio-visual experiences in order to attract the audience to the cinema.