＂Cinema Plus＂, how to perform this ＂good play＂？

At 6: 30 pm on January 13th, at Jindi Shangdu Store of China Film Oriental Studios in Xuzhou, the local talk show group "Shengxi Comedy" in Xuzhou started on time. Within 90 minutes, five talk show actors took turns to take the stage and made witty remarks. After watching the talk show, Yu Zhou, a student of Jiangsu Normal University, and her roommate bought a comedy movie, The Annual Meeting Can’t Stop! Tickets for ". Eighteen minutes before the movie started, they flipped through the books in the "Shadow Branch" in the cinema.

Go, go to the cinema, watch a talk show, listen to a concert, play a script, and even eat a hot pot … Since last year, with the revival of cinema popularity, the diversified "opening" ways of cinemas have attracted attention. Why do cinemas create consumption scenes other than watching movies? What does "Cinema Plus" bring to cinemas?

Beyond the film, add new "drama"

Many people have long been used to buying popcorn and drinks and eating snacks while watching movies. The reporter heard that you can eat hot pot while watching movies at Sanke Cinema in Renhengcang Street, Suzhou, so he planned to have a taste. When the "Taobao Film" App was opened at 4pm on January 13th, the reporter found that there were 14 groups of seats for two in the hot pot hall of this cinema, and tickets were purchased by groups, including a movie ticket of 68 yuan and a set meal of "Guixiang Sour Soup for Two" of 258 yuan. At noon the next day, there was only one group of double seats on the edge, and there were three groups of seats left in the afternoon. At 3 pm on the 14th, when the reporter walked into the hot pot hall 25 minutes before the opening ceremony, he found that the hot pot was ready on the table in front of the seat, and snacks, leeks, staple food and drinks had been served. There is a small lamp on the table and a service bell with buttons such as menu and water addition. Each group of seats is quite far apart, so you can eat hot pot and communicate in a low voice without worrying about affecting others.

Ma Honglei, supervisor of Sanke Yinghua Cinema Suzhou Renhengcang Street Store, said that Sanke Cinema has settled in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other places. The store in Suzhou opened in early December last year, with a hot pot hall and two dining halls. You can watch movies without ordering, but the guests basically order, so you should buy good tickets early. Eating while watching movies is a new form, which has high expectations of the audience and also tests the service level of cinemas. The waiter will try his best to deliver all the meals before the movie starts, and will enter the venue as soon as the bell rings.

There are still a few cinemas that change their "posture" of watching movies, and more cinemas are innovating in service items. Since the live broadcast of basketball games, the "Cinema Plus" exploration of Wuxi World Studios has gradually increased to talk shows, concerts, screenplays, exhibitions and other activities. Wuxi Jinyi Studios Huiju Store staged five talk shows, two concerts and six children’s dramas last year. Allergy Hua, head of the marketing department of the studio, told reporters that last year, Jinyi Huiju Store signed a contract with Shanghai Zhitong Culture Communication Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Zhitong made a children’s drama performance plan. After the two sides finalized the performance time, they applied for approval. In order to present a better performance effect, Shanghai Children’s Home has also invested in the renovation of a screening hall, which will be used as a special performance hall for children’s dramas, and movies can still be shown in free time.

Not only has the role of the projection hall changed, but the cinema has also added other functional spaces. In the lobby of IMAX Super Studios in suzhou bay Studios, the reporter saw rows of tall bookshelves. Lu Changjun, executive director of Suzhou Impression Film Co., Ltd., the construction party of the studio, introduced that the lobby is about 500 square meters, the book bar accounts for more than 300 square meters, and there are more than 3,000 books. Books are not for sale. If customers want to take them away, just let the staff know. There is no need to register or return them.

Yancheng Cinema, which was founded in 1956, was upgraded to a public cultural space integrating multifunctional theater, exhibition space, humanities bookstore, trendy cultural creation and coffee and tea sales in August 2022, and its name was changed to "Yancheng Cinema 1956 Star Theater". Last year, drama, talk show, children’s drama, immersive drama and other forms of performances were presented here.

In August last year, Jindi Shangdu Store of China Film Oriental Studios in Xuzhou cooperated with the district library to set up the "Shadow Branch Library", which was loaned and returned to the municipal and district libraries and became one of the first four "scholarly cinemas" in the city.

Attracting passenger flow and coping with homogeneous competition

Why do cinemas take the "Cinema Plus" route one after another?

A number of cinema managers told reporters that cinemas are highly dependent on schedules and films, and it is often hard to get a ticket when there are popular schedules and movies, and vice versa. According to the data released by the Office of the National Film Industry Development Special Fund Management Committee on WeChat WeChat official account, in December last year, Jiangsu’s film box office was 360 million yuan, with 744,000 screenings and 8.983 million people watching movies. Calculated, an average of 12 people watched a movie, and one ticket averaged 40 yuan.

Allergic Hua said that relying on the box office is not a long-term strategy for the development of cinemas. Only by giving cinemas a variety of functions based on film screening can we attract more audiences to enter cinemas, make up for the impact brought by the schedule and effectively improve the ability of cinemas to resist market risks. Because the "Huiju" commercial body is mainly parent-child customers, in addition to performing children’s dramas, her cinema plans to plan more parent-child activities.

Song Jun, president of Xuzhou Film Association, told reporters that the "scholarly cinema" was built because the crowds watching movies and reading books are highly coincident, and citizens can use their spare time to read books while waiting for the movie, which not only makes it convenient for readers to borrow and return books and make up for the lack of closing the library at night, but also increases the popularity and vitality of the cinema and realizes the resource sharing and win-win cooperation between the cinema and the library. Since last year, the Propaganda Department of Xuzhou Municipal Committee and the Municipal Press and Publication Bureau have launched a voluntary pairing between cinemas and bookstores, and guided more people watching movies into bookstores and reading people into cinemas through mutual recognition of members, book coupons for watching movies, and book purchases. Many cinemas in Xuzhou have also upgraded the original "300-seat" cinema to create an environment suitable for small theater performances. Only by actively adapting to the times, adapting to the market, amplifying comprehensive cultural functions and meeting people’s diverse cultural consumption needs can cinemas attract more customers and convert non-cinema attendance into cinema attendance.

"Cinema Plus" is also the result of competition. The reporter learned from the Provincial Film Bureau that 80 cinemas and 450 screens were added in Jiangsu last year, including 23 cinemas and 79 screens in towns and villages. By the end of last year, there were 1,232 cinemas, 7,738 screens and 1.025 million seats in the province. Li Jun, the marketing director of Wuxi Great World Studios, said frankly that on the one hand, the cinema’s single role of staying in the film screening place cannot meet the needs of consumers; On the other hand, the industry urgently needs self-innovation, solves the serious problem of homogenization competition, and promotes the quality and efficiency of operation through the implementation of new business models.

Lu Changjun said: "Online and offline surveys have found that at present, audiences are increasingly willing to pay for quality, paying more attention to quality rather than ticket prices, but now there are too many homogeneous cinemas and there is a lack of high-quality cinemas. Therefore, we enhance consumers’ experience through design creativity and hardware facilities, and create a third living place independent of home and office, so that consumers can feel a different film culture space, thus enhancing their competitiveness. "

Zhou Kai, PhD supervisor and professor of Nanjing University and president of Nanjing Film Association, analyzed that the "Cinema Plus" model has some helpless factors, but it reflects the positive adjustment of cinemas in the current market situation and is an innovative coping strategy.

There is a way to innovate, and the main business still needs to be adhered to.

Did "Cinema Plus" realize the expectation of increasing passenger flow? Zhang Jun, manager of nanjing xinjiekou Wanda Studios, told reporters that talk show was introduced in June 2022. Last year, he obviously felt that the audience’s enthusiasm was rising, and there were old fans, new faces and many foreign tourists. The frequency of talk shows changed from once a week to once a day, with an average attendance rate of about 70%. In Xuzhou China Film Oriental Studios Jindi Shangdu Store, since the talk show started in November last year, there have been performances on Friday and Saturday, and almost all the venues are full. Yancheng Cinema 1956 Star Theater introduced many famous dramas that are hard to get a ticket from other places, invited famous domestic groups such as Mahua FunAge and gulou west, and also welcomed many foreign audiences, with an average attendance rate of over 85%.

What is the economic benefit of "Cinema Plus"? Zhai Jingshuang, manager of Jindi Shangdu Store of China Film Oriental Studios, revealed that in 2022, the box office revenue was about 2.5 million yuan, and the number of people watching movies reached 70,000. In 2023, the box office revenue exceeded 7 million yuan and the number of people watching movies increased to 170,000. Song Jun analyzed that in 2023, the average box office of Xuzhou cinema increased by about 30% compared with that in 2022, and the cinema increased by three times. Apart from the factors of film market recovery, the exploration of diversified formats also contributed.

In Wuxi Jinyi Studios Huiju Store, the average audience of children’s drama performance is about 120, and the attendance rate is over 80%. The income of children’s drama is basically the same as that of showing movies. In addition to a signing partner, there are three or four children’s drama production units consulting cooperation matters.

In 2023, the total revenue of IMAX Super Studios in suzhou bay Studios is about 15 million yuan, of which more than 10 million yuan is box office revenue. Lu Changjun said: "Some cinemas may not have many audiences on weekdays, but there are many people here on weekdays and holidays. This kind of achievement is a’ head’ in the theater. "

In the Litchi Store of Happiness Blue Ocean International Studios, "non-ticket" revenue accounted for nearly 40%. Dong Lu, general manager of the store, said that from exhibitions to concerts to birthday parties and adult ceremonies, they have been exploring diversified operations and providing "through-train" services such as venue, catering, setting planning and hosting photography. The "personal tailor" project has become the norm.

How does "Cinema+"avoid homogenization? Song Jun believes that different cinemas choose to increase different formats according to regional location and surrounding resources. For example, cinemas in the city center can increase entertainment activities such as concerts, talk shows and folk music concerts, and cinemas in administrative districts can increase conference services, while those in communities are suitable for holding more parent-child activities.

Dong Lu will realize that the attempt of "cinema+"should also be innovative. Last March, they introduced a shadow play performance, which attracted many audiences. The interactive science drama Fantasy Physics Show, which was launched last summer vacation, stimulated children’s imagination and guided scientific thinking, and was also very popular. Dong Lu said that although creativity is easy to be copied, it is still the king of "cinema+"to actively go ahead and ensure the diversity of performance quality and types.

In Zhou Kai’s view, under the division of labor system in modern society, the cross-industry ability of cinemas is relatively limited, and there is also a lack of corresponding brand effect. For example, catering projects in cinemas may be difficult to compete with catering giants. If the cinema is simply regarded as a multi-functional cultural complex, it is not a sustainable business strategy to introduce the consumption items unrelated to the film and stack the items continuously. Zhou Kai believes that the core competitiveness of cinemas mainly lies in its strong film culture atmosphere. Therefore, the "cinema+"model should be closely centered on movies, and make full use of film culture to empower the development of cross-industry projects. For example, consider the project of "script killing" based on the creation of released films, or selling products such as food and clothing appearing in films, so as to turn the cinema into a miniature movie theme park, create a consumption experience closer to the film culture, and thus enhance the core competitiveness of the cinema.

The relevant person in charge in Jiangsu said that many cinemas in Jiangsu tried to introduce innovative operation modes, increase consumption scenes and formats, and while providing consumers with richer experience content, they also improved the utilization rate of cinemas in non-prime time and broadened the "non-ticket" income channels. Cinema operators also need to pay attention to the fact that "Cinema Plus" is a blend of culture and culture, and cinemas should always focus on film screening. New formats cannot destroy consumers’ viewing experience, and other formats must also be legal and compliant.