Are all the film and television giants working for BAT? It’s too early to tell now

Founded in 1993, the Shanghai International Film Festival plays an important role in the Chinese film industry. Unlike previous years, this year's Shanghai International Film Festival held the "Internet Film Series of Events" for the first time, including Internet Film Screening, Internet Film Industry Investment Cross-border Summit, Internet Film Shanghai Summit and Internet Film Night.

At last year's Shanghai Film Festival, Yu Dong, Chairman and CEO of Bona Film Group, publicly stated that Internet companies will become the rulers of the Chinese film industry, and traditional film companies will play the role of working for "BAT". In the past year, Internet companies have indeed played an increasingly important role in the film industry, with new models such as fan movies, bullet screen movies, and self-made dramas turning into big movies constantly emerging, and in the entire chain of movies, Internet companies have also made a considerable contribution.

But at this year's Shanghai Film Festival, Yu Dong believed that the involvement of the Internet has encouraged speculative behavior among film investors. They are more willing to spend money to make profit-seeking movies with short production cycles and fan effects, rather than seriously making a movie that can compete with Hollywood. As a result, the level of China's film industry has stagnate and declined.

In Yu Dong's view, traditional film companies do not need to take sides. As long as they make the content excellent, they will become important players in the BAT ecosystem.

Internet + movies have already started

Internet companies often played the role of sponsors in the film industry at first, with Chinese Internet companies being featured in many domestic blockbusters. Later, online broadcasting also became an important part of Internet companies' participation in the development of Chinese films.

In recent years, with the explosive growth of Internet companies, the three giants represented by BAT and many small giants have begun to enter traditional industries more deeply. A group of Internet companies represented by Alibaba and Youku have begun to set up their own film companies and try to play a more important role. Internet film companies participated in several domestic productions released last year, and Internet movies such as "The Legend of Qin" and "One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes" also achieved good box office results. Earlier this year, Alibaba invested in traditional film companies such as Huayi and Guangguang and became a major shareholder.

But Yu Dong has always been wary of the so-called "marriage" between the Internet and the film industry. In his view, the Chinese film industry itself is too fragile, and the impact of strong capital and strong foreign films may cause the industry to shift rapidly. The intervention of Internet companies with strong capital has actually encouraged the speculative behavior of film investors. Yu Dong said: "They prefer to shoot some short videos, or profit-seeking film and television works with fan effects. No one is willing to organize strong film content and film lineups to make a real blockbuster to compete with Hollywood movies. One result is a decline in the level of the entire Chinese film industry, or stagnation. This is a very big concern of mine."

Compared to Yu Dong's worries, Wang Changtian, the CEO of Enlight Pictures, who has accepted the alliance with Alibaba Capital , is more willing to warmly embrace the "Internet + Film" industry layout. Wang Changtian said: "Enlight Pictures' acceptance of Alibaba's 2.4 billion investment has made me more convinced that the core of the entire industry is still the film itself, or the film product. As content producers, our traditional film companies have a very good position in the entire industry chain, because content is the core of the film industry."

Film production pipeline

With the development of mobile Internet, Internet companies are making strong advances in every link of the film industry chain, from copyright and investment to production and distribution, marketing and promotion, and then to the sales of movie tickets and derivative products.

Xu Zheng, director of Lost in Thailand, the box office record holder for Chinese domestic films, said: "Big data comes into play from the planning of the subject matter. Before the script is even written, we know the scale of the film, how much investment it will have, and what kind of film it will be. With the script, we can also set up a special evaluation system to summarize the laughs and tears in it, whether there are any touching parts, and whether it is interesting. Whether the protagonist is likable or not, and who to cast in the role, can all generate data." In fact, the Yulebao fan crowdfunding platform launched by Alibaba is based on this big data-driven content production process.

Film critic Zhou Liming jokingly called this model: "In the past, decision makers would think about problems based on their own brains, but now they are all handed over to big data."

Under this model, film production has gradually become assembly-lined. After obtaining the copyrights of novels, games, etc., big data is used to collect ideas, select actors, and decide on directors. Finally, it is promoted, advertised, and sold through the Internet.

Bona didn't take sides

On June 12, Beijing time, Bona Film Group, which is listed on NASDAQ, announced that it had received a privatization offer to acquire Bona at a price of US$13.7 per share, which is a premium of about 6.5% to the closing price of US$12.86 on the 11th. Bona Film Group was listed on NASDAQ in New York in December 2010, but the bankruptcy of MGM has caused the capital market to lose interest in the film industry, and Bona has not received a good valuation in the capital market.

In Yu Dong's view, the pattern of the Chinese film industry in the next year has been determined after the entry of Internet giants, but Bona has not yet taken a side: "Crowdfunding financing has begun, fan economy traffic has been introduced, and online sales have completed a complete closed loop. Only content creation can't be done by the Internet." Yu Dong said that IP is not a script, but only the original material of creativity. To transform it into a script, creative talents are needed. This link is the only living space left for the film industry. In his view, films with big productions, big directors, and big teams will have a bright future. Yu Dong believes that the copyrights in his hands will be very valuable, and he will wait for the price to sell.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.