IP market needs to maintain a sense of crisis despite the frenzy

During the May Day holiday, the "serious movie" "The Intruder" directed by Wang Xiaoshuai and the art film "Nian Nian" directed by Sylvia Chang once again suffered a "Waterloo" in the history of movie box office. Both "sincere works" with distinct traces of art films ended the May Day holiday with box office revenue of more than 3 million.

In sharp contrast, the movie version of "Fall in Love with You" produced by LeTV Pictures and "Left Ear", the directorial debut of Su Youpeng, easily grossed over 100 million yuan in three days.

Of course, the classification of film types is the first instinct of audience market positioning, and in the context of the Internet era, we can't help but think of the most talked-about term today, "IP".

Since the beginning of this year, movies based on high-quality IPs have been released one after another, breaking box office records one after another, including Wolf Totem, Everything Grows, Fast & Furious 7, and the sure-win movies of this time, The Silent War and The Left Ear. This also forces people to admit that good actors and well-known directors are no longer the most basic guarantee for box office success, and a high-quality IP with topical significance has become the first killer weapon for high box office success.

A high-quality IP is more than just a good story

When it comes to understanding high-quality IP, most people may still be stuck on the storytelling nature of IP resources. How to tell the same story to achieve different commercial benefits is not only about maximizing the value of IP, but also the essential meaning of tapping IP resources.

Take the birth of the movie version of "Silent Separation" and "Left Ear" as examples. "Silent Separation" has accumulated a large number of fans and users due to the popularity of the TV series version, while "Left Ear" carries the youth story complex of many post-80s. The two high-quality IPs developed from online novels not only have a fixed fan base, but also can arouse the enthusiasm of many viewers to watch movies in a short period of time just in terms of stories and topics.

Of course, this cannot conceal the true quality of the film. At present, Douban scored "Silent Separation" with 3.5 points and "Left Ear" with 5.6 points. Many fans have expressed that the presentation of the film version has hurt their original love for the novel story.

It can be seen that many film and television companies are betting on IP resources because of their huge fan base, and the fan economy under the Internet can be directly converted into box office power. In the era of big movies where script prices are constantly rising, commercial investment in high-quality IP resources has to be said to be a good way for the film industry to make quick money.

The commercialization trend of movies has made IP a hot commodity

"Let the Bullets Fly" pushed Jiang Wen's film career to a climax, but the sequel to the same IP, "One Step Away", almost destroyed Jiang Wen's job. In fact, the use of high-quality IP requires both skills and brains, but currently in the film and television industry, investors' development of good IPs often remains at the commercialization trend of movies.

For example, Gu Changwei, who has been transforming into an art film director for many years, produced a genuine commercial film "Micro Love" for young audiences last year, while Chen Kaige, who has rarely produced any works, recently released his new commercial blockbuster "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain". The compromise of well-known directors who are good at directing art films in the face of film commercialization actually reflects the important position of IP resources in film commercialization.

Of course, as the film industry is becoming more commercialized, its internetization is also one of its manifestations. The internetization of the film industry is not only reflected in the internetization of scripts, marketing, and communication, but also in the internetization of film and television companies themselves. In particular, the penetration of Internet giants BAT into the film industry has become one of the important reasons for the shortage of IP resources.

But then again, no matter how you criticize the commercialization of a film, the box office revenue directly converted from fans is still the first measure of the quality of a film. As director Peter Chan said, "I think the box office is a very democratic vote, and the audience's money is the most real vote."

How to make high-quality IP exude recyclable commercial charm?

In the domestic IP resource market, there are still many problems in the development of high-quality IP resources, including insufficient original IP resources, short development cycle, and poor innovation capabilities.

Taking the popular variety shows of major traditional TV stations as an example, the popular shows "The Voice of China", "I Am a Singer", "Where Are We Going, Dad?" and "Running Man" which have been popular in just a few years are all purchased copyrights of foreign variety shows. Such IP sources have not only led to a sharp increase in the cost of TV programs, but will also directly affect the commercial development of TV program operations.

In addition, in the domestic market, a good IP resource often does not flourish for more than three years. For example, programs such as "The Voice of China" and "Where Are We Going, Dad?" will always decline with the emergence of newer programs. However, in foreign markets, the original Korean version of "Running Man" has remained one of the most popular TV variety shows in Korea since its premiere in 2010. As the copyright holder, SBS TV also sold this IP to other national TV stations at a high price.

To understand how valuable innovation is to an IP, let’s do some calculations. If we are the controller of the copyright of IP resources, we can not only save the cost of purchasing the copyright, but also continuously generate profits through copyright distribution. Compared with purchasing other people’s copyrights, the profit from IP alone is twice as much.

More importantly, we also need to understand that after purchasing the IP, what we may have bought is just an idea, not a direct money-making tool. If we want to transform high-quality IP into real money, investors need to invest more innovative awareness to maintain the recyclable development of this IP.

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.