Critical Role for Marketing in Movie Success, Forum Told

Film industry experts yesterday discussed the strategies and successes of movie marketing at the "Industry New Wave1: How to Achieve High Box Office" film festival forum.

The movie Just Call Me Nobody was held up as an example, with an investment of around 30 million RMB and box office returns exceeding 100 million RMB.

Movie market analyst Liu Jia said there were several reasons why the movie succeeded last December among a crowd of blockbusters released at almost the same time.

"Their market positioning was accurate," Liu said. "The campaign was unconstrained and the strategies were low profile."

Because digitalization had reduced the cost of making films, the money saved could be put instead to marketing, Liu Jia recommended, adding that digitalization was also giving better chances to low-budget movies.

Yu Dong, founder, Chairman and CEO of Bona Film, said film producers should plan their marketing strategies well ahead of scheduled release dates.

"Major film companies should have early plans for next year\'s films," Yu said. "The earlier the distribution strategies start, the more opportunities a film gets, and the better are its chances of success."

Let the Bullets Fly was a big hit last year with box office takings of over 600 million RMB. Producer Ma Ke said that while the story was most important, the distribution and marketing campaigns stated early.

"Our strategy was step-by-step, running things in a reliable and focused way," Ma said. "The marketing and publicity departments paid attention to every detail."

And, the timing is very important, said Wu Hehu, Vice Manager of Shanghai United Circuit. The film itself is the No. 1 important factor, he said, but the release date is the second most important.

In terms of taking Chinese films to the international market, Film Business Asia CEO Patrick Frater said the movie industry was justified in having high expectations for the international appeal of their domestic movies, but he added a warning.

"The world is buying fewer films for international release, yet at the same time more films are being made," Frater said. "So the chance of getting large international sales and large box office in foreign markets is actually getting smaller."