China Star UME closed its store and many theaters shuffled its cards: Why didn’t the former “box office champion” change his life against the sky?

author| Entertainment Unicorn Mia

“Huaxing UME is closing its store.& rdquo;

Amid all kinds of consternation and reluctance, this news quietly spread in various fan WeChat groups and triggered a wave of farewell. February 28 is its last day of business. After that, it will be taken over by Perfect World. The new project will be named Perfect World Studios Supersensory Experience Hall.

On the same day, the theater specially built a UME fan memory wall and posted a closure notice. Fans came one after another and spontaneously took photos with them. Most of them don’t look young, and this theater has been in existence for 22 years.

The IMAX “Nezha 2” at zero point and the final farewell “In the Mood for Love” at 2:28 a.m. have all sold out. Fans Xiaomi and his family came to China Star UME to make a final farewell to this theater that carries countless memories.

They chose “In the Mood for Love” for daytime performance, and at the end, the words “This era is over” were displayed on the big screen, which echoed the mood at the moment. According to the blogger, he saw some spectators carrying bubble guns at the end of the game. IMAX prepared heart-warming free popcorn, drinks and postcards for the audience at the two farewell ceremonies.

It is reported that the reason for its closure was the expiration of the lease and had little to do with its operating conditions. UME Shuangjing Store and Anzhen Store will continue to be open. However, as a landmark theater in Beijing, its closure has still triggered countless sad memories of goodbye to youth, and has also caused more people to pay attention to the living conditions of theaters behind the explosion of “Nezha 2”.

Say goodbye to China Star UME: Beijing’s first IMAX screen has set box office records for single theaters many times

The slightly old decoration facilities, not spacious space, and not many popular check-in and photo spots. Many details reveal the contemporary sense of China Star UME, but its position as the first place in the single box office is unshakable. For a long time, it has set multiple box office records and is the first choice for Beijing fans to watch blockbusters.

UME International Studios is a cinema brand invested and founded by Hong Kong director Wu Siyuan. UME is the abbreviation of Ultimate Movie Experience in English, which means the ultimate movie experience. In 2017, Chinese Culture acquired UME International Studios to supplement the upstream and downstream entertainment landscape.

22 years since its establishment, UME has witnessed the golden age of imported Hollywood blockbusters and the stormy period of the domestic film market, and took off with it. In July 2002, UME China Star Store was the first to open, and “Star Wars Prequel 2″ became its first movie to be screened. As the first studio in Beijing to install a digital computer,”Hero” set a national record for the box office.

In 2003, UME Studios Huaxing Store was the first batch of five-star certified theaters. In 2004, UME Studios Huaxing Store became the first theater in the country to exceed 30 million yuan at the box office. Since then, this figure has been continuously broken, from 40 million, 50 million to the record of 97 million again in 2010.

In June 2006, Beijing’s first IMAX screen was settled in UME Studios Huaxing Store. The five-story screen brought visual impact to Beijing audiences. Many viewers watched their first IMAX movie here.

“Avatar” is undoubtedly a highlight in the history of Chinese star UME. Many fans still remember the crowd when “Avatar” was released in early 2010. In the era where there were no online ticketing platforms, queues for tickets lined up from the lobby to the intersection from 7 a.m. to 12 a.m. At that time,”Avatar” was screened on China Star for five months, with a single box office exceeding 30 million, ranking first in the country and fifth in the world.

Xiao F, a fan born in the 1990s, recalled that Huaxing Dishang was also the place where she first ate Haagen Dazs. She saw it from childhood, watched many premieres, and collected many ticket stubs, carrying various extracurricular entertainment, friends ‘gatherings, memories of dating.

As the times change, China Star UME is no longer the only priority option. When watching blockbusters such as “Dune 2” and “Oppenheimer”, Beijing fans have more choices such as IMAX and Emperor IMAX. The IMAX GT Dual Laser Theater upgraded in 2019 has the advantages of the highest specifications, only 6 screens in the country, and supporting a 1.43:1 frame ratio. It has repeatedly made it difficult to get a ticket during the Beijing Film Festival and blockbuster releases. Or it is priced out by scalpers. In June last year, Wanda announced upgrades to the IMAX laser system in 61 studios, including the IMAX Theater in Beijing Wanda CBD.

However, China Star’s appeal as the oldest theater still exists. According to Top data, from 2019 to 2022, China Star UME will still win the IMAX National Single-Room Box Office Championship and the Giant Screen Cinema of China. However, special effects halls and heavy industry blockbusters coexist. The decline of Hollywood blockbusters and the lack of visual effects blockbusters in the domestic film industry as a whole will inevitably have an impact on special effects halls of many theaters, including China Star UME.

This is an era used to saying goodbye. Raymond Chandler wrote in “The Long Farewell”: Every time I say goodbye, I die a little.” rdquo; Since the beginning of this year, I have particularly felt like saying goodbye to acceleration. Big S passed away suddenly, and Fang Datong passed away due to illness. For the post-90s generation, all these symbols that represent youthful memories are fading away, and the familiar and certain order is collapsing, like the collapse of sandcastles and the melting of snowbanks, reminding middle-aged people of the proposition they have to face: things are different.” ldquo; The closure of Huaxing UME stores is part of these countless farewell rounds.

“Nezha 2” failed to change its life? Theater closures in the post-epidemic + film shortage era

Although it was not due to box office factors, the closure of China Star UME still triggered widespread attention and discussion.

According to incomplete statistics from Entertainment Capital, at least 15 theaters have recently publicly issued shop closure notices. On the last day of China Star’s business, Beijing Fengtai Huanying Studios, which is owned by Wanda and often holds anime film premieres and events, also chose to close down. Among them, many cinemas closed due to the expiration of their lease contracts. CGV’s store in Zhongshan, Changsha, and Lumiere’s store in Shanghai were closed due to adjustments in business plans, which involved the adjustment of the overall layout strategy of the brand.

From the outside world’s perspective, the tens of billions of yuan movie “Nezha 2” caused theaters to exceed the new year’s KPI. News such as a certain theater queuing 88 games a day and a certain theater selling station tickets have sparked heated discussions. Why are some theaters still not completely changing their orders, but instead closing stores?

An industry consensus is that “Nezha 2” is a very accidental anomaly and its path cannot be replicated. In addition to the film’s own quality, the film is to a certain extent more transformed into a carrier of patriotic sentiments, becoming a symbol similar to Wolf Warrior, but with far more radiation influence than Wolf Warrior. Audiences joined the N-brush team, many bloggers joined the ranks of tap water, second innovation, and CP, and many overseas audiences spontaneously promoted and shouted for it, all of which were inseparable from this strong sense of national pride and determination to help it break one record after another.

The explosion of “Nezha 2”, which has produced more than 60% of the annual box office so far, does not mean that other films can catch up with wealth, nor does it mean that their popularity trend can continue throughout the year. Its unprecedented siphon effect may mean that capital will be further concentrated in the top films, blockbusters will be concentrated in the top schedules, and the uneven heat and cold will intensify.

“Nezha 2” has extended the life of cinemas across the country to a certain extent, but more than a month after the film was released, the weekday market has shown a downward trend. Looking across March and April, it has continued last year’s film shortage. There are no blockbusters to relay.

The distress had signs earlier. Cinema that have experienced the epidemic have suffered a heavy blow, and some have not yet recovered. As part of the comprehensive offline business format, the rise and fall of cinemas is closely related to the flow of people in the business district where they are located. In addition, factors such as the rise of Short Video and short dramas, changes in consumption habits, the loss of young users, and insufficient supply of films are all affecting turnover.

The total box office in the mainland in 2024 will be 42.502 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 22.6% from 2023. The number of movie-goers also dropped to 1.009 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 22.3%, only 58.4% of the number of movie-goers in 2019. Eighty percent of the theaters had an annual box office of less than 5 million, and the average number of visitors and attendance dropped by more than 20% year-on-year. Behind this set of numbers, the operating conditions of many cinemas are becoming increasingly difficult. The blockbuster sales have given them a sigh of relief, but they cannot be sustained in the long run.

In the past two years, income was unable to make ends meet and rent arrears were common for many cinemas in the off-season. The previous blind expansion of theaters and screens has laid the hidden danger of bankruptcy, and has also led to a recent reshuffle period for theaters.

Dadi Theater Line is a typical case. On June 19 last year, Dadi Cinema Development Co., Ltd. was filed for bankruptcy review by Beijing Miying Culture Development Co., Ltd. The acquisition of Orange Sky Jiahe by this former second-ranked film company triggered a crisis and continued to be involved in wage arrears, rent arrears, etc. Negative, there are more than 100 cases of execution. As of March 13 last year, the number of cinemas that can still purchase tickets normally on the official ticketing platform of Dadi Cinema has dropped to 163, a decrease of nearly 70% from the peak period. Similar clearing and shuffling will still take place.

How can cinemas find their future direction? In the past two years, hosting talk shows, launching lunch breaks, and watching Olympic games are short-term explorations to improve space utilization, increase income and improve efficiency. Innovating content and models and more accurately stepping on user emotional points require joint efforts from upstream and downstream industries.