Chinese Super Short Films Continue to Expand Market Share

The production of the movie “Chasing His Wife, But Failing”.

Fatsya, an Indonesian user, said she can watch a 77-episode miniseries continuously in 1-2 hours, and in 2024 she will watch more than 50 Chinese miniseries. Meanwhile, Bradley, a US user, said she spends almost all of her lunch break watching Chinese miniseries. In fact, miniseries are creating new habits not only for audiences in China but also in many regions around the world.

Supershort films are generating huge revenue for the Chinese film market. Statistics show that in 2024, the revenue of supershort films in China reached about 6.8 billion USD, surpassing the box office for the first time. Meanwhile, in the international market, supershort films achieved revenue of up to about 96 billion USD. Of which, the US market contributed 60% of the total international revenue, with some supershort films having paid revenue exceeding 10 million USD. For example, the supershort film "Forbidden Desires: Alpha's Love" had a revenue of more than 10 million USD in the US.

Explaining the success of super short films, analysts say that the films have rich themes: romance, psychology, fantasy, historical, horror, detective... meeting the diverse needs of viewers. At the same time, the film is short and easy to watch on an online platform, so users can watch it anywhere. Watching the film does not cost too much, users can watch the first 10 episodes for free and only pay a very small additional fee if they want to continue watching. In addition, the paid model also has many packages for users to choose from: fixed fee, VIP bonus or ad-free viewing... For films serving the global market, there is the option of subtitles or dubbing. The total cost to watch the entire series is usually around 10-20 USD.

The ultra-short film market is forecast by experts to reach about 14 billion USD by 2027. Therefore, the ultra-short film production industry in China is currently very developed. Every year, thousands of ultra-short films are filmed. Specifically, Hengdian World Studios has about 1,500 films filmed. Variety analyzed: The production process of a Chinese ultra-short film only takes 7-10 days, with a budget of about 41,000-69,000 USD. Because of the low budget and fast production process, production units can easily make experimental films and quickly filter content that suits viewers' tastes, creating appeal for ultra-short films. For example, the film "Chasing His Wife, But Failing" has 55 episodes, each episode is 1-2 minutes long, with a budget of about 53,000 USD and was filmed in 4 days.

At first, ultra-short film production was only for amateurs, young filmmakers with little budget, but the growth of the ultra-short film market has attracted many large companies to join. Kuaishou, BiliBili, Tencent Holdings, DramaBox, ShortTV, GoodShort, FlexTV, Douyin... have all invested heavily in ultra-short film production. In addition, many units have also deployed connections with the international market. Some Chinese companies have opened film production centers in Thailand, the Philippines, and established bases in the US to cooperate with locals to produce content suitable for each local taste. Director Yu Honglin, Mofang film production company, said: "In the past, ultra-short films were just low-quality products. But now, large production companies have realized the potential and they are investing to raise standards. They are accepting investments, platform cooperation and famous actors to make better films."

BAO LAM
(Compiled from Variety, Nikkei Asia, The Economist, Bloomberg)

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/phim-sieu-ngan-trung-quoc-tiep-tuc-mo-rong-thi-phan-a186300.html