Behind POP MART’s investment in ＂White Snake 2＂： Has the peripheral development of domestic animated films been upgraded？

Author | Xu Bing　 　 　

SufferThe eye-catching summer animated film scuffle, from the light-chasing animation "White Snake 2: Green Snake Robbery" has basically locked in victory.

In the producer of this animated film, we can see some new players who have just entered the animated film, such as POP MART, a trendy giant. In fact, it is not the first time that POP MART has participated in the production of an animated film. POP MART also appeared in New Gods: Nezha Reborn, which was released in the Spring Festival this year. In addition to POP MART, another producer of "The Green Snake Snatches Up" is Bi Li, which started with the secondary culture.

　

For POP MART, participating in the production of animated films may be just a new commercial attempt. However, for domestic animated films, the tide-playing giants represented by POP MART began to deeply participate in the works, representing the emergence of new ways of playing in the domestic animation industry:

　

Blind box periphery was born from the animation industry chain, and the crowdfunding mode of bilibili member purchase is also one of the main ways to realize the animation IP periphery in recent years. These two companies become producers of animated films, which also means the promotion of the position of derivative industries in the animation industry, which will undoubtedly promote the domestic animation industry, which is not closely related to the industry.

　

Prior to this, there were many animation companies in China, such as Fant and Aofei, which both participated in the content and produced the surrounding animation companies. However, they are mainly engaged in the field of children’s animation. For a long time, the animation derivative industry has been dominated by bears and children’s IP such as Audi Double Diamond and Super Flash.

　

What new changes will happen to the commercial derivative of domestic animation when bilibili and POP MART begin to formally participate in the field of animated films?

　

A new face in the joint producer

　

Before this year, in the top ten box office of domestic animated films, there was no precedent for a company with peripheral derivatives as the producer, except for the "Bear Haunted" series. With the entry of bilibili and POP MART, some changes have taken place in domestic animated films.

　

After all, the domestic animation production derivative companies are almost all old-fashioned enterprises like Aofei Entertainment and Huaqiang Fangte, which focus on children’s orientation all the year round. Although Aofei and Fant have also tried all-age and adult orientation, such as Aofei’s acquisition of enchanting comics, the launch of "100,000 Cold Jokes" series, and Fant’s polishing of Realm of Terracotta, which recently went online in the cinema for five years, these works are not very successful in commercial derivation. Whether it is Aofei Entertainment or Huaqiang Fante, children’s IP such as Audi Double Diamond and Bear Haunted still account for the majority of the company’s operating income, while the derivative of teenagers’ adult orientation is silent.

However, the situation in bilibili and POP MART is quite different. bilibili itself is the gathering place of Generation Z, and the main consumer groups in POP MART are also concentrated in this age range. If you want to discuss what young people like, it’s hard to get around them.

　

Before investing in light-chasing animation, POP MART had a joint name with "Minions", and also cooperated with well-known domestic animation IP such as Ne Zha and "Unhuman", and had rich experience in joint name. However, even with these experiences, when POP MART really started to run in with the film IP, even the film co-producer, it was difficult to provide protection for the derivative around the animation.

　

For example, when POP MART participated in Nezha Rebirth, a set of derivative blind boxes, hand-made dolls and movable dolls were released in the first week of release, but they were not recognized by consumers because of the quality of hand-made dolls and the high price. Now "The Green Snake Robbed" has been released for two weeks, and there is no sign of public sale of the peripheral derivative of the POP MART version.

In bilibili, as of August 6th, the crowdfunding fund of "Green Snake Robbery" has reached more than 5.8 million yuan, and the projects include movable dolls, Q blind boxes, commemorative money and other derivatives.

Although POP MART is still running in and exploring the joint derivative with the periphery of animated films, its entry is still of great significance to the animation market.

　

Observing the derivative changes around domestic animated films, we can find that high-quality IP has a very significant effect on promoting the derivative market.

　

For example, The Return of the Great Sage didn’t expect to derive this layer when it was released, but began to introduce hand-made derivatives one after another after it was released for a period of time. Although it still obtained tens of millions of derivatives, it was actually very unfavorable to the development of peripheral derivatives.

　

However, with the boosting effect of The Return of the Great Sage on the market, the Big Fish Begonia, which was released immediately after it, was prepared in terms of peripheral derivatives. Before the film was released, the producer, Tianya Media and Light Media, signed a tripartite cooperation agreement with Ali Fish. Aliyu was responsible for authorizing the joint name, and more than 20 joint name derivatives were launched the day after the film was released. The surrounding crowdfunding amount reached more than 3 million yuan.

(At the end of the studio "Big Fish Begonia" Kun)

　

Although the "Magic Boy" released in 2019 was not prepared for crowdfunding at the beginning, it began crowdfunding during the hot screening period. However, it belongs to the studio works of striped house together with "Big Fish Begonia", and has sufficient experience in derivatives. The hand-made office jointly launched with the last studio alone reached 15.09 million yuan in Modian crowdfunding. With the successful derivative experience of two works, The Big Fish Begonia and The Magic Boy, Legend of Deification of the striped house even began to lay out derivatives in advance. The shadow of The Magic Boy and the stunt of "The Trilogy of Gods" made Legend of Deification start the joint licensing of the brand a few months before the release.

　

From The Return of the Great Sage to Legend of Deification, we can see that the relationship between animated films and surrounding derivative industries is getting closer and closer, and the influence and importance of derivative industries in the animation market is gradually expanding. By the time of "Nezha Rebirth", the spin-off industry had successfully become a joint producer of animated films.

As a cliche in the animation industry, the break or even absence of the industrial chain has always been one of the manifestations of the unhealthy development of the animation market in China. As the end of the industrial chain, peripheral derivatives are not only the embodiment of IP realization, but also the proof of the virtuous circle of the secondary market.

　

In Japan, the derivative around animation accounts for about 70% of the total revenue, while in Disney, the revenue around animation can even be close to 70-90% of the total revenue. For example, Princess Elsa’s dress, a derivative of Disney’s animated film Frozen, brought Disney $450 million in revenue in the United States alone, far exceeding its box office performance in North America.

　

In contrast, at present, the relationship between domestic animation and derivative industries is still relatively alienated, and the profit model is too single, which basically depends on the box office. There is still a lot of room for exploration in the derivative market. It is believed that when the derivative industry strengthens cooperation with animation content parties, the domestic animation industry will enter a new stage of the industry.

　

From "evil spirits" to national tides.

　

When it comes to the derivative of domestic animation, the key words surrounding it a few years ago were "inferior" and "shanzhai", but now these adjectives have gradually disappeared.

　

Let’s take the representative of secondary derivatives-Handmade as an example. According to the Research Report on Hand-held Consumption Trends of Generation Z in China in 2021 produced by iResearch, among the domestic hand-held consumption types, Riman IP still accounts for 77.4%, followed by mobile games with 60.5%, and Guochuang IP takes the third place with 51.9%.

Although it seems that Guochuang IP only ranks third, its performance is average. However, we must know that seven years ago, Guochuang IP only had one or two works such as "Qin Shimingyue". Handmade in China is also synonymous with "evil spirits" rampant, fake and pirated. The most typical example is Saber’s "Great Evil God", which is famous at home and abroad. The outrageous degree of this hand-made work even makes the original author Miyagawa Takeshi unable to help but entrust someone to purchase and collect it.

The recognition of domestic animation is inseparable from the emergence of high-quality IP in domestic animation. Because peripheral derivative is an industrial form with IP role as the core and constantly radiating to other industries, the core IP content is very important.

　

After The Return of the Great Sage set a new box office record for domestic animated films in 2015, domestic animation entered a new stage. High-quality national IP such as Under One Man, Linglong and Luo Xiaohei have emerged one after another and have been recognized by the audience. Domestic high-quality hand-made studios, represented by ACTOYS, HOBBYMAX and Mina, have gradually become famous, and now there are nearly 100 domestic hand-made manufacturers.

(ACTOYS "Under One Man" by Feng Baobao)

　

When the derivative works with complicated workmanship and long construction period are making rapid progress, some products with relatively simple production processes, such as badges, standing cards and adhesive tapes, are even more obvious. Previously, because there was no complete commercial derivative chain, the reputation of Guochuang derivative was damaged by the endless stream of pirated manufacturers. Now, with the increase of domestic animation production capacity and the enhancement of copyright awareness in the consumer market, word of mouth has gradually recovered.

　

The output of high-quality content has stimulated the cooperation between industries at the same time, and the connection between circles and platforms is getting closer and closer, which has greatly improved the speed of derivative cooperation.

　

For example, when a high-quality content IP is born, such as a comic creation platform; Dubbing platforms such as Cat Ear FM and Clarke La; Tencent bilibili and other animation production and playback platforms; LOFTER, semi-element and other fan creation platforms; Peripheral derivative platforms such as MoDian can basically operate and derive at the same time.

　

Let’s take guochuang IP "Linglong" as an example. During the animation broadcast, the officially authorized interactive radio drama has been launched on Maoer FM; After the end of the first season, the derivative comic "Linglong: Yue Kui Chuan" is logged in to read the comic; BILIBILI, the producer of Fang Yi painting, launched the "Linglong Official Crowdfunding Tower Pushing Campaign", and the crowdfunding amount exceeded 16.65 million in just 31 days, setting a new crowdfunding record for the animation industry in China. This not only shows the audience’s support for high-quality IP, but also proves the great potential of IP-derived industrial chains after deep integration.

However, relying on a single high-quality IP is not enough to make the market cycle. At present, the development of the market is still the lack of high-quality animation IP. The shortage of talents in the animation industry is still the biggest pain point of the industry. Not only that, because the industrial chain is still in the running-in period. A large number of derivatives practitioners have short entry time and lack of experience. For example, many domestic hand-run studios have only been established for 5 or 6 years. There are some problems in both production experience and project cooperation.

　

Only when the animation derivative industry is diversified and produces good economic benefits can it have a strong attraction to employees and truly develop the animation industry. Therefore, it is even more necessary for POP MART and other enterprises related to peripheral derivatives to have more and deeper close cooperation with content producers, so as to further expand the market of the animation industry, attract more business investment and talents to settle in, and promote a virtuous circle of the industry.

　

When a single excellent work appears in the market, it can’t be called the rise of the country, but if the animation derivatives begin to blossom everywhere, it can be regarded as the dawn of hope.