Abstract
To achieve success in the box office, many filmmakers attempt to regroup the factors from the previous successful films into subsequent productions. The Fantastic Beasts series exemplifies a combination of multiple factors seen in the past successful formula, such as well-known intellectual property, famous stars, appealing spectacles, and less culturally specific genres. However, the box office of three Fantastic Beasts films has been declining, suggesting that it is nearly impossible to replicate the success of earlier films by integrating these factors. This research aims to investigate the factors that influenced the box office of the Fantastic Beasts series in mainland China and analyse the reasons for its decreasing performance. The Chinese box office performances of this series were examined using secondary data analysis. Also, content analysis was conducted to explore the Chinese audience reviews of the three films on Maoyan and Taopiaopiao (two major ticketing platforms in China) from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. The findings indicate that the previous succussed factors were only effective during the early stages of these films’ exhibition in China. Additionally, an increasing number of Chinese audience reviews expressed dissatisfaction with these films’ illogical narratives. I argue that the previous succussed factors should be regarded as marketing assets and not as crucial components that have a positive long-term impact on the film’s box office. Meanwhile, the strategy of emphasising spectacle over narrative seems ineffective in sustaining the success of franchise blockbusters in China because poor storytelling would alienate new customers and disappoint the existing fan base.
Author Information
Ruixuan Wu, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Paper Information
Conference: MediAsia2024
Stream: International Communication
This paper is part of the MediAsia2024 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Wu R. (2024) Unpredictable Box Office Performance of Franchise Blockbusters: The Fading “Magical” Appeal of the “Fantastic Beasts” Series in Mainland China ISSN: 2186-5906 – The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film 2024: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 139-154) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5906.2024.12
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5906.2024.12
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