At present, in China, the so-called pre-release screening is a kind of film publicity and promotion, mainly used to build momentum, such as inviting the media, film critics, etc. to watch in advance, so as to write in advance, from the perspective of publicity needs, how can you wait until the release and then invite the media and film critics......

Basically, for films that are widely distributed, the relationship between screening and distribution strategy is not very large.

If it is a low-budget film or a film that is uncertain about market confidence (it has nothing to do with cost, but the distributor does not know whether to hesitate to judge the film, it will often organize screenings), and the feedback collected after the screening may affect the distribution strategy, but the current situation in China is basically of no practical guiding significance, and Hollywood is completely different.

Although Hollywood's screening is a large-scale commercial film, it is also similar to that in China, which is basically used for publicity.

However, for the cinema structure of the U.S. market, on-demand screenings have important market guiding significance for some literary and art films.

For example, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", screened before release, through questionnaire surveys, the distributor already knew that this film could not be released to the mainstream market, but aimed at middle-aged intellectuals and cultural elites, and locked them as the core audience of the first part.

The scale of this part of the distribution is very small, and it is possible in several halls, although it was also released at this time, but in fact, for the gradually expanding distribution scale later, and finally entering the mainstream market, it can also be seen as "early screening".

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" gradually and orderly expanded the target audience and the number of screens released through the first batch of audience word-of-mouth and box office data, such as later marketing for martial arts action fans and kung fu fans, targeted expansion of the number of screens (distribution scale), and then targeted at housewives and related media to place advertisements.

In the end, it was aimed at the most mainstream young audience, and of course, later the Oscar was won, and there was another round.

(I can't remember the specific promotion order, see "A Movie Dream in Ten Years")

Therefore, for Hollywood, the early screening of certain films with uncertain market prospects plays a crucial role in the formulation and implementation of distribution strategies, in addition to the necessary steps of marketing and promotion media strategies.

There are many successful cases of relying on a very small number of screens to do super word-of-mouth screenings and gradually expanding the scale of distribution, such as the recent "Black Swan" or something. Of course, in this process, the box office word-of-mouth does not meet expectations, that is, there is no follow-up, and there are many more, such as "Red Cliff", which merged one episode and was released in North America, and the word-of-mouth is not bad, but the single-screen output just can't go up, so it is logical to draw it.

There is also a kind of screening that is to participate in the film festival, to participate in the competition, or to sell the film, in fact, in order to win the award, or to help sell the film, you need to do some screenings, and the effect of the public screening of the participating films is actually the same as the screening, and the media reputation will come out at least partly.

That's why the film "Butterfly on the Shoulder" (it's a participating film, don't be mistaken) in the main competition unit of the Shanghai Film Festival just past, because he knew that his version of the reputation was not good, he simply didn't show it to reporters, and the media reported that the filmmaker changed to a minimum hall, and he pulled dozens of people in to fill the number, saying that there were no seats.

This is typical, the publicity wants to take advantage of the film festival, but I don't have the confidence to screen it in advance, and I don't have the confidence to enter the main competition unit.

Compared with Hollywood, in China, there is no difference between more than 30 theaters across the country, in fact, it is a theater line, because the movies played up and down the country are the same, so the market cannot form a difference, nor has it developed into the audience segment, and there is no mature channel for the corresponding word-of-mouth communication of small films ("Crazy Stone" is really a once-in-n year), so the early screening in China is only for publicity services, and it is of little significance to the distribution strategy.

Some people may say that there is no point, and the early screening should have positive significance for the distribution strategy of "I Am a Vegetative Man" and "Piano of Steel", because the word-of-mouth is not bad or something, but it is actually a false proposition. Because of the current situation of the domestic market structure, this function cannot be reflected.

Now that domestic movies are released, they just roll their eyes and stare at each other, and there is no opportunity and space to give you a big adjustment strategy.

watched the official release of "Martial Arts" just now from July 4th to 2nd, but the boss said another sentence on Weibo, it will be screened on the 1st...

It can be seen that there is another function of screening in China, that is, if you want to be embarrassed to say it in advance, or it is inconvenient to advance directly, then "screen"...

The difference with the screening is the "test screening", the former is generally a completed film that can be distributed, and after getting a distribution license in China, it is generally rented in the theater to be screened, please ask the media, film critics or something, because domestic theater regulations are not allowed to show any films without a distribution license, because you are a commercial organization. No license means that the pork is not stamped, not only is it not allowed to be sold, but it is also not allowed to be pulled to the market stall to sell.

The "test screening" is generally an unfinished film, and the later stage has not been completed, find a group of brick houses, or onlookers passing by to play soy sauce, send questionnaires, bribe them with small gifts, let them fill in the questionnaire after reading, and then continue to revise according to their opinions.

One of Hollywood's more classic test screenings is "ID4", a group of soy sauce audiences invited the film to watch a new film that has not yet been released, and did not say the name, but after the performance, the audience found that it was the hyped "Independence Day", and the audience exploded, and then the audience watched it in cheers during the whole process, and the filmmaker's heart was completely down-to-earth, it is said that the praise rate is extremely high, and a big-hit film has also been tested all the way.

In China, there are very few "test films" according to the Hollywood way, and the scale is also very small.