The Success Factors and Development Mechanisms of Global High-Grossing Films

Abstract

The sustainable development of high-grossing films has drawn extensive attention from both the industry and academia. However, existing research mostly focuses on single-factor analysis and lacks a comprehensive exploration of the most fundamental operating mechanisms and potential contradictions of films. This article aims to systematically analyze the underlying success logic of global high-box office films. It also seeks to construct a sustainable development mechanism from multiple perspectives. Analysis reveals that the success of highgrossing films relies on the precise matching of release dates and audiences, extensive marketing on social media, emotional resonance triggered by the film’s theme, the construction of a high-quality IP universe, and the coordinated transmission of star signals, among other strategies. However, the exhaustion of creativity caused by excessive reliance on IP and the erosion of content quality by the “marketing first” approach have become the core contradictions restricting the healthy development of the industry. Based on this, this essay proposes that a data-driven intelligent distribution and precise marketing mechanism should be established to promote the in-depth development and innovative iteration of the IP value chain, and to build a word-of-mouth management and long-term brand maintenance system centered on content quality, to promote the long-term prosperity of the film industry.