The qualitative change underway among film audiences means they now build a psychological defense line before accepting any movie. The films that manage to "pierce" this line and reach deep into viewers' hearts each have their own magic.
The 2026 summer box-office season is nearing its end, with heavyweight titles such as "Welcome to the Dragon Restaurant" and "The Odyssey" continuing to drive market heat. Discussion around the season's fifty-plus major releases has stayed lively, with ordinary audiences and professionals alike expressing themselves in their own ways, prompting renewed reflection on the question "what is cinema."
Beneath the complicated surface, discerning the laws and essence of change is undoubtedly difficult. Yet we must think and we must judge, because it concerns the path the film industry will take next. Where blind men touching the elephant may disagree, the butcher dissects the ox by cutting at the joints. The focus of reflection should be placed on what audiences demand.
If this summer season has sent out one strong signal, it may be that "new-quality audiences" are calling for new-quality cinema. By new-quality audiences we mean that the moviegoing public has undergone certain qualitative changes, and this new quality keeps accumulating. Broadly speaking, it shows the following features.
New-quality audiences have become disenchanted with the elite film culture that long held a dominant position. They no longer unconditionally accept the conventions formed by film history: famous directors, decorated stars, once rock-solid genres and tried-and-true formulas are no longer necessary - let alone sufficient - conditions for a film's success. Hollywood master Spielberg's "Disclosure Day" flopped badly, Feng Xiaogang's "Catch the Spy" met a cold reception, and "Minions and the Big Monster" and "Toy Story 5" barely made a ripple. Even Western avant-garde hits like "The Backrooms," which sparked viewing frenzies worldwide, found only niche echo among Chinese moviegoers.
New-quality audiences also possess a strong sense of cultural subjectivity - most visibly their identification with and pride in the national image and local cultural traditions, which explains why "Welcome to the Dragon Restaurant" and "The Eight Immortals!" became the biggest winners with high box office and high praise. The line "to save all living beings" may look like a familiar Chinese heroic narrative, but in these two films it carries fresh meaning: humble, trouble-laden little people abandon worldly pursuits of fame and fortune and step forward, without hesitation, for the good of the many. This love of fairness and righteousness explains why "Kung Fu Women's Football" or "Spider-Man: A New Day" could not top the charts, while "The Fourth Crossing" claimed its place amid July's particular historical atmosphere.
One might say the qualitative change in the audience means they raise a psychological defense line before accepting a film. The movies that manage to "pierce" it and reach deep into their hearts each have their own magic: "Welcome to the Dragon Restaurant" narrates with the whole world at heart; "The Eight Immortals!" upgrades a traditional cultural IP in an entirely new way; "Endless Meetings 2!" turns office workers' joys and sorrows into an infinite-loop game narrative; "Kung Fu Women's Football" sings an old tune anew while paying generous tribute to women...
The new-quality cinema called for by new-quality audiences is not the lone quantitative change of a single standout, but the overall qualitative change of "a hundred flowers blooming together" - a harmonious symphony of many voices moving freely as one. Standing among new-quality audiences and looking through the landscape of the 2026 summer season, we realize that new-quality cinema is arriving, and will inevitably arrive - and our answer to the question "what is cinema" is bound to be brand new, full of more possibility and more hope.
