China’s Chinese New Year box office reaches record US$1.3 billion
The country is home to more than 800 Imax theatres, the most in any market globally
CHINA posted a record US$1.3 billion in box office receipts over the recent week-long Chinese New Year holiday period, suggesting that efforts by Chinese officials to boost consumer spending are working.
Box office sales rose to 9.5 billion yuan (S$1.8 billion) compared with the previous year, data from ticketing site Maoyan showed. That is an 18 per cent increase from the previous period, when it reached eight billion yuan. The Chinese New Year holiday ran from Jan 28 to Feb 4 this year.
Sequels to fan-favourite movies dominated. Ne Zha 2, an animated fantasy adventure film, took the top spot with 4.8 billion yuan. That was followed by Detective Chinatown 1900, the fourth instalment of the comedy-mystery series, with 2.3 billion yuan. Fantasy blockbuster Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force came in third place with 998 million yuan.
The holiday also shattered records for Imax China, which had US$53 million in sales, beating its previous record set in 2023 by 57 per cent in US dollar terms. Imax also posted its highest market share of 4 per cent and saw its highest attendance with 5.5 million moviegoers – climbing 73 per cent from 2021 levels.
China is home to more than 800 Imax theatres, the most in any market globally.
Beijing has sought to boost consumer spending to help bolster its struggling economy. The country’s film authority introduced subsidies worth 600 million yuan at the end of last year.
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A number of local governments provided cinema vouchers, with banks and online booking platforms also offering discounted tickets between December and February.
It is quite a turnaround from last year, which saw the country’s box office fall 23 per cent to 42.5 billion yuan, its third-lowest level in the past decade, excluding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite the increased number of Hollywood films released in China last year, sales of the US films more than halved compared to the peak due to moviegoers’ growing appetite for local productions.
Swelling concerns over the fresh trade tensions between the US and China may complicate American studios’ plans to release and promote big films. Among the US titles scheduled for release worldwide this year are Paramount Global’s eighth Mission: Impossible and Walt Disney’s Avatar and Zootopia sequels. BLOOMBERG
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