SOURCE / ECONOMY
China's 2022 summer season box office hit 7.6b yuan, surpassing last year's
Published: Aug 14, 2022 10:10 PM
Movie-goers enjoy themselves at a cinema in Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi Province. The Chinese mainland box office totaled 3.69 billion yuan ($544.33 million) during the first seven days of the National Day holiday period, the second highest grossing amount in history for the same period, data showed. Photo: cnsphoto

Movie-goers enjoy themselves at a cinema in Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi Province. The Chinese mainland box office totaled 3.69 billion yuan ($544.33 million) during the first seven days of the National Day holiday period, the second highest grossing amount in history for the same period, data showed. Photo: cnsphoto


China's nationwide box office in the summer film season from June 1 to August 31 has exceeded 7.6 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) as of press time, surpassing the 7.4 billion yuan mark in the same period last year, showing a positive recovery sign of the film industry previously battered by COVID-19. 

Data from the China Film Administration showed that the summer season box office outperformed last year's at 16:38 pm on Saturday, China Central Television reported. 

Domestically made science fiction comedy film Moon Man ranked in first place in the current summer box office chart with over 2.4 billion yuan, accounting for over 31 percent of the general box office share during the season. Lighting Up the Stars and Jurassic World: Dominion currently rank second and third respectively, according to data from ticketing platform Maoyan. 

Over 10,300 cinemas nationwide have resumed operation as of 12 am Sunday, accounting for 84.28 percent of the total number of cinemas, data from ticketing platform Maoyan showed, and the accumulative box office reached 22.9 billion yuan to date this year.

Analysts suggested that the robust box office performance was the result of surging market demand, and the box office in the week from August 8 to 14 ranked second in the weekly box office chart this year, only after the weekly box office for the 2022 Spring Festival. 

Xiang Kai, a playwright and director, told the Global Times on Sunday that relevant supportive policies may also extend the surge following the current high box office, and may further accelerate the industry's recovery. 

The China Film Administration announced on Thursday it would launch a film consumption campaign from August to October, giving away 100 million yuan in film consumption coupons and encouraging film production. 

The 12th Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF) kicked off on Saturday and lasts until August 20, during which a total of over 130 domestic and international classic films will be played in multiple cinemas in Beijing.

A Beijing-based white-collar worker surnamed Yang, also a fervent moviegoer, told the Global Times on Sunday that he has spent 1,400 yuan buying tickets for 17 films scheduled to be shown during BIFF this year. 

"The demand for films shown during BIFF this year was extremely high and lots of people like me are willing to spend money to watch those classic films," he said, noting that tickets for some popular films were sold out in seconds. 

"While the majority of box office takings came from moviegoers in large cities including Beijing and Shanghai, the recovery situation of cinemas in some tier-three and -four cities, especially some affected by regional COVID-19 outbreaks, is still under pressure," Xiang noted. 

But analysts noted that more films held by distributors could be released once the sporadic resurgences is controlled, further bringing optimism into the market. 

In 2021, the total box office reached 47.3 billion yuan, 131.5 percent up year-on-year, recovering to 73.5 percent of the figure before the pandemic.