With movie theaters mostly closed across the globe, China also became the world’s biggest box office for the first time in 2020.
China’s film industry kicked off the new year with a new domestic record after leading global box office earnings in 2020.
The New Year’s Day box office raked in about 600 million yuan ($92.8 million) in revenue, breaking its previous record set in 2018, according to official figures. Domestic releases including “A Little Red Flower” and “Warm Hug” — which both premiered Dec. 31 — drove ticket sales during the three-day holiday.
China’s movie theaters reopened to audiences in late July after being shut for six months due to the coronavirus pandemic. As the year drew to a close, domestic productions were among the top 10 box office winners, with war epic “The Eight Hundred” leading the charge with more than 3.1 billion yuan in box office revenue.
Last year, as most movie theaters worldwide were closed, China also overtook North America as the world’s biggest box office market for the first time, according to the National Film Bureau. The Chinese film industry amassed 20.4 billion yuan in revenue in 2020.
Li Sijia, a culture and entertainment industry analyst at market research firm Analysys, told Sixth Tone that China’s box office records show a good overall recovery for domestic cinemas, as well as a promising start for the new year.
“We’re seeing people’s consumption habits trending toward domestic-made movies, while the overall quality of the country’s movies has improved compared with previous years,” she said. “This data from the beginning of the year presents a very good signal. … We believe this is a positive trend for this year’s overall box office if the pandemic — the biggest external factor — is controlled well.” Continue to read the full article here
– This article originally appeared on Sixth Tone.
