Domestic Vs Import Box Office: Appearances Can Deceive

 /  Box Office  / 
Looking at the box office split between foreign and Chinese films this year, it’s easy to conclude China is a balanced market: imports lead slightly with a 52% market share through April 18. But huge imbalances lie behind those numbers. Read More

V-Day Box Office: La La, xXx Win ♥♥♥, Earn $$$

 /  Box Office  / 
xXx and La La Land benefit from a Valentine’s Day box office boom. Chinese moviegoers got in the holiday spirit, pre-booking seats for a Valentine’s Day screening of La La Land in Beijing. (Courtesy Weibo) Date-night at Chinese cineplexes propelled the box office on Valentine’s Day to an estimated RMB 384 million ($55.9 million) in ticket Read More

China’s Lunar New Year Moviegoing Record — How’s That Foam Taste?

 /  Box Office  / 
The week-long Chinese New Year moviegoing period ended with a record RMB 3.38 billion (US$492.4 million) in ticket sales this year according to official data — a 9.5 percent increase over last year’s record haul — but a close inspection of the numbers reveals the growth to be something short of robust. Read More

Film Review: ‘Demons Strike Back’ at the Audience in ‘Journey to the West 2’

 /  Reviews  / 
Slapstick subversiveness notwithstanding, "Journey to the West 2: The Demons Strike Back" still amounts to a Sinocentric power play that diminishes the appeal of the enterprise. Read More

China Box Office: A Record Set, A Scandal Brews, and Accounting Rules Change

 /  Box Office  / 
After three chaotic days of five wide-release Chinese New Year (CNY) films jockeying for the hearts and wallets of Chinese moviegoers, a clearer picture of the holiday’s box office winners and losers has begun to emerge. Journey To The West: The Demons Strike Back (西游伏妖篇) Journey To The West: The Demons Strike Back (西游伏妖篇), a Read More

‘Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back’ Sets Records

 /  Box Office  / 
The sequel sets a new single-day mark and looks like it’s going higher. Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back exploded at the Chinese box office on Saturday, the first day of the week-long Lunar New Year Holiday, it scored a single-day record for local language films with RMB 345 million (US$50.2 million) in Read More

On Screen China: Part Two of CFI’s Chinese New Year Preview

 /  Box Office  / 
This Saturday, the first day of the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year (CNY), tens of millions of Chinese citizens will flock to cinemas nationwide in the start of the busiest moviegoing period on the planet.  Last year, RMB 3.56 billion (US$548 million) in tickets were sold over the seven-day CNY period, the highest-grossing week in any Read More

On Screen China: Out with the Monkey and in with the Money

 /  Box Office  / 
Part one of our preview of Spring Festival releases, likely to be the most lucrative season of the Chinese cinematic year.   This Saturday, the first day of the Spring Festival/Chinese New Year (CNY), tens of millions of Chinese citizens will flock to cinemas nationwide in the start of the busiest moviegoing period on the Read More