China cinema box office takings up 21 per cent in first half of year, but growth rate slowing, says report
Domestic films performed stronger than imports, according to movie industry consultancy
China’s box office crossed the US$4 billion mark last week as local films returned to the top of the charts following a strong run of imports.
China’s box office takings are up 21 per cent in the first half of the year over the same period in 2015. Such a leap would be considered spectacular in the US, but it’s lacklustre compared with recent years in China where box office in the last five years has grown at a blistering rate.
Imported films have seen only five per cent growth year-on-year, according to film industry consulting firm Artisan Gateway, rising from US$1.7 billion in the first six months of 2015 to US$1.8 billion in the first half of this year.
Domestic films have fared better, with receipts growing 33 per cent from US$1.5 billion to US$2 billion in the first half, Artisan said.
The first half of 2015 saw some spectacular grosses for Hollywood films, including Furious 7, which took in US$390 million for Universal; Avengers: Age of Ultron, which earned US$236 million for Marvel; and Jurassic World, which clawed $208 million from Chinese filmgoers.
By comparison, 2016’s biggest imported titles to date have been Disney’s Zootopia, with US$235 million; and Captain America: Civil War, with US$192 million; Legendary’s Warcraft earned US$223 million, but the company is now owned by China’s Dalian Wanda group.
Rance Pow, president of Artisan Gateway, said while growth has been slower, he did not see it as a “conclusive change” in the general growth trend in the market, but a shift related to the titles that have been released so far in 2016 compared with 2015.
In the seven days ending on Sunday, Cold War II, a Hong Kong police thriller, topped the box office with US$46 million, Artisan said.
The Chinese animated film Big Fish & Begonia, which like Cold War II opened on Friday, earned US$35.2 million in its first three days in cinemas.
In third place for the week was the romance Never Gone, starring Kris Wu and Liu Yifei. The film, adapted from Xin Yiwu’s well-known novel, took in US$27.5 million.
Rounding out the week were Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, which has earned US$51.5 million since its July 2 release, and Shanghai Mingyi Media’s Bounty Hunters,which has grossed US$31 million since July 1, Artisan said.
