China’s box office expands to world’s largest, defying a year of disastrous takings as Covid-19 brings cinemas to their knees
- Movie ticket sales in China stood at US$3.06 billion last year, 69 per cent lower than the record high of US$9.8 billion in 2019
- War epic ‘The Eight Hundred’ becomes the first Chinese blockbuster to top the global box office charts
China overtook the US as the world’s biggest box office market for the first time last year but revenues fell sharply as the mainland’s control of the Covid-19 pandemic helped to bring film-goers back to the cinemas even as the entertainment industry in the rest of the world endures a slump.
Ticketing revenue in China, however, plummeted 69 per cent from the all-time high of 64.27 billion yuan (US$9.8 billion) in 2019. And in the US, ticket sales sank 80 per cent from the second-best box office haul ever of US$11.4 billion in 2019.
The Eight Hundred, a war epic about 800 Chinese soldiers fighting against the Japanese army in Shanghai in 1937, raked in US$461.34 million, pipping Bad Boy for Life – a Hollywood movie about Miami detectives – which came second with US$426.5 million in ticket sales, according to data from Box Office Mojo. Bad Boy for Life was released last January before the pandemic forced the closure of cinemas worldwide.
“China’s economy started to recover from July after restrictions on social gatherings were eased, including going to the movies,” said Louis Tse Ming-kwong, managing director of brokerage Wealthy Securities. “Even though China has allowed people to resume domestic travelling, it is cumbersome to travel far from home due to heavy traffic, the need to book hotels, etc. Hence, people prefer social activities, such as going to the cinemas close to their homes.”
Tse is upbeat on China’s box office outlook this year, but was quick to add that the “quality of movies is important to attract film-goers to go to the cinemas”.
Many Hollywood studios have postponed their biggest releases from 2020 to early 2021, such as Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick; the James Bond film No Time to Die as well as Marvel’s Black Widow. That paved the way for Chinese films to top the global box office charts.
At number three was another Chinese flick, My People, My Homeland, which made US$422.38 million. Released during China’s “golden week” national holiday in October, it sold more tickets than the Hollywood science fiction action-thriller Tenet. The Christopher Nolan-helmed film ranked fourth at US$362.42 million.
While Chinese films make most of their revenues at home, Hollywood films have a wider appeal. Bad Boy for Life and Tenet made more than half of their ticket sales outside the US.
“China can become the largest movie market worldwide permanently due to its large population and strong economic growth,” said Joseph Tong Tang, chairman of Morton Securities in Hong Kong.
“As China overtakes the US as the world’s largest economy in a few years’ time, the movie market is only reflecting what is yet to come,” Tang said.
