China’s National Day box office tops a billion yuan on day 3, but holiday haul lags
The second entry in a historical war trilogy leads the way, with a sci-fi action film on its tail, but China’s film industry is still chasing pre-pandemic interest
China’s box office bookings for the ongoing National Day holiday period had surpassed 1 billion yuan (US$142 million) as of Thursday morning, according to box office tracker Dengta Data, but the industry remains under pressure compared with years past.
This year’s bookings crossed the 1 billion yuan mark on the third day of the seven-day “golden week” holiday, which started on Tuesday, compared with last year, when the milestone figure was reached on the second night.
While the box office saw a strong start to the season with 494 million yuan on Tuesday – a 15 per cent rise from last year – its pace soon slackened.
Chinese media outlets were predicting that the box office revenue during the holiday could climb to between 2 billion and 2.7 billion yuan this year. That would see revenue potentially fall short of last year’s 2.73 billion haul, which benefited from the holiday being a day longer, owing to the timing of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
By Thursday morning, historical war film The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death was in the lead with about 364 million yuan from 8.7 million tickets sold.
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Directed by Chen Kaige, the film is the second instalment of a planned trilogy on the Korean war. The first part, To the War, placed third in the National Day box office standings last year.
Also by Thursday morning, sci-fi action film 749 Bureau had generated 270 million yuan, and crime drama Tiger Wolf Rabbit rounded out the top three with 157 million yuan. The figures include presales and advanced screenings.
Major films are typically released over extended holidays in China to capitalise on increased audience availability and spending.