Patriotic action movie Wolf Warrior 2 tops China’s box office for 2017 but foreign films gain ground
Chinese productions take out most of the highest-grossing spots but still lag in average takings
Smash hit movie Wolf Warrior 2 led the charge at the Chinese box office in 2017 but foreign films gained ground on their domestic rivals as cinema ticket revenue returned to high growth.
Box office revenue rose by 13.45 per cent to 55.91 billion yuan (US$8.58 billion) during the year, with Chinese productions taking out four of the top five spots, Xinhua reported on Sunday, citing the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (Sarft).
That compared to just 3.7 per cent growth, or 45.7 billion yuan, in ticket sales a year earlier, which prompted regulators to announce that sales figures in 2017 would include service fees for tickets bought online. That boosted the growth figure, though moviemakers saw little of the extra revenue.
Domestic productions accounted for 54 per cent of the sales, still the lion’s share but down from the 58 per cent in 2016.
Wolf Warrior 2, a patriotic action movie about a Chinese war hero, raked in 5.68 billion yuan, more than double the 2.7 billion yuan earned by the top-ranking foreign film and the second highest-grossing production overall, The Fate of the Furious.
To protect the domestic industry, China has a quota on the number of overseas movies that can be screened in the country each year.