China’s box office takings have topped 30 billion yuan (HK$36 billion) so far this year, overtaking the total for the whole of 2014 as the country’s cinema market continues its rapid climb, a major lure for Hollywood studios and investors.
The takings mark a 48.5 per cent jump against 2014 and mean China is on track to hit 40 billion yuan this year, the state news agency Xinhua said, citing the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
The allure of China’s box office has become increasingly difficult to resist for global film-makers from Sony Corp to Walt Disney, despite the challenges of navigating the country’s censors as well as getting one of the coveted 34 spots allowed for foreign films each year.
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The vice president of the China Film Producers’ Association, Wang Fenglin, said last year that the Chinese film market would overtake the United States to become the largest in the world within three years.
Box office receipts in the United States and Canada combined fell 5 per cent last year but still hit US$10.4 billion, according to the Motion Picture Association of America Inc. China’s takings jumped 34 per cent in the same period.