A look at the growing Chinese box office

[:eek:]

June 11, 2013

Recent reports that the Chinese box office rose 39 percent over the past year don’t begin to describe the burgeoning growth in cinema entertainment in the world’s largest country by population. The state-run China Daily reported today (Tuesday) that movie attendance in smaller cities in China has grown exponentially over the past year. In the city of Panjin in Northeast China, for example, annual box-office revenue surged to $4.17 million in 2012 versus $432,000 in 2011 — or 867 percent. In April of this year alone a South Korean-owned multiplex in Panjin sold $400,000 in tickets — as many as were sold during all of 2011. “And that performance is growing month-on-month,” said theater manager Guo Jinsheng in an interview with the newspaper. Domestic movies accounted for 63 percent of ticket sales in the city, China Daily said, up from 34 percent in 2012.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Do films made in Hong Kong by Hong Kong born actors count as domestic for China?

 

[chamber-music]

Interestingly Disney films studios head Alan Horn says although China has a billion plus population they only have 1300 movie theatres although they are building more all the time. The Chinese government also only allows a limited number of foreign movies a year to be screened in China.

The limited amount of theatres and foreign films means the Chinese movie theatres are very selective about which films to pick. They pick the films that get the most people into the theatre which is big spectacle popcorn flicks that Chinese film studios can't match so Hollywood has an advantage.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Interestingly Disney films studios head Alan Horn says although China has a billion plus population they only have 1300 movie theatres although they are building more all the time. The Chinese government also only allows a limited number of foreign movies a year to be screened in China.

The limited amount of theatres and foreign films means the Chinese movie theatres are very selective about which films to pick. They pick the films that get the most people into the theatre which is big spectacle popcorn flicks that Chinese film studios can't match so Hollywood has an advantage.

Also, the Chinese influence in Hollywood is over-exaggerated. The influence is non-existent in comedies, biopics, films with mostly African Americans/Blacks in it, most animated movies and (other than a brief bit in Iron Man 3) superhero films.