Local hits lead China’s movie boom
THE Lunar New Year holiday that ended on Wednesday set an all-time high for ticket sales at box office.
Ticket sales in China soared to 5.4 billion yuan (US$850 million) over the holiday, according to ticketing data provider Maoyan.
‘Detective Chinatown 2’, a Chinese action-comedy take on ‘Sherlock Holmes’ produced by billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Wanda Pictures, was the 2018 holiday’s biggest hit, taking in 1.9 billion yuan. ‘Monster Hunt 2’, the second instalment of China’s box-office record holder for 2015, grossed 1.7 billion yuan.
Investors back from the holidays plowed into shares of companies associated with hits.
China Film Co., distributor of the holiday’s top two films, surged 5.1 per cent Thursday following a week-long break. Jiangsu Lugang Culture Co., which invested in ‘Operation Red Sea’, the third-biggest holiday hit, climbed 4.9 per cent, and Beijing Enlight Media Co. gained 4.7 per cent.
Hollywood was also left behind last year as a local film ‘Wolf Warrior 2’ set a record for highest single-film ticket sales. The action hit had a patriotic Chinese theme and ample explosions, underscoring the rising competitiveness of local fare versus blockbusters originating in Hollywood.
Last year’s biggest film worldwide, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’, barely registered a blip in China, pulling in US$42.6 million compared with US$854.2 million for ‘Wolf Warrior 2’, according to Box Office Mojo.
Investors are focusing on China’s resurgent cinema market after companies from Internet giant Tencent Holdings to conglomerates like Dalian Wanda Group have bet billions on forming alliances with local and Hollywood filmmakers to meet surging demand. A dearth of hits, the rise of a discerning audience and something more structural such as the slowing pace of new cinema additions have been blamed for the slump in the past two years.
“Quality and word-of-mouth are becoming the most important drivers of box office,” analysts led by Wei Meng at China International Capital Corp. wrote in a report on Thursday. They expect full-year box office sales to rise by between 25 per cent and 34 per cent this year.
Ticket sales grew about 3.7 per cent in 2016 and 15 per cent last year, compared with the more than 35 per cent average from 2011 to 2015.