BEIJING (AP) – The smog and the cold of the big screen are back at a great time in the world’s largest film market.
With coronavirus well under control in China and cinemas running at half capacity, filmmakers are breaking Chinese box office records, setting a new high mark for ticket sales in February, with domestic productions far above their Hollywood competitors.
February marked the largest ever month in China for film ticket sales, which to date have stood at 11.2 billion Yuan ($ 1.73 billion). China took over the U.S. as the world’s largest market for movie ticket sales last year as the American box office was hit hard by cinema closures due to a coronary virus pandemic.
Chinese theaters were able to reopen before noon and have seen steady growth from the audience. Local films have also benefited from occasional unofficial “blackout” periods, when only domestic productions can be screened. A shortage of major Hollywood blockchains over the past few months seems to have given the market a boost for Chinese films.
“People were encouraged to stay in Beijing for the Lunar New Year, so watching movies in the cinema became a top entertainment choice,” said Chu Donglei, marketing manager at Polyanmen’s branch at Poly Cinema in central Beijing.
Wearing masks is mandatory and filmmakers must register with a mobile app to be detected in the event of a revolution. It was only allowed to take all the other chairs, making it even harder to get tickets for the most popular movies.
According to the China Film Data Information Network, 95% of ticket sales came from the top seven films released for the Lunar New Year festival, which began this year on February 12th.
“Hi, Mom,” was a time-travel comedy written, directed and directed by Jia Ling, the main winner with 4.36 billion Yuan, followed by the action comedy “Detective Chinatown 3,” with 4.13 billion Yuan.
Wang Xiaoyu, 32, who works in the film industry, was unable to get a ticket for “Hi, Mum” on Thursday and described the viewing experience as “very mobile.” ”
“I know some films have been released and streamed online. But I think the experience of watching movies online is not as good as the experience of watching in a cinema. I prefer to go to the cinema to see movies. The experience is different, ”said Wang.
The lack of entertainment options had helped pump ticket sales in the wake of the pandemic, predicting a bright future for China’s film industry, Wang said.
College student Zhang Jiazhi, 21, said the live movie theater experience was a welcome break from staying at home watching videos. Promoting a successful online film has also helped attract a large audience to brick-and-mortar cinemas, Zhang said.
“I’m bored, and you can’t stay at home watching (streaming service) Douyin all the time, so I came to the cinema to see a movie. There’s nothing to do, “said Zhang, who is on a winter vacation and came to the cinema to see” A Writer’s Odyssey, “a Chinese fantasy film he said he didn’t quite understand.
China became the world’s largest box office last year, selling about $ 2.7 billion in tickets compared to $ 2.3 billion in the U.S., which saw an 80% drop in ticket sales. “The Eight Hundred,” an action drama highlighting China’s struggle against Japanese invaders in 1930s Shanghai, was the world’s largest event, making $ 461.3 million at the box office , mostly in China.
Chinese theaters also closed for a while at the height of COVID-19 in the country last spring, but gradually opened over the summer. As of Friday, China has gone 11 days without reporting a single new case regarding the local spread of the virus.
Since the uprising was first detected in downtown Wuhan in late 2019, China has reported 89,877 cases of COVID-19 with 4,636 deaths.