A poster for A Little Red Flower, the highest-grossing Chinese film from the final day of 2020. China Daily / Asia News Network
BEIJING – China has become the first major cinema market to rebound after an epidemic year in 2020, carrying 20.4 billion yuan ($ 3.12 billion) in box office receipts, the Administration said Thursday evening. Chinese cinema.
This result saw it end the year as the world’s leading market for the first time, ahead of North America.
The administration, the industry’s main regulator, said domestic films grossed 17.1 billion yuan, or 83.7 percent of total ticket revenue last year. With 5,794 newly installed screens, China now has 75,581, strengthening its status as a world leader for the fourth consecutive year.
The country produced 650 films last year, including 531 drama films, and mainland cinema admissions totaled 548 million.
The North American market brought in $ 2.08 billion last year due to a nine-month pandemic shutdown. In 2019, ticket revenue in China totaled $ 9.8 billion, while the North American market was worth $ 11.32 billion, according to movie data trackers Beacon and Box Office Mojo.
At more than 3.11 billion yuan, The Eight Hundred tops the charts as the highest grossing Chinese film in 2020, followed by the anthology comedy My People, My Homeland in second place, and the feature film. Legend of Deification animation.
Considering overseas revenue, The Eight Hundred overtook Bad Boys for Life, starring Will Smith, and Christopher Nolan-directed sci-fi Tenet to become the highest grossing film in the world in 2020, according to Box Office. Mojo.
Rao Shuguang, chairman of the China Film Critics Association, said the uplifting figures illustrate the efforts of Chinese filmmakers and the Chinese audiences’ passion for cinema, boosting the industry’s confidence to produce quality content.
Industry analyst Mu Chen, who heads the Beacon Research Institute, said domestic films have become the main power propelling the strong local market recovery. Mu said the upcoming Spring Festival holiday – one of China’s most lucrative box office seasons – will accelerate the recovery of the domestic market.
Liang Jing, the actress-turned-producer known for The Eight Hundreds and the Sacrifice, said the epidemic crisis could prove to be a turning point for Chinese filmmakers.
This has sped up the Chinese film industry’s collaboration with internet players, she said, encouraging local talent to find a more effective way to attract audiences now that pandemic prevention measures have been standardized. .
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