The mainland China box office hit a significant milestone over the Lunar New Year, passing the $1 billion mark.
According to Variety, Chinese state media posted gross revenue figures in the region of RMB6.76 billion (just under $1 billion) in a single week during the Lunar New Year period. The top-performing films were all domestic productions, including action-comedy Full River Red, sci-fi blockbuster The Wandering Earth 2, animated family feature Boonie Bears: The Guardian Code and World War II thriller Hidden Blade. The IMAX format also proved popular with Lunar New Year audiences, accounting for $40.8 million of all ticket sales.
The strong Lunar New Year box office performance should buoy cinema chains in the region, following fears of "massive bankruptcies" within the industry. One anonymous executive recently predicted that some chains would collapse unless China's government cleared more Hollywood films for distribution in the country. "How can [the government] tell them to keep growing when they're not letting any movies in? At some point, someone in the higher up government has to say, 'You’ve got to start letting movies in again so the theaters don't go out of business,' because they are going to," the unnamed executive said.
More Hollywood Films Head to China
Hollywood films alone won't prop up China's film industry, though. Avatar: The Way of Water secured entry into the country's market, only to underperform at the box office. As of Jan 2. 2023, the 3D blockbuster had only earned a modest $152 million in China, despite high expectations from industry insiders and positive word of mouth from audiences. That said, Avatar: The Way of Water's ticket sales are expected to pick up somewhat, especially now that the Communist Party-led government has scrapped the strict restrictions associated with its "Zero COVID" policy.
Other Hollywood movies headed to China don't necessarily share the Avatar sequel's optimistic outlook. Notably, Marvel Cinematic Universe outings Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are expectedly to fall flat in the region. This is based on audience data compiled by major ticketing service Maoyan, which indicates comparatively low interest among Chinese moviegoers in either film. 158,532 respondents expressed interest in seeing Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, while 115,543 expressed interest in seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. By comparison, Avatar: The Way of Water's pre-release numbers peaked at 1.4 million, suggesting that both MCU installments will fare worse than the much-touted sequel.
Source: Variety