Cinema sales in China fell by nearly a quarter last year as a lack of blockbusters and tough economic conditions caused consumers to turn to streaming services for entertainment.
While China's film industry surpassed North America's in box office receipts for the first time in 2020, its post-pandemic recovery has been weaker. The world's second-largest film market saw total box office revenue of Rmb42.5 billion ($5.8 billion) in 2024, down nearly 23 percent from Rmb54.9 billion a year earlier, the China Film Administration said .
That compares to a 3% year-over-year drop in North American box office to $8.7 billion in 2024, according to Comscore and Deadline.
“The lack of supply has definitely hurt the domestic industry, but that damage has been compounded by the bad economy,” said Chris Fenton, a US-China analyst and adjunct professor at the University of Southern California.
On the usually busy Christmas Day, box office receipts in China according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan, they fell to 38 million. Rmb from 170 mil. RMB in 2023 and were the lowest in 13 years.
“[We are] affected by the reduction in consumption,” said Wang, a cinema manager in Beijing. “Simply put, it's an economic crisis.” Attendance is estimated to drop by as much as 35 percent in 2024 in many major Chinese cities, with many theaters operating at a loss, he said.
According to industry analysts at Chinese entertainment data provider Beacon Professional, many viewers are opting for online streaming platforms and short video content available on their mobile devices instead of going to the cinema.
Another factor was “there aren't enough quality home movies on the market to create buzz and enthusiasm for people to go out,” said Ying Zhu, the film's author Hollywood in China: Behind the Scenes of the World's Largest Film Market.
But while streaming services “definitely ate into cinema revenue”, Zhu said the decline in China's box office had “more to do with overall economic stagnation, with high youth unemployment leading to a shrinking pocketbook for entertainment”.
Kenny Ng, a film scholar at Hong Kong Baptist University, said the pandemic was still having “a lasting impact on consumer behavior in China, especially in the entertainment industry”.
“The shift towards home entertainment has gained momentum, with many consumers still hesitant to return to crowded venues such as cinemas,” he said.
Sun, a 27-year-old tech worker in Shanghai, said he only went to the movies twice last year, compared with more than 10 times in previous years, with home streaming platforms such as Tencent Video becoming more attractive.
“A lot of theater shows don't make me want to watch them in theaters. . .[and]not many attractive films were released,” he said.
The top-grossing Chinese film of 2024 was a domestic comedy-drama YOLOan adaptation of a Japanese film about a woman who lacks self-confidence and takes up boxing to change her life. YOLO grossed Rmb3.4 billion, according to Maoyan, down from the more than Rmb4.5 billion generated by 2023's top film, the Chinese comedy-mystery Full River Red.
China is experiencing weak consumer confidence, youth unemployment is as high as 17 percent and wage growth is slowing. growing social tension they also involved Chinese leaders.
“The comeback of comedies, which is helping to ease social tensions, is also a sign of audience fatigue towards big-budget propaganda films,” said Zhu, who is also a professor at Hong Kong Baptist University's Film Academy.
The Chinese market contributed up to 30 percent of global Hollywood blockbusters before 2020, according to USC Fenton, but their appeal has faded in recent years, with many big films seeing 10 percent or less of their total take from the Chinese box office. receipts. Only one Hollywood production — action sci-fi Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire — made the 10 highest-grossing films in China last year, according to Maoyan.
Hollywood films are increasingly “failing to connect with local audiences,” Zhu said. In an opinion piece last year, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency noted “the lack of novelty and creativity in Hollywood films with their formulaic stories that have saturated Chinese audiences.”
“Hollywood films are losing their luster with Chinese Gen Z audiences,” said Shi Chuan, vice chairman of the Shanghai Film Association, referring to the diminishing influence of Western culture on the country's younger generation.
Shi was last to report a tepid reception Mission: Impossible by way of example. “This is a high-quality film, but it failed at the box office, as.” [many] Chinese Gen Z moviegoers don't know who Tom Cruise is,” Shi said.
Meanwhile, funding declines, censorship and tastes change blame the movie producers and industry analysts for holding back domestic industry.
The box office would probably still grow in the next few years “because of the sheer size [China’s] population,” Fenton said. Its film industry is hoping for domestic blockbusters, including a fantasy epic Creation of the Gods II: Demonic Confrontation and martial arts fare The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero, both slated for release during the peak Lunar New Year season at the end of January could boost box office sales.
“As always, the quality of the films is important,” said Stanley Rosen, a University of Southern California professor specializing in Chinese society, adding: “An improving economy in China would help a lot.”
