LINE

Text:AAAPrint
Entertainment

China box office falls after subsidy cuts

1
2016-07-27 08:47China Daily Editor: Feng Shuang
Big Fish & Begonia has raked in 500 million yuan ($75 million) in box-office takings in two weeks despite polarized reviews. Photos provided to China Daily

Big Fish & Begonia has raked in 500 million yuan ($75 million) in box-office takings in two weeks despite polarized reviews. Photos provided to China Daily

The country's box office dropped 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2016, according to statistics from the National Film Development Funds Management Committee. This compared with a record 44 billion yuan ($6.6 billion) box office for the same period last year.

The box office fall, the first in half a decade, is due to a subsidy reduction and therefore has weighed down the stock performance of the major listed film companies.

Wang Changtian, CEO of Enlight Media Co Ltd, one of China's top film companies, said that the shrinking box office in China is in large part the result of the subsidy reduction.

"After the subsidy decreases, the audience will not buy as many tickets as they did before. This will show their real consuming capacity. In fact, the ticket price may be a little bit higher for them," he said.

In the period from July 1 to Monday, the total domestic box office was 3.76 billion yuan, dropping 18.6 percent compared with 4.62 billion yuan of sales in the same period last year, according to data from a Chinese real-time box-office data site called Maoyan.

Industry sources said a few blockbuster Chinese films, such as Lost in Hong Kong and Monster Hunt, have been the subject of allegedly inflated reported box office sales.

The phenomenon is a practice in the industry, where many film producers will reserve some costs for box office allowances.

Moviegoers can usually buy film tickets at a discount, and producers will subsidize the remainder of the full price, which can be regarded as a promotional activity. However, if there is no real demand to see the film but producers buy the tickets in advance, this is considered illegal.

Of last year's 44 billion yuan reported box office, about 3 billion yuan to 5 billion yuan came from such allowances.

Industry sources said the illusion of a high box office actually harms China's film industry and will lead to market bubbles and disorders.

  

Related news

MorePhoto

Most popular in 24h

MoreTop news

MoreVideo

News
Politics
Business
Society
Culture
Military
Sci-tech
Entertainment
Sports
Odd
Features
Biz
Economy
Travel
Travel News
Travel Types
Events
Food
Hotel
Bar & Club
Architecture
Gallery
Photo
CNS Photo
Video
Video
Learning Chinese
Learn About China
Social Chinese
Business Chinese
Buzz Words
Bilingual
Resources
ECNS Wire
Special Coverage
Infographics
Voices
LINE
Back to top Links | About Us | Jobs | Contact Us | Privacy Policy
Copyright ©1999-2018 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.