China became the world’s largest cinema market
Chinese cinema snatched the title of the world’s largest movie market from the United States for the second consecutive year with sales of $ 7.3 billion.
Theater News Base: China’s total cinema sales reached $ 7.3 billion in 2021, an increase of more than 100 percent from 2020, but still 26 percent lower than in 2019 and before the box office.
This is the second year in a row that the total sales of Chinese cinema surpass that of the United States, and this Asian country has the title of the largest cinema market in the world. American cinema, which faced far more challenges than China in facing Corona in 2021, sold $ 4.5 billion last year, which is 60% less than the box office figure in the pre-Corona era. 2019) is.
During the dramatic rise of the Chinese box office in the late 2000s and 2010s, the income of Hollywood studios in China increased every year, and Hollywood’s share of the Chinese box office reached 30 to 50 percent. But last year, only 20 Hollywood movies were released in China, while in 2019, 30 best-selling American movies were released in Chinese cinemas, and the revenue of Hollywood movies in China in 2021 compared to 2019 decreased by 70%. Is.
In the first half of 2021, the delay in the release of major American films was the main reason for the absence of Hollywood at the Chinese box office, but in the second half of the year, Chinese government policies coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party. Expensive Hollywood movies such as “Black Widow”, “Immortals”, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”, the new episode of “Venom” and “Spider-Man: There is no way home” have been released in China. They did not, popular films that could have made hundreds of millions of dollars.
China’s domestic film industry continued to improve after Corona in 2021, with a total of 472 Chinese films released in the country, surpassing the 428 films released in 2019. Total sales of domestic production in China reached $ 6.19 billion, which is slightly more than the $ 6 billion in 2019.
The top 10 best-selling films in Chinese cinema in 2021 were all domestically produced, with “Battle of Changzhou Lake” ($ 899 million), “Hello Mom” ($ 822 million) and “Chinatown Detective” ($ 686 million), respectively. They were ranked third.
Interestingly, China will add 6,700 new theaters to its cinema capacity in 2021 alone, bringing the number of cinemas to 82,248.