China's Christmas Eve box office plunges to 13-year low

Maoyan Entertainment

25/12/2024 09:05

By Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh
       BEIJING, Dec 25 (Reuters) - China's box office revenues
for Christmas Eve plummeted to the lowest in at least 13 years,
data from ticket booking platform Maoyan  1896.HK  showed on
Wednesday.
    Zhang Yiwu, a literature professor at Peking University,
attributed the decline to a confluence of factors, including an
unimpressive selection of films and the rise of streaming
services. 
    "The leading reason in my view is a lack of blockbuster
films," Zhang said.     
    Takings for Tuesday were 38.4 million yuan ($5.26 million),
less than a quarter of last year's 170.5 million yuan, and the
lowest since Maoyan began keeping records in 2011, when revenues
were 115.9 million yuan.
    Christmas Eve is not a public holiday in China and the big
dates on cinema schedules are the week-long Spring Festival next
month and National Day holiday in October, but Christmas Eve
sales are closely watched because this is the last sprint at the
end of the year.
    Before the COVID-19 pandemic, China's annual film box office
was on an upward trajectory, peaking in 2019. However, the
pandemic's restrictions on gatherings led to a decline in box
office, and the recovery has been weaker than insiders' hopes in
the past two years.

($1 = 7.2989 Chinese yuan renminbi)

 (Reporting by Sophie Yu, Brenda Goh; Editing by William
Mallard)
 ((Sophie.Yu@thomsonreuters.com; 861056692136;))