China’s box office sales reached more than 10 billion yuan (1.5 billion US dollars) in February, making China the global leader in sales last month, reports Beijing Daily.
Detective Chinatown 2 and Red Sea topped local box office charts over the recent week-long Chinese New Year and Spring Festival holiday.
On the first day of the Chinese New Year, 32 million people spent 1.3 billion yuan at the box office (205 million US dollars), breaking the one-day global sales record. The Spring Festival holiday makes up 57% of annual box office sales in China.
The increase in the number of cinema and screens is also contributing to surging box office sales. In the month of February alone, 287 new cinemas were built, bringing the total number across the country to 9,914. The number of screens stands at 53,824 at the end of February, of which 88% are 3D screens.
Box office revenue rose 13 percent in 2017 to more than 55.9 billion yuan (8.8 billion US dollars). China is already the world’s second-largest film market. Some insiders forecast China’s box office take in 2019 will reach 70 billion yuan, surpassing that of the leading market in North America.
