Bright spots stand out in film market slump

China's summer film box office from June 1 to Aug 31 grossed 11.64 billion yuan ($1.63 billion) from 285 million admissions as audiences, particularly younger viewers, patronized a range of genres against the backdrop of a market slump.

According to statistics from the National Film Administration, Chinese films pulled in 8.48 billion yuan, or nearly 73 percent of the total. The percentage of box office generated by the imported films in the total box office increased to 27 percent compared to 12 percent in the same period last year.

Chen Jin, a data analyst at Lighthouse, said: "The supply of films during this summer was relatively sufficient in terms of quantity, and themes were also more diversified."

Successor, A Place Called Silence, Alien: Romulus, Moments We Shared and Deadpool and Wolverine were the highest-grossing films this summer. But, overall, compared to the same period last year, both box-office revenue and audience numbers fell significantly.

According to the Chinese entertainment service platform Maoyan, both box-office receipts and the number of moviegoers this summer shrunk by nearly half. Some sections among regular filmgoers steered clear of cinemas as there were fewer popular films.

Only two films managed to surpass the 1 billion yuan mark in box-office earnings this summer. The success of A Place Called Silence and Alien: Romulus, ranking second and third among the Top 5, respectively, showed that suspense and thriller genres have been growing in popularity over the past two years.

The proportion of young viewers under the age of 20 increased by 1.2 percentage points during this summer. Although the growth rate is relatively small, it is the first rebound in the proportion of young audiences since 2020.

In the first half, box-office receipts totaled 23.77 billion yuan, down 9.51 percent year-on-year, and over 70 percent of the level reached in the same period of 2019(before the COVID-19 pandemic).

Chinese films grossed 18.53 billion yuan, or 78 percent of the total. Foreign films raked in 5.19 billion yuan, or 22 percent of the total. In all, 548 million tickets were sold in the first half, down more than 9 percent year-on-year.

According to listed film production companies' financial reports, box-office receipts during Spring Festival and Tomb Sweeping Day broke records. They, however, remained flat in May and June as there were no blockbusters.

In the first half, China Film Co Ltd produced and released 18 films, netting 12.88 billion yuan at the box office, accounting for 69.5 percent of the total earned by Chinese films. That, however, was not enough to boost its financials as both revenue and net profit declined.

During the first half, China Film's revenue was 2.12 billion yuan, down 26 percent year-on-year, while profit was down 43 percent at 204 million yuan.

Similar declines were seen at movie producers such as Tangde Film and Television, Huayi Brothers, Bona Film, Hengdian Film and Television.

Huayi Brothers reported a first-half revenue of 308 million yuan, down 9 percent year-on-year, and generated a net profit of 24.71 million yuan, up 117 percent, thanks mainly to income from investments.

Two companies, however, bucked the trend. Shanghai Film's first-half revenue rose more than 2 percent year-on-year to 381 million yuan, which lifted its profit by nearly 5 percent to 69.08 million yuan.

Enlight Media's revenue surged by more than 120 percent year-on-year to 1.33 billion yuan, and profit increased by more than 133 percent to 473 million yuan.