Historical war film The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death is leading the Chinese box office during the National Day holiday period. - Facebook
BEIJING (SCMP): China’s box office bookings for the ongoing National Day holiday period had surpassed 1 billion yuan (US$142 million) as of Thursday (Oct 3) morning, according to box office tracker Dengta Data, but the industry remains under pressure compared with years past.
This year’s bookings crossed the 1 billion yuan mark on the third day of the seven-day “golden week” holiday, which started on Tuesday, compared with last year, when the milestone figure was reached on the second night.
While the box office saw a strong start to the season with 494 million yuan on Tuesday – a 15 per cent rise from last year – its pace soon slackened.
Chinese media outlets were predicting that the box office revenue during the holiday could climb to between 2 billion and 2.7 billion yuan this year. That would see revenue potentially fall short of last year’s 2.73 billion haul, which benefited from the holiday being a day longer, owing to the timing of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
By Thursday morning, historical war film The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death was in the lead with about 364 million yuan from 8.7 million tickets sold.
Directed by Chen Kaige, the film is the second instalment of a planned trilogy on the Korean war. The first part, To the War, placed third in the National Day box office standings last year.
Also by Thursday morning, sci-fi action film 749 Bureau had generated 270 million yuan, and crime drama Tiger Wolf Rabbit rounded out the top three with 157 million yuan. The figures include presales and advanced screenings.
Major films are typically released over extended holidays in China to capitalise on increased audience availability and spending.
The National Day golden week marks the country’s second-largest film season after the Spring Festival holiday.
China’s film industry is far from fully recovered from the pandemic, nearly two years after the country moved away from its stringent zero-Covid policy that restricted public gatherings and took a toll on the domestic box office.
Despite a strong showing during the Spring Festival holiday in February, China’s box office has struggled to gain momentum for most of the year.
The recent lacklustre summer season brought in only 11.6 billion yuan, according to ticketing platform Maoyan Entertainment.
This marked a sharp decline of more than 40 per cent from last summer’s 20.6 billion yuan and failed to reach the 17.6 billion yuan earned in the pre-pandemic summer of 2019.
Film critics and industry insiders attributed the weak performance to this summer’s underwhelming releases, sluggish consumption, and the rising popularity of short videos and micro dramas as entertainment alternatives.
A total of 10 new films hit Chinese theatres this holiday. Besides the top three, others include High Forces starring Andy Lau and Zhang Zifeng, and the family-friendly comedy Panda Plan with Jackie Chan. - South China Morning Post
