By Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s box office revenue for Christmas Eve fell to the lowest in at least 13 years, data from ticket booking platform Maoyan showed on Wednesday.
Zhang Yiwu, a professor of literature at Beijing University, attributed the decline to a confluence of factors, including an unimpressive film selection and the rise of streaming services.
“The main reason, in my opinion, is a lack of blockbuster films,” said Zhang.
Revenue for Tuesday was 38.4 million yuan ($5.26 million), less than a quarter of last year’s 170.5 million yuan, and the lowest since Maoyan started keeping records in 2011, when sales were 115 .9 million yuan.
Christmas Eve is not a public holiday in China and the main dates on the cinema calendar are the weeklong Spring Festival next month and the National Day in October, but Christmas Eve sales are closely watched as it is the final sprint at the end of the month. year.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s annual movie box office was on an upward trend, peaking in 2019. However, the pandemic’s restrictions on gatherings led to a box office decline, and the recovery was weaker than insiders’ expectations in the past. two years.
($1 = 7.2989 renminbi)
