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On January 1, 2024, the National Film Administration released data showing that the annual film box office in 2023 will be 54.915 billion yuan, and the box office of Chinese-made films will be 46.005 billion yuan, accounting for 83.77%; The number of moviegoers in urban cinemas was 1.299 billion. There are 73 films with a box office of more than 100 million yuan in the year, 50 of which are Chinese-made films, and the top 10 at the box office are all domestic films, namely "Man Jianghong", "The Wandering Earth 2", "Desperate", "She Who Disappeared", "Fengshen Part 1: Chao Song Fengyun", "In the Octagonal Cage", "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an", "Bear Infested, Accompany Me "Bear Core"", "Solid as a Rock", "Unfamiliar with Life".
According to the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of 21:00 on January 1, the box office of the 2024 New Year's Day file (December 30, 2023-January 1, 2024) reached 1.517 billion yuan, setting a new box office record for the New Year's Day file in Chinese film history. Data from Maoyan Professional Edition also shows that the New Year's Day file in 2024 will set a new high at the box office of the New Year's Day file in Chinese film history, with a total of 36.164 million moviegoers and a total of 1.402 million shows, setting a new high in the total number of New Year's Day files in Chinese film history.
Since 2023, the Chinese film industry has ushered in a strong recovery, and domestic films have shone brightly. During this time, the Chinese film industry has continued to rise and has achieved many remarkable achievements. Domestic films have gained more recognition and attention on the international stage, not only achieving great success at the box office, but also making great strides in film quality and innovation. The rise of Chinese film talents and the improvement of technological level have also injected new vitality into the development of domestic films. At the same time, the diversification and internationalization of China's film market also provide a broader space for the development of domestic films.
-- Box office revenues of Chinese films
From the perspective of movie box office revenue, from 2016 to 2019, China's film box office revenue continued to grow and successfully exceeded the 60 billion mark. In 2019, the mainland's box office revenue reached 64.1 billion yuan, an increase of 5.4% over 2018, and the overall growth rate showed a downward trend. In 2020, affected by the new crown epidemic, the box office revenue of mainland films will only be 20.3 billion yuan, less than 30% of the box office revenue in 2019. In 2021, according to the data disclosed in the "2021 Chinese Film Annual Survey Report" by M Big Data, the total annual box office of the Chinese film market will be 47.258 billion yuan, leading the world.
-- The proportion of domestic films in the box office remains at about 60%.
From the perspective of domestic box office revenue structure, from 2016 to 2019, the proportion of box office revenue of domestic films and imported films in the mainland film industry was relatively stable, basically maintaining around 60% and 40%. In 2020 and 2021, under the background of the epidemic, overseas leading film and television companies postponed or canceled the release of their films, resulting in a huge tilt in the box office structure of the mainland, and the box office revenue of imported films fell sharply, accounting for less than 20% of the total revenue.
-- The number of moviegoers in China
From 2016 to 2019, the number of domestic moviegoers continued to grow, but the growth rate gradually slowed down. In 2019, the number of moviegoers nationwide was 1.73 billion, basically the same as in 2018. In 2020, the number of moviegoers in China fell off a cliff, only 550 million, a decrease of nearly 68.21% from 2019. According to the information released by the National Film Administration, in 2021, the number of Chinese film viewers reached 1.167 billion, a year-on-year increase of 112.2%.
-- The proportion of Chinese films in the box office of each schedule
In 2020, due to the epidemic, the most important schedules of Chinese films, the summer and Spring Festival files, can be said to have less harvest, and the Valentine's Day, Women's Day, Qingming Festival, May Day, and June 1st files in the first half of the year have all been harvested without exception. The National Day and Chinese New Year stalls achieved a box office of 8.633 billion, accounting for 42% of the total box office of the year. The Mid-Autumn Festival and Qixi Festival also achieved a box office of more than 500 million. The box office on New Year's Day was nearly 300 million.
In addition to the Chinese New Year and National Day files, the Mid-Autumn Festival and Qixi Festival files also achieved a box office of more than 500 million yuan, and the New Year's Day box office was nearly 300 million yuan.
Xiang Kai, a young Chinese playwright and director, said that the box office of China's film market in 2023 will show an overall upward trend, reflecting a strong recovery trend, and it can also be seen from the side that the audience's demand for spiritual and cultural consumption is huge, high-quality content is recognized by the market, and there is still room for upward breakthroughs in the future.
Xiang Kai believes that driven by high-quality films, the box office of the Chinese film market is expected to continue to break through in 2024. In addition, with the recent exploration of sub-line distribution in the industry, it will be beneficial for more small and medium-sized films to enter the market and promote the prosperity of the film market.
In the view of Hong Yong, an expert from the think tank of the 50-person forum on the integration of data and reality in China, this reflects the recognition of domestic audiences for local film content and the continuous enhancement of market demand. In the eyes of industry insiders, the emergence of a number of phenomenal films with high viewers of different themes in the film market in 2023 reflects the trend of diversification in the process of the film market moving towards prosperity.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
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