Nationwide, there are only a handful of theaters with an annual box office of more than 100 million yuan, and the 100 million yuan mark is also an important indicator for the performing arts industry to stimulate cultural and tourism consumption. Recently, there was good news from Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, at 0:00 on May 15, its ticketing system showed that the total box office in 2024 officially exceeded 100 million, setting a record for the fastest box office breaking 100 million yuan since the opening of Tianqiao Performing Arts Center nearly nine years ago, demonstrating Beijing's rich art supply capacity as a "performing arts capital" and the strong vitality of the capital's cultural consumption market.
2024 is not halfway through, and Tianqiao Performing Arts Center has delivered good news at the box office, two months earlier than July 23, when the box office exceeded 100 million last year, and the previous time the box office exceeded 100 million was on August 8, 2019. As a theater that no longer has government subsidies at the operational level since 2020, Tianqiao Performing Arts Center has accurately provided high-quality cultural products for audiences in the capital and even the whole country with years of accumulated market operation experience, witnessing the blowout explosion and continuous upward development of the performing arts market after the epidemic.
On the evening of May 19th, the Grand Theater of Tianqiao Performing Arts Center was full of enthusiasm and a trace of reluctance, and the French musical "Rock Mozart" completed the last performance of the Beijing station, the play performed 22 consecutive performances in 19 days, with an audience of 30,000 people and an average attendance rate of more than 80%. At the curtain call, enthusiastic audience members rushed to the stage to take photos and lay flowers, and French actors said "Thank you Beijing" and "Goodbye" in Chinese. As of press time, "Mozart in Rock" won the first place at the annual box office of Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, and has also become a lively epitome of musicals staged at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.
According to statistics, the total box office of Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in 2024 will be 101.7 million yuan, with a total of 425 performances sold and a total of 227,000 spectators. According to the box office statistics of performance genres, musicals accounted for 64.24% of the total box office sold, which is the largest proportion of all performance genres. "Notre Dame", "Don Juan", "Mamma Mia! and many other original musicals and the original Chinese musical "Human Disqualification" have appeared on the top ten list of the box office, and the concept of "watching musicals to flyover" has further taken root in the hearts of the people.
At the end of last year, Tianqiao Performing Arts Center held the "2023 Beijing Tianqiao Musical Annual Festival" for the first time, witnessing the new atmosphere of the development of Chinese musicals based on Beijing's characteristics and the capital's position. "The current ticket sales situation reflects the huge size of the musical theater market and the unlimited development potential of Chinese musicals in the future." Jiang Qiong, director of the performance operation center of Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, said that this year, Tianqiao Performing Arts Center not only attracts audiences through many excellent Chinese musicals such as "South Wall Project" and "Human Disqualification", but also will continue to hold annual musical theater festivals, so that Beijing can develop from a distribution center for excellent musicals to a boutique incubator, and promote the high-quality development of original musicals in China.
This year, for the first time, Tianqiao Performing Arts Center launched 8 major festivals, including musical theatre performances, drama performances, dance performance seasons, and traditional renewal projects, with top-level design to build multiple performance sections throughout the year. Last year, Tianqiao Performing Arts Center held the Tianqiao Dance Performance Season for the first time, which attracted the attention of many fans, and this year's second performance season will come as scheduled, with dance drama masterpieces such as "Nine Songs", "Dream of Red Mansions" and "Li Bai", integrating tradition and modernity, bringing together famous artists and troupes, and is expected to perform more than 30 performances. At present, the box office of dance drama performances ranks second in the total box office sold. In Jiang Qiong's view, Tianqiao Performing Arts Center starts from the top-level design, aims at the inherent customer group, and arranges the repertoire with its own "strict selection" attribute, and this year's box office not only quickly exceeded 100 million, but also 63 performances in all categories have a ticket sales rate of 100%, which is the best proof that its festival design concept meets the needs of the audience and accurately provides cultural products.
The integration of culture and tourism is a new trend in the development of the performing arts market, and Tianqiao Performing Arts Center is also seeking innovation and change. Since the launch of the New Space Theater play "Cat God in the Forbidden City" last year, this year's Tianqiao Arts Center New Space Theater launched the magic talk show "The Wizard's Living Room", which has been well received since its premiere, and the venue is full, attracting a large number of "pan-theater crowds" into the theater. Jiang Qiong said that the new space theater is a new exploration carried out by Tianqiao Performing Arts Center to create a new landmark for cultural tourism consumption, and will launch more flexible and diversified works in the future to attract more tourism consumers to enter the theater and further give full play to the economic efficiency and social functions of the performing arts industry.