In 2023, China’s film industry accelerated its recovery, and the top ten at the box office were all domestic films.
On November 4th, the Golden Rooster Award of the 36th Chinese Film was announced in Xiamen, Fujian. Tony Leung Chiu Wai (first from left) won the Best Actor Award. Xinhua News Agency reporter Wei Peiquan photo
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 19 (Reporter Leon) The cold wave struck, and the somatosensory temperature in Beijing has dropped below minus 10 degrees Celsius, but it can’t stop people from watching movies at the end of the year. In the Capital Cinema, which is located in Xidan business district in the city center, the prime-time sales of popular New Year movies are tight.
According to the data of Cat’s Eye, the box office revenue of China in 2023 was 52.9 billion yuan as of December 18th. The annual box office jumped from about 30 billion yuan last year to more than 50 billion yuan this year, setting a new box office record since 2020, indicating that the film industry in China is accelerating its recovery.
At present, the top ten in the annual box office list are all domestic films. The box office data released by the film data platform since 2011 shows that domestic films have won the top ten annual box office only once before in 2020. Analysts pointed out that behind the growing popularity of domestic films is the overall progress of China films — — Domestic films are more and more close to the aesthetic needs of the audience.
In 2023, China’s box office revenue exceeded 50 billion yuan on November 13th. Industry insiders predict that the annual box office revenue will eventually reach around 55 billion yuan. Although it is lower than the historical highs of more than 60 billion yuan in 2019 and 2018, it is equivalent to the level in 2017 and will be the fourth or third highest annual box office in China film history.
"This shows that the film market has generally recovered, and both the film supply side and the audience demand side are gradually returning to the pre-epidemic level." Liu Peng, president of Cat’s Eye Research Institute, a box office data analysis agency, told Xinhua News Agency.
Looking back on the whole year, the Spring Festival in 2023 performed well, with the box office exceeding 6.7 billion yuan, making it the second highest box office in China film history, only lower than that in 2021. The summer file is particularly eye-catching, with the box office reaching 20.6 billion yuan, creating the first record of China’s summer file box office breaking through the 20 billion mark. The National Day box office was 2.7 billion yuan, although it was inferior to the 4 billion yuan in the National Day file for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021, but it was higher than the 1.5 billion yuan in 2022.
On June 9th, the crew of the film "Feng Shen Part I" appeared at the red carpet ceremony of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival. Xinhua News Agency reporter Xin Mengchen photo
The types of films are rich and the themes are diverse. Among them, "Man Jiang Hong" and "Wandering Earth 2" aroused the feelings of home and country; The realistic movies "Put all your eggs in one basket", "She Disappeared", "In an octagonal cage" and "Rock-solid" are highly topical and close to life. Feng Shen Part I is praised as a masterpiece of China people’s own epic myth, while Three Wan Li in Chang ‘an tells a new antique story from a unique perspective.
"On the whole, China films adhere to the realistic line, absorb the tradition of legendary narration of China films, communicate and interact with the mainstream audience more closely, and constantly improve the industrialization of films, which has contributed to the overall progress and development of China films." Rao Shuguang, president of China Film Criticism Society, believes that film consumption in China is showing a good trend of recovery growth.
As of December 16th, the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, a movie data platform, shows that 83% of the box office in China in 2023 was contributed by domestic movies, and the top ten in the box office list were all domestic movies. The Hollywood film Fast and Furious 10 ranks 12th with a box office income of 980 million yuan, which is the highest ranked foreign film.
According to industry observers, the attraction of Hollywood movies to China movie audiences is weakening, corresponding to the increasing attention of domestic movies.
"Hollywood mainly relies on Marvel Comics films and series of films. Although these films present powerful audio-visual wonders, they have also caused aesthetic fatigue to China audiences over time." Rao Shuguang analyzed, "At the same time, American movies lack internal connection with China people’s lives, and it is difficult to cause empathy."
Liu Peng believes that Hollywood films are good at industrialization and visual effects, while domestic visual effects blockbusters have become common in recent years. "If Hollywood films don’t have strong word-of-mouth support, rich and diverse domestic films are a natural choice for audiences".