Box office flops amid slowdown, fewer movies

Reuters and Cici Cao

China's 2024 box office revenue slumped by almost a quarter from the previous year, due to a decline in the number of feature films, competition from online offerings including micro dramas and a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

Box office revenue totaled 42.5 billion yuan (HK$45 billion), according to the China Film Administration. That's down 22.6 percent from 54.92 billion yuan in 2023, and 34 percent lower than the pre-pandemic peak in 2019.

Of that, box office revenue of domestic films totaled 33.439 billion yuan, plunging 27.3 percent from 46 billion yuan in 2023.

In 2024, eight movies recorded earnings over 1 billion yuan in China and the total number of moviegoers in urban theaters reached 1.01 billion, according to a report from Maoyan Entertainment (1896).

China's movie market lacked quality content in 2024, while multiple genres were offered to satisfy the audience's diversified demands, it said.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, box office revenue for the first half of 2024 fell by 17 percent to HK$640 million from HK$770 million in the same period last year, according to statistics from Hong Kong Box Office.

The decline was due to northbound travelers and fewer new releases amid a sluggish market, lawmaker Adrian Pedro Ho King-hong said.

Over the Christmas holidays from December 24 to 26, box office revenue was HK$20 million, slightly higher than HK$19.59 million recorded in the same period in 2023 but down 36 percent compared to HK$33 million in 2022.