China’s box office has fallen by a quarter as viewers switch to streaming

China’s box office has fallen by about a quarter over the past year due to a lack of blockbusters and strong economic conditions as consumers turn to streaming services for entertainment.

While China’s film industry will surpass North America’s in box office revenue for the first time in 2020, its recovery from the pandemic has been weak. The world’s second-largest film market is expected to record total box office revenue of Rmb42.5bn ($5.8bn) in 2024, down 23 percent from Rmb54.9bn a year earlier, the China Film Administration said.

That’s down 3 percent year-over-year to $8.7 billion at the North American box office in 2024, according to Comscore and Deadline.

Chris Fenton, a US-China analyst and assistant professor at the University of Southern California, said: “The lack of domestic industry supply will certainly hurt, but that hurt will be exacerbated by a poor economy.”

Usually on a busy Christmas Eve, box office receipts come in. China In the year It fell to Rmb38mn from Rmb170mn in 2023 and was the lowest in at least 13 years, Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan said.

“(We’re) affected by the drop in consumption,” said Wang, a cinema manager in Beijing. “Simply put, it’s an economic crisis.” In the year By 2024, attendance in several major Chinese cities is expected to drop by as much as 35 percent, with many theaters operating at a loss, he said.

Instead of visiting the cinema, many viewers prefer online streaming platforms and short-form video content on their mobile devices, according to industry analysts at Chinese entertainment information provider Beacon Professional.

Another reason is that “good quality movies on the market are not able to create buzz and enthusiasm for people,” says author Ying Zhu. Hollywood in China: Behind the world’s largest film market.

But while streaming services “definitely fed into cinema revenue”, he said the decline in China’s box office “has more to do with the overall economic slowdown, where high youth unemployment has reduced pocket money for entertainment”.

Kenny Ng, a film scholar at Hong Kong Baptist University, said the outbreak still had “a lasting impact on consumer behavior in China, especially in the entertainment industry.”

“The shift to home entertainment is at an all-time high, with many consumers reluctant to return to crowded venues like cinemas,” he said.

Sun, a 27-year-old tech worker in Shanghai, went to the cinema only twice last year, compared to more than 10 times in previous years, as domestic distribution platforms such as Tencent Video become more attractive.

“Many theater shows do not give me much interest to watch in cinemas. . . (And) not many attractive films were released,” he said.

The highest-grossing Chinese film of 2024 is a domestic comedy. YOLOAn adaptation of a Japanese film about a woman who lacks confidence and takes up boxing to change her life. YOLO It took in Rmb3.4bn, according to Maoyan, less than the Rmb4.5bn generated by 2023’s top film, the Chinese comedy-mystery. Full river red.

China is showing weak consumer confidence, youth unemployment is as high as 17 percent and wage growth is slowing. Growing social tensions Chinese leaders are also concerned.

Zhu, a professor at Hong Kong Baptist University’s Film Academy, said: “While the return of comedies has helped ease social tensions, audiences are tired of big-budget propaganda films.”

The Chinese market contributed up to 30 percent of Hollywood’s blockbuster revenue before 2020, USC’s Fenton said, but their appeal has faded in recent years, with many big films seeing 10 percent or less of their grosses come from the Chinese box office. Receipts. Only one Hollywood product – a sci-fi action franchise Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – Made 10 top-grossing films in China last year, Maoyan said.

Hollywood films increasingly “fail to connect with local audiences,” Zhou said. China’s state-run news agency Xinhua said in an opinion piece last year that “a lack of innovation and creativity in Hollywood films and their formulaic storytelling satisfy Chinese audiences.”

“Hollywood films are losing popularity with China’s Gen Z audience,” said Shi Chuan, vice chairman of the Shanghai Film Association, adding that Western culture’s influence on the country’s younger generation is waning.

Shi mentioned the recent reception Mission: Impossible For example. “It’s a high-quality movie, but it was disappointing at the box office, because (many) Chinese Gen Z moviegoers don’t know who Tom Cruise is,” Shi said.

Meanwhile, funding, censorship, and elections are shrinking. He was accused by the film producers And to get industry analysts to hold back the domestic industry.

Fenton said the box office will continue to grow over the next few years “because of the (Chinese) population.” The film industry is hoping for local blockbusters, including the fantasy epic Creation of the Gods II: Clash of the Demons And the value of martial arts Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Greatest Hero Both will be released during the peak Lunar New Year season at the end of January, which could boost box office sales.

“As always, the quality of the film is important,” said Stanley Rosen, a professor of Chinese society at the University of Southern California.