BEIJING — Boosted by solidly priced ticket sales for the Spring Festival, China’s 2023 box reached 10 billion yuan ($1. 48 billion) on Tuesday, the first date the record figure has been reached.
This is a significant achievement that immediately made headlines online, especially since China’s overall box office for the total of 2022 30. 07 billion yuan, according to data from the China Film Administration.
The national titles released at the Spring Festival, which fell on Jan. 22 and ushered in China’s Lunar New Year, topped January’s rankings, according to online platforms such as Box Office Tracking Maoyan.
At the most sensible point on the list, “Full River Red”, Zhang Yimou’s first foray into the genre of “suspense plus comedy”, with about 3430 million yuan, or 34% of the total.
Guo Fan’s “The Wandering Earth II” immediately followed, a prequel to the 2019 sci-fi blockbuster “The Wandering Earth,” which grossed about 2. 79 billion yuan.
The third, the animated film “Boonie Bears: Guardian Code,” the latest installment in one of China’s oldest film franchises. It raised 1. 04 billion yuan.
Three titles, namely the spy action film “Hidden Blade”, the animated fantasy “Deep Sea” and the comedy “Five Hundred Miles”, secured respectable revenues ranging from 326 million yuan to more than 640 million yuan each.
The U. S. film “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the highly anticipated sequel to the 2009 U. S. sci-fi hit “Avatar,” came in fourth with more than 688 million yuan generated this month, bringing its overall Chinese box from Dec. 1. 16, 2022, to 1640 million yuan.
RECORD REVENUE IN JANUARY
The achievement of a milestone on Tuesday means that the Chinese table ends this January with a record turnover for the month.
This year, the Spring Festival arrived earlier than usual. Unlike 2022 and 2021, when week-long vacation, a lucrative movie season, usually fell in February, this year’s holiday in total was in January.
Increased ticket sales for vacation videos sent profits from China’s boxes soaring at 7 p. m. on Tuesday to 10. 03 billion yuan, well above the 2. 71 billion yuan, 3. 33 billion yuan and 3. 38 billion yuan reached in the same month in 2022, 2021 and 2019, respectively.
The increase in the holiday box this year, which has exceeded the expectations of many observers, can be attributed to several reasons, adding the high quality of Christmas movies from other genres and the lifting of many COVID-19 restrictions following the adjustment of China. reaction to the virus, according to administrators and film critics.
Four of the six titles released at the Spring Festival scored 7 out of 10 or higher on Douban’s review platform, with “The Wandering Earth II” scoring 8. 2 and “Full River Red” scoring 7. 4, Knowledge showed Tuesday.
ELEMENTS OF CHINESE CULTURE
It is widely believed that elements of classical Chinese culture added to the allure of this year’s films.
The ending of “Full River Red” moved many to tears as they watched thousands recite a lyric poem written by patriotic Song Dynasty general Yue Fei (960-1279) at a concert.
In a television interview, Zhang Yimou said he was encouraged through the “revolving level lamp” of classical Chinese culture. Place his characters in a classic courtyard in northern China’s Shanxi province, where they will have to go through many long, narrow alleys to interrogate other people to solve a murder.
Yu Opera, a classic opera show from central China’s Henan province, was used as background music to echo the sense of tension as characters run through alleyways.
The frenzy surrounding the film also led to an accumulation of sightseeing to museums and other cultural sites, where other people pay tribute to Yue Fei for his loyalty and courage in the fight against the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234).
Adapted from Liu Cixin’s Chinese tale of the same name, the films “The Wandering Earth” are set in the long term and tell of a bold attempt to save Earth when the sun is about to become a red giant and consume the planet.
Fu Ruoqing, a senior executive at China Film Co Ltd, which co-produced the films, hailed “The Wandering Earth II” as a milestone in Chinese film history.
In the film, Chinese scientists provide the option that humanity can simply put the Earth on a wandering path, leading to the resolution to do so. It is “out of respect for a human network of destiny,” Fu said in a television interview.
MORE COMING SOON
Critics hope that this season’s quality holiday videos will continue to attract audiences after the holidays are over, as many other returning people will have more time to go to the movies.
According to Maoyan’s most recent estimates, “Full River Red” is expected to finish its box with 4. 56 billion yuan and “The Wandering Earth II” with 3. 78 billion yuan.
The film industry hopes that the Christmas movie frenzy will ignite people’s hobby on the big screen and draw more audiences to theaters.