Box Office Changes during the Spring Festivals from 2015 to 2017
The nationwide box office in the Spring Festival of 2017(January 27-February 2, seven days in total) has totaled RMB3.42 billion, a year-on-year rise of 10.88% from RMB3.09 billion of 2016, with 90.46 million admissions and 1.96 million showings in total. In terms of admissions, the nationwide admissions of 2016 was 84.71 million, while that of 2017 has only increased by 6.79%; in contrast, the showings of 2017 has surged by 35.38%. It can been seen that, the large increase in the number of screens in 2016 has indeed made some contribution to the rise of admissions, yet as a result of which, output efficiency of single screen was not satisfactory.
Compared to the Spring Festival of 2016, that of 2017 has witnessed increases in box office of all seven days: particularly the box office on the first day of lunar year exceeded RMB800 million, hitting a record high with a year-on-year increase of 24.78%. The first five days of the Spring Festival of 2017 were in January with in total RMB2.48 billion at the box office, which has took up over 50% of the total receipts in January.
The box office market in the Spring Festival of 2016 was dominated by three big hits, while, by contrast, the market competition was ever fiercer in the Spring Festival of 2017 with five films taking over 100 million yuan at the box office. Herein, “Journey to the West: Demon Chapter” has set several records. Its single-day box office reached RMB355.02 million, exceeding the highest single-day box office record of Chinese-language film set by “The Mermaid” with RMB316.08 million in 2016 and setting a new record. On the first day of lunar year, “Journey to the West: Demon Chapter”, “Buddies In India” and “Kung-Fu Yoga” all took over 100 million yuan at the box office.
As to Douban scores of Top 5 Films in the Spring Festival of 2017, “Duckweed” earned a score of 7.0, ranking the first. The second was “Entangled Worlds”, an animation with a score of 6.5. Next, “Journey to the West: Demon Chapter”, “Kung-Fu Yoga” and “Buddies In India” earned respective scores of 5.8, 5.4 and 3.9. This result shows that “Duckweed” and “Entangled Worlds” have won high praise from the public, and “Kung-Fu Yoga” obviously echoed the joyful atmosphere of family reunion. By contract, other films all fell into the phenomenon of “high box office and low public praise” and their box office all showed downward trends from early highs. “Journey to the West: Demon Chapter” and “Buddies In India” respectively made RMB355.02 million and RMB138.19 million on the first day of lunar year. Later, with a fall in audience expectation and public praise after release, “Kung-Fu Yoga” overtook “Journey to the West: Demon Chapter” on the fourth day of lunar year, and “Buddies In India” was overtaken by “Duckweed” as well.
Consumption on Different Screen Types during the Spring Festival of 2017
During the Spring Festival of 2017, the consumption on ordinary 3D screens was the highest with box office receipts of RMB2.12 billion. Second came the ordinary 2D screens with receipts of RMB1.17 billion. Last came the IMAX 2D screens, as there were almost no films with corresponding system screened in this period. Although the average ticket prices for films in different screening systems in this period were four to five yuan higher than those of 2016, the rise in ticket prices hasn’t made any difference to the overall box office of the Spring Festival.
Top 10 Cinemas with Highest Box Office in the Spring Festival of 2017
Top 10 Theatre Chains with Highest Box Office in the Spring Festival of 2017
During the Spring Festival of 2017, Wanda Cinema Line ranked the first in box office with RMB427.02 million, rising by 23.6% from RMB345.51 million of 2015 and taking up 12.48% of the total nationwide box office. Nonetheless, Guangdong Dadi Cinema Circuit has had 9.77 million admissions, which surpassed Wanda Cinema Line, with box office receipts ranking the second.
Top 10 Provinces with Highest Box Office in the Spring Festival of 2017
During the Spring Festival of 2017, Jiangsu Province, Guangdong Province and Zhejiang Province ranked top three among 31 provinces in terms of box office output. All these three provinces are located in southeast coastal region boasting relatively high level of cultural consumption and robust box office outputs.
Box Office of Cities at Various Tiers in the Spring Festival of 2017
Owing to the return migration during the Spring Festival of 2017, the box office of first-tier and second-tier cities in the Chinese Mainland has declined compared to that of 2016. To be specific, the box office proportion of first-tier cities has dropped to 13.37% in 2017 from 23.0% of 2016, and that of second-tier cities has dropped to 32.12% in 2017 from 39.2% of 2016. Due to a transfer of consumption capacity caused by the return migration in the Spring Festival, the box office proportion of third-tier cities and below has showed a drastic rise in this period.