Poster of the film Lost in the Stars is seen in a cinema in Nanjing on July 5, 2023. Photo: VCG

As of 9 pm on Thursday, China's box office hit 20.611 billion yuan ($2.84 billion) for the summer film season which started on June 1, up nearly 15 percent from 2019, marking a new high for the period and a full recovery for the industry, according to ticketing platform Maoyan.

Notably, 23 films generated revenue of over 100 million yuan each, and four films made 2 billion yuan during the period. For a 71-day-streak, the daily box office surpassed 100 million yuan, according to the platform.

The total number of cinema admissions reached 504 million, also a new record.

As of press time, the accumulated box office has crossed 42.7 billion yuan, according to Maoyan. Analysts said that the total box office in 2023 could reach 60 billion yuan by the end of the year.

The box office success this year can also be seen as a triumph for domestic movies and China's film industry. Industry insiders said that this year's summer movies offered diverse themes and high quality, showing China's great potential for movie creation as the cinema market continues to recover and improve.

In addition, China's retail sales are recovering, reaching 3.7 trillion yuan in July, up 2.5 percent year-on-year. The reading was lower than that of June, but total retail sales in the first seven months increased by 7.3 percent year-on-year, according to data from China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

According to MOFCOM, catering and accommodation, culture and tourism, sports and leisure, and transportation have seen a rebound in consumption. Box office revenue in July reached 8.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 1.5 times.

Global Times