A girl and an adult stand before movie posters in a cinema during the New Year's Day holidays in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning Province. Photo: VCG

In a promising start of 2024, China's box office has showcased a remarkable success, setting an optimistic tone for the film industry. Experts forecast this favorable trend will only gain momentum, leaving its mark on both the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year box office and the overall annual ticket sales for 2024.

In the midst of heightened New Year festivities, China's film industry has achieved an unprecedented milestone with the most profitable New Year box office revenue in history.

According to data, China's New Year's Day box office earnings reached 1.533 billion yuan ($215 million) from December 30, 2023 to January 1, 2024, setting a new record for the holiday period. 

The total number of moviegoers reached 36.6 million, with domestic films contributing 1.411 billion yuan, capturing an impressive 92.04 percent market share.

Promotional material for Shining for One Thing Photo: Courtesy of Douban

A shining start

Among the array of films released during the New Year's Day holidays, Shining for One Thing emerged as the top-grossing film with a box office revenue of 608 million yuan. 

The romance movie's plot is set in a parallel timeline to that of a popular TV series. Before its release, the film used the "snow scene" marketing strategy, which uses artificial snow to replicate scenes from the movie at certain screenings, to attract viewers, which has proven to contribute to its box office success.

The comedy film Johnny Keep Walking! also became a popular choice for lots of moviegoers. With the efforts of veteran comedians such as Da Peng and Bai Ke, the film garnered 234 million yuan in box office revenue, securing the second position in the New Year's Day box office rankings.

Promotional material for Johnny Keep Walking! Photo: Courtesy of Douban

Additionally, two Hong Kong films, The Goldfinger and I Did It My Way featuring acclaimed actors like Andy Lau, Tony Leung and Simon Yam, earned 220 million yuan and 173 million yuan respectively, claiming the third and fourth spots in the box office rankings.

It's also worth noting that US singer Taylor Swift's concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour grossed more than 49 million yuan at the box office during the three-day holiday. The film has also made history as the highest-grossing imported documentary on the Chinese mainland after earning 67.94 million yuan at the box office on the ­Chinese mainland alone as of Monday, data from the Chinese online ticketing platform Maoyan showed. 

Zhang Peng, a film researcher at Nanjing University's National Research Center of Cultural Industries, told the Global Times on Monday that the reason why the film season during the New Year's Day holidays was able to achieve such an excellent result is that each of the film has a strong target audience base. 

Shining for One Thing, for instance, captured the audiences' attention, especially among young lovers, through the use of the romantic - "artificial snow in the cinema" marketing gimmick. 

Johnny Keep Walking! utilized solid word-of-mouth advertising by featuring young people's workplace woes, creating a strong sense of solidarity with "the newbie." Films like I Did It My Way and The Goldfinger attracted moviegoers with famous cast lineups including veteran actors.

He pointed out that this strong start has proven that the current film market has recovered, showing robust trends in the market similar to those from 2013 to 2018. The continuous and steady development indicates a good outlook for the ­Chinese film box office in 2024.

Promotional material for The Goldfinger Photo: Courtesy of Douban

Recovery in 2023

Looking at the overall data for 2023, the box office recovered with optimistic results, and audience enthusiasm for movie-watching also returned.

According to data, China's total annual film box office earnings for 2023 reached 54.915 billion yuan, with domestic films contributing 46.005 billion yuan, accounting for 83.77 percent of total earnings. The urban cinema attendance has reached 1.299 billion.

On January 1, the film data platform Beacon, in collaboration with the Xinhua News Agency, released a report of the 2023 China film market's annual review, indicating a 70 percent surge in box office revenue compared to the last three years, returning to 2017 levels, with a 60 percent increase in attendance. 

Although the success of one ­period does not necessarily forecast the box office performance of another period, the upcoming Spring Festival film season, as per the currently anticipated lineup, will offer even more varieties than that of the New Year's Day holidays, creating anticipation, Shi Wenxue, a film critic and judge with the Beijing International Film Festival, told the Global Times. 

On January 4, based on statistics from Maoyan, nearly 50 films have already joined the Chinese Lunar New Year film lineup, encompassing a variety of genres such as drama, crime, espionage and more. Industry experts have projected that the total box office takings for the holiday season could reach 1.2 billion yuan, according to media reports.

China's film market is not just rebounding; it is poised for a prosperous Chinese Lunar New Year, setting the stage for continued growth in the year ahead.

Shi said that China's domestically produced films have contributed greatly to the film market, and this trend would continue during the Chinese Lunar New Year period. 

Box office takings from 73 films exceeded 100 million yuan throughout 2023, 50 of which were domestic productions. The top 10 films in terms of box office earnings were all domestically produced, with Full River Red, The Wandering Earth II and No More Bets taking the top three spots.

"The popularity of Chinese Lunar New Year holidays movies in 2024 is foreseeable as it would surely attract more releases of high-quality films," he said.