Moviegoers wait in a movie theater in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, on October 7, 2024. Photo: VCG

China's 2024 box office surged past the 40 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) threshold on Wednesday afternoon, with three domestic films - Yolo, Pegasus 2, and Successor - claiming the top positions in the highest-grossing film rankings, according to data from Chinese movie ticketing platform Beacon.

The platform shows that by Tuesday, the number of movie tickets sold in 2024 had reached 940 million, marking a 28 percent year-on-year decrease. This decline in attendance highlights an issue that needs attention.

Zhang Peng, a film researcher and associate professor at Nanjing Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that he attributes the mixed performance of China's film market this year to several factors, including audience fatigue with repetitive themes, the absence of blockbuster hits, the diversion of audiences to short videos and micro-dramas, the rising cost of going to the cinema, and the lack of compelling content and effective marketing strategies.

Lai Li, a data analyst with Chinese ticketing platform Mao­yan, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the first half of the year saw commendable performances during various holiday periods, including the New Year, Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, and May Day holidays. However, the second half of the year saw an overall decline due to the lack of strong leading films, with only three film - A Place Called Silence, Successor and The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death - crossing the 1 billion yuan mark. Additionally, the market has been relatively quiet outside of popular film seasons.

Currently, with the advent of the New Year film period (from November 22 to December 31) and the release of films like Her Story, there has been a noticeable uplift in the daily box office.

As an important stronghold in China's film market, the New Year period has always carried the audience's hopes for a prosperous new year. 

In the coming month, a variety of anticipated domestic and international films will compete for the attention of Chinese audiences.

Maoyan shows that in terms of foreign language films, the lineup includes Disney's Moana 2, the highly rated Indian film Maharaja, the fantasy musical Wicked, Sony's Marvel superhero film Kraven the Hunter, animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, and the new installment in The Lion King series, Mufasa: The Lion King, among others.

On the domestic front, a diverse range of films such as the comedy Good Luck, the animated film Nie Xiaoqian, spy thriller Burning Stars, action film The Prosecutor, and crime suspense film Octopus with Broken Arms have release dates. There is a hope that it will contribute to a final sprint for the year's overall performance during the last month.

"Overall, this year's New Year period features a large number of films with diverse genres, including many sequels to popular classic IPs that have a solid audience base in China and have the potential to surprise the film market," Lai said.

"If the heat of the New Year period continues, it could still provide a certain boost for the final leg of 2024, especially films like Her Story that has gained both critical acclaim and box-office success, attracting more audiences to theaters and increasing market heat," Zhang echoed.