Movies are Big Business in China

Over the weekend, the Chinese mainland summer box office reached 10 billion yuan (approximately 1.4 billion U.S. dollars), with various newcomers providing more drive to the market and previously released blockbusters like "Successor sustaining their momentum."

Late Saturday night's total season box office on the Chinese mainland has exceeded the 10-billion-yuan mark, according ticketing platform statistics.

Every top three title came out more than a month ago.

With a revenue of more than 3.1 billion yuan, "Successor," featuring the highly praised comic team Shen Teng and Ma Li, has dominated this year's summer movie season and ranked third on the yearly box office chart.

Company Name

Ticker Symbol

Exchange

Wanda Film Holding Co. Ltd.

002739.SZ

Shenzhen Stock Exchange

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

BABA

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

Tencent Holdings Ltd.

0700.HK

Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX)

Huayi Brothers Media Corp.

300027.SZ

Shenzhen Stock Exchange

iQIYI Inc.

IQ

NASDAQ

China Film Co. Ltd.

600977.SS

Shanghai Stock Exchange

Bona Film Group Ltd.

Private

-

IMAX China Holding Inc.

1970.HK

Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX)

Perfect World Co. Ltd.

002624.SZ

Shenzhen Stock Exchange

Beijing Enlight Media Co. Ltd.

300251.SZ

Shenzhen Stock Exchange

Emphasizing modern parent-child relationships, the movie chronicles the tale of an affluent couple who create a demanding atmosphere for their son to inspire his personal development.

Director Sam Quah's latest murder thriller "A Place Called Silence," which has attracted over 1.3 billion yuan over the summer moviegoing season, came next. The movie looks at campus bullying, a major social issue that has generated strong debates on social media lately.

Released on June 22, domestic drama "Moments We Shared" landed third in the seasonal rankings with around 500 million yuan in box office receipts.

Coming in fourth and fifth respectively, Marvel Studios' "Deadpool & Wolverine" and Universal and Illumination's animated comedy "Despicable Me 4" pocketed 424 million yuan and 381 million yuan.

Around the traditional Qixi Festival, which falls on Aug. 10 this year and is known as Chinese Valentine's Day, several films decided to reach the silver screen, therefore boosting the summer box office even more.

Since its Qixi release, Chinese animation "White Snake: Afloat" has grossed 296 million yuan. One of the most well-known Chinese folk love stories, the classic White Snake chronicles the passion between a young man and a snake spirit that has evolved into a human woman.

Released in August as well were domestic films "Upstream" and "Decoded," both of which brought in more than 300 million yuan at the box office.

On the Chinese mainland, the summer moviegoing period—which runs from June 1 to Aug. 31—is the longest single screening season. With 20.6 billion yuan in the summer box office in 2023, the summer box office clearly plays a major part on the annual movie calendar.

As of Sunday, the total box office earnings on the Chinese mainland in 2024 come to 31.8 billion yuan.

Shayne Heffernan