Advance ticket sales up ahead of Spring Festival, market share of online ticketing revealed, little cinema consolidation in 2016, should BO count include service charge, Xiao Feng reveals cinema expansion plans, Wang’s Davos transcript, 6.7 was average score for Chinese films released in 2016.
This weekend is Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year/Spring Festival), which is typically the busiest time in China’s cinema year and customarily reserved for domestic releases. Currently leading the pack is sequel “Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back” ahead of Jackie Chan’s “Kung Fu Yoga” and several other releases. Advance sales are already north of CNY ¥115 million, but remains to be seen if any film can match last year’s hit “The Mermaid”. Ent Group – 23 January 2017
A study of online ticketing platforms in China reveals that Weiying Technology is #1 with a 25.1% with Maoyan following with 24.3%. Third is Alibaba’s movie ticketing platform Tao Piao Piao (17.3%) with Baidu Nuomi fourth (15.5%). Worth remembering how important vertical integration is for cinema-ticketing-distribution-films-e-commerce in China and how far ahead the country is in this regard of any other other market. WeiXin – 21 January 2017
While there is much talk of theatrical consolidation, there was little evidence of it in 2016. In 2015 the Top 6 cinema chains accounted for 50.46% of BO, while in 2016 that number was 50.44%. Some analyst even dismiss cinema consolidation as a ‘Pseudo-concept’ and say that more important action will happen on the video streaming front. Yet Wanda is active abroad (through AMC) and Dadi just bought Orange Sky Golden Harvest, which should make for an interesting 2017. 36kr – 24 January 2017
Was 2016 box office revenue more than CNY ¥45.7 billion (USD $6.64 billion)? If you include the service fee that consumers paid for their online tickets the total comes to CNY ¥49.28 billion (USD $7.15 billion) according to analysts Ent Group . In 2016 the number of online movie tickets passed 1.04 billion, representing 76% of all tickets sold. Ent Group – 22 January 2017
China Film Stellar Studios plans to grow by 200 cinemas within five years. There will be a heavy focus on cutting edge technology: Imax, Dolby Cinema, China Film Giant Screen, laser projection, 4DX and more says company head Xiao Feng. Win Business – 22 January 2017
Wanda’s Chairman Wang Jianlin was one of the key speakers at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Here is a transcript that gives an insight into the plans for Wanda (though he gave no hint that his AMC subsidiary was about to swoop in on NCG). MyDrivers.com – 19 January 2017
In 2016 the average score for a Chinese film released in cinemas was 6.7. There have been accusations from government organs that Rotten Tomato-like review aggregator websites were talking down domestic releases, contributing to the BO slump. The most popular genre was comedies (52.3%). Of those surveyed, 20.6% went o cinemas 10 or more times per year, 40.2% went 5-10 times, 25.2% went 3 to 5 times and 10.5% less and 3.6% said they never went to the cinema in 2016. China Youth Daily – 19 January 2017
