China Archives - Celluloid Junkie

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Chinese Spring Festival Sees Strong Box Office Return

The recently concluded Chinese Spring Festival holiday saw a strong return for local movies, following a significant decline in the box office in 2022. In total 126 million tickets were sold, adding up to CNY 6.65 billion (USD $982 million) as of last Friday. Four local titles dominated the new rele…

Chinese Cinema Openings Below 60%

The number of cinemas in China that are open has fallen below 60%, as “temporary” lockdowns related to the country’s Zero Covid policy continues to drag down the industry. As of 25 October there were 7,395 cinemas in operation, a decline of 109 from the day before. The operating ra…

Chinese $450m Cinema Merger Points to Recovery

Chinese cinema operator Hengdian Film and Television (known as HG Entertainment) looks set to become the country’s second largest operator, following a proposed Shanghai Xingyi Cinema. This is the first large-scale merger and acquisition in China since the start of the pandemic, and points to…

Uncharted China Poster

Cinemas in China Face New Wave of Closures

Cinemas across several parts of China have closed as part of regional lockdowns in response to outbreaks of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. This comes after cinemas in China enjoyed a long period of remaining open following the first lockdown two years ago. China’s Zero Covid policy means tha…

China 2021 Box Office - CJ Cinema Summit

China on Track to Top Global Box Office in 2022 for Third Successive Year

The latest CJCinemaSummit featured a special focus on China, the world’s biggest cinema market in terms of box office and screens. With the blockbuster Spring Festival just concluded, we heard from experts at Comscore and Vista Group about the outlook for the year ahead, how Chinese releases c…

AET Cinema LED Display - Certification

New Chinese Cinema LED Gets DCI Certification

Chinese company AET Altai has become the latest manufacturer to get DCI certification for its Cinema LED screen technology. AET Altai thus joins the likes of Samsung, Sony and LG Electronics in having a non-projector cinema display solution that is certified to show first-run Hollywood films. The ce…

New Wave of Cinema Closures Across Europe and China

The contagious Delta variant of the Coronavirus has led to cinemas once again closing in places such as Beijing, Moscow and Latvia. There is a fear that the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere could lead to further restrictions on public life and possibly new cinema shutterings. However, in o…

By The Numbers: Predicting Cinema’s Post-COVID Recovery

At the end of last year the Celluloid Junkie editorial team began discussing its annual predictions piece for 2021. However, most expert forecasts for 2020 crumbled like volcanic lava sliding into the ocean. We stared into the 2021 crystal ball and saw a lot of fog regarding the return of cinema and…

After Bumper BO Holiday, China’s Cinemas Face Uncertain Months Ahead

The success of cinema releases in China over the Spring Festival (aka Chinese New Year) was a shot in the arm for the global theatrical business and proof that audiences are prepared to flock back to cinemas, once they feel safe and tentpole titles are released. Total BO in China in February reached…

A Cinema Superpower: China, One Year On

It’s a little over a year since the World changed forever. The Covid 19 pandemic, originating in China, would force the closure of all of their cinemas creating a domino effect that would see the cinema industry come to a standstill. It was on 23rd January 2020, on the eve of the Spring Festival (mo…