WASHINGTON — Movie ticket sales in China have generated more than $1.5 billion so far this summer, a little more than half of last year's record total of $2.89 billion, according to China’s Film Data Information Network, an institution directly under the Central Propaganda Department.
Summer is usually one of three lucrative periods for China's movie industry, but industry analysts, observers and customers say a slower economy and a lack of creative domestic films are to blame for the decline.
Some would-be moviegoers explained why they are staying home this summer.
One posted on social media: "The impact from last year's economic downturn officially appeared this year. Everyone thinks 40-80 yuan ($5-$11) per ticket is expensive."
"Many movies in theaters in July are on streaming services in August," another posted. "We'd rather watch them at home than go to the theater."
A moviegoer in Beijing who identified herself as Ms. Yu, told VOA that this year's film market is sluggish because the themes are plain, and streaming services allow everyone to watch movies at home without spending money.
"Everyone's life is already miserable,” she said, “so we don't want to watch sad movies.”
Although the streaming services have become theaters' biggest competitors, the economic downturn may be the main reason for the ticket sales plunge, said Shenzhen-based film director Zhang, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
"The spending power of young people and parents has decreased," Zhang told VOA. "One [reason] is that young people don't date, and parents whose income has been reduced are under great pressure to raise children, so they naturally cut the consumption activities except eating and drinking, not just movies."
China’s economy has been struggling to stabilize since the pandemic, according to the World Bank, with growth falling to 3% in 2022 before a moderate recovery to 5.2% in 2023. The global lender expects China’s growth rate to drop back below 5% this year, while youth unemployment has surged.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics removed students from its unemployment calculation after China hit a record high 21.3% youth unemployment rate in June 2023, prompting authorities to temporarily suspend publication of the statistic.
Darson Chiu, director-general of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Taiwan, told VOA that China’s controls on film and creativity have also contributed to the lackluster box office figures.
"China has a very strict censorship system," Chiu said. "Cultural activities need creativity, and it must be bottom-up. But it is obviously a top-down [censorship] mechanism, so it [the Chinese film industry] is not as creative as it is in other more open and free economies."
Lee Cheng-liang, an assistant professor of communications at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan, said Chinese cinemas in the summer mainly show domestic movies, which are struggling to find investors.
"The economy is declining; investors are more cautious to minimize risks. So they diversify the movie themes they invest in," Lee told VOA. "If you focus on the Chinese market, you will not necessarily make money unless you are at the top of the pyramid.”
Director Zhang said the Chinese summer comedies "Successor," which critiques the Chinese social education system, and "Upstream," which portrays package deliverers, are movies that do not "empathize with the general public."
Commercial movies are often condescending, he said, with hypocritically fabricated plots to show the suffering of people at the bottom. "It is actually a very deformed route," Zhang added.
Other film critics, however, find "Upstream" a great work with increasing favorable audience feedback, which uncovers China's immense economic problems and the struggle of its army of gig workers.
China's state Xinhua News agency said "Successor," grossing nearly 3.2 billion yuan as of Aug 20, accounted for almost 30% of China's summer box office sales.
Zhang said the more depressed the social and historical period is, the more popular comedy is because the audience wants to feel "dreamy and painless."
Despite the poor summer box office showing, not all critics are negative about China’s film industry.
"The ticket sales are not good this summer, but it does not mean that their [China's] movies are bad," Michael Mai, a film critic based in Taipei, told VOA. "Their audience is hard to please. Why? Because their appetite is too big. They have all kinds of movies."
Mai noted that there are three major periods in the Chinese movie market: the Lunar New Year, in January and February; the summer season, from June to August; and the weeklong National Day season from Oct. 1.
Movie ticket sales always have seasonal ups and downs, Mai said, so people should be focusing more on long-term trends.
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
