2017 Guess: When will China's movie box office surpass that of the United States?

Conscious industry insiders have seen that the growth rate of China's box office in recent years has been accompanied by the continuous growth in the number of screens and the subsidies of Internet companies for online ticket purchases. There is also a small amount of film companies 'own "buying box office" phenomenon caused by the financialization of films, which has added soup to the box office cauldron. Sooner or later, these factors will weaken or disappear. Healthy market growth ultimately depends on having enough movies, good enough movies, and people willing to take out their wallets and enter the movie theater frequently.

Original title: [New Year Special Issue] When did China's movie box office surpass that of the United States?

When did China's movie box office surpass that of the United States?

Not so fast.

It was in 2012 that China became the world's second largest film market. Box office revenue of China's films that year was 17 billion, or US$2.6 billion, surpassing that of Japan, the second-largest country at the time. From today's perspective, this figure is nothing, but it cannot withstand the decline of the Japanese box office that year. Once you sit in the second place, you must look at the first. Coupled with the fact that the box office of China movies has grown by 30%-40% every year in the following years, there has been a decades-old "super-beautiful" emotional bond in the hearts of the people, which quickly sprouted in the movie box office.

However, the market in 2016 was not very strong. By December 23, the box office only reached 44.1 billion yuan, exceeding the 44.069 billion yuan in 2015. Public data shows that the total box office of movies nationwide in 2016 was 45.712 billion yuan.

At the beginning of the year, people were looking at 60 billion yuan with great ambition. Two days earlier than this moment, another thing in China's film market was really "super beautiful"-as of December 21, China's screen count had 40917, surpassing the United States '40759 as of May this year. In addition to being the most populous country, China is now the country with the most movie screens on earth.

With more screens, more people, and average ticket prices are on par with those of the United States. China's box office should exceed that of the United States. If you can do whatever it takes, China's box office can be super good almost at any time. For example, the market should be opened immediately and China's theater managers could choose and play films at will. Of course, most domestic films will probably have no way to survive, and the ones who are happy are still Hollywood bosses.

Or further relax restrictions on film creation such as "animals are not allowed to become semen" and "puppy love is allowed but not allowed to succeed", so that there are richer and more decent products on the market. When the news of the Kaili Bank's family massacre case came out, netizens lamented that the bizarre and tortuous case was better than a Hollywood movie, but could it really be made into a movie? Everyone understood and laughed.

China's capital, which has grown in recent years, has bought many Hollywood film companies and used them to gain a piece of the film market in the United States and even the global film market. If local creations are loose, there is no reason why they should not come back and make money at their own homes. Another reason for the departure of capital is that the United States has the most mature film industry infrastructure. In many aspects such as finance and law, the rules are clear and the operation is smooth. In contrast, the film business in China has too much uncertainty. In the past few years when the market is booming, there has not been much movement in industrial infrastructure construction. This is another reality that holds back "super beauty".

The box office actually only reflects a small part of the value of the movie. Derivatives and theme parks are the channels for realizing greater added value in the film industry. The movie must be classic enough for its character scenes to become themes, such as Harry Potter, Hello Kitty, Jurassic Park, and Transformers; the themes must be accumulated enough to support the huge park, the most popular in Disneyland. The float parade, those celebrity images have been accumulated for more than 90 years. Therefore, what China films need is not only stable box office growth, but also healthy soil and long-term management.

"The box office is super beautiful". The people behind it are actually movie lovers and expect China films to catch up with and surpass Hollywood in terms of overall strength. Just as the manufacturing industry needs to transform from "Made in China" to "Made in China Intelligent" and finally stand in a leading position in the world, a grand and beautiful vision means a long and arduous road.

Editor: yvette