According to La and other industry insiders, a more deep-rooted cause is the disappearance of subsidies.
La said box-office growth had started to slow as early as March. While the film industry had been subsidized for a while, the release of Ip Man 3 pushed it to breaking point. The third installment of the popular kung fu series opened on March 4 and in three days it had taken 470 million yuan, but widespread fraud was suspected.
The industry's regulating agency ordered four ticketing service businesses to turn over documents they signed with the film's distributor. The media jumped on the story and reports emerged of online merchants' subsidies or phantom attendances.
In June, during a forum discussion at the Shanghai International Film Festival, Ang Lee, the Academy Award-winning and widely respected Chinese-American director, sprang a surprise. Instead of offering tips on fueling further breakneck growth of China's film industry, he said it should slow down.
La said, "What he meant by slowing down was to change the current focus on short-term profits, to remove the bubble and to raise the spirit of professionalism in our industry."
Last summer, some movies that were widely panned saw comfortable returns.
They included Tiny Times 4.0, which grossed 488 million yuan, and Forever Young, with 379 million yuan. Both were so-called fan films, whose considerable fan base would not object to the movies' low quality.
Like He Jiong, a celebrity who threw his weight behind Forever Young－his directorial debut－actor-turned-director Wen Zhang hoped to pull off a similar feat.
However, When Larry Met Mary has grossed only 185 million yuan to date, a dismal result considering Wen's clout and the positive reviews it has received. Some have blamed it on Wen himself, saying his off-screen extramarital affair undermined the credibility of the on-screen love story.
Perhaps to forestall a drastic downturn, film industry regulators have relaxed the limit on imported films for this summer.
However, most imports have delivered performances that are considered decent but not highly successful. Apart from Warcraft and the new X-Men, which have huge built-in audiences in China, other releases in June and July have not been major hits.
Now You See Me 2 has grossed 638 million yuan, Independence Day: Resurgence 503 million yuan, Finding Dory 254 million yuan, and The Legend of Tarzan 238 million yuan in its first 10 days.
While many observers have accepted the downturn as a "correction" that will prevent a giant market bubble forming, it could just be a temporary blip in an ever-evolving industry.
Skiptrace, Jackie Chan's comedy adventure, has made 680 million yuan in its first 10 days. This performance is not eye-catching in any way because it is in line with Chan's proven track record, but the fact that a well-made piece of entertainment can see a solid return is a reminder of what ultimately matters amid the market turbulence.
This is that the film market is determined by how movies are received, not by how they are used as financial tools to play the market.
