Poster for “Detective Chinatown 2" and “Operation Red Sea"
The Chinese film industry is spitting out good numbers in the first half of 2018. Domestic blockbusters such as "Operation Red Sea" and "Detective Chinatown 2" powered the Chinese box office to its best-ever in the first six months of the year.
China's box office hit over 32 billion yuan (4.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months of this year, recording a whopping 17.8 percent increase from the same period last year.
Domestic films accounted for 60 percent of revenue, at 19 billion yuan (2.8 billion U.S. dollars). Last year, it was 10.5 billion yuan (1.6 billion U.S. dollars).
This record high is boosted by homegrown films, especially those released in February during Chinese New Year.
"One of the reasons is that we're building more cinemas than ever before, especially in the second, third and fourth tier cities. But the biggest contribution comes from the Spring Festival release. You can see 'Operation Red Sea,' 'Detective Chinatown 2' and 'Monster Hunt 2.' The diversity of the films gave the audience more choices," according to Xie Meng, a Beijing-based film curator and producer.
These three domestic movies were among the top 10 highest-grossing films in the first half of the year.
Military blockbuster "Operation Red Sea" and crime thriller "Detective Chinatown 2" both raked in more than 3.5 billion yuan (520 million U.S. dollars) each. They were the top two highest-grossing films.
Fantasy comedy "Monster Hunt 2" made 2.2 billion yuan (327 million U.S. dollars) and took fourth place.
Why are domestic films making such a huge contribution?
"First of all, the local audiences do embrace local content. People in the second, third and fourth tier cities embrace local content rather than people in the top tier cities. At the same time, domestic filmmakers are making better quality films. This is an important reason why people go to see a local story on the big screen," said Xie.
Hollywood blockbusters naturally were also strong performers. "Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom" grossed 1.62 billion yuan (241 million U.S. dollars), while "Ready Player One" made 1.39 billion yuan (207 million U.S. dollars).
China overtook North America as the world's biggest movie market in the first quarter of 2018, but lost the throne in the second quarter.
"Compared with North America, the Chinese film market is still growing and not mature enough. There are both opportunities and challenges," said Xie.
However, China is still one of the fastest-growing film markets in the world.
In July, domestic films such as director Jiang Wen's latest production "Hidden Man" continued to perform quite well in the box office.
But there are still problems facing domestic films. Fantasy film "Asura," dubbed the most expensive Chinese film ever with a 750 million yuan (110 million U.S. dollars) budget, was pulled from cinemas just three days after its debut.
No reason was given for the pull-out, but some are owing it to its bad box office performance, as the film only earned 46 million yuan (7.3 million U.S. dollars).
