Chinese New Year Box Office Sets New Records

In case you were wondering why Hollywood has been courting China over the last few years, all you have to do is look at the staggering box office receipts for the country.

In much the same way that the US Thanksgiving starts a holiday box office rush in the US, the Chinese New Year is a boom time for Chinese theater owners.

According to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, Chinese cinemas earned 3.347 billion yuan or about $487 million USD in ticket sales during the seven-day Lunar New Year holiday this year. Box office receipts from Jan 27th to Feb 2nd handily beat the 2016 Lunar New Year holiday take of 3.08 billion yuan.

China’s box office set a single-day record high on Jan. 28th, the first day of the Chinese New Year, with 805 million yuan or $117.1 million USD.

The highest grossing movie was Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, produced by Hong Kong comedian Stephen Chow and directed by Hark Tsui. It grossed 1.153 billion yuan over the holiday.

Published by Editorial Team

The Asia Rising Editorial Team is made up of a multinational team of writers, content experts and journalists from around the world operating out of our Bureaus in New York, Bangkok, Toronto and while on assignment across Asia.