China’s box office continued its scorching pace of double-digit growth last year, but locally produced films took in less than half the total box-office revenue—a worrying sign for the domestic film industry.
The country’s movie-ticket sales for 2012 totaled 17.07 billion yuan ($2.74 billion), up 30% from the previous year, according to the newest box office data report. It didn’t include the ticket-sales figure for 2011.
The report said that more than 51% of the total box office went to imported movies, the first time in a decade that foreign films beat local productions.
Still, domestic films’ market share of more than 48% “exceeds market expectations,” Tong Gang, the head of Sarft’s film bureau, as saying.
Still, domestic films’ market share of more than 48% “exceeds market expectations,” Tong Gang, the head of Sarft’s film bureau, as saying. He pointed to the China-U.S. film agreement signed last February, which raised China’s annual foreign-film quota to 34 from 20—with the requirement that the additional 14 be 3-D or IMAX movies.
Although Chinese films faced stiff competition from Hollywood blockbusters such as “The Avengers” and “Titanic 3D,” Mr. Tong cited a shortage of creativity in China as a cause of the industry’s shrinking market share. “There is plenty of room for improvement in Chinese movies’ variety and diversity,” the report quoted him as saying.
Mr. Tong said that China’s digital technology was far behind current “high-tech trends in films,” according to Xinhua.
However, the year ended on a bright note with the Dec. 12 release of “Lost in Thailand.” The low-budget comedy—about a pair of co-workers searching for their boss in Thailand—quickly became the biggest-ever Chinese-made film by domestic box-office take.
As of Tuesday, it had earned 1.17 billion yuan, according to media-research firm EntGroup. That puts “Lost in Thailand,” which cost all of 30 million yuan to make, within striking distance of Chinese box-office champ “Avatar,” which earned about 1.4 billion yuan.
Audiences last year also flocked to see the costume fantasy “Painted Skin: The Resurrection,” which earned about 935 million yuan, according to a separate report from Xinhua earlier this week.
China’s entertainment industry is poised to continue its high growth rate as the country shifts toward a more consumer-based economy. Ernst & Young issued a report in November saying that China is now the world’s second-largest film market—and forecasting it will surpass the U.S. by 2020.