China`s Box-office to Grow to $2 bln This Year - Bona Film
HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's box office is expected to rise by nearly a third to hit 13 billion yuan ($2 billion) this year as consumers are more willing to buy tickets for the rising number of domestically made movies, the chief of film distributor Bona Film said.
Bona Film Group Ltd, a private film distributor in China that is Nasdaq-listed, has also invested in film production and also operates over 10 cinemas in China.
Bona, which competes with Shenzhen-listed Huayi Brothers, has distributed Chinese language blockbusters such as Overheard 2, A Simple Life whose actress Deanie Yip won the best actress award at the Venice film festival, and Red Cliff, starring Jet Li.
"China's movie industry will see sharp growth over the next so-called golden decade as we're producing many more movies now," Yu Dong, chairman and CEO of Bona Film, told Reuters in an interview.
"China is now the world's second-largest market in terms of the number of movies produced this year, which roughly matches the U.S., and just behind India."
Bona, which now has about 10 percent market share in China's box office, plans to open around 5 more new cinemas by the end of the year, with the total number of movie theatres hitting around 40 over the next few years, Yu said.
Bona's shares have lost almost 30 percent since it was listed in New York last December, mainly due to worries over the U.S. economy and accounting irregularities at some U.S.-listed Chinese companies.