Local productions powered a 27% rise in China’s box-office sales last year, according to one estimate, as Chinese-made films outdrew foreign movies after losing their top position in 2012.
China’s box office raked in 21.8 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) last year, according to official figures. That’s compared with 17.07 billion yuan for 2012 and a mere 950 million yuan in 2002, when China first began shaking up its state-run movie houses and started allowing modern theater chains.
Domestic films took in 12.7 billion yuan, or about 59% of total box-office receipts. China’s highest-grossing film by far was “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons,” a domestic action-comedy based on traditional Chinese stories, co-directed by “Kung Fu Hustle” creator Stephen Chow and released in February. It pulled in 1.25 billion yuan, according to Artisan Gateway, ousting the 2012 comedy “Lost In Thailand” as China’s highest-grossing Chinese-language film.
China’s highest-grossing overall film remains the U.S.-made 2009 film “Avatar,” which came to China a year later and grossed 1.38 billion yuan.
Second place was old-fashioned special-effects Hollywood blockbuster “Iron Man 3,” from Walt Disney and Marvel Pictures, which raked in 755.2 million yuan, while the robots-and-monsters slugfest “Pacific Rim” was No. 4 with 694.3 million yuan.
But after that, a succession of more modestly produced local movies outdrew bigger Hollywood productions like “Gravity,” “Fast & Furious 6” and “Man of Steel.” That’s a switch from 2012, when foreign films accounted for 52% of China’s box office and ended a long run for local productions.
“Hollywood blockbusters are becoming increasingly homogeneous while local audiences are becoming more interested in recent domestic films that they are relate to,” said Dai Di, product director of EntGroup, a Beijing-based film market research group.
“The diversity of marketing approaches by local film marketing also helped to boost the attraction of local films,” said Ms. Dai, adding foreign films were suffering from lack of local promotion.
Ms. Dai expects 2014 to see more sci-fi and mystery films, together with local films that relate to people’s daily life, have an impact in China’s cinemas.
China has long limited the number of foreign films companies can release on its screens and still doesn’t allow content that it views as controversial. Competition rose in 2012 after Beijing agreed to increase the number of U.S. films it allows into the country to 34 from 20 if the 14 new slots are taken up by 3-D or jumbo-screen IMAX films.
Still, China has emphasized building a domestic movie industry as part of an effort to win greater cultural sway and to put greater emphasis on economic growth through consumer spending. Chinese companies have responded – last year property and entertainment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Corp. said it would build a 30-billion-yuan to 50-billion-yuan studio complex in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao that would include a theme part and film museum.
Domestic films won a number of head-to-head matches last year. The bittersweet romantic comedy “The Stolen Years” took in more than 142 million yuan in China in about two weeks after it was released at the end of last August, according to consulting firm EntGroup. Baz Luhrmann’s flashy remake of “The Great Gatsby” featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and opening a day later, took in about 80.51 million yuan, according to Box Office Mojo.
Other popular Chinese films included “So Young,” a story about people reminiscing about their campus days, which took in 719 million yuan and ranked No. 3 in China’s box office; “Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon,” about a detective investigating a sunken boat, which generated 601.3 million yuan in ticket sales, and “American Dreams in China,” about young Chinese entrepreneurs, which took in 539.3 million yuan and became the seventh highest-grossing film of the year.
Two films that did well by audiences came under fire from critics. “Tiny Times,” directed by Guo Jingming, a prominent writer who adapted it from his own novel, took in 488.1 million yuan and was the ninth highest-grossing film of the year. It was bashed by critics, including the website of the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
Still, its success propelled Mr.Guo to make the next two installments, with the third film slated to be released this coming summer.
“Switch,” offered a Chinese version of a James Bond-like superspy and took in more than 300 million yuan despite harsh reviews. Analysts said that the film and others like it benefited from strong demand by a rising number of moviegoers and the limited choices allowed by regulators.
Though the western moviegoers appear to be tiring of 3D, Chinese audiences are still showing strong demand. In addition to “Pacific Rim,” “Jurassic Park 3D” from Universal Studio grossed 348.5 million yuan($57.59 million). In the U.S. it took in $45.4 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
“We have been making movies that speak to the Chinese market and world market at the same time,” said Peter Loehr, CEO of Legendary East, part of Legendary Pictures, which produced “Pacific Rim,” in a recent interview.
Authorities surprised the market at the end of the year by greenlighting the theatrical release of a domestic film noir “No Man’s Land,” which had been pulled from theaters’ schedules six times after wrapping up production four years ago.
Universal’s hit animation film “Despicable Me 2” finally got approval from the authority and is slated to be released on Jan. 10, according to the releasing schedule by the regulator. The first installment of this film failed to make it to Chinese theaters in 2010.