The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) will conduct provincial and national inspections of cinemas to catch movie operators that are cheating the government. It will be a three-stage operation, according to the watchdog.
The campaign was decided after data filed by cinemas showed a 48.7 percent hike in income for 2015. The films showed last year earned the movie house operators more than 44 billion yuan ($6.7 billion), reports Xinhua News Agency.
Despite the almost 50 percent increase of revenue in the world's second-largest film market, box office fraud is prevalent, says SARFT Film Bureau head Zhang Hongsen. He points out that cheating by theater owners twists the market and is damaging to both movie producers and cinemas.
It is the fasted growth rate since 2011, according to the SARFT, when yearly box office was only $1.51 billion. However, Chinese moviegoers are watching more locally made productions which has improved drastically in quality, resulting in a drop in share of Hollywood movies to 38.4 percent from 2014's 45.5 percent market share, notes Hollywood Reporter.
As a result of the shifting moviegoer preference, only three Hollywood movies made it to the top 10 box office in 2015 from five the previous year. These are "Furious 7," "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "Jurassic World."
The cheating is abetted by the use of fake tickets. To help moviegoers know if their tickets are fake or genuine, the watchdog said it would develop an app. The agency also encourage film buffs to report box office cheats.
By 2017, China is forecast to be the biggest-film market in the world with box office revenue expected to hit $11 billion.