The forecast that China would become the world’s largest-film market by 2017 appears to have happened a year earlier.
A report by China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), released on Tuesday, showed that theaters in the Asian giant earned a record 6.87 billion yuan ($1.05 billion) for February, reported Xinhua News Agency.
For the same month, North American box office is expected to reach almost $800 million, reported Hollywood Reporter, citing data from Box Office Mojo. The figure is significantly higher than January’s box office of $765.9 million. The higher February ticket sales, despite the month shorter than January by two days, is because of “Deadpool,” the superhero movie of 20th Century Fox which earned $285.2 million.
In China, what brought the kaching is Stephen Chow’s "The Mermaid" which has broken three movie records in China, including first-day receipt and the first Chinese film to breach 3 billion yuan box office. Since the environment-comedy film, panned by critics, opened on Chinese Lunar New Year, it has earned so far 3.17 billion yuan, reported Global Times.
“The Mermaid” also broke the record set in 2015 by “Monster Hunt,” which unfortunately, was snubbed by American cinema goers.
“The Monkey King 2” was in second place with ticket sales of 1.16 billion yuan on the second month of 2016, while in third place, with a box office of 1.09 billion, is “From Vegas to Macau III.”
The SAPPRFT said that in February, 192 million people went to the movies. It helped that on that month, there were two important dates – Spring Festival and Valentine’s Day – which were reasons enough for residents to open their wallets and buy movie tickets.\