This year could see an annual drop in the Chinese box-office earnings--a first since the 1990s--as presaged by the 7 percent decrease in the country's first-quarter film revenue, The Financial Times reported.
The boom in the world's second largest movie industry is said to be slowed down by a weak economy and a scarcity of smash films. This lackluster trend has impeded China's chance to get the top spot in the film market from the United States this year.
Last year, Chinese box-office earnings only grew by 2.4 percent, compared with the dramatic 49 percent increase in 2015. The 2016 statistic was the first time that the country's annual box office rose by a single digit since 1999, according to Xinhua.
The 7 percent drop also served as the first instance that China recorded a decrease in the crucial January-to-March period. In Chinese box office, the first three months of the year usually gain the biggest earnings because of the Lunar New Year celebration.
In 2016, the first quarter saw a 51 percent increase in the Chinese box-office earnings. This phenomenal rise accounted for the 32 percent of the country's total film market revenue that year, based on data from China entertainment sector tracker, Entgroup.
According to the Beijing-based firm, the latest quarterly drop can be attributed to several factors, one of which is the decline in the number of moviegoers. During this year's first quarter, cinemagoers slid 2 percent to about 410 million.
Another factor is the generally lower price of tickets, which can be caused by the increase of cinema houses that cut prices in order to spur competition.
Industry insiders also argue that there is a dearth of hit movies this year, on top of the cutting of entertainment spending due to the growth slowdown in the Chinese economy.
The wavering momentum in the local film industry has affected top players that have already laid big plans. For example, Huayi Brothers Media posted its first net profit decline since it went public in Shenzhen eight years ago. The country's biggest private film producer reported a 17 percent decrease, according to its 2016 annual report.
Wanda Cinemas, the largest film distributor in China, was also hit by the limping box office as it tallied its first single-digit annual increase in 2016. The firm's net profit only rose by 7.5 percent to 1.3 billion yuan.