2022: A Bad Year For Chinas Film Industry
Although the box office performance is lower than in previous years, domestic veteran films have taken a significant share of the Chinese film market this year. "Battle of Changjing Lake II" and "Homecoming" topped ticket sales in their respective opening periods, earning 4 billion yuan and 1.6 billion yuan, respectively.
But those sporadic injuries did not offset the loss, as many theaters were largely closed during the year due to sporadic outbreaks. As of October, 92 percent of China's 124,000 cinemas have closed at least once this year, with 1,191 theaters closed for an entire month, according to a Wanda report.
Film director Zhou Teng said he could not afford the rent for one of his theaters in the southern city of Dongguan, and it closed this year. The other three were "trying to stay alive."
"Every day we didn't know if we were going to open the next day," he said, adding that he has cut his staff in half this year. “I felt anxious all day. People didn't feel like watching movies because of the difficulty of editing."
As a result, many moviegoers in China currently do not want or cannot see movies in theaters, and according to Wanda's report, they will visit theaters on average 1.9 times in 2022, up from two last year.
"Besides the lack of new movies, I didn't pay attention and keep track of what to watch," said 23-year-old Wang Yuzo, who has cut his visits to the cinema by three-quarters this year. "My interest is dead now."
But despite uncertainty about the business outlook, film industry executives like Zhou Teng still hope the industry will pick up the game next year. Avatar: The Last Airbender may not be the much sought-after "Hunter", he believed that high-quality local and foreign films could attract audiences if the Covid-19 pandemic subsides in the near future.
"Next year will be more positive," Zhou Teng said. But I think it will take at least three years or more for the film industry to return to its pre-pandemic level. The memory of the last three years is very strong."
Publisher: Bibek Bhandari.
(Image credit: VCG)
