Race for Spring Festival blockbusters starts Friday - China.org.cn

The pre-sale tickets for the Chinese New Year movie blockbuster opened on Friday, with "Chinatown 3 Detectives" taking the lead.

The week-long Chinese New Year holiday beginning on February 12th is usually the busiest and most profitable movie screening season in China. This year, it will release seven all domestically produced works from the first day of the Lunar New Year.

According to Beacon, a box office tracking tool, the pre-sale started at 8 a.m. on Friday. By noon, the highly anticipated "Chinatown 3 Detectives" box office was soaring, with box office revenue of nearly 15 million yuan. The income of comedy films far exceeds that of the comedy film "Hi, Mom" ​​with only 2.5 million yuan.

The film’s total box office is now more than 23 million yuan, plus the box office revenue that was not shown last year. That's because the movie was originally scheduled to be released during the Spring Festival in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it was postponed to this year. Before the closing of the cinema last year, "Chinatown 3 Detectives" alone had a pre-sale ticket of more than 200 million yuan, an unprecedented record. 

A box office analyst explained to China.org.cn that even though most of the pre-sale tickets issued last year have been refunded, there are still millions of uncollected tickets that will be included in the total box office of the movie. 

With the box office of the sequel to the comedy series "Chinatown 2" reaching 3.4 billion yuan ($526 million) in 2018, "Chinatown 3" already has more than 11 million users who have expressed interest in watching this movie and major Chinese players through Taopiaopiao. Two ticketing platforms "Maoyan".

In the holiday blockbuster competition, the other six movies released on the day are the time travel comedy "Hi, Mom" ​​starring comedians Jia Ling and Shen Teng. The novel fantasy thriller "Red Assassin" starring Lei Jiayin and Yang Mi. The mobile game fantasy movie "Master of Yin and Yang" starring Chen Kun and Zhou Xun. "The End Game", a comedy starring singer and actor Andy Lau and comedian Xiao Yang. Light Chaser Animation’s new animated film "The New God: Nizha Rebirth" is the same production company that successfully produced the 2019 animated "White Snake"; and the new work in the critically acclaimed family animation comedy series "Boonie Bears" ": The Wild Life", this movie was originally scheduled, but it was eventually cancelled during the Spring Festival last year.

After New Year's Day revenue hit a record high, China's box office maintained strong growth in 2021. In the first 10 days of 2021, gross box office revenue exceeded 2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 730 million yuan. 

The total revenue of this market in 2020 is 20.4 billion yuan, making China the world's largest film market and surpassing the North American market, which has been forced to close most cinemas due to the pandemic. According to official data, the top ten with the highest income in the Chinese market last year were all domestic movies, with "eight hundred" movies being the top one. The movie has the highest revenue in 2020. 

Although there will be a large number of domestic performances during the Spring Festival, film agents and audiences are still worried about the impact of the potential outbreak on the screenings. They will not be able to rest assured until the Chinese New Year really arrives. That's because painful memories still tell of the changes on the last day. The situation has changed. Last year, all Chinese theaters had to close on New Year's Eve.

At present, as the coronavirus continues to spread abroad, and some clusters and sporadic cases have been reported in certain areas of China, this situation has increased the need for prevention of imported cases and potential domestic resurrection. In turn, this has led to online discussions about the possibility of partial or complete closure of movie theaters in the coming days and weeks. In fact, some revitalized areas have closed movie theaters or ordered venues to comply with reduced screenings, limiting theater seats to between 75% and 50%.

However, if effective prevention and control measures are taken, movie theaters will become an indispensable entertainment activity for people during the holidays, especially because thousands of migrant workers will not be able to return to their hometowns during the Spring Festival holiday. 

Zhao Chenxin, Secretary-General and Spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission, said: “We will provide more cultural and sports-related activities to make people staying during the holidays feel at home and enjoy the New Year’s holiday.” The State Council Inter-Agency Task Force in January A briefing on the 27th. "Many high-quality movies will be released during the Spring Festival holiday."

"We will also encourage art and theater troupes and groups in low-risk areas to increase performances in spacious venues and conduct online broadcasts under the premise of effective prevention and control of the epidemic," Zhao said: "We will guide local satellite TV stations Arrange and broadcast a series of TV dramas, shows, galas, documentaries and cartoons with different themes and genres to meet the needs of people of different ages."