China Weekend Box Office Slumps Back to Less Than $9 Million
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCinema box office in China fell back to the lower depths over the weekend, with just $8.9 million of revenue across a country of 1.3 billion inhabitants.Business continues to be badly hit by COVID-related closures as the disease shows signs of spread around the country, while slowly diminishing in Shanghai where there was a full lockdown that lasted many weeks.Business appeared to spike upwards a week earlier, driven by the May Day holiday.
But Chinese state media reports that the Sunday to Wednesday May day period was down 82% compared with last year.The latest weekend box office total (Friday to Sunday) was the second lowest this year.
And the year-to-date total has stalled at $2.25 billion, according to data from the Artisan Gateway distribution and exhibition consultancy.
That is 34% behind the equivalent 2021 total. In cinemas, hit U.S. animation “The Bad Guys” and Chinese drama “Stay With Me” exchanged positions at the top of the chart.
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