China a growing movie market on their terms

The Chinese cinema sector continues its healthy growth but there are signs that a less liberal line is being implemented by the government. Box office in China stood at 2.62bn yuan ($335.5m) in 2006, a rise of 31 per cent over the previous year. Chinese films took a 55 per cent share, same as the previous year, while the 20 titles allowed into the territory on a revenue-share basis (generally US studio titles) took 32 per cent of the market, or 600m yuan ($76.8m), which is a 41 per cent jump on 2005. Top two foreign titles were King Kong and Da Vinci Code. The box office at this stage in the market’s development is largely being driven by new screens. There were 70 new cinemas established in China during 2006, housing 300 screens. This brings the total modern screen base to 3,000 in 1,300 cinemas. These screens are within the control of 34 cinema circuits.