China’s box office hits $1.47 billion in 2010

China’s box office gross sales rose 61% in 2010 to $1.47 billion, boosted by Hollywood imports such as “Avatar,” local hits such as “Aftershock,” local media said Monday citing a leading media regulator.

From January through December, China’s moviegoers bought tickets worth 10 billion yuan, up from the 6.2 billion yuan ($908 million) they spent on the movies in 2009, Wang Taihua, director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, told China Daily.

Wang said China made 500 films in 2010, ranking the nation third behind Bollywood and Hollywood in terms of annual film output, according to a story in the state-run English-language newspaper. This was 100 films fewer than SARFT said were made in China in 2009.

Although much of the gain in China’s box office ticket sales came from Hollywood imports such as “Avatar” — which grossed $204 million in China alone — Wang said many Chinese-made films also had been commercial and critical successes, citing director Feng Xiaogang’s film “Aftershock” as an example.

“Aftershock” – in which a mother and daughter rebuild their relationship 32 years after they were separated by the 1976 Tangshan earthquake – became China’s highest-grossing homegrown film of all time, raking in more than 660 million yuan.

China’s 2010 box office growth coincided with the addition of an average of three new theatrical screens each day, bringing the nation’s total to 5,690 screens in about 1,800 cinemas, Wang said.

via China’s box office hits $1.47 billion in 2010 | Reuters

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.