Silver Screen: China's film box office revenues reached $8.6 bln in 2017

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The latest figures released by China's cultural authorities show an impressive performance by the country's film market last year. The box office of domestic films took up over half of the total revenue.

In 2017, cinemas across China raked in more than 50 billion yuan by the end of November. According to statistics from China's Film Bureau, domestic productions accounted for over 30 billion, or 53.84 percent of the total revenue. Among the 92 movies earning more than 10 billion yuan, 51 were domestic productions.

ZHANG YAN FILM CRITIC "I think the Chinese movies not only posted quantitative growth, but also opened a whole new situation and established a relatively sound mechanism. Both their industrial outputs and cultural content showed a new look. The rapid growth of the market has generated momentum."

Industry analysts believe that China's movie industry has entered its best era. In 2017, nearly 9,600 screens were installed across the country. The more than 50 thousand screens have entertained over 1.4 billion spectators.

JACKIE CHAN FILM-MAKER AND ACTOR "The Chinese movies will grow in strength little by little. Therefore, we should cherish this opportunity and allow different people to make different movies. Only thus can we foster diversity and variety and offer a wider range of choices for the audience."

The year also saw a new law enacted to boost the country's movie industry. The Law for Promoting the Film Industry, which came into effect in March, has been heralded as an opening salvo in reforming China's cultural sector.