Chinese Box Office: Domestic hits power Chinese box office to best first six months ever

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The Chinese film industry is spitting out good numbers in the first half of 2018. Domestic blockbusters such as "Operation Red Sea" and "Detective Chinatown 2" powered the Chinese box office to its best-ever in the first six months of the year. Here's more.

China's box office hit over 32 billion yuan in the first six months of this year, recording a whopping 17.8 percent increase from the same period last year.

Domestic films accounted for 60 percent of revenue, at 19 billion yuan. Last year, it was 10.5 billion yuan.

This record high is boosted by homegrown films, especially those released in February during Chinese New Year.

XIE MENG FILM CURATOR & PRODUCER "One of the reasons is that we're building more cinemas than ever before, especially in the second, third and fourth tier cities. But the biggest contribution comes from the Spring Festival release. You can see 'Operation Red Sea', 'Detective Chinatown 2' and 'Monster Hunt 2'. The diversity of the films gave the audience more choices."

These three domestic movies were among the top 10 highest-grossing films in the first half year. Military blockbuster "Operation Red Sea" and crime thriller "Detective Chinatown 2" both raked in more than 3.5 billion yuan each. They were the top two highest-grossing films.

Fantasy comedy "Monster Hunt 2" made 2.2 billion yuan and took fourth place.

Why are domestic films making such a huge contribution?

XIE MENG FILM CURATOR & PRODUCER "First of all, the local audience do embrace local content. People in the second, third and fourth tier cities embrace local content rather than people in the top tier cities. At the same time, domestic filmmakers are making better quality films. This is an important reason that why people go to see a local story on the big screen."

Hollywood blockbusters naturally were also strong performers. "Jurassic World 2" grossed 1.62 billion yuan, while "Ready Player One" made 1.39 billion yuan.

China overtook North America as the world's biggest movie market in the first quarter of 2018, but lost the throne in the second quarter.

XIE MENG FILM CURATOR & PRODUCER "Compared with North America, the Chinese film market is still growing and not mature enough. There are both opportunities and challenges."

However, China is still one of the fastest-growing film markets in the world. In July, domestic films such as director Jiang Wen's latest production "Hidden Man" continued to perform quite well in the box office.

But there are still problems facing domestic films. Fantasy film "Asura", dubbed the most expensive Chinese film with a 750 million yuan budget, was pulled from cinemas just three days after its debut. No reason was given for the pull-out, but some are owing it to its bad box office performance, as the film only earned 46 million yuan.