Theatrical receipts in China hit a new record of 17.9 billion yuan ($1.44 billion) as of Friday morning for the 2023 summer movie season, outpacing Hollywood films such as “Barbie.”

So far, the box office collections of four films have exceeded two billion yuan, another record for the summer movie season. Those films include the suspense thriller “Lost in the Stars” and the crime thriller “No More Beds.”

This highlights consumption in a year of slow recovery in Chinese consumer spending after China abandons its strict Covid-19 policies by the end of 2022.

Film revenue for the summer period from June to August surpassed the previous record of 17.78 billion yuan in 2019, according to the China Film Administration.

“One and Only,” a film about a young man chasing his dream and dancing in the street, broke records and became the highest-grossing domestic sports film, according to Tingta, which is backed by Alibaba and provides film industry data. Country. , and has grossed 850 million yuan as of Friday, although sports films are not very popular with Chinese audiences.

But, Hollywood films were not successful.

The movie “Barbie,” starring Margot Robbie, was a huge success worldwide, but only made 246 million yuan a month after its release in theaters. The new installment of Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible” series grossed about 350 million yuan a month after its release.

According to official data, a total of 435 million tickets were sold between June and Friday morning.

(Reuters)