China's Film Industry Suffers 70% Drop In Box Office Revenue Due to COVID-19

China's film industry has suffered a 70 percent drop in box office returns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a press release from TradingPlatforms.com, the coronavirus pandemic has adversely affected the momentum of the Chinese film industry, causing a decline of 68.23 percent in 2020.

China's movie industry had experienced a boom and it had become a major player in the global film industry. Before the pandemic, the Chinese film industry was projected to grow by a staggering 91.2 percent from 2018 to 2025.

The revenue from the country's box office saw impressive growth of more than 275 percent from 2012 to 2019, amounting to 64.27 billion yuan (around 10 billion dollars) in 2019.

As a result of the younger, more affluent middle class becoming bonafide cinema-goers, the number of movie tickets sold in China dramatically increased in the last decade. In 2019, over 1.7 billion tickets were sold in China as against 284 million in 2010 (an increase of more than 500 percent). To meet the increase in demand, the number of cinema screens in the nation rose by over 100% from 2010 to 2019, with an aggregate of almost 70,000 screens in 2019.

Movie production also increased in China just before the outbreak of the coronavirus. In 2019, there was a total of 1037 films produced.

It is public knowledge that China was the first country where the COVID-19 pandemic was first identified, and this affected many industries, particularly the Chinese film industry. The recent rise of the industry worsened the adverse effects of the pandemic.

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Nearly 70% fewer movie tickets were sold out in 2020, and this led to a decrease in revenue of over 40 billion yuan (6.2 billion dollars) lower than the numbers seen in 2019. This is because people had no choice but to stay at home for their own protection. 

Movie production also witnessed a marked decrease as the pandemic brought with it a series of logistic problems which was a blow to the employment of many and their source of income.

There was a 37 percent decrease in film and feature film production compared to 2019 in what is clearly the country's lowest number in 5 years.

On the positive side, the number of movie screens still increased in 2020, perhaps indicating a more positive future for the film industry post-COVID-19.

The total number of screens in China went up to over 75,000, suggesting that demand is still expected to see a comeback once the coronavirus pandemic is put under control worldwide.