China kicks off 2021 with record New Year’s box office revenue

Photographer: Anthony Kwan / Bloomberg

Chinese box office revenue soared to 545 million yuan ($ 83 million) on New Year’s Day, the highest level of the day since the record breaking began in 2011, according to the Maoyan Entertainment ticketing platform.

Local Chinese films were the main contributors to Friday’s figure, led by “A Little Red Flower,” a story about two families battling cancer and the romantic comedy “Warm Hug”.

The surge in ticket sales adds to signs that the world’s largest film market is rebounding after revenue slump by roughly two-thirds last year amid a six-month shutdown of cinemas to fight the coronavirus.

China’s total box office revenue for 2020 was $ 2.8 billion, up from a record $ 9.1 billion in 2019. Nonetheless, the reduced figure was more than the $ 2.1 billion recorded. in the United States for 2020, according to data from Maoyan and the Box Office Mojo Market Tracker.

Tight travel restrictions, mass testing and heightened surveillance have put the world’s second-largest economy on the path to recovery, while the pandemic remains endemic in the United States and Europe.