Mission: Impossible? China faces box office blues during Dragon Boat Festival
Film ticket sales estimated to decline compared to previous holiday – but analysts say long-term trends remain positive
A Hollywood film topped ticket presales for China’s Dragon Boat Festival, but latest data points to a subdued box office for the holiday season as the industry grapples with a string of underwhelming performances.
The box office revenue for Saturday, the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, was estimated at 122 million yuan ($16.9 million), according to Maoyan, a Chinese film industry data platform. The figure was lower than the 177 million yuan for May 1, the first day of mainland China’s last public holiday.
The Hollywood film Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, starring legendary American actor Tom Cruise, was projected to lead the day with an estimated box office income of 54.6 million yuan.
The film outperformed home-grown animated feature Endless Journey of Love and a spin-off of Japanese anime classic Doraemon.
As the world’s second-largest economy struggles to stimulate domestic consumption, China’s box office revenue declined last year, totalling 42.5 billion yuan – down 22.6 per cent from 2023, and lower even than the 2015 level.
But observers said China’s film market remains resilient in the long term, partly thanks to improved domestic productions.