Blockbuster films lead China box office

Chinese market impresses, despite censorship rules

by Clifford Coonan

BEIJING -- Chinese B.O. continues to sparkle, chalking up a boffo $1.14 billion in the first nine months of this year, with James Cameron's "Avatar" accounting for $207 million of the total, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television announced yesterday.

The year so far has seen a mixed bag of Hollywood and Chinese fare dominating the cinemas. The second-biggest film of the the first three quarters was Feng Xiaogang's earthquake epic "Aftershock" taking just over $100 million. The next best-selling was the dream fantasy "Inception," which took $56 million, followed by the Bruce Lee pic "Ip Man 2," which reeled in $36 million.

The big numbers for Hollywood movies is a sign of how important the Chinese market is becoming for overseas shingles, despite restrictive censorship rules. The Chinese market is expected to be the world's second biggest, overtaking India, within five years.

Zhang Hongsen, vice prexy of SARFT, told an event in Shanghai that domestic films brought in $580 million in the first three quarters, narrowly pipping foreign fare with B.O. of $560 million.

Tong Gang, director of China's Film Bureau, forecast in July that China's box office would reach $1.5 billion in the full year.

Other big foreign titles included "Alice in Wonderland," which took

$34 million, "The Expendables" ($33 million), "Iron Man 2" ($26.5

million) and "Clash of the Titans" ($26 million).

Driving the strong growth in the market has been a sharp increase in the number of cinemas. In 2009, box office earnings surged to $930 million from less than $150 million in 2003.

The regional breakdown of B.O. is interesting. The southern province of Guangdong dominates, with $189 million worth of B.O. receipts, followed by Beijing ($129 million), then China's biggest city, Shanghai, with $112 million.

The biggest cinema chain was Wanda International Cinemas, which notched $157 million in B.O. sales, followed China Film Stellar Film Chain with $131 million and Shanghai United Circuit with $122.5 million.

Beijing's UME Huaxing International Cinema had the highest B.O. in the country, with receipts of $11.5million, followed by the Golden Harvest Shenzhen Cinema with $9 million.