Maoyan: Domestic Movies Took 64% of China's Box Office Revenues in 2019

BEIJING, Jan. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Maoyan Entertainment ("Maoyan" or "the Company") (Hong Kong: 1896), a leading platform providing innovative Internet-empowered entertainment services in China, released its 2019 China Film Market Report. The report showed that as China's total box office increased by 5.4% to reach a record high of RMB64.266 billion (US$9.2 billion) in 2019, domestic movies took 64.1% of the market.

With the box office in North America declining by 4.8% last year, according to data from Box Office Mojo, China further narrowed the gap in box office revenues with the North American market.

2019 China film market highlights:

    --  The total box office in China reached a record high of RMB64.266 billion
        (US$9.2 billion) in 2019, up 5.4% over 2018.
    --  Of the total box office in 2019, 64.1% was generated by domestic movies
        and 35.9% came from imported movies.
    --  The total number of movie tickets sold last year reached 1.727 billion
        in China, a slight increase of 0.5% over the previous year.
    --  Six movies grossed more than RMB2 billion in box office in 2019,
        accounting for 36.9% of total revenue.
    --  The average age for movie attendees reached 29 in 2019, and the
        population with age 25 to 34 accounted for more than half of all
        moviegoers in China.

Record year for China's box office

China' box office hit a record high of RMB64.266 billion (US $9.2 billion) in 2019, up 5.4% year-over-year. The box office in North America declined by 4.8% in 2019, according to data from Box Office Mojo. The gap in box office between China and North America further narrowed in 2019.


                           
        
              China box office 2017-2019

                                            ---

               
          
          Total gross (billion)              
         
     Growth year-over-year




       2017 
       RMB55.911                                                                    13.4%

    ---


       2018 
       RMB60.976                                                                     9.1%

    ---


       2019 
       RMB64.266                                                                     5.4%

    ---


           
     
     
       Comparison of b
             
                
        ox office annual growth rate between China and North
                                          America 2017-2019

                                                 ---

                 
           
              China                
      
              North America

                                                                                                                      ---


       2017                                     13.4%                                                             - 2.8%

    ---


       2018                                      9.1%                                                               7.7%

    ---


       2019                                      5.4%                                                             - 4.8%

    ---

Of 551 films released in China last year, 77.7% were domestic movies and 22.3% were imported. In term of box office revenues, domestic movies accounted for 64.1% and 35.9% for imported movies.


                 
              
         Breakdown of film releases 2017-2019

                                       ---

             
     
       Total number 
         
                Domestic movies        
     
     Imported movies




       2017                417                                     81.1%                    18.9%

    ---


       2018                516                                     76.9%                    23.1%

    ---


       2019                551                                     77.7%                    22.3%

    ---


             
       
       Breakdown
                 of box office revenues 2017-2019

                                   ---

               
       
           Domestic movies         
              
                Imported movies




       2017                               53.8%                                          46.2%

    ---


       2018                               62.2%                                          37.8%

    ---


       2019                               64.1%                                          35.9%

    ---

Total movie tickets sold in 2019 increased slightly to 1.727 billion. Nearly 50% of tickets were sold during the four movie seasons (Spring Festival, summer, the National Day holiday, and the New Year holiday).


             
       
       T
              otal movie tickets sold 2017-2019

                             ---

               
       
        Tickets sold (billion)                     Growth rate




       2017                                  1.620                       18.1%

    ---


       2018                                  1.716                        5.9%

    ---


       2019                                  1.727                        0.5%

    ---


                       
             
       Breakdown of tickets sold for four movie seasons 2017-2019

                                                     ---

             Percentage  
             
        Spring Festival                            Summer             National Day             New Year
                         (million)                         (million)                        (million)                (million)




       2017      46.4%                               90                               475                        78                   109

    ---


       2018      46.8%                              145                               496                        54                   109

    ---


       2019      49.8%                              132                               502                       119                   115

    ---

Tier-4 cities became a key contributor to the total box office growth in China, and took a larger share of the market in 2019.


             
              
       Breakdown of box office revenues by city-tier 2017-2019

                                          ---

              Tier-1 cities                  Tier-2 cities                          Tier-3 cities Tier-4 cities




       2017          19.9%                          41.2%                                  15.7%         23.2%

    ---


       2018          19.2%                          40.6%                                  15.7%         24.5%

    ---


       2019          18.9%                          39.9%                                  15.6%         25.6%

    ---

Content is key for box office success

Blockbuster movies were taking an increasing share in the box office. Six movies grossed more than RMB2 billion in box office in 2019, accounting for 36.9% of the total revenue.


                                 
              
       Breakdown by box office revenues 2017-2019

                                                       ---

             Box office        Movies with 
       over   
              
                Movies with RMB
       10  
     
          Movies with under
                        
     RMB
          2 billion         million to RMB2 billion                        
       RMB
          10 million

    ---


       2017                                  18.5%                                            80.5%                            0.8%

    ---


       2018                                  29.9%                                            69.2%                            0.9%

    ---


       2019                                  36.9%                                            62.3%                            0.8%

    ---

Movies with rating above 9 on Maoyan platform accounted for 65.3% of the total box office revenues in 2019. Among top 20 grossing movies in 2019, domestic movies were rated higher than imported titles.


             
     
             Breakdown of box office by Maoyan rating 2017-2019

                                     ---

                 Under 8                         8-8.5                      8.5-9 Above 9




       2017       18.8%                         16.3%                      27.8%   37.2%

    ---


       2018       10.0%                         19.6%                      22.9%   47.5%

    ---


       2019        7.0%                          5.1%                      22.6%   65.3%

    ---


                                       
     
     Rating of top 20 movies by Maoyan in 2019

                                                  ---

                                                 Average                           Plot  Special effect   Scene




       Domestic movies (12 out of 20)              9.00                            8.20             8.46     8.90

    ---


       Imported movies (8 out of 20)               8.58                            7.66             8.17     8.32

    ---

Among the top 10 movies in 2019, eight were Chinese films and only two were imported, including "Avengers: Endgame" (No.3, RMB4.25 billion) and "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" (No.10, RMB1.43 billion). "Avengers: Endgame" is the only imported movie that ranked among the top 10 highest-grossing movies in China of all time.

In 2019, 14 new installments of Hollywood franchises were released in China. Only six performed better than their predecessors at the box office.

For imported buyout films in 2019, the top three highest-grossing movies were "Spirited Away" (Japan, RMB488 million), "Green Book" (US, RMB478 million), "Capernaum" (Lebanon/French/US, RMB 374 million). Six imported Japanese animation movies brought in more than RMB100 million in China last year.


                    
              
              Box office breakdown of imported buyout films in 2019 (
            RMB
            )

                                                                       ---

                            United States                         India   
              
                Japan                    France               Russia




       2019 
     1.432 billion              
              489 million          
              1.748 billion      
          426 million        
     118 million

    ---

Over half of moviegoers between ages 25 to 34

The average age of movie attendees reached 29 in 2019. The population with age 25 to 34 accounted for more than half of all moviegoers in China.


             
     
       The average age of audience 2017-2019

                        ---

                 
        
                Average age




       2017                                             28.25

    ---


       2018                                             28.73

    ---


       2019                                             29.18

    ---


                      
     
         Breakdown of audience by age 2018-2019

                                    ---

             Under 18   19-24                    25-29               30-34 35-39 Over 40




       2018     1.7%   23.4%                    30.5%               27.6%  9.6%    7.3%

    ---


       2019     2.3%   24.8%                    33.0%               24.0%  9.0%    6.9%

    ---

The average number of movies the Chinese audience saw in 2019 was 2.88, down from 3.06 in 2018. Nearly half of moviegoers saw movies only once in 2019.


               
       
             The average number of movies watched by moviegoers 2017-2019

                                              ---

             
       
       The average number of movies watched




       2017                                                                              2.90

    ---


       2018                                                                              3.06

    ---


       2019                                                                              2.88

    ---


                    
              
         Number of movies watched by audience in 2019

                                              ---


       The number of movies watched                                   
              Percentage

    ---


       1 movie                                                                              46.65%

    ---


       2 movies                                                                             19.18%

    ---


       3 movies                                                                             10.67%

    ---


       4 movies                                                                              6.65%

    ---


       5 to 10 movies                                                                       13.34%

    ---


       Over 10 movies                                                                        3.50%

    ---

More than 84% of all movie tickets were sold online in 2019 in China, keeping stable from the level in 2018.


                 
        
                Tickets sold online 2017-2019

                                    ---

             
     
       Percentage of online purchase                      Growth rate




       2017                                                    81.4%

    ---


       2018                                                    84.1%        2.7%

    ---


       2019                                                    84.4%        0.3%

    ---

The cinema screens in China increased by 9,708 to reach 69,787 in 2019.



       
        Number of cinema screens 2018-2019

                 ---


       2018                                    60,079

    ---


       2019                                    69,787

    ---

About Maoyan Entertainment

Maoyan Entertainment (Hong Kong: 1896) is a leading platform providing innovative Internet-empowered entertainment services in China. Since its inception, Maoyan has grown from an online movie ticketing service provider to an innovative one-stop platform for entertainment services. Maoyan has a comprehensive strategy to become a leading platform servicing the entire entertainment industry in China. The upgraded strategy is supported by five key platform pillars: online ticketing platform, products and services platform, data platform, marketing platform, and funding platform.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Jeff Pei
ICR Inc.
Email: Jianfeng.Pei@icrinc.com
Tel: +86 (10) 6583 7514

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SOURCE Maoyan Entertainment