Mapping China: Film - Current Situation, Trend and Development: Cinemas and the Audience

Cinemas and the number of their screens are key factors in promoting China's soaring film box office. A phenomenon that bears paying attention to is that average cinema attendance in the major cities has been hovering around 15%. For such cities, improving the quality of films and enhancing the experience of movie attendance has become the main goal for cinemas. They are trying to find various ways to reduce their reliance on box office receipts and increase their income from the sales of derivatives.

Take the Wanda cinema chain, for example: income from popcorn sales reached up to 390 million yuan in 2013, which was 72% of the total income from derivatives and came to 9.5% of the total income. Derivative goods have become major sources of revenue and profit targets for the Wanda Group. Popcorn, drinks and other items sold in 2013 reached 556 million yuan, which was 13.82% of the total income.

Meanwhile, one of the most important sources of income for Wanda cinemas is their advertising business, which includes pre-show advertisements and positioned advertisements. The pre-show advertisements refer to the commercial ads shown before the film starts. The positioned advertisements refer to the product advertising that is played or displayed within films. The Wanda Group’s advertising revenues were 157 million yuan and 99 million yuan respectively in 2013 and the first half of 2014.

Looking at the data on material facilities, growth in the number of cinemas and screens has been slowing down since 2013. Investment on the scale of cinemas has entered a relatively stable stage. The box office revenue growth is mainly due to the increasing movie attendance and expanded market capacity in third- and fourth-tier cities. Take 2013, for example: China gained a total of 5077 new screens, which means adding more than 13.9 screens on a daily basis. Over 50% of the newly added screens were in third- and fourth-tier cities and in the central, western regions. With the development of new urbanization, this trend will continue.

(Number of national cinemas, 2005-2015)

(Number of national screens, 2005-2015)

Who are the moviegoers?

The Chinese mainstream movie audience is showing an obviously younger trend. People between the ages of 19 and 40 accounted for 87% of the audience, and of these, more than 50% were between 19 and 30. Generations after 1980s and the 1990s have become mainstream audiences. The mainstream groups of filmmakers are also showing a younger trend. In 2010, the average age of the top 10 domestic movie directors was 52.4, whereas in 2014 the average age of the top 10 domestic movie directors was 40.8. The generations after 1970s and the 1980s have become mainstream filmmaking groups. Films made by newly promoted directors and cross-border directors are significantly on the rise, and topic-specific and fan films are increasing dramatically, which can bring vitality to the domestic film market.

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