The China Business Journal recently reported from the Shanghai International Film Festival that statistics showed that the Chinese movie market saw a box office year-over-year decline of 6.35 percent in the first five months of this year. During this period, the national total viewership also declined from 689 million people to around 589 million. This is the first time since 2011 for the Chinese movie market to suffer a decline in box office revenue. One of the reasons for this dramatic decline was that, in 2018, the entertainment industry was hit with tax related scandals. Domestic movie makers were affected when the stock they held lost 72 percent of its value in the stock market. Another major issue is that half of the movies in the Chinese market were from the United States. The current poor relationship between China and the U.S. led to a government intervention which affected U.S. movie distribution in China. Even domestic movies were limited in choosing themes and stories.
Source: China Business Journal, June 16, 2019
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