China's once booming box office ended 2016 with a whimper.
After averaging yearly growth of 35 percent for more than a decade, China's movie ticket revenue expanded just 3.7 percent in 2016, clocking in at 45.7 billion yuan for the year, according to official data from China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT).
The Chinese currency weakened against the dollar throughout the year, meaning that 2016's total actually amounted to a decline in U.S. dollar terms. Total box office revenue this year was $6.58 billion compared to $6.78 billion (44 billion yuan) last year.
Growth of 3.7 percent would be considered a healthy number in many mature markets around the world — North America's box office grew 2.1 percent to hit $11.36 billion in 2016 — but for China, it represents a drastic deceleration from last year's 48 percent expansion rate.
The boom times continued at the start of 2016, with local blockbusters like Stephen Chow's The Mermaid, which earned $528 million in China alone, driving growth of over 50 percent in the first quarter. Many analysts then predicted that China would surpass North America to become the world's biggest theatrical market as early as 2017. But growth fell off a cliff in the second quarter — a 4.6 percent year-on-year decline, the territory's first such fall in half a decade — and it has yet to bounce back.
Growth of 3.7 percent would be considered a healthy number in many mature markets around the world — North America's box office grew 2.1 percent to hit $11.36 billion in 2016 — but for China, it represents a drastic deceleration from last year's 48 percent expansion rate.
