Box office soars during 8-day dual holiday
China DailyFilm fans check out posters promoting the latest blockbusters at a cinema in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Monday. Propelled by domestic blockbusters during the combined Mid-Autumn Festival/National Day holiday, which is traditionally a lucrative season in terms of movie ticket receipts, China has seen overall box office earnings so far this year — from Jan 1 to Friday — surpass the total earnings of full-year 2021. The combined holiday, which ran from Sept 29 to Friday, has grossed 2.7 billion yuan in box office takings, marking an 80 percent increase compared with the previous year. Considering the contribution of the extended holiday to box office receipts and expectations for the rest of the year, Zhi said domestic cinema revenue may ultimately reach 55 billion yuan, backed by highly anticipated movies like The Goldfinger, a crime thriller co-starring Hong Kong superstars Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau. Gao Jun, a Beijing-based filmmaker, said that the record-shattering summer box office season, which grossed 20.6 billion yuan, still somewhat underperformed when all things were considered.