Sichuan sets box office record during Spring Festival holiday

Movie fans in Southwest China’s Sichuan province couldn't afford to be picky if they wanted to score cinema seats during this year's week-long Spring Festival holiday.

Li Ting, a resident of Zhongjiang county in Sichuan province, planned to watch domestic film Detective Chinatown 2 on Feb 20, but only a few seats in the first row of a movie theater were left.

"No tickets are left. We need to decide which movie as quickly as possible," Li told her friends over the phone.

Sold out shows were common in cinemas in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and surrounding cities like Deyang, Mianyang and Leshan during this year's Spring Festival holiday.

Movie-goers rushed to any movie they could get tickets to.

A theater run by Wanda Cinemas in Mianyang set a sales record this year. The box office earnings hit 2.7 million yuan ($426,000) from Feb 15 to Feb 21, ranking first among all theaters across the province.

The local theater chain, Pacific Cinemas, also saw a sales record, with 3.95 million people spending 140 million yuan on tickets during the holiday, ranking first among all theaters in central and west China.

Wang Yan, general manager of a Chengdu cinema, said this year there were more family viewers and many customers watched three to four movies in a row.