China's movie box office tops 6.7 bln yuan during Spring Festival holiday

BEIJING -- China's movie box office revenue reached nearly 6.76 billion yuan (about $998.5 million) during the 2023 Spring Festival holiday, making for the second-highest gross figures for the holiday to date, according to the China Film Administration on Saturday.

The top earners include the twist-filled hit "Full River Red" and the sci-fi blockbuster "The Wandering Earth II," which raked in about 2.61 billion yuan and over 2.16 billion yuan, respectively, the administration said in a press release.

Covering diverse genres, this year's holiday films were professionally made and fully met the particular demands of the audience.

In terms of movie-goer satisfaction, domestic films screened during the week-long holiday scored 87.1 points, a year-on-year increase of 1.8 points, according to a survey conducted by China Film Archive.

Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association, said that film consumption is expected to continue to grow after the holiday, as people who were busy travelling during the Spring Festival holiday get an opportunity to watch films.

"People's enthusiasm for cinema-going may last for several weeks," Rao predicted.