October no longer so golden

Mediocre 'blockbusters' drag down ticket sales, though experts say a slowdown in the Chinese movie market was predictable, Xu Fan reports.

For years a Golden Week was a time to celebrate a box-office bonanza, but the National Day holiday is seeing its gilt edge fade.

This year's just-concluded holiday, from Oct 1 to 7, raked in a disappointing 1.58 billion yuan ($237 million), down nearly 15 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the live tracker China Box Office.