China's movie market: 2021 and beyond

3. Which Chinese city tops box office?

Cloud River Urban Research Institute annually released the "Index of Chinese Cities' Cinema Spending" for 297 Chinese cities at prefecture level and above, drawing on its annual China Integrated City Index.

Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Suzhou, and Changsha made the top 10. Changsha replaced Xi'an to take the 10th spot. Places from 11th to 30th were Xi'an, Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Tianjin, Dongguan, Foshan, Ningbo, Hefei, Wuxi, Qingdao, Shenyang, Kunming, Wenzhou, Nantong, Nanchang, Fuzhou, Jinan, Jinhua, Nanning, and Changchun.

Cinema attendance in most Chinese cities doubled as the pandemic was brought under control and people's life returned to normal in China in 2021.

4. Cinemas cluster in certain Chinese cities

The data of the "Index of Chinese Cities' Cinema Spending in 2021" indicates that certain Chinese cities are a magnet for the film market.

The top five cities by cinema numbers accounted for 12.6% of the national total in 2021, the top 10 cities 20.9%, and the top 30 cities 39.4%. That means the top 10 cities contributed one fifth of the country's cinema resources, and the top 30 cities contributed nearly 40%. The concentration of national cinema resources remained almost the same as the previous year.

The top five cities in terms of cinema attendance accounted for 16.9% of the national total, the top 10 cities 27.4%, and the top 30 cities contributed a staggering 48.9%. That means the top 10 cities made up nearly one third of cinema attendance nationwide and top 30 cities nearly half of the national total.

Zhou pointed out that compared with cinema numbers, cinema attendance is more likely to concentrate in certain cities. However, he also noted that as cinema attendance increased in some cities, the concentration rate of per capita cinema attendance fell slightly from the previous year.

The top five cities in terms of cinema spending accounted for 19.7% of the national total, the top 10 cities 30.1%, and the top 30 cities 51.1%. That means the top 10 cities generated one third of the nation's box office and the top 30 cities contributed more than half of the nation's total box office. The concentration rate of box office in China dropped slightly from 2020 levels.

Mamoru noted that the concentrations of cinema attendance and box office shows the emergence of markets in other Chinese cities and points to enormous potential of the Chinese movie market.

5. A glance at traits of Chinese cities

The data of the "Index of Chinese Cities' Cinema Spending in 2021" also reflects differences among Chinese cities in cinema spending.

The top 10 cities in terms of box office were Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Suzhou, and Changsha.

The top 10 cities in terms of cinema attendance were Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Xi'an.

The top 10 cities in terms of per capita cinema attendance were Zhuhai, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Haikou, Guangzhou, and Changsha.

The top 10 cities in terms of per capita box office were Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Zhuhai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Sanya, and Haikou.

Zhou suggested that the set of indexes honestly and interestingly reflects traits and personalities of Chinese cities.