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China is raising a steep challenge to the North American
market, still the world's largest but where box office growth
has stalled. Ticket sales in China, meanwhile, soared to around
44 billion yuan ($6.7 billion) last year, up nearly 50 percent
from 2014.
Chinese cinemas took in a record 6.87 billion yuan ($1.05
billion) in February, Xinhua reported on Tuesday, citing the
State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and
Television, almost $250 million more than the figure the agency
gave for North America.
Driving sales was odd-ball romantic comedy "The Mermaid", which
broke box office records with a haul of around 3.2 billion yuan,
overtaking local rival "Monster Hunt" and Hollywood action movie
"Furious 7".
Foreign film-makers from Sony Corp to Walt Disney Co are
increasingly turning to China, despite the challenges of
navigating its censors and having to compete for one of the
coveted 34 spots allowed for imported films each year.
(Reporting by SHANGHAI newsroom and Adam Jourdan; Editing by
Miral Fahmy)
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