Leading movie theater chains in China 2022, by box office revenue

Watching films is a widely enjoyed form of recreation with several technological advancements having occurred over the years. China has invested heavily in its film and cinema industry to cater to the needs of movie buffs and before the pandemic in 2019, there were about 50 theater chains in China. Wanda Cinema Line was leading the market with a box office revenue of almost 5.2 billion yuan in 2022, followed by China Digifilm Cinemas with 2.4 billion yuan.

The Chinese film industry

Much like the United States, China has a booming film industry that in 2021 was ranked the largest in the world in terms of gross box office revenue. As of 2021, about 82 thousand cinema screens were housed in over 12 thousand movie theatres across the nation. The leading movie theatre chains in China received over a hundred million visitors every year.

Consumption of Chinese film productions

The number of film tickets sold across China has grossed over one billion in pre-pandemic time but shrinked to 712 million in 2022. Of the overall box office revenue earned within China in 2022, domestic productions accounted for 85 percent. This was relatively higher than previous years when imported movies made up for a considerable share of box office revenues. While an increase in overseas box office revenue generated by Chinese movies has been noted, there is a vast margin of difference between the revenues generated in the homeland compared to abroad.