Maoyan: The 2021 Chinese New Year Holiday Sets Box Office Revenue Record of RMB7.8 Billion

BEIJING, Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Maoyan Entertainment ("Maoyan" or "the Company") (Hong Kong: 1896), a leading platform providing innovative Internet-empowered entertainment services in China, announced that China's box office revenue achieved a major milestone for the week-long 2021 Chinese New Year holiday with record-breaking box office revenues of RMB7.822 billion (US$1.206 billion), demonstrating that the country's film market has recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Maoyan's 2021 Chinese New Year holiday movie market report, box office revenue topped RMB7.822 billion (US$1.206 billion) during the week-long holiday, beating the 2019 holiday record of RMB5.903 billion.

2021 Chinese New Year holiday box office highlights

• China's box office revenue hit a record high of RMB7.822 billion (US$1.206 billion) during the week-long 2021 Chinese New Year holiday period from February 11 to 17, with a 32.5% jump from RMB5.903 billion during the 2019 Chinese New Year holiday.
• The daily box office on the first day of the Chinese New Year (February 12) exceeded RMB1.690 billion, achieving a new single-day box office record for China's film history.
• As of February 16, 2021, on the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, China's 2021 cumulative box office revenue had surpassed RMB10 billion.
• Seven domestic movies were released on February 12, the first day of the 2021 Chinese New Year. The top-two highest-grossing box office titles during the holiday were the comedy "Detective Chinatown 3" (RMB3.555 billion) and comedy "Hi, Mom" (RMB2.724 billion), a film for which Maoyan was both main producer and lead distributor, together accounting for near 80% of the total box office during the holiday.
• The average audience screening size rose 23% to 55.8 people on average, and the total number of movie tickets sold during the holiday hit a record 160 million in the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday, increasing 21% over the same period in 2019.
• The average number of movies the Chinese audience watched during the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday was 1.19, dropping from 1.23 in 2019's Chinese New Year holiday period. Hard-to-buy movie tickets due to high demand outstripping ticket supply, was an important factor behind the decline of the average number of movies watched by moviegoers.
• As a major player in China's entertainment industry, Maoyan has continued to be a key participant in the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday season, coming up with innovative new promotional tools and campaigns to promote movies.

2021 Chinese New Year holiday box office revenue set new record

The Chinese New Year holiday is traditionally a peak season of the year for the movie market. This year's Chinese New Year holiday witnessed a record-breaking box office revenue of RMB7.822 billion (US$1.206 billion) during the week-long holiday period, with a 32.5% jump from RMB5.903 billion during the 2019 holiday.

*The 2020 Chinese New Year holiday box office is omitted as cinemas were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic starting during the holiday from January 23 until commencing an organized reopening on July 20, 2020.

On the first day of the Chinese New Year (February 12), the daily box office exceeded RMB1.69 billion, achieving a new single-day box office milestone in China. The previous record of RMB 1.458 billion was set during the 2019 holiday. This year's Valentine's Day coincided with the third day of Chinese New Year, setting a daily box office record of RMB1.469 billion, making it the second highest grossing day in China's film history. The first six days of this year's Chinese New Year are all among the top 10 days of the highest box office revenue days in China's film history, making this year's box office performance even more impressive. 

*The 2020 Chinese New Year holiday box office is omitted as cinemas were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic starting during the holiday from January 23 until commencing an organized reopening on July 20, 2020.

IMAX theaters also reaped record box office during the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday. "Detective Chinatown 3," shot with IMAX cinemas, generated a new record with a single-day IMAX box office of RMB64 million on the opening day. The movie brought in RMB150 million of IMAX box office on the opening weekend, making it the best IMAX opening weekend ever for a Chinese movie.

Audience showed strong demand for moviegoing during the holiday

To maintain a safe theater experience, all theaters limited attendance to 75 percent of capacity during the holiday. The average screening time in the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday increased 20% to 128 minutes over the same period in 2019. The average audience screening attendance size rose 23% to 55.8, and movie tickets were sold at an average of RMB48.9, up 9.4% over the 2019 Chinese New Year holiday. The total number of movie tickets sold during the holiday hit a record 160 million in the 2021, increasing 21% over the same period in 2019.

China's moviegoers expressed a strong demand for moviegoing experiences during the holiday. Over 40% of screenings were fully booked on the first, second and third day of the Chinese New Year.

2021 Chinese New Year season sets a record as the most competitive Chinese New Year movie season

Among the seven movies that premiered on February 12, the first day of the Chinese New Year, "Detective Chinatown 3," a highly anticipated sequel to the 2018 blockbuster "Detective Chinatown 2," brought in RMB3.555 billion, accounting for 45% of the total box office revenue during the holiday. The time-travel comedy "Hi, Mom," a film for which Maoyan was both main producer and lead distributor, came in second with RMB2.724 billion or 35% of the holiday's total takings. These top two highest-grossing box office titles accounted for near 80% of the total box office during the holiday.

"Detective Chinatown 3" broke multiple records in Chinese film history. It took in RMB674 million pre-sale box office for the opening day. The total revenue of pre-sale box office ended with RMB954 million. It also set new box office records for opening day and opening week, bringing in RMB1.01 billion and RMB2.576 billion, respectively.

While "Detective Chinatown 3" led the total box office revenue, the heartwarming comedy "Hi, Mom" was atop the daily box office charts from the fourth day to the sixth day of the Chinese New Year. It has received a Maoyan rating of 9.5, the best audience review ratings by far amongst all movies during the Chinese New Year. Maoyan both acted as a main producer and lead distributor for the film.

A new moviegoing experience under a national guideline to avoid holiday travel

To prevent a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese authorities encouraged people to reduce travel during the holiday. According to Maoyan data, the percentage of visits to cinemas that happened in non-residence cities declined from 38.2% during the 2019 holiday to 35.0% this year. Compared with 2019's Chinese New Year holiday period, the proportion of visits to cinemas in tier-3, tier-4 cities and lower-tier cities dropped 0.4% this year. Even with the guideline of avoiding travel, the audience's strong demand for the in-theater movie watching experience boosted overall box office performance. Another notable trend captured by Maoyan is that as people decided to not travel home for the holiday, many fans purchased movie tickets as holiday gifts for their family and friends who they could not visit in person.

The average number of movies Chinese audiences watched during the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday was 1.19, dropping from 1.23 in 2019's Chinese New Year holiday period. About 84% of Maoyan users who went to theaters during the 2021 holiday period only watched one movie.

According to Maoyan Research Institute, about 44% of respondents watched more movies over the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday than in the 2019 holiday. The most cited reasons for the increased movie watching included having more leisure time (42%), more favorite genres (41%), more favorite actors (37%), more movies with a good reputation and high rating scores (37%), and movies with high visual and audio quality (34%). About 34% of the respondents said that the reason for watching more movies was that they had not gone to cinemas for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. About 27% of the audience watched fewer movies in the holiday, mainly due to the increased ticket price and limited choice of screening time and seat selection.

The percentage of the audience under 18 years old watching movies during the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday rose to 5.5%, up from 4.7% in 2019. The number of audience above 40 years old accounted for 14.3% of the total moviegoers during the holiday, an increase of 3.1% compared to the 2019 Chinese New Year holiday.

As people reduced traveling and had more leisure time during the Chinese New Year holiday this year, the audience's preferences for times of day to watch movies was not concentrated in the afternoon and evening. Maoyan data showed that audiences rather chose to go to cinemas in the morning or late at night during the 2021 holiday.

Movie promotion campaigns boosted the 2021 Chinese New Year box office to record high

To maximize exposure and stimulate audience's interest in watching movies in this especially competitive holiday season, all movies started promotion and marketing campaigns ahead of the holiday. A variety of promotion channels and tools were applied for film promotion and marketing. Besides traditional promotional tools such as movie trailers and movie music videos (MVs), there were creative promotional tools to attract audience's interest, such as posting a special collection of short videos of the movie on short-video platform and promoting the movie through live streaming programs.

On Weibo, a leading social media platform in China, there were more than 8.22 billion views of movie-related content in the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday, up 79% from the National Day holiday season in 2020.

As a major player in China's entertainment industry, Maoyan has continued to be a key participant for the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday season, coming up with innovative new promotional tools and campaigns to promote movies.

As the co-production company and one of the lead distributors for "Hi, Mom," Maoyan pioneered a virtual promotional tour for "Hi, Mom" to build up excitement for the movie and avoid travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. On January 16, Maoyan launched the first virtual promotional tour for "Hi, Mom" with the theme of "I can make you happier," inviting over a thousand audience members to enter the cinemas and interact with movie cast members through a video conference system. The tour was also live streamed on the Douyin platform, generating over 1.567 million views and 37,000 comments from viewers. Maoyan's promotional live streaming events for "Hi, Mom" brought in a total of over 200 million impressions and 13.7 million views during the whole campaign. "Hi, Mom" went on to exceed expectations at the box office and be the second-highest in the holiday box office in the most competitive Chinese New Year holiday season in history. 

Maoyan also provided promotional services to support other movies during the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday. For example, the Company partnered with Douyin and hosted live streaming programs for movies including the fantasy film "The Yin Yang Master," comedy movies "Endgame" and "Hi, Mom," helping boost the number of "Want to Watch" clicks of these movies on the Maoyan app. Maoyan also launched different types of new services and tools to help users engage with family and friends remotely, as people were encouraged to avoid holiday travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As China's film industry continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, Maoyan has leveraged its large user base, data insights and extensive experience in movie distribution and promotion to help movies with promotion and marketing campaigns, and drive box office growth.

Box office performance during the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday was seen as a further hallmark of the recovery of China's film market. Going forward, Maoyan will continue to provide cutting-edge products and services to industry partners, and serve the entire entertainment industry in China.

About Maoyan Entertainment

Maoyan Entertainment (Hong Kong: 1896) is a leading platform providing innovative Internet-empowered entertainment services in China. Since its inception, Maoyan has grown from an online movie ticketing service provider to an innovative one-stop platform for entertainment services. Maoyan has a comprehensive strategy to become a leading platform servicing the entire entertainment industry in China. The upgraded strategy is supported by five key platform pillars: comprehensive entertainment ticketing platform, products platform, data platform, marketing platform, and financing platform.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Greta Bradford
ICR, Inc.
Email: greta.bradford@icrinc.com
Phone: +86 178-8882-8731