Quiet on set: China’s film industry fights for relevance in changing media landscape

Cecilia Hu, a 25-year-old marketing professional based in Wuhan, used to be an avid movie-goer, visiting the cinema at least once a month. However, last year she only went once – to see Big World, a new release starring her idol, pop star Jackson Yee.

Despite her initial enthusiasm, Hu left the theatre disappointed.

Yee performed well, she said, but the film otherwise lacked appeal, with a romantic storyline feeling particularly out of place.

Now, instead of going to the cinema to serve as a “guinea pig,” Hu said she prefers to watch time-tested classics at home. Skipping the cinema no longer feels like a “social disconnect”, she added, since “no one else is going” either.

Chinese box office tracker Dengta Data revealed in a report this week that 57 per cent of viewers went to the cinema only once last year, and overall attendance fell to 1.01 billion – a 22.3 per cent drop from the previous year.