Chinese film boom talk of the town

Ticket sales from blockbusters and festival encouraging but more must be done to build a solid industry, Xing Wen reports.

Spring Festival box-office revenues experienced a remarkable surge, hitting a record of 9.51 billion yuan ($1.31 billion) by the end of the holiday (Jan 28-Feb 4). Leading the charge was the animated hit Ne Zha 2, which made history as the first Asian film to exceed $2 billion in earnings, and claim a spot in the top 6 global box-office rankings.

As of last Wednesday, the film has been watched by over 300 million viewers, becoming the first in Chinese cinematic history to reach this milestone.

During the ongoing two sessions, this cultural sensation was fervently discussed by members of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from the film industry.