Imports dominate April box office, May Day holiday releases in tight race

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- As the May Day holiday approaches, Chinese mainland's box office is bidding farewell to the traditional March-April slow season and entering the lucrative pre-summer period.

With few major local releases, imported titles continued their lead on April's daily charts. Meanwhile, advance sales for the new May Day holiday releases are red-hot, with domestic and foreign films fiercely competing for moviegoers' attention.

APRIL'S TOP EARNERS

Hayao Miyazaki's fantasy animated film "The Boy and the Heron" opened on April 3, while Legendary's sci-fi flick "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" hit theaters on March 29. The two films took the first and second spots on Chinese mainland's April box office chart, accounting for 38 percent and 28 percent of total revenue, respectively.

Data from box office tracker Maoyan as of 8 a.m. Thursday shows that "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" and "The Boy and the Heron" have grossed around 880 million yuan (124 million U.S. dollars) and 750 million yuan in Chinese mainland to date. The two titles are not only the biggest winners from March to April, but also the highest-grossing imports so far this year.

Notably, the top two spots on March's box office chart were also claimed by imported films -- Taiwan crime thriller "The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon" and Hollywood's sci-fi "Dune: Part Two," grossing 660 million yuan and 350 million yuan to date, respectively.

"This shows that imported films, especially major revenue-sharing titles, are 'indispensable' in driving box office growth in the Chinese mainland," said Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association.

Zhang Tong, a senior analyst at the Maoyan Research Institute, believes that while most April local releases were smaller films, the imported slate also included some arthouse movies that appealed to cinephiles, such as the Hong Kong Film Award winners "In Broad Daylight" and "Time Still Turns the Pages," enriching the movie selection in the typically slow period.

The aforementioned two Hong Kong titles and the mainland family drama "Gone with the Boat" -- all realist films released over the past two weeks -- scored above 8.0 out of 10 on review platform Douban, indicating popularity among cinephiles despite their modest box office performances.

FIERCE MAY DAY LINEUP

Moviegoing has become an important leisure activity for Chinese during holidays, making the five-day May Day holiday a crucial period for the box office -- and a major focus for the industry. The latest release calendars on Maoyan and Beacon platforms show eight films across genres such as animation, action, comedy, thriller, romance and crime slated to open on April 30 or May 1.

Advance May Day ticket sales are extremely tight. As of 8 a.m. on Thursday, data from Maoyan and Beacon platforms shows local action film "Formed Police Unit" is temporarily leading with over 12 million yuan in presales, followed closely by Japanese animated comedy "Spy x Family Code: White" with 11 million-plus yuan and domestic crime action "Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In" with more than 10 million yuan.

In Rao's view, based on presales performance, "Formed Police Unit" has "potential for a strong holiday box office." Data also shows "relatively strong" demand for comedies in the market.

Zhang told Xinhua that while each May Day release has its strengths, the final box office outcome will depend on whether the films can generate positive word-of-mouth and traction after being released.