China Becomes World's Biggest Movie Market
China has for the first time overtaken North America in movie ticket sales, making it the biggest movie market in the world.
According to consulting company Artisan Gateway, $1.988 billion of movie tickets have been sold in the country in 2020, compared to North America's $1.937 billion.
Experts had expected that China would one day overtake North America, but the coronavirus pandemic has made it happen sooner. In 2019, $11.4 billion of tickets were sold in the US, with China coming second at $9.2 billion.
After being closed for six months, China's movie theaters began opening again in July. At first, theaters were only allowed to be 30% full, but now they can be at 75% capacity.
In North America, large movie theater chains were closed between March and August. However, after they began to open again, so few people came that the country's second-largest chain, Regal, announced that it was shutting down again at the beginning of October.
China's sales were helped by the country's National Day holiday, when $586 million in movie tickets were sold between October 1 and October 8. The most successful movie of 2020 is also Chinese: The Eight Hundred, which has made $460 million so far.
Japan, the world's third-largest movie market, is also recovering, with theaters there now allowing audiences to fill 100% of seats, though there are some restrictions on food and drinks. In mid-October, Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train broke records for the country's largest opening weekend, making almost $44 million as more than 3.4 million people went to see it.
In other parts of the world, however, movie theaters are struggling. AMC, the world's largest theater chain, says it could run out of money by the end of 2020.
