SHANGHAI, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Patriotic Chinese movie
"Monster Hunt" has toppled Hollywood blockbuster "Furious 7" as
China's biggest grossing film of all time, Xinhua reported on
Saturday, as global studios tussle with locally-made films for
the country's fast-growing box office.
The Chinese flick has taken in 2.428 billion yuan ($380.95
million) since its July debut, overtaking Furious 7's 2.426
billion yuan, making it the first local film in two decades to
hold the top spot, Xinhua said, citing the State Administration
of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
The allure of China's moviegoers has become increasingly
difficult to resist for global film-makers from Sony Corp
6758.T to Walt Disney Co DIS.N , despite challenges of
navigating the country's censors as well as getting one of the
coveted 34 spots allowed for foreign films each year.
But, while foreign films have traditionally dominated the
country's box office, locally-made films are posing an
increasing challenge. Chinese movies have accounted for around
60 percent of total ticket sales so far this year.
China's cinema takings are over 30 billion yuan ($4.71
billion) over the first eight months of 2015, already overtaking
the total for the whole of last year. ID:nL4N11E2CO
In contrast, box office receipts in the United States and
Canada, the number one film market, fell last year.
Last November, the vice president of the China Film
Producers' Association, Wang Fenglin, said the Chinese film
market would overtake the United States to become the largest in
the world within three years.
($1 = 6.3735 Chinese yuan)