June was a big month for the Chinese movie industry, with the glitzy Shanghai International Film Festival proclaiming a rebound for the industry post-COVID. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Fresh Wave International Film Festival sounded a more sobering note as organizers not-so-subtly highlighted Chinese Communist Party (CCP) censorship.
The two festivals provided a perspective on a movie industry that has not roared back as expected when China dropped its zero COVID measures late last year.
A surge in ticket sales during the January Lunar New Year—shortly after China dropped zero-COVID restrictions—got the year off to a promising start.
However, China’s 5-day Labor Day holiday in early May, which usually provides a boost to the movie industry, proved disappointing, with state media Sixth Tone reporting that theaters were half-full or empty, and ticket sales lower than they were in the previous two years. Chinese media reported optimistically about box office revenues but the data reflected higher ticket prices….