Patriotism pays as films celebrating founding of China rake in US$391 million over four days during National Day holiday
- ‘My People, My Country’, ‘The Climbers’ and ‘The Captain’, all celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China
- The four-day sales figure surpasses the 2.65 billion yuan grossed during ‘golden week’ in 2017
More than 40 listed and privately held Chinese companies might have won big after three patriotic films broke the box-office record for the “golden week” holiday.
My People, My Country, The Climbers and The Captain all celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and together grossed 2.8 billion yuan (US$391.6 million) between September 30 and 6pm on Thursday, according to Maoyan Entertainment, China’s biggest movie ticketing app.
The four-day sales figure surpassed the 1.7 billion yuan generated during the eight-day National Day holiday last year, and the 2.65 billion yuan grossed in 2017.
“The patriotism swirling during the 70th anniversary sent more people to the theatres. Watching these movies makes them feel like they are part of the big celebration,” said Wilson Chow, global technology, media and telecommunications leader at PwC.
“That’s a positive factor that can boost the shares of the main participants”, as investors are much more confident after seeing such high box-office returns made by their films, Chow added.