Hechi sees cinema boom during Spring Festival holiday

The total box office earnings in Guangxi's Hechi during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, from Feb 11 to 18, exceeded 4.7 million yuan ($726,449.83).

Cinemas in Hechi saw unprecedented enthusiasm among moviegoers as people were encouraged to stay in their current place of residence during the holiday. Domestic productions have been particularly well-received by viewers.

The top contributors to the total box office earnings included the action comedy "Detective Chinatown 3", the time travel comedy "Hi, Mom," the mobile game-turned fantasy film "The Yinyang Master" as well as the fantasy thriller "A Writer's Odyssey".

"Theaters in low-risk areas have been required to limit seating to 75 percent of capacity as an anti-COVID-19 measure - yet the overall box office earnings of one single cinema in Jinchengjiang district amounted to around 400,000 yuan, which was better than expected and comparable to the 2019 figure," said Zhi Shu, manager of Hechi film company.

Zhi added that enjoying films during the Spring Festival has become a new custom for people to celebrate the holiday, with the debut of a lot of high-quality domestic productions and the upgrading of both hardware and software facilities in cinemas.

A person in charge of the Hechi publicity department noted that the city will continue to develop its film market to make contributions to increase Hechi's cultural strength.