[Correspondent Diary] China Enthralled by 'Gukppong' Movies

China's Film Revenue Nears 9 Trillion Won Last Year... Shows World's No.1 Market for 2 Consecutive Years
Ethnic and Patriotic Films Like Jangjin Lake Lead Market Amid US-China Tensions

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] Chinese media reported that the size of the Chinese film market surpassed that of the United States for the second consecutive year last year.

According to Chinese media such as Global Times on the 2nd, last year's Chinese film ticket sales revenue reached 47.26 billion yuan (8.86 trillion won). Chinese media stated that this amount accounts for 34% of the global film revenue. They emphasized that despite the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the Chinese film market grew and ranked first in the world last year, following 2020.

Photo by Baidu Capture

Unlike Korea, China evaluates films based on ticket sales revenue rather than audience numbers. They also have a foreign film screen quota system in place (with a separate screen quota system applied to American films).

Chinese media added that out of the total revenue, Chinese film ticket sales revenue was 39.93 billion yuan (7.5 trillion won). They also noted that 84.5% of the total ticket sales amount was from domestic films.

The increase in the number of screens also affected ticket sales. Last year, the number of screens in China reached 82,248, an increase of 6,667 from the previous year.

The highest-grossing Chinese film was "Jangjinho," which deals with the Korean War. Released in September last year, the film earned 5.77 billion yuan (1.082 trillion won). Chinese media reported that this is the highest box office revenue in Chinese history.

The film Jangjinho is a representative anti-American film made amid escalating US-China tensions. It is also a patriotic film created from the perspective that the People's Liberation Army, which participated in the Korean War, defeated the US military. China refers to the Korean War as the "Hangmiwonjo (Resist America, Aid Korea)" War. Chinese media introduced the film Jangjinho as depicting the brave battles of the People's Liberation Army soldiers who carried out operations against the US military.

Besides Jangjinho, films themed on patriotism and nationalism, such as those about the founding of the Chinese Communist Party and the socialist revolution ("1921," "Revolutionaries"), a film highlighting Chinese medical staff fighting against the coronavirus ("Chinese Doctors"), and a film about Chinese spies resisting Japan in Manchukuo ("At the Edge of the Cliff"), ranked high in ticket sales.

Meanwhile, American films such as "Fast & Furious" (5th) and "Godzilla" (8th) were among the top 10 in ticket sales rankings.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.