Declining Chinese public interest in patriotic and pro-China Communist Party (CCP) films over the latter half of last year could be a silent protest from the Chinese public on government performance, the latest quarterly report by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said.
The report said China’s economic recovery was weak in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period last year and contributed to increased unemployment rates among young people and a general dreary outlook on the future socio-economic environment in the nation, leading to increased audiences for science-fiction, comedies and anime movies.
Citing statistics from the China Film Administration, the MAC said China-made films made 54.91 billion yuan (US$7.63 billion), which falls between the peak income for China-made movies in 2019, at 64.26 billion yuan, and the low point in 2022, at 30.06 billion yuan.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The Great War (志願軍：雄兵出擊), a film about China in the
Korean War, was released last year with a production cost of 600 million yuan and a box office of 850 million yuan, the MAC report said.
The Great War was incomparable with the Battle at Lake Changjin (長津湖), based on the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, released in 2021, with a box office of 5.77 billion yuan, it said.
The other film, Beyond the Clouds (我本是高山), based on the life of Chang Gueimei (張桂梅), a teacher recognized by the CCP as an outstanding communist, generated box office earnings of just 90 million yuan and consistently bad reviews, the report said.
Commenting on the declining interest in pro-CCP or patriotic movies in China, the report quoted comments by Chinese people online saying that the public has seen too many patriotic films in the past few years.
Another comment online said the movies were “very far removed from reality,” while another said Chinese people should not feel compelled to watch the films as they are only “spending money to be upset.”
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