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WASHINGTON — Movie ticket sales in China have generated more than $1.5 billion so far this summer, a little more than half of last year’s record total of $2.89 billion, according to China’s Film Data Information Network, an institution directly under the Central Propaganda Department. 

Summer is usually one of three lucrative periods for China’s movie industry, but industry analysts, observers and customers say a slower economy and a lack of creative domestic films are to blame for the decline.

Some would-be moviegoers explained why they are staying home this summer.

One posted on social media: “The impact from last year’s economic downturn officially appeared this year. Everyone thinks 40-80 yuan ($5-$11) per ticket is expensive.” 

“Many movies in theaters in July are on streaming services in August,” another posted. “We’d rather watch them at home than go to the theater.”

A moviegoer in Beijing who identified herself as Ms. Yu, told VOA that this year’s film market is sluggish because the themes are plain, and streaming services allow everyone to watch movies at home without spending money.

“Everyone’s life is already miserable,” she said, “so we don’t want to watch sad movies.”

Although the streaming services have become theaters’ biggest competitors, the economic downturn may be the main reason for the ticket sales plunge, said Shenzhen-based film director Zhang, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

 

“The spending power of young people and parents has decreased,” Zhang told VOA. “One [reason] is that young people don’t date, and parents whose income has been reduced are under great pressure to raise children, so they naturally cut the consumption activities except eating and drinking, not just movies.”

China’s economy has been struggling to stabilize since the pandemic, according to the World Bank, with growth falling to 3% in 2022 before a moderate recovery to 5.2% in 2023. The global lender expects China’s growth rate to drop back below 5% this year, while youth unemployment has surged.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics removed students from its unemployment calculation after China hit a record high 21.3% youth unemployment rate in June 2023, prompting authorities to temporarily suspend publication of the statistic. 

Darson Chiu, director-general of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Taiwan, told VOA that China’s controls on film and creativity have also contributed to the lackluster box office figures.

“China has a very strict censorship system,” Chiu said. “Cultural activities need creativity, and it must be bottom-up. But it is obviously a top-down [censorship] mechanism, so it [the Chinese film industry] is not as creative as it is in other more open and free economies.”

Lee Cheng-liang, an assistant professor of communications at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan, said Chinese cinemas in the summer mainly show domestic movies, which are struggling to find investors.

“The economy is declining; investors are more cautious to minimize risks. So they diversify the movie themes they invest in,” Lee told VOA. “If you focus on the Chinese market, you will not necessarily make money unless you are at the top of the pyramid.”

Director Zhang said the Chinese summer comedies “Successor,” which critiques the Chinese social education system, and “Upstream,” which portrays package deliverers, are movies that do not “empathize with the general public.” 

Commercial movies are often condescending, he said, with hypocritically fabricated plots to show the suffering of people at the bottom. “It is actually a very deformed route,” Zhang added.

Other film critics, however, find “Upstream” a great work with increasing favorable audience feedback, which uncovers China’s immense economic problems and the struggle of its army of gig workers.

China’s state Xinhua News agency said “Successor,” grossing nearly 3.2 billion yuan as of Aug 20, accounted for almost 30% of China’s summer box office sales.

Zhang said the more depressed the social and historical period is, the more popular comedy is because the audience wants to feel “dreamy and painless.”

Despite the poor summer box office showing, not all critics are negative about China’s film industry.  

“The ticket sales are not good this summer, but it does not mean that their [China’s] movies are bad,” Michael Mai, a film critic based in Taipei, told VOA. “Their audience is hard to please. Why? Because their appetite is too big. They have all kinds of movies.”

Mai noted that there are three major periods in the Chinese movie market: the Lunar New Year, in January and February; the summer season, from June to August; and the weeklong National Day season from Oct. 1.  

Movie ticket sales always have seasonal ups and downs, Mai said, so people should be focusing more on long-term trends.      

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Paris — The Opening Ceremony of the Paris Paralympics got underway Wednesday in the center of the French capital, firing the starting gun on 11 days of intense competition.

Just as for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics on the River Seine in July, it took place away from the main stadium for the first time at a Paralympics.

In balmy weather — in contrast to the heavy rain that blighted the opening of the Olympics on July 26 — the Games opened in Place de la Concorde, in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron.

The ceremony culminates with the lighting of the cauldron, which has already become a highly popular point of interest in the city since its debut at the Olympics.

When the sporting action begins on Thursday, a new generation of Paralympians will join seasoned veterans competing in many of the same venues that hosted Olympic sports.

Eighteen of the 35 Olympic venues will be used for the Paralympics, which run until September 8, including the Grand Palais, which scored rave reviews for its hosting of fencing and taekwondo under an ornate roof.

The La Defense Arena will again host the swimming events, and track and field will take place on the purple track of the Stade de France.

Sluggish ticket sales have picked up since the Olympics, and more than 2 million of the 2.5 million available have been sold, with several venues sold out.

The Paralympic flame was lit at Stoke Mandeville hospital in England, the birthplace of the Games, and brought to France through the Channel Tunnel before touring French cities.

Theater director Thomas Jolly, who also oversaw the Olympics Opening Ceremony, said there was a deep symbolism in having the Paralympics ceremony in the center of Paris — a city whose Metro system is not adapted to the needs of wheelchair users.

“Putting Paralympic athletes in the heart of the city is already a political marker in the sense that the city is not sufficiently adapted to every handicapped person,” Jolly said earlier this week.

Organizers say wheelchair users can take Paris buses, and they have laid on 1,000 specially adapted taxis as well.

Paralympic powerhouse China will send a strong squad — the Chinese dominated the medals table at the Covid-delayed Games in Tokyo three years ago, winning 96 golds. Britain was second with 41 golds.

Riding the wave of its Olympic team’s success, host nation France will be aiming for a substantial upgrade on the 11 golds it won in 2021, which left it in 14th position. French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said she wants France to finish in the top eight of the medals table.

Ukraine, traditionally one of the top medal-winning nations at the Paralympics, have sent a team of 140 athletes spread over 17 sports despite the challenges they face in preparing as the war against Russian forces rages at home.

Russia and Belarus are sending a total of 96 athletes, who will compete under a neutral banner but are barred from the opening and closing ceremonies because of the invasion of Ukraine.

Every Games produces new stars, and in this edition, look to American above-the-knee amputee sprinter/high jumper Ezra Frech to make the headlines.

Away from the track, Iranian sitting volleyball legend Morteza Mehrzad, who stands 8 feet, 1 inch tall, will attempt to take gold again.

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons told AFP earlier this year he hopes the Paris edition will restore the issues facing disabled people to the top of the list of global priorities.

Parsons believes the Games “will have a big impact in how people with disability are perceived around the world.”

“This is one of the key expectations we have around Paris 2024; we believe that we need people with disability to be put back on the global agenda,” the Brazilian said.

“We do believe people with disability have been left behind. There is very little debate about persons with disability.”
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Before Russia invaded in February 2022, American football was becoming popular in Ukraine. Today, most of the players are on the front lines. A gentler version of the game — flag football — is gaining ground in the meantime among kids and youth. Tetiana Kukurika has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Sergiy Rybchynski
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