China’s box office presales topped 200 million yuan (US$28.9 million) by Saturday ahead of the coming Lunar New Year holiday, led exclusively by domestic productions – a decline of more than 60 per cent from about 600 million yuan over the same period last year, according to Taopiaopiao, the online ticketing arm of Alibaba Pictures.
Presales are closely watched by distributors and investors as an early indicator of holiday audience demand.
Long seen as a crucial pillar of China’s film market,…