China’s legion Harry Potter fans will at last get to see the final chapter of the film saga today, when a 90-minute epic about the history of the Communist Party gives way to the boy wizard.
The mainland is by far the world’s fastest growing film market, with box office takings up 64 per cent last year, as the country’s burgeoning consumer class takes to the movies.
However, its movie industry is protected by a system that only allows around 20 foreign films to be screened a year, allowing home-grown directors to create Hollywood-style blockbusters without the threat of major competition.
Since late June, theatre operators have been forced to screen The Beginning of the Great Revival – a cinematic celebration of the Communist Party that state-run studio the China Film Group predicted would gross 800 million yuan (circa €87million).
The Chinese release of the long-awaited movie comes weeks after it hit US screens – and is even later than its Indonesia opening, where it was put off for three weeks due to a tax row between US studios and Jakarta.
The long delay has seen Potter fans go online in droves to vent their anger. Some have voiced suspicion it was a deliberate move to boost ticket sales for The Beginning of the Great Revival, which had disappointing takings.
Even before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which has already booked $1 billion in ticket sales around the world for Warner Bros, several Hollywood hits had out-grossed the Chinese epic.
After just over a week on screens, Hollywood action sequel Transformers: Dark of the Moon, took 361.9 million yuan on 6,500 screens.
That was roughly the same as the The Beginning of the Great Revival made on 7,800 screens over six weeks.
The latest Harry Potter film this week became only the ninth movie in history to gross $1 billion.
It is sure to perform well in China, where local consumers are richer than ever and are flexing their muscles at the box office, with local fare often treading over familiar, safe and tired ground.
“From the very first film, I was excited by the idea of a wizard,” said Han Liyuan, 30, a Chinese language teacher who has read all the books by J.K Rowling on which the films are based, in English and Chinese.
“I’d never heard of a wizard before 2001. They are people who are special who are among all of us.”
Ms Han and her husband, a subway engineer who did not much like the movies at first, will use the movie card he got from his company to see the film in a nearby theatre.
This despite having a big screen TV at home and knowing how to download the easily accessible illegal copies online.
“The visuals and the feeling can’t be captured. It’s not the real thing unless you see it in the theatre,” said Ms Han, who chose her English name, Audrey, in honour of Audrey Hepburn.
Industry analyst Rance Pow of Shanghai-based Artisan Gateway, said China’s movie-goers were becoming choosier about what they paid to see.
“It’s not a matter of where the films are coming from, per se, it’s just that Chinese consumers are growing more discerning and are voting with their wallets for stories they think are worth paying top yuan for,” he said.
China’s passion for movies pushed box office sales up 64 per cent in 2010 to $1.5 billion, the fastest growth anywhere in the world.
As China’s demand for movies increases, property developers and theatre chains are installing new theatres as fast as they can, passing some of the costs to consumers in high ticket prices that can rival New York’s.
In reaction, Chinese consumers often go to the movies on half-price on Tuesdays, and increasingly band together to buy cheap tickets.