China's November box office closes with moderate gains

BEIJING - China's November box office ended with a moderate revenue of 1.87 billion yuan ($293.60 million), the lowest monthly gain of the year, data from the China Movie Data Information Network showed on Wednesday.

November is typically seen as a transit month linking the October National Day holiday and the year-end moviegoing season, with few noticeable releases in China. The recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases in parts of China is also believed to have hampered monthly box office sales.

Topping the November chart was Be Somebody, a critically acclaimed mystery-comedy from an emerging Chinese director. The film earned 636 million yuan, more than a third of the total.

The late September blockbuster The Battle at Lake Changjin, currently the top earner of all time at China's box office with over 5.7 billion yuan in total revenue, came in second in November with 229 million yuan.

The latest James Bond film No Time To Die, released in late October in China, ranked third with 221 million yuan.

China's box office revenue for 2021 totaled 44.3 billion yuan by Wednesday. Its growth is slower than in pre-pandemic 2019, but its total annual revenue still leads the global box office markets.