(Yicai) Oct. 8 -- China’s cinema ticket sales over the recent seven-day National Day holiday, which the second most highly anticipated period in the Chinese film market after Chinese New Year, slumped 25 percent from the year before, and was less than half of the peak observed in 2019, as new content fails to draw audiences.

The box office raked in CNY2.05 billion (USD290 million) during the break, which ran from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7, according to Beacon data. Some 10 new films were released over the period, eight of which were films with medium to large-scale productions. However, unlike previous years, there were no blockbusters.

"The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death," which is the second installment in Chinese director Chen Kaige’s trilogy, dominated the box office over the holiday, raking in over CNY100 million (USD14.1 million) a day for six days in a row, according to Beacon. As of 7 p.m. on Oct. 7, the movie had generated cumulative revenue of CNY840 million (USD119.1 million), making it the eighth biggest grossing film this year.

Sci-fi offering "Bureau 749" and crime drama "Tiger Wolf Rabbit" ranked second and third. The three films made up more than 70 percent of the box office takings over the holiday.

The market is still clearing the inventory that built up in the past two years, said Cheng Fei, chief executive officer of film research institute Top Data. More than half of the China-produced feature films released between January and August with revenue of more than CNY10 million (USD1.4 million) started filmed two years ago and over 30 percent began production three years ago.

Although last year there was still sufficient good content to supply the market, this year the lack of quality content has become apparent, Cheng said.

Editor: Kim Taylor