(Yicai) Jan. 24 -- China's box office grossed over CNY400 million (USD55.1 million) in pre-sales for the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, doing so in a record time of just over four days thanks to many potential influential new movie releases and low ticket prices.

The eight-day holiday pre-sale box office in Shanghai exceeded CNY21.4 million (USD3 million) as of yesterday, leading the country among cities with a 5.4 percent share, according to data from ticketing platform Beacon.

Each person in Shanghai went to the cinema on average 2.3 times last year, the most in China, Yin Tengyu, senior analyst at the Maoyan Research Institute, told Yical. The theme and plot of many new flicks releasing over the Lunar New Year break are favored by local moviegoers, so the city's box office will likely continue leading the country, Yin said.

"All the movies screening during this year's Chinese New Year have strong intellectual property influence and huge market potential, so the final box office during the holiday will likely hit a record high," Lai Li, a market analyst at Maoyan Entertainment, said to Yicai.

The six new films releasing during the holiday have a big market influence, covering many genres that can meet moviegoers' wide demand, Lai noted. Sequels to previous high-grossing flicks and a new adaptation of a famous martial arts novel by renowned Hong Kong director Hark Tsui will soon hit cinemas, Lai pointed out.

In addition, low ticket prices attract more people to movie theaters, Wang Shu, head of operations at Beacon, said to Yicai. The minimum fee during the holiday this year will be the same as a year earlier, but thanks to ticket purchase subsidies issued by local governments, film producers, and platforms, the actual cost at some cinemas has dropped to as little as CNY19.90 (USD2.75), Wang noted.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev