(Yicai) Aug. 18 -- China’s cinema ticket sales over the summer period have already set a new record, led by Chinese movies ‘Lost in the Stars’ and ‘No More Bets,’ and there are still two weeks to go.

Movie ticket sales this summer reached CNY17.8 billion (USD2.4 billion) as of 7.21 p.m. China time yesterday, breaking the previous record of CNY17.77 billion set in 2019, according to data from ticketing platform Lighthouse Pro. In 2020 the figure was just CNY3.6 billion due to the pandemic and this expanded to CNY9.1 billion last year.

The box office this summer has rung in around CNY2 billion (USD274 million) each week for the past seven weeks, and there are still two weeks to go, said Chen Jin, a data analyst at Lighthouse Pro. The summer box office could hit CNY20 billion, he added.

Homegrown movies are dominating the box office, accounting for two-thirds of the total. Mystery drama ‘Lost in the Stars’ has already grossed CNY3.5 billion (USD480.8 million) and ‘No More Bets’ CNY2.25 billion. Both films focus on realistic themes and have caused a stir on social media. ‘No More Bets’ was only released earlier this month and it could still beat ‘Lost in the Stars’ to become this summer’s box office champion, Chen said.

The film market is recovering quickly and ticket sales this year could top CNY40 million (USD5.5 million), Chen added.

Editor: Kim Taylor