(Yicai Global) July 14 -- Shanghai was the Chinese city that shifted the most cinema tickets in the first six months, raking in nearly CNY1.4 billion (USD196 million), closely followed by Beijing, as the country’s box office gets back on track, according to the latest data.

Shanghai was also the city with the most moviegoers over the period at 24 million, according to figures from the China Movie Database. Beijing was close behind, grossing over CNY1.3 billion (USD182.3 million) and with 22.5 million people attending the cinema.

There was quite a gap between the top two and the rest of the top 10. Shenzhen, which ranked third, logged only 59.7 percent of Beijing’s ticket sales. It was followed by Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Xi’an and Suzhou.

A city’s box office performance is closely related to its economic output and the size of its population. The 10 cities with the most movie ticket sales each have more than 12 million permanent residents. And nine out of the top 10 are also among the 10 biggest cities in terms of gross domestic product.

Fifty-nine cities in the country grossed over CNY100 million (USD14 million) each in the six months ended June 30, raking in a combined CNY16.9 billion (USD2.4 billion) and accounting for more than 60 percent of the country’s total.

Over two-thirds of these cities, numbering 40, are located along the country’s eastern coast in the economic clusters of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, which have a well-developed manufacturing industry and a high urbanization rate.

Eastern Jiangsu province had 10 cities in the top 59, the most among all provinces.

Another 15 cities out of the 59 are in the central and western regions and four are in the northeast. Cities in the central and western areas of the country have high population outflows. So although the box office performed well in January during the Chinese New Year holiday when a lot of people returned to their hometowns, it declined sharply after the holiday.

Editor: Kim Taylor