China Box Office Overtakes US For First Time

 

The lunar new year helps the world's second largest film market take $650m in February, beating America for the first time ever.

China's box office takings have beaten those in the US for the first time after new year celebrations brought a bumper February.

The world's second largest film market took $650m (£422m) in the month, helped by a movie called The Man From Macau II, which raked in $104m.

The North American box office total was $710m, but when the figures for Canada are stripped out the total is $640m, according to research firm Entgroup.

China's second biggest film for February was historical action movie Dragon Blade, starring Jackie Chan, John Cusack and Adrien Brody, which took $95m.

The lunar new year, which ran from 18-24 February, has become a peak cinema-going time in China and the holiday period is traditionally kept clear of foreign films.

Valentine's Day is also a popular celebration in China and many couples visit cinemas to mark the occasion.

For the rest of the month, the biggest Hollywood films in the country were The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1.

Before February, the biggest box office month was July last year with $580m, thanks to the release of Transformers: Age of Extinction.

China's film industry is growing rapidly with more and more screens being built for its population of 1.3 billion, many of whom are moving to urban areas. 

American Sniper has taken $331.1m in North America since its release and could become the highest grossing film of 2014 if it overtakes The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1.