Audiences back to cinemas

On Friday, the last day of the week-long Spring Festival holiday, cinema manager He Feiyu was surprised by the moviegoer crowds despite the frigid temperature of minus 10 degrees Celsius in Hohhot, capital city of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

"Usually, people tend to go to cinemas on the first and second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, but the attendance figures remained high during this year's holiday. It seems that the public enthusiasm for movies has been ignited," He said.

China's movie box office revenue reached nearly 6.76 billion yuan during the Spring Festival holiday this year, making for the second-highest gross figures for this holiday to date, said the China Film Administration on Saturday.

Covering diverse genres, this year's holiday films were professionally made and fully met the particular demands of the audience.

Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association, said that film consumption is expected to continue growing after the holiday, as people who were busy traveling during the Spring Festival holiday get an opportunity to watch films.

"People's enthusiasm for cinema-going may last for several weeks," Rao predicted.

"We are working overtime to serve the moviegoers," said Liang Zhiqiang, a manager of a cinema in Chaoyang District in Beijing, pointing to a popcorn machine which rarely has one minute to rest.

"Our confidence is boosted, and the future will be better," Liang added.