Box-office stumble

Reduced ticket subsidies and cliched summer offerings not luring audiences to Chinese movie theaters. Xinhua reports.

China's box-office revenue stood at 4.5 billion yuan ($676 million) in July, down 18 percent year on year, the first decrease in five years. Why is it that this summer holiday, traditionally the high season for cinemas, has seen poor ticket takings?

As recently as the first quarter of 2016, the market performance was excellent, taking in a record 60 billion yuan this year, and on track to overtake North America in 2017.