China cinema boom excites Shanghai film festival

Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan arrives at the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival June 13, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

The sense of excitement at the Shanghai International Film Festival is understandable -- these are boom times for the Chinese film industry, as cinema box office soars and capital pours in.

"It's only a matter of time before China surpasses the United States to become the world's largest movie market," said Shi Chuan, deputy chairman of the Shanghai Film Association, on the sidelines of the festival.

After 11 years of gradual growth in the number of cinemas in China, the country reached 10,000 screens in 2011. But that had doubled within three years. As of the end of May, China had 28,000 cinema screens.

The United States has 40,000 but the number has remained almost unchanged over recent years.

China is on course to overtake the United States within three to five years, said Shi.

US moviegoing among Hollywood's key 18- to 39-year-old audience fell to its lowest level in five years in 2014, as overall attendance in most markets around the world was flat or declining, according to a report released in March by the Motion Picture Association of America.