Pirated Movies Reason For Cinema Flops in China

The Xinhua article Only 10% of Chinese films attract audiences by Yan Zhonghua is analysing the reasons for failure of films in China to reach an audience.

• inadequate supply of cinemas and screens are blamed;
• many Chinese filmmakers lack money to promote their films afterproduction;
• many Chinese simply prefer to stay at home and watch television.

However, in my opinion, an important reason was left out:

The abundant supply of pirated movies that are very cheap. You are able to watch brand new movies (sometimes before the are played in the cinemas) for less then 1.50 US dollar at home. Besides, now you can even buy legal movies for 1.50 US dollar: read about Time Warner Bros' new price strategy here.

Read the Xinhua article here.