The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to Lighthouse Pro, as of May 5, the box office for the 2024 51 (May 1 to May 5) period had exceeded 1,522 billion yuan, surpassing the 2023 May 1 box office (1,521 billion), and also entered the top three of the May 1st in Chinese Film History! “Peace and Riot Force”, “Wandering Money at the End”, and “The Siege of Kowloon Walled City” are among the top three grossing in the current period.

Domestic films made up the top three, and the box office distribution was fairly uniform. Among them, the action film “Peace and Riot Force” became the box-office winner with 404 million yuan, and the comedy film “Crazy Money at the End” that followed won 390 million yuan, making it the biggest dark horse in the schedule. The Hong Kong-style action film “The Siege of Kowloon Walled City” ranked third in the box office list with $250 million.

Judging from the first-day box office of the May 1st edition, the first-day box office of 412 million yuan set the tone. The number of movie viewers exceeded 10 million, an increase of more than 30% compared to the first day of May 1st in 2023, showing strong enthusiasm for watching movies. This also warmed up the upcoming summer program ahead of time.

Looking back at the movie market since 2024, New Year's Day (1,536 million), Spring Festival (8.51 billion), and Qingming (842 million) all set new box office records for the same period in Chinese film history, further confirming the continued recovery in demand for offline movie viewing.

Meanwhile, on the supply side, film filming has fully resumed, and the supply quantity and quality of leading films have stabilized. In terms of the number of moviegoers and average ticket prices, as of 16:00 on May 5, 2024, the total number of viewers of the May 1st program reached 36.501 million in 2024, with an average ticket price of 40.4 yuan, all of which maintained steady growth.

Looking ahead, SDIC Securities is optimistic about the continued release of demand for watching movies after the supply of high-quality content is repaired, which will drive a strong recovery in the Chinese film industry. Against the backdrop of a strong recovery in the domestic film market, I am optimistic about leading Chinese films and Wanda Films, which have leading scale advantages.

After May 1st, movies that received the most attention in May include “Rise of the Planet of the Planet: A New World” and “Wandering Blade.” Entering June, starting with the Dragon Boat Festival “I Don't Want to Be Your Friends”, the quality and quantity of movies released are expected to rise, including “Volleyball Boy!! “Garbage Dump Battle”, “There's a Small Shop by the Clouds”, “White Snake: Floating”, etc. Other pending movies include “The Legend of Condor Heroes: The Master of Heroes”, “The Demon Boy in the Sea”, “Chaoyuan Alley”, “Dunhuang Heroes”, and “Legends”.

According to the Galaxy Securities Research Report, judging from the current movie market performance in 2024, there is no change in the film industry's recovery trend in 2024, and the film market still has room for continued recovery and growth. It is recommended to focus on: 1) companies with sufficient reserves and high-quality content to be screened; 2) leading cinema companies that benefit from recovering demand; 3) companies whose business covers the entire film production, distribution and broadcasting industry chain while benefiting from the restoration of imported film supply; 4) Online ticketing services benefit from market recovery, and companies with outstanding film production and promotion capabilities.

As the market picks up, the film and television industry's profitability is gradually being repaired. Predictably, against the backdrop of a rapidly improving macro environment in the industry, the film and television industry is expected to usher in cyclical growth in 2024.

Related concept stocks:

Maoyan Entertainment (01896): Recently, Maoyan Entertainment announced its annual results for the year ended December 31, 2023. The group achieved revenue of 4.757 billion yuan, an increase of 105.1% year on year; profit attributable to company owners was 910 million yuan, up 765.49% year on year; adjusted EBITDA was 1.25 billion yuan, up 290.4% year on year; basic profit per share was 0.79 yuan.

Alibaba Pictures (01060): The main producers of “Peace and Riot Control Force” include Wanda Pictures and Alibaba Pictures. Previously, the Qingming box office winner “What kind of life do you want to live” was promoted with the help of Alibaba Pictures.

IMAXCHINA (01970): The global IMAX cinema network is an important film distribution platform for Hollywood movies. IMAX theaters use proprietary IMAX, IMAX3D, and IMAXDMR technologies to provide the world's top movie experience.

Reading Group (00772): In late March, Citi released a research report stating that it maintained Reading Group's “buy” rating and lowered its revenue forecast for this year and next two years from 7.668 billion yuan and 8.208 billion yuan to 7.433 billion yuan and 7.837 billion yuan respectively, and raised the target price from HK$31 to HK$32. The bank expects Shinih Media's investment project pipeline to develop well this year, such as successfully investing in the hit movie “Hot and Hot”. The bank expects strong profit growth. At the same time, it believes that as more IP content is licensed, other IP adaptation businesses may achieve some growth; however, the performance is expected to be stable in the first half of this year after optimizing the online reading business channel.