China’s Lunar New Year Films Undermined by Piracy Despite State Crackdown1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMore than 35,300 suspected links to pirated versions of Chinese New Year’s films and major holiday TV programs are available online, despite government directives to crack down on piracy, new data from China shows.
Rampant piracy did not stop the seven new year’s blockbusters released on 12 February from sending China’s February box office soaring to new heights of $1.74 billion and counting. But it has likely nonetheless caused significant losses for the country’s exhibitors, already hard hit by the pandemic over the past year.
Around 26,900 of the reported links lead users to pirated versions of four of the new year’s tentpoles, according to a report from the government-affiliated 12426 Copyright Monitoring Center, which has ties to the central propaganda bureau-backed Copyright Society of China, a professional association. A further 5,000 links led to key TV extravaganzas like the annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala.
Image credit: Fantawild
