SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Feb 5 (Reuters) - China's film market achieved a record high of 9.5 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) in takings over the Lunar New Year period, 18.8% higher than the same period last year, as movie-goers flocked to cinemas to watch movies such as "Nezha 2".
The box office figure, calculated by Reuters based on data from ticketing platform Maoyan 1896.HK, surpassed last year's record of 8.0 billion yuan for the same eight day period.
A big draw has been "Nezha 2", a sequel to the 2019 animated hit that follows the adventures of the iconic Chinese mythological character Nezha. Box office tracker Beacon data showed that by 1.00 a.m. Wednesday (1500 GMT Tuesday), "Nezha 2" alone had grossed over 5 billion yuan.
Some movie goers told Reuters that the show was so popular that they needed to buy tickets one or two days in advance.
On Jan. 29, the first day of the Lunar New Year, the box office exceeded 1.8 billion yuan, with over 35 million cinema visits, setting a new single-day record.
Trailing behind "Nezha 2" were all domestic films, including the comedy mystery "Detective Chinatown 1900", the epic fantasy "Creation of the God II: Demon Force", and the martial arts film "Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants".
($1 = 7.2832 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Brenda Goh, Sophie Yu; Editing by Michael Perry)
((Sophie.Yu@thomsonreuters.com; 861056692136;))
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