China Is Now No. 2 Box Office Behind U.S.

China surpassed Japan in 2012 to become the world's second-largest movie market, behind the U.S., with box office receipts in the world's most populous nation up 36% to $2.7 billion.

The new data, contained in a report released Thursday by the Motion Picture Association of America, underscores the growing importance of China to Hollywood's studios despite the ongoing challenges they face in exporting their movies there.

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Associated Press

A poster for the U.S. film 'Cloud Atlas' at a movie theater in Shanghai, China, in February.

Last year, concerned that foreign films were taking too big a share of box office, the government-controlled China Film distribution company released some big Hollywood movies on the same date, limiting their commercial potential.

Among the blockbusters pitted against each other were "The Dark Knight Rises," from Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Entertainment's "The Amazing Spider-Man."

In the U.S., those films opened more than two weeks apart. China Film also imposed several "blackout periods" during which no foreign films were allowed to play in theaters.

On a conference call with reporters, MPAA Chief Executive Chris Dodd said such issues are "still a concern" and that his Hollywood studio trade group has "raised our concerns about that with the very highest authorities we have access to."

China enjoyed the fastest growth of the world's top ten movie markets, an MPAA spokesman said. Total global box office rose 6% to $34.7 billion, thanks to increases Latin America, North America and the Asia Pacific region.

But declines in France, Italy, Spain and other countries hurt receipts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which fell 1% to $10.7 billion.

Box office receipts in the U.S. and Canada rose 6% to $10.8 billion, as 1.36 billion tickets were sold, 80 million more than in 2011. The average ticket price rose less than 1% to $7.96, after at least nine years of steeper price hikes. Admissions fell in both 2010 and 2011, and are down more than 10% since 2003.

Last year's positive news hasn't continued so far this year, however, as flops like "Jack the Giant Slayer" and Arnold Schwarzenegger's "The Last Stand" have helped to drive domestic receipts down 12% so far compared with the same period in 2012.

John Fithian, CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners, blamed the decline on a lack of diversity in the offerings from studios, saying there have been too many R-rated movies. Based on the films planned for future release, he said he expects that negative trend to turn around by the end of 2013.