According to statistics from the National Film Administration, the National Day box office in 2026 reached 1.165 billion yuan, exceeding 100 million yuan in a single day for 7 consecutive days, with 31.9959 million moviegoers, and domestic films accounted for 78.7%; "Trace of the Detective" led the way with 423 million yuan. As of October 7, the total box office for the year reached 30.746 billion yuan. According to estimates, the output value of the entire film industry chain has exceeded 480 billion yuan, injecting new vitality into economic development. These numbers show that the heat on the screen has not cooled down; more noteworthy changes are happening off the screen.
This change is especially obvious when walking into the theater during the National Day holiday. The first thing you see may not be the ticket gate, but the VR game in the busiest cinema. The traditional screen in this theater has been replaced by an LED screen, which is used for team building and watching games during the day, and returns to screenings at night. There are also many theaters that can broadcast sports events, with high-definition giant screens and stereo sound fields. People who don’t know each other cheer together for the wonderful moments; when the event is over, the big screen flips over, and the theater becomes a technology experience area. Some theater managers said that the goal of the theater is to shift from a single model of traditional movies to a diversified cultural experience space.
Behind this, we are actually answering a more fundamental question: When online content is readily available, what else can offline theaters provide? Since the beginning of this year, popular films have been released one after another, and the popularity of screenings has continued; at the same time, many theaters have focused on social scenes and space functions, trying to make the theaters carry more cultural experiences. This is not only the reshaping of the cinema industry, but also the epitome of the upgrading of cultural consumption. Consumers are no longer just satisfied with "seeing content", but also care about "how to see it, who to watch it with, and what else to do after watching it." What everyone buys is not just content, but also experience, scenes and emotional value. Come to the cinema and give your attention to the screen for two hours, and you can get a period of time that is not easily interrupted.
According to the "2026 National Day Movie Data Insights", the proportion of single-person viewing of National Day movies this year reached 25.7%, the highest in the past six years. Watching a movie alone is not about loneliness, but choosing a two-hour period of concentration. And this kind of focus is becoming increasingly rare. It is precisely because of its rarity that the ultimate experience is even more precious - it can still make people sit down again and give their minds to a screen. Previously, the hit release of "Nezha: The Devil Boy in the Sea" made the IMAXGT theater of Guiyang Cross-border Cinema out of the industry. Some people "went to a city for a screen", which shows that the ultimate experience still has appeal.
However, if the answer just stops at "focus", it is still not enough. Data show that as of the end of September, there were a net increase of 438 theaters and 2,632 screens nationwide this year, bringing the total number of screens to nearly 96,000, ranking first in the world. The supply is still expanding, and what is really scarce in theaters may be a group of people putting down their mobile phones at the same time and sharing the same emotion in the same space: they don’t know each other, but they cheer for the goal together and hold their breath for the plot. This kind of "co-presence" is difficult to replicate online.
Furthermore, the transformation of theaters also corresponds to changes in consumption structure. The upgrade of cultural consumption is not just about better equipment, but more stratified needs: some people want to be immersed, some want to socialize, some want to be alone, and some just want to find a public space with content, atmosphere, and companionship. Cinemas use the same venue to switch between different scenes, which is exactly in response to this layered demand. It is no longer just a screening room, but more like an urban cultural consumption node. In June this year, the National Film Administration and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Notice on Promoting the Diversification of Cinema Operations, Prosperity and Development of Cinema Culture", proposing to "lead new supply with new demand, create new demand with new supply, break the traditional business model, and further stimulate the vitality of cinema operations." It can be seen that this round of transformation is not just about selling more tickets and selling more products, but that theaters are shifting from a single box office economy to a comprehensive operation of experience economy, space economy and cultural consumption.
Therefore, the value of the movie has already overflowed from the screen. The "second half" of the theater is not just about box office; the door of the theater is no longer just for movies. It leads to a space where we are still willing to get together, pay for experiences, and integrate cultural consumption into our daily lives.
