Box office fraud clouds glory in Chinese market

Actor Donnie Yen in "Ip Man 3". [Photo provided toChina Daily]

The disclosure of box office fraud involving martial arts film "Ip Man 3," which stars Mike Tyson, offered a glimpse into the pains nagging the Chinese film market, the world's second largest.

The film's distributor recently admitted to fabricating box office figures for "Ip Man 3," according to a statement by the film bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television released last Friday.

The scrutiny came after the filmgoers and industry observers questioned the authenticity of the film's box office data after it reportedly raked in more than 500 million yuan ($76.7 million) in just four days after its premiere.

The case has stirred up criticism towards the manipulation of box office figures as well as concerns about the future of the nation's burgeoning film industry.

Chinese cinemas took a record 6.87 billion yuan (about $1.05 billion) in ticket sales in February, with the monthly box office overtaking that of North America for the first time, official data showed.

In a bigger picture, China's box office in 2015 reached 44 billion yuan, up 48.7 percent from 2014.

Against this backdrop, the "Ip Man 3" case was a heavy blow to the industry and filmgoers.

"It was a decent film and worth the ticket," said user "Liangliangliang" on popular microblog Sina Weibo after reading fraud reports on "Ip Man 3". "It's just sad to know about the fraud. The filmmakers were somehow screwed."