Moviegoers traveling for premium screens drive cinema and tourism growth

Audiences walk past movie posters at a cinema in Mengzi City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 19, 2026. (Photo by Xue Yingying/Xinhua)

During the Spring Festival holiday, many young moviegoers hit the road, traveling to other cities in search of next-level cinema, from CINITY LED and IMAX GT to Dolby and 4D theaters.

Traveling to another city just to catch a movie is becoming a growing trend. In 2025, China's box office revenue reached 51.83 billion yuan ($7.52 billion), with 12.67 billion yuan generated by theaters offering special effects.

Both the trend and the numbers point to a deeper fusion of technology with film, culture, and tourism, and to a rising appetite for richer, higher-quality cultural experiences.

On the first day of the 2026 Chinese New Year, 25-year-old Wang Jiayi from Ma'anshan, east China's Anhui Province, drove with her parents to neighboring Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, to catch the racing comedy "Pegasus 3" at a local cinema. Four days later, they were back at the same theater for another film.

Wang said it was the CINITY LED system's fully immersive audio-visual experience that drew her to the theater.

Xiao Zhaolong, a young moviegoer from Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, had a similar experience. During the Spring Festival holiday, he drove an hour and a half to a theater in Shenzhen, where he watched "Pegasus 3," drawn by its CINITY LED screen. He later went back to the same cinema twice to watch three more films.

Liu Maoyang, the theater's manager, said the CINITY LED system was installed at the end of 2025. The 23-meter-wide screen delivers striking visuals paired with immersive sound.

Industry insiders say theaters that offer special effects are fueling profit growth and pushing the industry toward a more experience-driven model of consumption.

"That young people are traveling to another city just to watch a movie shows that, in the age of short videos, cinemas still offer an irreplaceable sense of immersion and ritual that small screens simply can't match," said Bu Shusheng, deputy general manager of China Film Group Corporation.

Traveling to another city for a movie is also deepening the integration of film with culture and tourism. On the first day of the Chinese New Year, a woman surnamed Xia and her husband from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality drove to Guiyang, southwest China's Guizhou Province, where they watched two films at Yuejie Cinema, which features an IMAX GT screen.

"Unlike a standard IMAX setup, the IMAX GT uses a dual-projector system, delivering a superior viewing experience," Xia said.

Beyond the movies, they explored the city—tasting local delicacies, visiting an ancient town, and enjoying a fireworks display.

Chen Kaifang, chairman of Yuejie Cinema, said the theater boasts the country's widest IMAX GT screen, drawing moviegoers from across southwest China and beyond. In 2025, visitors from outside the city made up 52 percent of total audiences—and 60 percent on weekends.

Data from the China Film Administration (CFA) show that China's film industry generated a total output of 817.26 billion yuan in 2025. This includes nearly 339.1 billion yuan from related sectors such as catering, transportation, retail, IP development, tourism at filming locations, film-themed parks, and film festivals.

The rising expectations of moviegoers are driving industry upgrades. Xinming Cinema, part of Chengdu Film Group in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, reopened in February 2024 with a CINITY LED screen—the first of its kind in southwest China.

Zhao Xinbo, the cinema's manager, has been exploring ways to offer higher-quality, distinctive services to boost revenue and attract a larger audience.

According to Zhao, the cinema regularly invites experts and scholars in literature and the arts to engage with audiences. "These interactive sessions usually follow screenings of film clips. They're very popular with moviegoers, as they expand what a cinema can offer," Zhao said.

In addition, to meet the interests of older audiences, the cinema has also held re-releases of restored films in its CINITY LED hall.