Reuters reports China’s cinemas are showing signs of weakness, a concern for policymakers who had looked to stellar box office receipts over the last half-decade as a sign consumers were picking up some of the slack from ailing exports and manufacturing. Ticket sales dropped 10% in the second quarter of the year versus 2015, the first dip in around five years and a far cry from stellar growth at the start of the year. July sales slumped further, data from box office tracker EntGroup showed. Stalling sales suggest belt-tightening by China’s consumers is hitting even small luxuries and everyday discretionary spending, a concern for the Hollywood producers wooing China and for Beijing as it struggles to stoke domestic demand.
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