China's Box Office to become world's largest by 2017

China's box office revenue is set to surpass that of the United States in 2017 and claim the title of the world's largest touching USD 10.3 billion, international accounting firm PwC said today.

The report forecasts that China's box office revenue will hit USD 10.3 billion next year, while the United States is expected to ring up USD 10.14 billion, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted a PricewaterhouseCoopers report as saying.

With a compounded average annual growth of 19.1 per cent, China's box office takings are expected to hit USD 15.08 billion by 2020, the report said.

The report estimates a whopping USD 49.3 billion of box office earnings across the globe in 2020, with nearly one third of it to be generated in China.

Jiang Xiaoping, a PwC China partner, said the robust expansion of China's film industry is driving the global development.

According to predictions, revenue from advertising in the Chinese film industry will exceed USD 161 million by 2020, and the average ticket price will climb to 6.04 dollars from 5.44 dollars currently, the report said.