Chinese Cinema Through the Lens of Domestic Cinephiles: An Empirical Study

This study explores the viewing behaviors and preferences of domestic movie fans in China. It combines film industry data to analyze its implications for China’s film industry recovery in the later stages of the pandemic. The findings reveal that film enthusiasts exhibit dual characteristics of cultural identity and rational consumption. At the industrial level, the pandemic has intensified structural contradictions, with streaming platforms diverting audiences and increasing pressure on cinemas. Issues such as content homogenization, reliance on flow stars, and an imbalance between commercialization and artistic expression have been exposed. Concurrently, this study proposes a “content-technology-institution” collaborative optimization strategy, advocating expanding the social reality and science fiction genres, strengthening special effects, and establishing a fan co-creation mechanism to enhance audience participation. This research provides empirical evidence for an “audience-centric” industrial transformation, emphasizing the balance between cultural identity and market benefits to achieve sustainable development.