(Yicai Global) June 30 -- Wanda Film Holding’s shares jumped after China’s biggest cinema chain operator returned to profit in the first half thanks mainly to the blockbuster movie Detective Chinatown 3.

Wanda Film [SHE: 002739] closed 5.2 percent higher today at CNY15.79. The benchmark Shenzhen Component Index gained 1.1 percent.

Net profit was likely between CNY620 million and CNY680 million (USD96 million and USD105.3 million) in the six months ending today, the Beijing-based company said in a statement late yesterday. That compares with a CNY1.6 billion (USD247.8 million) loss a year earlier.

Wanda Film cited the robust recovery in the Chinese movie market and a gradual pick-up in the global film industry for its return to the black.

It had net profit of CNY524 million in the first three months of this year, which means the firm’s second-quarter earnings were only in the region of CNY100 million.

The bottom line was mainly boosted by the success of Detective Chinatown 3, a comedy-mystery Wanda Film backed financially. It took CNY4.5 billion at the box office after hitting the big screen during the Chinese New Year holiday in February. It had been initially scheduled for release over the lunar new year of 2020.

Wanda Film’s share of China’s cinema market was 15 percent in the first half, compared with the 15.3 percent reported in its annual results for last year.

The company’s Hoyts Cinema, the second-largest movie theater chain in Oceania, was still in the red in the first half, but its losses narrowed significantly with the gradual availability of Hollywood movies, Wanda Film said. 

Hoyts Cinema turned profitable in April as ticket sales were back up to 80 percent of what they were in same period of previous years.

Editor: Peter Thomas