Chinese cinemas reopen after 6-month hiatus

BEIJING, Jul 21, 2020, China Daily. Box office receipts broke 3 million yuan ($429,300）and 129,100 tickets were issued by Monday evening — the day cinemas in most parts of the Chinese mainland reopened — ending six months of closure due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Securities Daily reported on Tuesday, China Daily reported.

The box office performed within expectations at the first day of the reopening of cinemas, said Securities Daily, citing Shi Yedong, a senior industry insider. Currently, the main audience is die-hard fans and film practitioners, Shi added.

So far, 43 films have been scheduled for release, mainly older films.

The moviegoers are mainly in first- and second-tier cities, who are more concerned about what’s on the screen when they watch films at the cinema, an industry insider said to Securities Daily. Due to a shortage of new releases and most re-releases being available online, audiences have little incentive to go to the cinema at the moment.

The overall domestic box office during August to September will be 20 percent to 30 percent of the same period in previous years due to attendance limitations for the COVID-19 prevention and control and the absence of quality films. But as the Chinese National Day holiday approaches and the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control measures are optimized, attendance is expected to return to the same levels of past years. Moreover, the backlog of high-quality films from the first half of the year will pile up, and the film sector is expected to usher in a consumption boom, according to a report from brokerage Hua’an Securities.