China reopens cinemas for second time in further sign economy is recovering from coronavirus
- Cinemas in low-risk areas will be allowed to open again from Monday, but must follow strict rules, while those in medium and high-risk regions will remain closed
- National box office revenues were around 2.2 billion yuan (US$315 million) in the first six months of the year, compared to 31.1 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion) a year earlier
China announced on Thursday that it will allow most of the cinemas in the country to reopen again from next week, although they must still follow strict guidelines.
In the latest sign that the country is gradually recovering from the coronavirus outbreak, tens of thousands of cinemas in low-risk areas will be allowed to restart business from Monday.
But cinemas in medium and high-risk regions – mainly some areas of the capital city of Beijing – will remain closed, according to the China Film Administration.
Cinemas had initially been allowed to reopen at the end of March, but were forced to close again a week later to further contain the spread of the coronavirus.
“Pandemic control remains the top priority,” the China Film Administration said in its statement on Thursday. “Cinemas must comply with local requirements in booking, [customer] flow control, film intervals, regular checks and disinfection, as well as setting up contingency plans.”
All cinemas must adopt an online booking system, check the temperature of each customer, while face masks will be mandatory. In addition, capacity will be restricted to 30 per cent, the number of movies shown will be reduced by half and customers will not be allowed to eat or drink.
The vast majority of cinemas have yet to release schedules or sell tickets, but keyword searches for “cinema” and “movie ticket” increased tenfold an hour after the government statement on Thursday, according to a heat map provided by search engine Baidu.
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National box office revenues were around 2.2 billion yuan (US$315 million) in the first six months of the year, all of which was earned in the first four weeks of January, compared to 31.1 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion) a year earlier.
Shenzhen-listed Wanda Pictures estimated that it lost 1.5 billion yuan in the first six months of 2020, according to an interim exchange filing on Wednesday, compared to a profit of 524 million yuan (US$75 million) a year earlier.
It remains uncertain whether audiences will want to return to cinemas and whether a [new] blockbuster movie can easily reap box office revenues of more 1 billion yuan as they could before
“We are confident of a sustained recovery in the second half of this year,” National Bureau of Statistics spokeswoman Liu Aihua said on Thursday.
However, some analysts remain cautious about the economic outlook, given that retail sales continued to fall in June amid worries over unemployment, falling income levels and the continued risk of coronavirus infection.
“Given the new rules to maintain social distancing and reduce unnecessary touching in the post-coronavirus era, it remains uncertain whether audiences will want to return to cinemas and whether a [new] blockbuster movie can easily reap box office revenues of more 1 billion yuan as they could before,” said Zhou Hao, a senior emerging market economist for Commerzbank.
