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Eddie Peng (third from left) plays the leading role in The Rescue, directed by Dante Lam, one of three Hong Kong directors whose films were vying to be top dog at the Lunar New Year box office in China until distributors delayed their release because of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

China Lunar New Year film launches scrapped over Wuhan virus outbreak, in blow to cinemas, which make 10 per cent of their takings over 16-day holiday

  • Seven films that had been heavily promoted ahead of the holiday, the most lucrative time of the year for distributors and cinema operators, have been pulled
  • Government had earlier warned the public to avoid crowded places amid the fast developing outbreak, which has killed at least 17 people and infected hundreds

Producers of at least seven movies scheduled to open in Chinese cinemas at Lunar New Year this weekend have delayed their release because of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

All the films had been heavily promoted ahead of the holiday, the most lucrative period of the year for cinema operators and the Chinese film industry.

The Chinese government has warned the public to avoid crowded places amid the fast developing outbreak, which has killed at least 17 people and infected hundreds more.

The seven movies are Lost in Russia, Leap, Vanguard, Detective Chinatown 3, Boonie Bears: The Wild Life, The Rescue, and Legend of Deification.

A still from Leap, the Chinese volleyball movie directed by Hong Kong’s Peter Chan and starring Gong Li.

The promoter of Leap, directed by Hong Kong director Peter Ho-sun Chan and starring Gong Li and telling the story of the Chinese women's national volleyball team over 40 years, told the Post a new opening date for the film would be released later.

In a statement, the promoter said: “A war to fight the coronavirus is happening across China … Movies are just a small part of life … After concerns that cinemas, being sealed spaces, could contribute to the risk of the virus spreading, we decided to suspend plans to show the film.”

Ticket sale app Daimai said unconditional refunds would be given to customers holding cinema tickets for the Lunar New Year period in Wuhan, which has been placed under quarantine. “For events held outside Wuhan, if users want to get a refund, Daimai will spare no efforts in liaising with organisers for refunds to minimise the losses of users,” it said.

Maoyan Entertainment, China's biggest movie ticketing app, and Alibaba's online ticketing vendor, Taopiaopiao, have announced similar cinema ticket refund policies. (Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.)

According to Maoyan Entertainment, by midday on January 23, the value of advance ticket sales for January 25, the first day of the Lunar New Year, had reached 400 million yuan.

Lunar New Year is usually a golden period for film releases in China, with distributors falling over themselves to fight for the limited cinema slots.

On the first day of Lunar New Year last year, box office takings exceeded 1.4 billion yuan (US$203 million), 12 per cent higher than in 2018. Over the 16-day Lunar New Year holiday as a whole, box office takings totalled 5.9 billion, more than 9 per cent of takings for the entire year.

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