Box office continues to rise on the first day of the resumption of work
Our reporter Jiang Tianjiao
After nearly 180 days of suspension of theaters across the country, the "restart button" was finally pressed.
According to Maoyan data, as of July 19, the pre-sale box office of 391 theaters in 83 cities across the country on the first day of resumption (July 20) reached 948,000 yuan, with 34,000 moviegoers. If the service fee of 3 yuan per ticket is included, the national pre-sale box office on July 20 has exceeded one million yuan. Subsequently, the box office rose all the way. At around 12:00 on July 20, the national box office reached 2 million yuan and rose to 2.6 million yuan at 14:00.
It is understood that among the films released in theaters across the country on the 20th, there are not only the new films "The First Parting" and "Brilliant Fire", as well as "Dream Travels", "Wolf Warriors 2", "Chinese Partners" and "Mermaid". "Charlotte's Worries", "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World" and other old films have been re-screened. According to reports, many more movies are waiting to be released.
However, the industry is not optimistic about the film market expectations in the early stage of resumption of work. Some cinema practitioners stated that the "Notice of the National Film Administration on Promoting the Reopening of Cinemas under the Condition of Normalization of Epidemic Prevention and Control" clearly requires that the attendance rate should not exceed 30%, and the number of shows should be halved. At the same time, the price of the re-screening film is not high, and the cost cannot even be amortized. In addition, the prevention and control measures prohibit the sale of beverages and snacks in principle, and food and drink in the cinema are prohibited in principle. These regulations have affected the revenue of the theater. It is foreseeable that the box office will not be too high at the beginning of the resumption of work.
According to Wang Bing, chairman of Fengshanjian Culture Communication (Beijing) Co., Ltd., after the opening of cinemas, the depressed market demand in the past six months has been released, and there may be a wave of retaliatory consumption, but the market recovery is also uncertain. For example, the epidemic may be repeated. At the same time that the theater is open, it also needs to limit the current and comply with a series of epidemic prevention regulations. It is not a normal operation state, which is very risky for large-scale productions.
Rao Shuguang, director of the Film Art Center of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said that the top films are still waiting to see the market situation, and these films will be released one after another only after the market stabilizes. Until then, the theater will basically return to its original operating state, or enter a "new normal" for theaters.
Some insiders pointed out that in any case, the resumption of movie theaters has given the industry hope. This is the most important point. Like the problems faced by other industries in resuming work after the epidemic has stabilized, the restoration of confidence requires a process and requires the cooperation of both inside and outside the industry.