Bail out theaters and "retain Castle Peak" for the film industry
■ Observer
Local governments may wish to adapt measures to local conditions and try various methods such as tax relief and subsidies to help theaters tide over the difficulties.
Recently, with the rebound of the current round of the epidemic and the superimposition of factors such as "shortage of strong films", it has been extremely difficult for the theater industry to walk.
Statistics from a certain platform show that a considerable number of theaters are closed every day, which is an extremely bad signal for both the theaters themselves and the entire film industry.
In response to these difficulties, recently, Wenzhou and Jinhua in Zhejiang have issued documents successively, giving theaters a monthly subsidy of 25 yuan per seat according to the number of seats to help theaters tide over the current difficulties.
In addition, Shenzhen has also recently supported cinemas in different grades, with a maximum subsidy of 600,000 yuan for a single enterprise.
These initiatives are undoubtedly direct and effective help.
In fact, not only these places, but cinemas in many parts of the country are also facing the same predicament.
For areas severely affected by the epidemic, the government may wish to try various methods such as tax relief and subsidies to help theaters tide over the difficulties.
Right now, for theaters everywhere, especially some private theaters with weak funds, the primary goal is to survive.
In reality, theater operations are more difficult than most audiences realize.
Perhaps for the audience, the most direct perception is that when watching a movie, the number of people in the same audience decreases.
For theaters, the more intuitive thing is the drop in box office numbers.
It can be said that due to the rebound of the epidemic, the theater attendance and box office data are quite bleak.
The importance of new films and blockbusters to the cinema is self-evident.
At present, the number of new movies and blockbusters is small, and the few new movies and blockbusters cannot meet the box office expectations. In addition, the impact of the change of schedules of multiple movies is superimposed, and the current survival situation of many theaters is in jeopardy.
"Emergency relief is like disaster relief", and now some places have reached the time of "life and death defense" in theaters.
The policy support for theaters now is conducive to helping theaters recover after the epidemic.
In any case, we must see that the cinema is the place where audiences pay to watch movies, and it is also the terminal of the entire movie industry.
When the terminal began to disappear, it was also a huge blow to the entire film industry.
In May 2020, the Ministry of Finance and the State Film Administration jointly announced that cinemas in Hubei Province, which were most affected by the epidemic at that time, would be exempted from the special funds for films in 2020, and cinemas in other provinces would be exempted from the special funds for films in the first eight months.
At that time, Beijing also subsidized 20 million yuan to more than 200 theaters.
Jiangsu Province has also helped the film industry by implementing preferential tax policies, strengthening financial support, increasing credit, and reducing or exempting rent.
Therefore, at the moment, all localities may wish to learn from the measures in 2020 to help movie theaters tide over the difficulties.
In the process of implementing the epidemic prevention policy, it is also necessary to take precise measures, especially theaters in low-risk areas, as long as they comply with local epidemic prevention policies and strictly implement epidemic prevention requirements such as scanning code and temperature measurement, they should be allowed to continue to operate.
On this basis, theaters in distress also need to change their business ideas, find more ways and make new tricks to increase attendance.
In any case, for theaters affected by this round of epidemics, the government and relevant social parties need to see their difficulties, and pay attention and respond in a timely manner; the theaters themselves also need to make sufficient efforts to actively explore solutions.
This is crucial for market players to recover their "vigor" after the epidemic.
□Beijing News commentator Ding Hui