About a week ago, things seem to slowly get back to normal in China, after months of fighting Covid-19. Cinemas too were slowly set to reopen too having been on tight lockdown earlier. There was even — what appeared to be — a solid plan in place: Play popular older movies to coax the public back into theatres.
China’s Film Bureau stated that the initial batches of films “will be distributed in a charity model”, with studios forgoing their 43% profit from the films and the entire revenue being gained by cinemas.
But things didn’t go according to plan. A few days ago we reported that despite the cinemas being open for business once again, the Chinese public simply refused to show up due to Coronavirus fears. According to reports, “these theatres averaged poorly, with numbers of less than one person per screening.”
Now, in a move that many did not see coming, theatres in China have once again been ordered to close. According to The Guardian, late on Friday evening, China’s Film Bureau issued a decree ordering all venues to shut down, offering no reason for the change in policy.
While no official reason has been given yet, I think the decision could’ve been made due to looming fears over a potential second wave of Coronavirus attacks. Many experts predict that China may not be out of the woods just yet.
