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The lines are forming once again at China's cinemas. Virus prevention measures are still strict in China's cinemas, but viewers can't wait to get back to the movies. It has been almost a month since they re-opened after their COVID-19 shutdowns, and with several new blockbusters premiering, box office earnings are also recovering. Data from film information website Maoyan show the movies are now back on at more than 9,200 theaters nationwide – that's 80 percent of all the theaters in China. Several much-anticipated films such as "The Eight Hundred," "1917," "Little Women," and "Wild Grass" premiered during the past week, giving audiences plenty of choices. And the box offices for these movies are doing great as well. Ticket sales for "The Eight Hundred," for example, totaled more than 1.2 billion yuan (174.5 million U.S. dollars), only six days after its premier. "Love You Forever" made almost 300 million yuan (43.62 million U.S. dollars) two days after its premier. "This shows how strong the consumer potential is after a number of months away from the cinemas and how eager the whole industry is to get revitalized when everything is getting ready to be back on the right track," said Cao Sanxing, vice director of Collaborative Innovation Center at Communication University of China.And with cinema occupancy still limited to 50 percent of capacity in first-tier cities, it's not always easy to get a hold of tickets. "As long as it's a great movie, it will be very popular. Tickets are of course hard to buy during the golden times, but to be careful about the virus, we're still sticking to the occupancy limits," said Qian Zhijun, marketing manager at Shangying Cinema.The new movies screened after Shanghai's film festival have helped cinemas get busier. Several new movies that were scheduled to be screened during the Spring Festival have announced they will premier in October. And this is expected to bring even more fans back to the movies. So far, movies including "Leap" and "Master Jiang" have announced plans to begin showing during the National Day Holiday's golden week. Wang Ce, CEO of Shanghai Firstake Consulting, said they have no choice, but to debut as soon as possible. "There are many movies backed up, and now that the cinemas have reopened the competition will be very tough. But they really need to release them as soon as possible, before people forget about them. I don't think the box offices from the National Day holiday will come up to the expectations we had for the Spring Festival this year, but it won't be bad," said Wang.
(CGTN)
