With China re-opening its Hubei district (where the coronavirus originated), and the country also taking further steps to contain the virus. Other moves are being made to bring back a sense of normality; one of these steps is to bring back movie theaters. China closed down most of its theaters back in January during the early days of the outbreak. According to The Hollywood Reporter, China is starting to re-open approximately 600-700 movie theaters.
“An estimated 600 to 700 Chinese movie theaters open for business,” and now to boost business, all four Avengers movies, Avatar, Inception, and Interstellar will be re-released. Hollywood Reporter explained that a source at one of China’s nationwide cinema operators told them that “whenever the DCPs reach the cinemas,” the films will be available to them. In addition to this, the article notes that the Hollywood studios re-releasing their films in China will still “receive their usual 25 percent share of sales.”
Releasing some of the biggest blockbusters of the last 10 years (and Avatar) will allow nostalgic fans to go to the theaters. As for local filmmakers according to The Hollywood Reporter:
“Over the past week, China’s Film Bureau has introduced measures to help address the bottleneck. In a deal hashed out with Chinese studios last week, state-backed distributor China Film Group said it would allow local theaters to rerelease a raft of past local blockbusters — including Wolf Warrior 2, The Wandering Earth and Wolf Totem, among others — while giving cinemas the right to keep 100 percent of ticket revenue.”
To read the complete report you can visit the original Hollywood Reporter article.
The closed down of theaters has had a strong impact in different markets such as Italy. Movies such as No Time to Die, F9, and Sonic The Hedgehog had their international release days postpone. While this news doesn’t mean that we will start seeing newer movies arrive in theaters, it is a step in the right direction. The only way for studios to see if the theater openings are worth bring the newer movies to them is all going to come down to how much revenue will be made. While 600-700 theaters is a large number, it is not enough to justify new movies trying to break even.
Recently Troll 2: World Tour was announced to release both theatrical and digitally at the same time. Black Widow stars are also campaigning for Black Widow also to be released digitally. While I am on board with movies being available for both theater and streaming at the same time, there is something magical about experiencing a movie in theaters for the first time.
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