Author: cat Shu, from the title figure: Vision China
On February 24th, the one-way street bookstore on the 15th anniversary of its establishment couldn’t survive, and Xu Zhiyuan, one of the founders, embarked on the crowdfunding “seeking help” road. With the ongoing epidemic, bookstores are having a hard time, in fact, movie theaters are having a harder time.
Since January 24, the theater has been shut down for a full month. The sound of “saving theaters” in the Chinese movie market is also gradually rising. After all, the existence and survival of physical theaters is directly related to the rise and fall of the entire theater movie market.
On February 23, the China Film Distribution and Projection Association issued the “Recommendations on Preparations for the Resumption of Cinemas”, which seems to indicate that the return of cinemas is just around the corner.
But it ’s important to note that it ’s not just the movie theater that presses the pause button, but also the audience ’s desire to watch movies. Even if the theater resumes work, as long as the epidemic has not been fully controlled, it will be difficult to pull most of the audience back to the theater.
The audience is not ready to walk into the cinema
The theater has been suspended for one month. The theater has almost lost all its income sources, but the rent cannot be paid off. Employees’ salaries have to be paid as usual. Property management and the maintenance of projection equipment can be imagined.
According to the “Recommendations on Preparations for Rehabilitation of Cinemas” issued by the China Film Distribution and Screening Association, the air-conditioning and fresh air system must be cleaned and disinfected before the theater is reopened. The theater guides the audience to bring their own or purchase 3D glasses for viewing. 3D glasses cleaning and disinfecting equipment, but also put forward specific requirements for projection equipment, projection room temperature, humidity and so on.
The reopening of the theater is the industry’s wish, but it has been questioned and resisted by many netizens, and even boarded Weibo. “It’s time for the movie theaters to resume work?” In the movie! Just wait! Safety first “” Can’t joke about your own life, the movie theater is really one person infected the whole hospital to ascension “…
As a large and closed public event space, the cinema is no different from a “highly contagious place” in the eyes of the majority of audiences when the epidemic situation has not been controlled. Even if the theater takes steps, it will be difficult to reassure viewers.
Obviously, even if the theater resumes work, the audience is not ready to enter the theater.
“Even if business resumes, revenue will have to fall by 70% to 80%”
“I haven’t received a notice of resumption of work yet, but disinfect and clean the theater every day to prepare for reopening.” A third-tier city cinema staff told us.
The so-called “preparation for resumption of theater work” is only the guidance of industry associations, not the “return to work notice” of higher authorities. There is still a long way to go before the theater actually resumes work.
According to the current development of the epidemic, it is optimistic to estimate that even if you can resume work at the end of March, even if you are lucky, the impact of the entire film market may continue until May and June.
“I don’t think that in the next month or so, the audience will not want to go to the cinema. Perhaps the audience will not return until June or August.”The famous director Jia Zhangke behaved even more pessimistically. “I have seen that because there is no income in the first half of the year, many movie companies will not be able to survive. For many filmmakers, the business in the first half is half or one third of their income Source. “
“If you do n’t lose money, you still lose money, but you still want to start earlier. Whenever you start work, there must be a transition period and wait-and-see period of one or two months!”
Even if theaters resume business, theater staff are not optimistic. In the interview with NetTV, everyone said that they were ready to make a 70% to 80% drop in revenue after the start of construction.
After the epidemic, there may be a short-term consumption peak, or even a retaliatory movie watching boom, but it must be after the epidemic is completely controlled.
Shocked in the short term, but will not change the long-term trend.
“The epidemic caused macroeconomic pressure in the first quarter, and all links in the film industry chain were impacted to varying degrees. The film market has a greater impact than the TV drama market. Small and medium-sized theaters generally face operational difficulties, which may trigger theater mergers and acquisitions. Tide. “In the face of our interview, some in the industry expressed concern.
In fact, some theaters are actively helping themselves when the theater is closed.
Early February, some theaters started selling hoarded snacks, and even launched a “snack gift package clearance” spike activity, but this is only the helplessness of the theater’s loss-making approach, and can not change the operating dilemma facing the theater.
In order to alleviate the operating pressure of theaters, the film industry associations in various places have also issued an open letter calling on cinema property owners to actively reduce or reduce rents and property management fees during the theater shutdown period, but they are just appeals.