The industry is recovering, and there are still many difficulties to overcome.
Editor’s note: This article is from the WeChat public account “Poison Eye” (ID: youhaoxifilm).
Text | Zhang Na
Edit | Jiang Yuqi
Time is getting tighter, but the most critical step has not been finalized.
Today is July 20th, the first day the cinema officially resumes work. To celebrate this special day, Changsha Wanbohui Cinema planned to hold a grand “light-up ceremony” at 2 pm, and invited more than 30 people, including fans, property developers, and developers, to watch Stephen Chow’s “Mermaid “. However, the key arrived late at 1 pm, and the lighting ceremony had to be postponed until tomorrow afternoon because it was too late to organize the audience.
“Hurrying up and down” and “frequent accidents”, this may be the most real feeling of many theaters in the days when they are preparing to resume work. Many practitioners told Dumou (ID: youhaoxifilm) that it was not until the moment when the document was issued at noon on the 16th that they knew that work would resume in 4 days. Staff recruitment, cleaning and disinfection, equipment maintenance, etc., a lot of work needs to be prepared in a very short time.
Picture source: Chengdu Heping Cinema performs disinfection work for the resumption of work
Although many provinces and cities have issued resumption rules, allowed theaters to open, and simplified the resumption approval process, some regions have not issued resumption rules, film copies have not yet been put in place, and preparations are too late. Waiting for the impact, there are still a few theaters that really resume work today. Some practitioners told Drug Eye: “The resumption of large-scale theaters will take at least until August. There is too much work to be prepared in the early stage.”
Although the pace is slow, the theater ship is finally showing signs of setting sail again. From 0:00 last night to this afternoon, the big screens of theaters in Shanghai, Chengdu, Changsha, Hangzhou and other places finally lit up to the audience again after a lapse of more than 180 days, and practitioners from many studios are also beginning to show For the first time, he sent pictures and videos of the scene to Poison Eye-in most photos, although the audience was wearing masks, joy seemed to be visible in the eyes.
A long-lost one, because of the movieThere are theaters that are as lucky as Chengdu Heping Cinema. “Without a copy and key, a clever woman can’t cook without rice.” In the past four days, more than one theater director and Dumo said with emotion.
As the first new film released after the resumption of work, the producer of “The First Parting”, Daxiang Dianying, also said that in a few days after the time was confirmed, they were not only looking for the fastest express delivery, but also Partners in disk production, hard disk copying, secret key production, and issuance notice are also working overtime. But even so, many theaters still failed to catch up with the first batch of resumption of work.
Copy sent to various places
In addition to the film, the resumption of work approval and disinfection preparations are the reasons why many theaters have not dared to resume work in the first place. Many theaters in other low-risk areas such as Changchun, Hunan, and Shandong have stated that it takes at least a week for general theaters to prepare. It may be expected that a large-scale resumption of work across the country will not be achieved until the end of July or early August. At present, most theaters are still in The state of preparation.
UME told DuMou that there are 3 UME theaters that can officially resume work today, but other theaters under the company are also ready to resume work. Once the local permits, they can start work at any time.
But even at that time, not all theaters can happily usher in the resumption of work. There are also many movie theaters who said reluctantly that even if all the work is ready, they may not be able to resume work soon, including the recruitment of personnel.
After all, under the restrictions that the attendance rate does not exceed 30% and the sale of beverages and snacks is prohibited, many theaters have to operate at a loss compared with normal operations during the same period. After the door was opened, the early box office income basically could not cover the employees’ wages, machine wear and tear and other expenses, which also made many theaters with poor cash positions hesitate.
Source: Changsha Mango International Studios is resuming work and debugging equipment
Especially in areas with higher rents, the pressure cannot be underestimated.
A movie theater in Shanghai said that at present, many larger movie theaters in Shanghai cost hundreds of thousands of rents per month. During the closure period, many theaters communicated with the property and offered corresponding rent reduction or exemption. Now that the house is open for business, rents will return to normal, and the cost of theaters will naturally rise. According to the current attendance, even if many theaters resume work