Chinese ticket revenue is at just $3.9 million in the last 20 days, according to. Revenue hit $1.52 billion in the same timespan last year. The weekend of the Chinese New Year, which was in late January, is usually China's biggest time for moviegoing. It's also when major film releases were canceled and the theaters started to close.
Jimmy Wu, the CEO of Chinese cinema company Lumiere Pavilion, told THR that the Chinese government will have to take drastic measures to save the theater industry. They include offering emergency funding or a refund of the "film fee" from China's Film Bureau that is taken out of ticket revenue., has killed more than 1,100 people and infected more than 45,000.outside of the country before they've been released in mainland China.
It's unknown how long China's theaters could be closed or how the canceled movies will be rescheduled.