After years of restrictions on virtually every front of its massive film sector, China has cracked the door open to foreign movie theater chains.
"In the context of the trade war, there is a tendency for small concessions to be made here and there, and this is probably one of them," says Mathew Alderson, a partner at Harris Bricken Attorneys & Consultants in Beijing. "It's hard to imagine that they would have taken this step had that meeting resulted in an escalation of tensions."
How much opportunity for growth is left for foreign firms to capitalize on in China's massive exhibition sector is another question. "You certainly can't say that companies going into theater construction in China now will be getting in on the ground floor," points out Lindsay Connor, a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, who regularly represents Chinese studios in international deals.
In the first half of 2019, ticket sales revenue in China fell 2.7 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Artisan Gateway's data. Most observers have blamed the drop on a downturn in domestic film production caused by Beijing's tax crackdown andover the past year, along with other domestic financing challenges. But an increase in average ticket prices — from $5.17 in 2018 to $5.61 this year — has masked a more worrying trend: a 10.
Perhaps cinema21 ?