Chinese discouraged from Lunar New Year travel go to movies instead (updated)

Damai Entertainment Holdings

17/02/2021 07:55

(Adds chart showing historical box-office revenues)
    By Chen Aizhu
    Feb 17 (Reuters) - Chinese cinemas racked up record
box-office revenues during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday,
as coronavirus travel curbs compelled millions to forego visits
home during what is usually the world's biggest annual domestic
migration.
    Revenues touched 6.96 billion yuan ($1.08 billion) over the
six days to Wednesday midday, live data from ticketing platform
Maoyan Entertainment  1896.HK  shows, with higher prices padding
the total and Chinese productions dominating screens. 
    That haul topped the 2019 record of 5.9 billion yuan,
bringing year-to-date revenues in excess of 10 billion yuan,
state media said, in a movie market that last year surpassed the
United States as the world's biggest.     
    Investors welcomed the boom, pushing shares of entertainment
firms such as IMAX China Holding Inc  1970.HK  and Alibaba
Pictures Group Ltd  1060.HK , to multi-month highs on Tuesday
after the crisis-induced slump through much of last year.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KM0Q9 
    "It's pent-up demand, due to the virus controls and also
higher ticket prices, that is behind the hefty box-office
sales," said a user on China's Twitter-like Weibo, nicknamed
Tianjin Share Guru. 
    The top draw was "Chinatown Detective 3", a buddy action
comedy set in Japan's capital of Tokyo, with sales of 3.4 billon
yuan, while "Hi Mom", a time-travel comedy about parenthood and
family relations, came in second, raking in 2.4 billion. 
    Adventure film "A Writer's Odyssey" took third place,
followed by two Chinese cartoons.  
    The moviegoing frenzy was fuelled by workers and office
staff who heeded the call from authorities to stay in the cities
where they were based, rather than travelling home, in a bid to
rein in a resurgence of infections that began in January.
    Transport ministry data shows passenger trips fell 70%
nationwide over the two weeks before the Lunar New Year, which
began on Friday, from the corresponding period two years ago.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2KI08Q
    Some moviegoers got free tickets from local governments such
as that in the business hub of Shanghai.
    But not everyone was happy, as tickets could be hard to get
and more expensive than usual, partly since most cinemas halved
occupancy as part of  crisis curbs. 
    Although prices averaged about 50 yuan, up from 45 yuan
during the 2019 holiday period, they often exceeded 70 yuan and
even reached 150 yuan.
    "Chinatown Detective was sold at 143 yuan, isn't that
robbery?" said one movie fan on Weibo. 
    
    ($1=6.4542 yuan)
    
    (Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/)

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China's Lunar New Year box-office revenues surge to record as
millions on staycation    https://tmsnrt.rs/3bho1NC
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 (Reporting by Chen Aizhu in Singapore; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
 ((aizhu.chen@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3284; Reuters
Messaging: aizhu.chen.reuters.com@reuters.net))