Beleaguered American, Chinese cinema theaters try to plan for post-coronavirus era
When AMC Theaters slowed their roll, delaying the reopening of approximately 600 theaters around the country from mid-July to July 30, some theaters in low risk areas of China reopened on this Monday.
Moreover, they have a massive backlog of titles to exhibit, including Hollywood titles "Sonic the Hedgehog," "Dolittle," and Oscar winners, "Ford v Ferrari," "1917," and "Jojo Rabbit."
This good news from China brought relief to Hollywood as well, even though they knew most of China's theaters remained shuttered as well so far after a brief and partial reopening in mid-March.
The huge market in China can not be replaced by others, such as the resurgence of outdoor drive-in theaters amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a popular phenomenon in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, where viewers can watch films outdoors on a huge screen from the safety of their own cars. There are not enough drive-ins left to power a massive studio weekend release to a 500-million-U.S. dollar box office or more.
"Sitting in a closed-in theater with no windows is iffy," President of RelishMix, Marc Karzen, told Xinhua Tuesday. "So drive-in movies are a thing again. But it's not dark until 9:00 p.m., so you can't push massive box office for new movies through them. They work best for vintage movies."
RelishMix is a leading Hollywood social analytics firm for film, television and streaming programs that tracks and enhances social engagement for new releases.