Staff members sterilize seats at a movie theater in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 1, 2020. Movie theaters, spa parlors, beauty salons and fitness centers in Thailand were reopened on Monday as the authorities have further eased up anti-pandemic measures. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

After closing down for a few months, a cinema in Beijing's Chaoyang district has transformed itself into a fresh market in order to survive the economic turmoil brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"I saw some senior citizens standing outside the cinema yesterday on the way home and I wondered why. Then I saw a red banner on the gate of the cinema that read this place has become a market," Chen Xiaoqian, a Beijing resident, told the Global Times on Thursday.

A video showing the cinema-turned-market began circulating on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Thursday morning. A list of products with prices, including a variety of vegetables and fruits, can be seen pasted on the gate to the cinema below a film poster.

Netizens expressed sympathy for the troubles facing Chinese mainland cinemas, which have been shut down since January. 

"The epidemic has hit the film industry very hard. In addition to film and television studios, many cinemas have not been able to keep going," one netizen commented on Sina Weibo.

At noon on Thursday, the China Film Administration announced that movie theaters in regions with low risk can reopen starting on Monday, but with such strict preventive measures as online booking, distancing between seats and frequent disinfections. The announcement was hailed by netizens.

But some netizens expressed concern that even if cinemas are allowed to reopen, low attendance and high operating costs will lead to more losses. 

"Few new movies have been produced because of the epidemic and many people still have concerns about large gatherings, so I am worried if cinemas can recover after reopening," another netizen wrote.