Moviegoers watch the film The Eight Hundred on August 14 in Shanghai. Photo: cnsphoto

 
Chinese film experts are concerned that the current COVID-19 epidemic situation in China might affect the domestic box office during the upcoming Chinese New Year period, with box office takings expected to surpass 5 billion yuan ($ 771 million) in February.

The film season during Chinese New Year will be a key period to fully stimulate the country’s film market for the whole year. The box office in the period in 2018 and 2019 reached 5.77 billion yuan and 5.9 billion yuan respectively, and the two years produced three films whose box office reached more than 1.5 billion yuan.

The Chinese New Year holiday will still be the best time for a rapid boost at the box office, according to a document that Ali Pictures sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.

However, due to the non-ideal coronavirus situation in China, many authorities have suggested that citizens should not travel during the upcoming holiday, which some Chinese film experts said could influence the period’s box office takings.

"I am worried about the box office. The authorities’ suggestion might slightly increase the box office in first-tier and second-tier cities, but there could be a big drop in the third-tier and fourth-tier cities,” Shi Wenxue, a film critic and teacher at the Beijing Film Academy, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

He said that many movie-goers returning home during the holiday would like to go to the cinema with their families for a New Year celebration, but this year’s special situation will reduce their group consumption in theaters. 

"The current epidemic situation will affect the seat occupancy rate,” said Shi. 

An employee from Wanda Cinemas based in Beijing told the Global Times on Tuesday that the current seat occupation rate is still 75 percent, and they have not received any notice to reduce the rate during the Chinese New Year Holiday yet. 

Shi anticipated that the box office during the holiday in 2021 can exceed 5 billion yuan, which will account for 10 percent to 15 percent of the total movie box office takings in 2021. “The box office in 2021 will surely be better than 2020, but it is still unknown whether it can equal the 5.8 billion yuan box office of 2019,” said Shi. 

He added that suspense and comedy film Detective Chinatown Vol. 3 will top the box office during the holiday. 

According to a survey released on Monday by Beacon, a ticketing platform under Alibaba Pictures Group, Detective Chinatown Vol. 3 is expected to lead the Chinese New Year film rankings.

A total of 11 films are scheduled for release during the New Year holiday, eight of which will be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year.