The Wall Street Journal reporting on the debut weekend of the sequel to Avatar.
The notable point, more widely applicable than just to cinema attendance is that the movie did not attract opening weekend numbers that it was expected to. Says the Journal (gated):
- This time, audiences in China largely stayed home for fear of contracting Covid-19, Disney said.
- As of 10 days ago, only about 35% of cinemas in China were open, because of strict government lockdowns designed to bring the number of new Covid-19 cases to zero in the country, but about 80% were open for the movie’s debut, said Tony Chambers, Disney’s global head of theatrical distribution.
- “The problem is nobody wants to go to the cinema, because they’ve been told that Covid is extremely dangerous,” Mr. Chambers said. “Although cinemas are open, the appetite for going to them isn’t really there.”
There's a way to go for an improvement in China's economy as it reopens, but it'll get yhere.
