Where is the
cinema?
电影院在哪里？
Let's go to the
cinema.
让我们去电影院。
The
cinema was half empty.
影院里空着一半座位。
Daniel Manwaring, CEO of IMAX China, said the company's China box offices are likely to approach pre-pandemic levels this year supported by recovering demand for moviegoing, a wide cinema network and a strong pipeline packed with films from both home and abroad.
IMAX中国首席执行官Daniel Manwaring表示，今年该公司在中国的票房可能会接近疫情前的水平，这得益于观影需求的复苏、广泛的影院网络和大量国内外电影的强大渠道。
A recent survey conducted by media platform Yicai showed that among 1,200 respondents, 90 percent of people now ranked going to the cinema as the number two consumption choice at the beginning of this year, lagging behind travel.
媒体平台壹财最近进行的一项调查显示，在1200名受访者中，90%的人在今年年初将去电影院列为第二大消费选择，落后于旅行。
"Despite making up just 1 percent of (cinema) screens in China, IMAX took 22 percent of the total box office of Avatar: The Way of Water, and 9 percent for The Wandering Earth 2.
“尽管IMAX仅占中国（影院）屏幕的1%，但它在《阿凡达：水之路》的总票房中占22%，在《流浪地球2》中占9%。
"Cheng said the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic has compounded a malaise in the cinema industry, which typically features a lack of certainty concerning financial returns or overall aesthetic quality.
The company has also launched its latest flagship TV sets -- S81 Pro OLED TVs, which cover 55-inch and 65-inch versions, and deliver immersive sound for the ultimate home cinema experience.
China's largest cinema chain operator Wanda Film said on Tuesday it expects to report a net loss of 1.5 to 1.6 billion yuan ($214 to $228 million) in the first half of the year as COVID-19 forced it to shut down theaters.
The company started to operate the second phase of the complex which includes foreign brand designer stores, a cinema, a children's park and restaurants in Sanya in January.
Since the launch of the first Dolby Cinema in China in 2016, the company has partnered with Chinese cinema lines to launch 59 Dolby Cinema sites in 32 Chinese first-tier and second-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian, Shenzhen and Nanjing, said a source with Dolby on Friday.
As China is poised to become the world's largest film market by 2020, Dolby has seen the country as a major exhibitor to promote Dolby Cinema, a specially-designed type of movie theater equipped with Dolby technologies to enhance the viewing experience.
In September, Dolby opened the 2,000th Dolby Atmos cinema screen in China, at Jinyi Cinemas Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province.
Since Dolby Atmos, an advanced sound system, debuted in the cinema industry in 2012, more than 5,000 Dolby Atmos screens have been ordered globally, almost half of them in China.
The launch of the 2,000th screen in China "marks a significant milestone in our Dolby Atmos cinema business as we expand our global footprint," said Michael Archer, vice president of worldwide cinema sales at Dolby.
There will be an indoor garden, a performing arts theater, and luxury movie theater with 1,400 seats, 12 screens and 4D cinema.
He transformed the company into one of the world's major cinema groups and accelerated the company's digital transformation.
According to the company, this drop was due to a decline in China's box office receipts and visits to the cinema.
Box office revenue in the first half of 2019 in China stood at 31.17 billion yuan, down 2.7 percent year-on-year, while cinema visits dropped 10.3 percent year-on-year to 808 million visits in the same period, according to official data.
"We have a couple of old television studios on the site, and one of them is going to be converted into the first permanent home for a local company called Backyard Cinema, who create themed, immersive events around film screenings,"xa0said Daly.
According to Cheng, step one is to tap into the torrent of audience data provided by social media, online ticketing and cinema loyalty programs.
Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, said a good movie does not necessarily have to cost a lot, nor tell an earth-shattering story, according to the Paper, which also said Ma watched Green Book with some of his friends, including Chinese computer giant Lenovo Founder Liu Chuanzhi and Chinese studio Bona President Yu Dong in a Beijing cinema on Monday, though the film will not be officially screened in China until March 1.
Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin's real estate-to-media conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group is exploring a deal to cut its stake in AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc, the world's largest cinema operator, people familiar with the matter said.
Smart Cinema was unveiled at a warm-up event of the 14th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industry Fair which opened on Thursday.
It is actually like an officially recognized online cinema chain.
The China Research Institute of Film Science and Technology approved the license for Smart Cinema, a joint venture among Linksus Digiwork Marketing Consulting Co Ltd, Shenzhen Dingjunshan Technology Co Ltd and several other investors, to develop and run the platform.
The legendary film executive Dr Jack Q. Gao, former senior vice president of Wanda Cultural Industrial Group and CEO of International Investments and Operations of Dalian Wanda Group, has become CEO of Smart Cinema.
"The San Francisco-based company has been promoting Dolby Cinema in China in the past few years.
The specially designed cinema features a vivid laser projection system and sound technology which moves audio around the theater and overhead.
The company on Tuesday announced its partnership with Guangzhou Jinyi Media Corporation, one of China's largest cinema circuits, to open 20 Dolby Cinema locations in four years.
The partnership also includes the deployment of 630 Dolby digital cinema systems in Jinyi's cinemas.
"Our partnership with Jinyi marks a significant milestone as we strive to extend spectacular Dolby experiences to more moviegoers in China and around the world," said Doug Darrow, senior vice president of Cinema Business Group at Dolby.
So far, 34 Dolby Cinemas have been opened in China in partnership with Wanda Cinema Line, Jackie Chan Cinema and other theater operators since the debut of Dolby Cinema in China almost two years ago.
Combined with advanced vision and audio technologies, the cinema is designed to make audiences feel closer to the onscreen action, transforming the movie experience, according to Dolby.
China contributed 246 new premium large format (PLF) screens to the world's total of 507 in 2016, which makes China the largest PLF screen base in the world, said David Hancock, research director of film and cinema at IHS Markit.
China is also the only region to host at least one screen of each of the seven global brands, including IMAX, CGS and Dolby Cinema, he said in an article published by Film Journal on Dec 1, 2017.
We are excited to upgrade our overall cinema experiences with Dolby and meet the growing demand of our moviegoers on higher-quality experiences," said Leo Li, CEO of Guangzhou Jinyi Media Corporation.
The increase in cinema locations has created a foundation for China's booming film market.
The country has surpassed North America with more than 44,400 cinema screens as of March 2017.
The latest PCs adopt Dell Cinema, a function providing an immersive viewing experience that the company launched in January at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Large-screen cinema company IMAX Corp and IMAX China Holding Inc have announced a deal to build 30 new IMAX theaters with Guangzhou Jinyi Media Corp, one of the largest exhibitors in China.
This year - like Darling in the Franxx, breaking their reliance on cinema, DVD and books - many Japanese cartoon makers are devoted to derivatives offline.
The company has also been actively pushing forward in performance and theater management and the arts, as well as auctions and cinema investment, exporting Chinese cultural products to markets overseas while introducing Western classics to the Chinese market.
The company has also been pushing forward cooperation in performance and theater management and the arts business, as well as auctions and cinema investment, exporting Chinese cultural products to Western markets, while introducing Western classics to the Chinese market.
Xu Niansha, chairman of China Poly Group CorpThe company has also been pushing forward cooperation in performance and theater management, art business, as well as auctions and cinema investment with the US exporting Chinese cultural products to Western markets, while introducing Western classics to the Chinese market, including the introduction of the Dream of the Red Chamber from San Francisco Opera, film and TV arts cooperation with FilmNation Entertainment and collaboration with Art Institute of Chicago.
View of a branch of Bona Cinema of Bona Film Group in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, Jan 12, 2013.
Taking out the issuance expense, the company says it will allot 605 million yuan to eight film projects and 820 million yuan to cinema upgrades and maintenance.
Huang is best known for his cinema and television roles in films and series such as Blind Massage (2014), The Legend of Mi Yue (2015), The Interpreter (2016) and Extraordinary Mission (2017).
Dolby Laboratories has teamed up with Chinese brands to target more Chinese consumers－not only in the cinema, but also at home and on the go.
So far, 23 Dolby Cinemas, which combine Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision laser projection, have opened in China in partnership with Wanda Cinema Line, Jackie Chan Cinema and other theater operators since the debut of Dolby Cinema in China last June.
That's also the reason why Dolby is geared up to quickly expand Dolby Cinema locations in China, he said.
Wanda, Dolby's largest partner in China and the world, plans to open 100 Dolby Cinema movie theaters in China within five years.
"The cinema market in China is rich and vibrant, and there's a huge culture of moviegoing.
People want to have the best cinema experience," Borchers said.
[Photo provided to China Daily]Cinema operator HG Entertainment Co isxa0one step closer to an initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai, a move which will make it the first listed entertainment branch of its parent company Hengdian Group, owner of a movie production base closest to Chinese version of Hollywood.
It first planned to raise 2.49 billion yuan for cinema construction but revised the volume to 2.36 billion yuan in this updated prospectus.
HG Entertainment is just one company in the field of television and film seeking listing, and companies like Talent Television and Film Co Ltd, and Omnijoi International Cinema have succeeded in going public in the country's A-share stock market in recent years.
The IPO application of Zhejiang Times Cinema Chain Co Ltd was dismissed, and the government asked it to further explain issues, such as how to deal with lots of its holding companies losing money and downside risks of the company's overall performance, an announcement released by China Securities Regulatory Commission in May said.
A man dressed up as a robot plays around with two kids at a Wanda cinema in Qingdao, Shandong province.
Wanda has been diversifying, through buying a slew of assets in various sectors including cinema chains and sports clubs, and has been a high profile buyer of assets internationally.
Two moviegoers check their mobile phones at a Wanda cinema in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province.
Beijing ThunderStone Technology Co Ltd, one of the largest karaoke system suppliers in China, announced partnerships with more than 10 leading Chinese cinema operators on Sunday, its latest efforts to further expand its online-to-offline mini karaoke businesses.
The company said it had signed deals with over 10 cinema operators, including Wanda Cinema, Evergrande Cinemas, UME International Cineplex and Poly International Cinema, and is expected to provide more than 7,000 mini karaoke booths called WOW mini KTV in those cinemas by the end of 2017.
Lei said the company and the cinemas will seek more cooperation in the future, such as offering cinema customers free mini KTV coupons.
In contrast, the Index has a very strong correlation with cinema spending, with a coefficient of 0.88.
Therefore, the Index chimes with the indicators that reflect endogenous consumption such as cinema spending.
With only a 10-minute walk, Wang and her son can reach Chaoyang's Hopson One Mall, a shopping center that offers many types of services including dining, leisure activities, preschool education, sports, a cinema and bookstores.
The recovery of China's services sector at present is now more reflected at the high-level end, such as international tourism, domestic tourism, cinema attendance and entertainment.
Cinema box-office receipts achieved the second-highest take on record, and the number of tickets sold was only slightly below the 2019 level, according to official figures.
"My 'joy combo' of dinner, beer, and movies have finally made its comeback," said Zhang Hongliang, a Beijing resident who joined his friends for the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water at a cinema in Haidian district.
Cinema staff confirmed that attendance at some movie theaters in Beijing has returned to 75 percent of the regular level.
The audience flow in the cinema has bounced back to 50 percent of the same period before the pandemic, with seating at 40 percent of capacity, according to a film company in Chaoyang Joy City mall.
Likewise, Sun Hung Kai Properties has planned to launch a series of nighttime activities in September and October at its malls in Shanghai, ranging from balcony parties, fashion shows and art markets to camping, outdoor markets, an open-air cinema and live band performances.
The new version of the store has introduced nearly 100 new brands, with a cinema, a digital bookstore and numerous restaurant outlets famous on the internet soon to open.
The cinema industry in the city has seen a good start this year, with total box office intake during the holiday reaching more than 1 billion yuan.
The overall holiday period consumption jumped 28.7 percent year-on-year to 821 billion yuan ($127 billion), and cinema box-office receipts exceeded a record 7 billion yuan.
"It was decided at the meeting that 31 sectors in Pudong New Area including e-commerce, construction, convenience stores, cafeterias, cinema, gyms and bookstores will start the integrated license reform, which will merge multiple licenses into one for market access.
The film industry was hit hard by the pandemic this year and the current cinema attendance rate is still stable at 75 percent.
Initial data suggested strength and resilience for Chinese consumption, said Haefele, citing impressive data on cinema box office revenue, duty-free shopping in Hainan province and tourism income.
Last month, some of the leading players in the filmmaking and distribution sectors signed an agreement in Zhejiang province, launching an experimental system to release different types of films in specific cinema chains.
July 2023 became the highest-grossing July in the history of Chinese cinema with the overall box-office revenue surpassing 8.7 billion yuan, generated from the sale of 212 million tickets, according to movie information tracking service Beacon.
While the charm of Hollywood is diminishing, the Chinese film industry has made remarkable progress in terms of budget and special effects, leading to visually captivating cinema that resonate better with local audiences due to the familiar cultural elements, Yuan explained.
The country will likely account for 27 percent of global box-office revenues for films in 2027, more than the 23 percent of the US, PwC said, estimating that China's total cinema revenue will reach $13.2 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of nearly 24 percent over the next five years.
"We will make efforts to build a 'digital cinema metropolis' with international standards, and help Chinese original movie and TV works soar.
Audiences back to cinemasOn Friday, the last day of the week-long Spring Festival holiday, cinema manager He Feiyu was surprised by the moviegoer crowds despite the frigid temperature of minus 10 degrees Celsius in Hohhot, capital city of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
"We are working overtime to serve the moviegoers," said Liang Zhiqiang, a manager of a cinema in Chaoyang district in Beijing, pointing to a popcorn machine which rarely has one minute to rest.
said Dong Wenxin, a cinema manager in the eastern Chinese city of Jinan, Shandong province.
Cinema managers are glad to see audiences coming back.
The average presale cinema ticket price for the holiday period is slightly lower than the same period last year, down from 56.2 yuan to 53.7 yuan; and it is the first drop in the past seven years.
Cinema box office sales during the holiday exceeded 550 million yuan ($81.3 million), and the operating rate of theaters nationwide reached 85 percent, a record high in 10 months, Li added.
PwC estimated that China's total cinema revenue will reach $13.9 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.62 percent in film revenue over the next five years.
Guangdong province, which boasts about 600 movie and TV companies and the most cinema screens in the nation, has been China's largest film market in terms of box office takings since 2001.
The number of cinema screens in China has exceeded 80,000, according to a report citing official data.
Cinema screen count in China saw a daily average increase of 17.8 during the first nine months.
Tourists without a ticket are allowed to visit the Universal CityWalk, where 21 restaurants, seven theme retail outlets and mobile vending cars, as well as a cinema and live shows await them.
Initiated by copyright and film regulators and police authorities, the operation will focus on fighting against illegal recordings of cinema films, among other violations.
It is expected that China's subscription-based video-on-demand revenue will exceed cinema box-office revenue in 2020 for the first time.
Although China's cinema revenue will rebound rapidly, with a compound annual growth rate of 37.8 percent from 2020 to 2024, it will still take a longer time to return to levels seen before the pandemic.
Another cinema chain giant Guangzhou Jinyi Media Corp anticipates a loss of between 100 million yuan and 128 million yuan in the third quarter, down from a loss of 153 million yuan in the first quarter and 161 million yuan in the second quarter.
As cinema companies expect better profits from soaring box office collections, film production studios are also expecting business to pick up.
"This year has also seen significant growth of modern TV series and cinema film shoots, leading to a recovery of the industry," said Zhao Yongqing, general manager of Zhejiang Dongyang Hengdian Movie Center Management Service Co. , Ltd. "Now, all of the 20 high-standard studios for modern TV series are booked out and the demand for the reservation of normal studios is also high," Zhao added.
During the National Day holiday in early October, China's cinema box office recovered to more than 80 percent of its performance during the same period last year, with nearly 93 million moviegoers.
CityWalk, which will also open next year, is expected to house a multiplex cinema with Beijing's largest commercial IMAX screen taking pride of place.