A market professional told Variety that the Chinese government can wait for the situation in the country to be under control to announce the opening of the rooms in one go. Until now, cinemas were gradually being released, as the provinces were shown to be safer. The decision to close the rooms could be related to a new case of community contamination of the new coronavirus that occurred in the province of Zhejiang, which borders the city of Shanghai. China is stepping up efforts to contain the disease in the country. In the past few days, almost all new cases were foreigners, which has caused the government to temporarily ban people from entering, even if they have valid visas or residence permits. Changing the strategy In recent weeks, cinemas in the country have started to open, but interest in the early days has been low. To stimulate ticket sales, films that were successful in China would be shown again, such as Avengers, Avatar and Interstellar. On the other hand, the Chinese state TV channel CCTV6 announced that it would make the Lord of the Rings trilogy available online starting on Monday (30). Launching the films online, without a forecast of showing them in theaters, could be another indication that the country’s theaters should be closed for a few more weeks.
