University of International Business and Economics (China) UIBE prof. shares insights into film market amid COVID-19
A number of listed cinema chains have recently announced their loss expected for the first quarter due to the impact of COVID-19 epidemic.
Jinyi Cinemas, Omnijoi Media and Huayi Brothers forecast a first-quarter loss of more than 100 million yuan (US$14 million) while Wanda Film projected a loss of 500 million yuan.
A report by the China Film Association shows that 40 percent of the nearly 200 theaters surveyed were at risk of closing.
Industry insiders said that the epidemic would step up the consolidation of the cinema market and accelerate the Survival of the Fittest battle between theatres.
“The epidemic could speed up aggregation of market shares in the industry,” Zhou Xuan, director of the Chinese Film and Television Industry Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), said in an interview with CCTV.
According to Zhou, cinema chains are not encouraged to run with too much debt and have to maintain abundant cash reserves and a sound liquidity of assets.