4 years ago
MORE PAIN FOR CINEMA HALLS- thousands getting closed in China
The booming online craze and easy access to the internet has made people forget cinema halls. Shaun Rein, founder of the China Market Research Group, thinks the biggest challenge will be the growing strength of China's online movie sector, which is tremendously competitive with platforms such as Iqiyi, Youkou and Tencent Video.
He added for a basic package subscriptions were cheap at around $2 a month, while movie tickets often sell for $20 making people lured with benefits watching movies at home avoiding the infection of covid-19.
"Chinese players are just so cheap, often because they are subsidised as they are owned by giant internet players like Alibaba, Baidu or Tencent," he said.
He has also predicted that with more launches of direct-to-digital offerings and high prices for online movie releases on a pay-as-you-go basic on top of subscription rates cinema will not be able to bounce back as before. He expects the cinema sector to face a massive bloodbath.
Thousands of cinema halls are already under threat for closures and many have been bankrupt.
