On July 16th, China Film Bureau issued a notice that cinemas in low-risk areas can resume opening in an orderly manner on July 20th, provided that all epidemic prevention measures are effectively put in place, while cinemas in medium and high-risk areas are temporarily closed. After the news came out, China fans immediately enthusiastically supported the resumption of cinema with practical actions, and pressed the "accelerate" button for the resumption of China’s film industry: on the first day of the resumption of cinema on July 20, the total box office of the national movies reached 3.5 million yuan, which is still growing in recent days. As of 19: 00 on July 23, the national cumulative box office has exceeded 18.85 million yuan. In addition to China, French, British, Singaporean, Malaysian and other countries have successively joined the "cinema resumption tide". Cinemas in various countries have taken a series of special prevention and control measures to ensure the safety of customers: Britain and France readjusted their cinema seating plans to ensure a safe social distance between audiences, and even dispatched the popular "Minions" to accompany you to the movies; South Korea’s CGV company has introduced a new "contactless cinema" model to reduce risks. During the epidemic period, in order to minimize the risk, various ways of watching movies have emerged: Wal-Mart will transform the parking lot into a drive-in cinema on a large scale, and "floating cinemas" have also emerged in Australia and the United States. You can also enjoy movies by boat on the Seine River. How beautiful it is.However, after 178 days of separation, we need to restart the agreement with cinemas step by step. The experience of returning to work and epidemic prevention measures of cinemas in various countries may help us to abide by various epidemic prevention requirements with awe and cherish this rare reunion time.
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Cinemas around the world welcome to return to work.
The French is happy to buy old movies.
Singapore’s movie experience is reassuring.
The attendance rate of Malaysian cinemas is less than one third.
With the epidemic situation stabilizing and all walks of life gradually returning to work, cinemas in many countries around the world that have been closed for several months have finally welcomed the first audience.
On May 28th, local time, French Prime Minister Edward Philippe announced in a live TV broadcast that cinemas will reopen all over France on June 22nd. Since mid-March, in order to curb the spread of Covid-19, French cinemas have been closed, but now they can finally open again. In an interview with French 24 Hours, the cinema manager Louis Meyer said, "No words can express my feelings now. We have been waiting for 99 days."
Although the cinema has reopened, it is unlikely to return to the state before the epidemic immediately. Because Hollywood and other production companies have postponed the release date of important films, there are no new films to be released in the cinema at first, so the audience will have to accept films with old themes like De Gaulle. Charles de Gaulle is a biographical film about French wartime leaders. During the epidemic, the release was interrupted because of the blockade of cinemas. However, Lisa Nesselson, the cultural editor of 24 Hours in France, thinks that this situation will not dampen the French’s enthusiasm for going to the cinema. On June 22nd, she said: "France can be said to have a real advantage in the reopening of cinemas around the world, because 40% of the 6,000 projection rooms in France are from art galleries, which means that the French is very willing to buy old movies."
France is one of the countries that love movies most in the world. According to a previous poll, 18.7 million people plan to go to the movies after the cinemas return to work, which accounts for almost one third of the total population of France.
In addition to France, on June 3rd, Singapore Information and Communication Media Development Board also announced that cinemas in Singapore could reopen on July 13th, but cinemas must take necessary preventive measures to control risks related to novel coronavirus. These measures include: readjusting the seats in cinemas, ensuring a safe distance of at least one meter between customers, allowing family members or friends in the same industry to sit together but not more than five people, controlling the number of people in each screening hall to be less than 50, and taking measures such as distancing themselves from queues and other crowd management.
Although most Singaporeans think that the protection measures for cinemas are very thorough, some people have made other preparations for safety. In an interview with Singapore’s Today newspaper, Ms. Wang said that she would avoid eating in order not to take off her mask. Mr. Kong, the designer, said in an interview that he would choose to go to the cinema on weekdays to avoid the crowd. Another movie lover, Ben Soh, agrees with this view and says that he would prefer to watch movies on weekdays because it is neither crowded nor safer.
Mr. Ben Soh has just finished watching The Bridge Curse in Singapore Cinema, and he commented that the viewing experience was reassuring because all the safety measures were strictly put in place.
After more than 100 days of business suspension, cinemas in Malaysia reopened on July 1. Although there is no new film released, many viewers still choose to return to the cinema to watch the movie live to support the box office, and the operators are deeply grateful for this.
On July 16th, a spokesman for MBO Cinema said in an interview with Malay Post that the selling rate of movie tickets is slowly increasing. In the past two weeks, the average attendance rate was between 15% and 25%. He said: "At present, our strategic plan is to operate at the optimal level first, and then we will recover the indirect expenses of the cinema in the next few months." However, the spokesman also admitted that how to gain the trust of customers under the new normal and how to solve the problem of lack of new movies brought about by the epidemic are severe challenges for them.
prevent epidemics
Safety should also be ensured when returning to work.
Encourage advance booking of popcorn.
"Minions" will accompany you to the movies.
Trial operation of "Contactless Cinema"
Although cinemas all over the world have gradually joined the ranks of returning to work, as a gathering place, cinemas still need to take a series of prevention and control measures to ensure the safety of customers and staff during the special period when the epidemic has not completely ended.
In Britain, cinemas in England resumed business on July 4th, while the opening dates of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales were set on July 10th, 15th and 27th respectively.
The British Film Association has issued corresponding guidelines for this purpose, including:
● A certain social distance should be kept between seats, and people from different families should sit separately to limit the number of people in each screening hall;
● Stagger the movie playing time, so as to avoid the hall being crowded;
● Hand sanitizer and extra cleaning work need to be provided, and employee training should be actively organized;
● Encourage people to book online as much as possible, and use electronic tickets and contactless payment;
● The sales mode of mixed snack packages will be cancelled, and consumers are encouraged to book popcorn in advance.
In addition, cinemas will also implement special seat selection schemes. Admit One, which provides ticketing services for ordinary cinemas and multi-hall cinemas, said that when customers book tickets online, the system will automatically generate "bubbles" on the seats around them to maintain a safe social distance. Some cinemas may not allow consumers to choose their own seats, because this may affect the occupancy rate of cinemas.
Admit One also said that the average width of a seat in a cinema is about 60 cm and the depth is about 97 cm. Therefore, in order to meet the requirement of "2 meters interval between seats", the cinema must leave 12 empty seats around an audience and 16 empty seats around a couple. However, if the social safety distance is 1 meter, cinemas can choose other configuration schemes, but most cinemas can only accommodate customers with about half the seats.
In France, when going to the cinema, there are no longer "empty" seats around, but those lovely "Minions" dolls. In 2015, these yellow drug-shaped toy figures first appeared in front of the French in the cartoon "Minions" shown in MK2 cinema in the south of Paris. This year, "Minions" wore iconic goggles and work clothes, solemnly "sat" next to the audience, forcing them to leave a safe distance. Cinema trips are not the first time that "Minions" people have been recruited to protect the safety of the audience. They have also appeared in the short public service advertisements jointly launched by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Foundation and lighting and entertainment companies, vividly sharing with the world how to protect each other and protect the community in this epidemic.
Nowadays, chain cinemas in South Korea are also "racking their brains" to plan new plans, hoping to make fans come back to the cinema more comfortably and safely. CJ-CGV, the largest cinema in South Korea, has launched a "contactless cinema" mode in a sub-cinema in Seoul, where popcorn, hot dogs and soft drinks are moved into vending machines, while other snacks are placed in the sales office and delivered through contactless boxes. Two roving robots have replaced the ticket sellers, and you can know the movie screening time and other cinema information through the touch screen on the robots.
"This is more hygienic than face-to-face communication, customers will feel safer, and this way is more interesting and cool." Li Seung-soo, an employee of CGV, told VOA. He also said that before the COVID-19 epidemic forced enterprises to take social or physical isolation measures, CGV Company was already considering introducing some automation facilities for cinemas, and the urgency of epidemic prevention eventually led to the emergence of the "contactless cinema" model. In addition, CGV cinemas will regularly disinfect the cinema facilities and leave enough safe space between the audience.
"This contactless cinema mode of the branch is still in the testing stage." Li Shengzhu added, "According to the progress of this project, we will decide whether to introduce this kind of service in other theaters."
Coup
There are many fancy movie theaters.
Drive-in theaters are sought after again.
Floating cinema has a unique style.
Romantic viewing on the Seine River
In addition to watching movies in cinemas and at home, the epidemic has also spawned a variety of ways to watch movies, and the back-favored drive-in cinema is one of them.
Drive-in cinema is a special form of cinema, which consists of a large outdoor movie screen, a projector, a snack bar and a parking lot. Fans can watch the big screen in their car and listen to the movie sound on the car radio. During the epidemic period, drive-in cinemas rose again all over the world because of their unique advantages such as privacy and security. According to the latest data from measurement company Comscore, the number of drive-in cinemas in Britain has soared from 3 to 40.
In the United States, as part of its cooperation with Tribeca enterprises, Wal-Mart will turn its 160 parking lots into contactless drive-in cinemas from August, which will increase the total number of drive-in cinemas in the United States by at least 50%. "Since we held the Tribeca Film Festival 19 years ago, the drive-in cinema has been a landmark project in Tribeca." Jane Rosenthal, founder of Tribeca Enterprise, said in a statement, "Tribeca drive-in cinema is not only an interesting and nostalgic way to watch movies, but also one of the safest ways for people to gather. We are very happy to cooperate with Wal-Mart to bring more people together and share this special movie-watching experience. "
The drive-in cinema will last until October this year, covering a total of 320 movies. The specific list of movies to be shown is yet to be determined, but Wal-Mart said that movies suitable for families and "special appearances of filmmakers and other celebrities" will be included.
Wal-Mart is not the only company that has converted its parking lot into a cinema. The Marcus chain cinema in the midwest of the United States has also launched a drive-in cinema project this year, and has formulated a series of epidemic prevention measures to ensure the safety of the audience. The cinema emphasizes that sick people should stay at home, and customers who choose to watch movies should also wear masks in the cinema lounge or when collecting coupons.
If you think it’s a little depressing to watch movies in such an airtight car, you might as well try to get some fresh air on the boat.
Beyond Cinema, headquartered in Sydney, will set up water cinemas in many cities in Australia and the United States, so that the audience can enjoy the scenery while watching movies.
"The cinema will consist of 12 to 24 mini-boats, each of which can accommodate up to 8 people." Beyond Cinema official website’s registration page shows, "You will need to pay the ticket price of the whole boat to ensure that only family and friends can sit together, thus maintaining the social distance between the boats."
New york’s water viewing time is scheduled for one week from September 16th to September 20th this year. The specific movie playlist has not yet been announced, but officials say both classic old movies and new movies will be covered.
Beyond Cinema is not the only organizer of "Floating Cinema" — — On the banks of the Seine in France, the "Paris Beach Festival" also held a grand water viewing ceremony.
The "Paris Beach Festival" is an activity held in France every summer. During the event, some areas along the banks of the Seine will be paved with sand to form artificial beaches, providing Parisians with a place to relax.
This year, Paris cooperated with MK2 Cinema to hold a water viewing celebration. On July 18th, the audience can choose to watch the French comedy "The Grand Bath" on an electric boat or on a chair on the river bank. Elisha Karmitz, CEO of MK2 Cinema, said in an interview with Euronews: "After several months of city blockade, we think we should find a suitable way to tell people and the world that the cinema has reopened in Paris, the movie capital of the world."
industry
The way to survive after the epidemic
Although the reopening of cinemas paved the way for the release of new films, and the fancy viewing mode also provided new ideas for the development of the industry, we still can’t ignore the heavy blow suffered by the film industry during the epidemic.
On March 4th, 007 official Twitter announced that the series "007: No Time to Die" originally scheduled for release in April will be postponed to its premiere in November, which is the first Hollywood film in North America to be postponed due to the epidemic. Changing the release date is undoubtedly a huge loss for the film, which means that huge publicity expenses have hit Shui Piao, which is like the first stone thrown into the water, causing ripples in the film circle. On April 4th, Mulan announced that the release date of the film would be postponed from March 27th to July 24th, while Tenet, which was originally scheduled to be released in July, was also postponed to August due to the epidemic, and this date was postponed again recently.
According to the Guardian, director Nick Rowland’s first film "Rest on a Horse" was originally scheduled to be released on March 27th, but as the release date approached, he felt more and more anxious. "Around January and February, I noticed the news that the COVID-19 epidemic began to spread in Europe. I suddenly realized that when" Leaning on a Horse "was released, it happened to be the most serious moment of the London epidemic. What would you do in this case? I’m ambivalent, but it’s too late to postpone the release now, so we have to promote it. But at the same time, we have to advise our family and friends to stay at home and watch movies instead of going to the cinema. It took me six years to shoot this film, but I only got a few days to show it, which is really unacceptable. "
On June 19th, the British Film Association and the Film Publishers Association organized a film industry recovery plan called "Restarting Cinema: Content Recovery" through the cross-industry group "Cinema First", and created a huge film library of 450 films including Hollywood classics, independent films and modern blockbusters to help cinemas recover quickly after several months of suspension. Andy Leyshon, CEO of the British Film Distribution Association, said: "We value you, we miss you, and this time we support you with some really great movies."
Film production around the world is still in a state of stagnation, and films such as Avatar sequel and Jurassic World: Sanctuary The Matrix 4 have been forced to suspend production due to the epidemic. According to the data of statista information platform, as of mid-March 2020, the revenue loss of the global film industry has reached 7 billion US dollars, and it is estimated that this figure is likely to increase by another 10 billion US dollars in April and May.
In order to alleviate the pressure brought by the cancellation of the premiere, the closure of cinemas and the sharp drop in box office, film companies are constantly seeking new profit growth points, and the streaming media platform has become their target. Disney+is a streaming media service platform launched by Disney. During the period from February to May this year, the number of subscribers of the platform has doubled to more than 50 million. Trolls World Tour, the new film of Universal Pictures, directly crossed the cinema and implemented the online on-demand mode. In the first three weeks of its release, it achieved nearly $100 million in revenue, exceeding the income generated by the first film "Magic Hair Wizard" in the cinema for five months. Moreover, the film company will get a higher percentage of revenue rebate if it chooses to release online, which is about 80%, while the cinema release is only 60%.
Italy’s Circuito Cinema combines online and offline broadcasting, and launched a transactional video-on-demand platform plan called MioCinema on May 18th. On this platform, viewers can pay 7 euros to watch a movie online, and 40% of each online payment can be used to buy movie tickets for cinemas that are still closed. But when the epidemic is stable and everything returns to normal, the cinema and streaming media will be separated again.
Although the online platform seems to provide a virtual space where movies can be played permanently, various video websites, the projection of the living room at home, and the computer screen that can be fast-forwarded at any time can’t replace the touching silver screen. Many fans are still eagerly looking forward to returning to the cinema and completely immersing themselves in the beautiful light and shadow outside ordinary life in the "dark" space. Richard Linklater, an American producer, said in an interview in The New York Times: "This is a common dream, starting with filmmakers and ending with the audience, in a space that is now regarded as more fragile, where we all agree to get together quietly."
Before a cinema in San Francisco closed down, it left a message on the sign at the door, "Keep healthy and safe, and then we will come back soon."
This is also the deep expectation of all people who love movies. This edition/Zhangyuan
