China Re-Closing All Cinemas Nationwide

Deadline is reporting that China is re-closing all cinemas nationwide after recent reports that parts of the country were set to re-open cinemas. Exhibitors were reportedly contacted today by China’s national film bureau saying that venues must be closed again. No immediate timeframe was given for when the cinemas would reopen.

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China had been hoping to reopen cinemas to help boost the film industry in the country amidst the coronavirus pandemic and even had plans of rereleasing box office behemoths Avatar and the Avengers franchise in cinemas.

The spread of COVID-19 has slowed considerably in China recently, the outlet notes, but there has apparently been a “spike in imported cases” after 53 were reported yesterday as having arrived from overseas.

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The Middle Kingdom had reopened over 500 cinemas after having closed in late January, allowing for brief optimism that perhaps others would follow suit in the upcoming weeks. Shangai was planning to reopen 205 cinemas on Saturday, but the latest jump in imported cases appears to have been behind the sudden change in national policy.

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