Asia Box Office Crashes 88 Percent in First Quarter Amid Coronavirus1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe novel coronavirus pandemic has driven an astounding 88 percent crash in theatrical box office revenue in Asia-Pacific over the first three months of 2020, a new report shows.
S&P Global Market Intelligence estimates that total movie ticket sales in the region totalled just $528 million from January to March.
China, where cinemas have been closed since early January, was the largest driver of the decline, with ticket sales falling 97.4 percent, year over year. A small collection of theatres there experimented with a brief reopening mid-March, but were soon urged to shut down again. The most recent major Hollywood studio release in the Middle Kingdom was Disney’s Star Wars: Episode IX – the Rise of Skywalker, way back on 20 Dec 2019.
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