How Local Titles Have Flourished at the Taiwan Box Office1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThis year has been challenging in so many ways due to Covid-19, but it has also inadvertently laid a path for local Taiwanese productions to post strong box-office performances.
While much of North America and Europe were mired in lockdown, Taiwan exited the pandemic early with no new domestically transmitted cases reported since mid-April and mass gathering restrictions lifted in early June. Cinemas, which had remained open all along but with reduced admission limits, were then able to restore their full seating capacity, maximising the box-office potential for releases.
With the Hollywood studios postponing nearly all of their 2020 release schedule, or sending titles straight to streaming platforms, a global void has been left for cinemas but one that in Taiwan was filled by local titles. Since July, more than 20 Taiwanese features have come out, many of them becoming hits and heralding a local cinema renaissance across a variety of genres.
Image credit: Film still of ‘Your Name Engraved Herein’ via Flash Forward Entertainment
