On Tuesday, it was announced that China will soon be easing restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic by allowing the nation's movie theaters to sell 75 percent of available tickets per showing.
At the moment, cinemas in China are only allowed to be filled to half capacity. This new bump will kick in on September 25, according to just-released guidelines displayed on the official social media accounts of the China Film Distribution & Projection Association.
This increase in customers could/will be a big deal for those within the industry, as they've struggled with shutdowns for six months prior to reopening (albeit with limited capacity) in late July. This move also comes after Hollywood has put out some films that could actually pull in big bucks, including Tenet and Mulan. More notably to China in particular, it comes prior to the release of that nation's major blockbusters, which are synched to come out before an upcoming holiday.
As reported by Variety, Chinese authorities are looking for movie attendance to bump up ahead of that holiday period so that they can get people in seats for films seeking to boost national pride.
In total nine major films will be fighting for ticket sales on the day that theaters jack up the capacity on September 25.
At this time other rules intended to hold the pandemic at bay will still be in effect. This means that major areas (like lobbies and actual theaters) will be sprayed down at a minimum of twice per day. More intimate (see: grosser) places, such as vending machines, public seating, and especially toilets, will be wiped down at a minimum of five times per day.
Tickets will also be exclusively sold online, and retrieved without any human contact through vending machines.
