There have been no winners in the theatrical film business during the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic —but China, arguably, has been the biggest loser.
The country's vast network of 70,000 movie screens has been idle since Jan. 25, during the early days of Beijing's aggressive efforts to contain the outbreak.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of movie theater companies already have gone bankrupt over the more than five months of shutdown, according to local media reports.
And while the U.S., Europe, Japan and Korea are now moving towards full reopening, China's cinema chain operators still have no clarity on when they might be able to resume business.