Movie Lovers Express Demand for Return to Cinemas When Coronavirus Outbreak Ends

Maoyan Entertainment (“Maoyan” or “the Company”) (Hong Kong: 1896), a leading platform providing innovative Internet-empowered entertainment services in China, today released details of a survey revealing the pent-up demand among China’s movie lovers for the experience of a theatrical release after months of being cooped up in their own homes and apartments to stem the spread of the Coronavirus.

More than half of movie lovers in China expressed greater eagerness to go to the cinema when the virus outbreak ends than they had prior to the outbreak, according to the survey Maoyan Research Institute conducted among movie lovers in February. The survey sheds light on their entertainment behavior during the epidemic, as well as their willingness to return to movie theaters after the epidemic.

Key Findings:

About 97% of respondents watched movies at home through online streaming platforms from January 21 to February 20. On average, each respondent watched seven movies during the period.
Going back to cinemas was among top entertainment choices after the epidemic.
More than half of movie lovers were more inclined to go to cinemas after the epidemic than they were before it.
Comedy, sci-fi, action, and suspense movies were among the most-wanted movie genres after the pandemic ends.
Watching movies online was a major entertainment during the epidemic

According to the survey, 97% of respondents watched movies at home through online streaming platforms from January 21 to February 20. On average, each respondent watched seven movies during the period, which means each respondent watched one movie every four days.

About 81% of respondents watched movies through platforms operated by Baidu, Tencent, or Alibaba (iQiyi, Tencent Video and Youku), and 44% chose ByteDance platforms, including TikTok, Xigua Video, and Toutiao.

One of the most-watched movies during the epidemic was the Chinese comedy “Lost in Russia”, which became the first Chinese movie released online after its theatrical release was canceled. Disaster movies, such as “The Flu”, “Contagion” and “The Captain”, and Oscar-winning films including “Parasite”, “1917”, and “Joker”, were also widely searched and watched.

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