Movie Ticket Sales Suffer Second-Worst Qingming Holiday Performance in a Decade

Studios delayed premieres and more than half of China’s movie theaters remained closed during this week’s three-day national holiday, as a resurgence of Covid-19 continued to rattle the entertainment sector.

Over the Qingming Festival break, which ended Tuesday, China made just 120.3 million yuan ($18.9 million) in box office sales, representing an 85% plunge year-on-year.

It was the second-worst taking for the April festival in a decade, beating only 2020 when almost all cinemas remained shut as a pandemic measure, according to Dengta, a film analytics platform backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.