As Chinese cinemas began the reopening process today, box office crossed $472K by 8PM local. Maoyan’s real-time ticketing platform reports that play is led by new entry A First Farewell at around $184K. Following it is the re-issue of Christmas title Sheep Without A Shepherd at about $80K and Disney/Pixar’s Coco in 3rd with just over $42K.
China’s movie theaters have been shuttered since January as the country took drastic closure measures amid the coronavirus outbreak. The estimated box office loss for the world’s second biggest market is expected to be around $4B in 2020. Authorities last week gave the go-ahead for cinemas to reopen beginning today in low-risk areas outside of Beijing and its immediate environs.