Gower Street’s Director of Theatrical Insights, Rob Mitchell, discussed box office potential of the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday in Variety this week. The article, titled “A Stellar Slate of Local Films May Help China’s Pandemic-Plagued Box Office Rebound Over the Lunar New Year“, was written by Patrick Frater.
Rob was one of a number of industry experts speaking to Patrick a year on from China missing the lucrative holiday in 2020, having seen cinemas close only days ahead due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Rob told Patrick that the October Golden Week in 2020 pointed to the strong potential of Chinese New Year. “It is conceivable that CNY 2021 could match or outperform CNY 2019,” said Rob. “What Golden Week showed was that Chinese audiences have confidence in coming out for strong content. I would expect to see that reflected again for the Feb. 12 play week this year.”
Other contributors included Jimmy Wu, CEO of Lumiere Pavilions; Rance Pow, from China specialty exhibition and distribution consultancy Artisan Gateway; Edwin Tan, CEO of IMAX China; as well as an unnamed senior executive at one of China’s biggest private sector studio.
Read the full article here (or click on the below image).
