Our reporter Luo ZhenGuang - Recently, the Film Bureau sent to the China Film Distribution and Exhibition Association and the Chinese Film Producer's Association a "Guidance on Further Regulating the Ticket Management of the Movie Market" (Draft for Comments). The Guidance mainly targets so-called member tickets and group tickets. Current practices such as Tuesday half-price day and weekday morning "sunshine screenings" are not restricted.
According to the regulations in the Guidance, the whole country will be divided into several categories based on local realities, with guided ticket price standards set for each region. These guided prices represent the highest retail prices for films in different regions. Cinema listed prices for regular films must not exceed the local guided price. 3D, giant screen, and VIP hall prices may appropriately increase but are suggested not to exceed 50% of the guided price. Any form of bundled sales is strictly prohibited. The price marked on movie tickets must not include merchandise or other additional fees, and all proceeds from ticket sales must participate in box office revenue sharing. The core content that could have the greatest impact on current box office revenues is that member tickets and group tickets must not be less than 70% of the cinema's listed price.
Some market insiders in the industry analyzed that if the draft of the Guidance is approved and effectively implemented in various places, it would have a certain impact on group bookings at cinemas. Taking Shanghai as an example, currently, many cinemas' group booking prices, especially for non-popular movies, are below 70% of the original price. As for some cinemas' membership pricing systems, they usually offer discounts below 70%, though there might still be room for adjustments. However, the business most significantly affected might be the group-buying websites. With the current average group-buying movie ticket price in Shanghai being around 30 yuan, these would fall within the restricted category. Nevertheless, the person pointed out that since most cinemas "love the traffic but hate the low prices" from group-buying, if the industry forces higher prices for group-buying, the acceptance level would definitely not be a concern.
For the Tuesday half-price day and Monday to Friday morning half-price tickets, the Guidance takes an encouraging stance. Additionally, the Guidance also encourages cinemas and theater chains to conduct various promotional activities, but the bottom line of not going below 70% of the original price must not be crossed. For audiences, moving from current discount tickets of 30-40% off back up to 70% would almost double their expenses. Some people close to our newspaper in the cinema and theater chain industries expressed that the actual impact needs to be observed and cannot be judged without basis at present.
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