Thread by @bopinion

Stay-at-home orders, capacity limits and simple fear of the virus have kept crowds away from the movies for nearly a year. The good news?

The picture could hardly look more different in Asia trib.al/n7EPr7u

🇨🇳In China, the take for the first 10 days of January surged more than 50% over the same period last year.

🇯🇵In Japan, Imax is reporting record weekend attendance.

🇮🇳🇹🇼From India to Taiwan, there’s been a similar surge in theater-going trib.al/n7EPr7u

Although Covid-19 worries had plagued the region’s movie business at the start of the pandemic, audiences are now piling back into theaters and spurring record box-office hauls.

Is there anything the U.S. could learn from this unexpected feel-good tale? trib.al/n7EPr7u

American theaters weren’t in good shape even before the pandemic.

The rise of streaming was eating into an industry that was increasingly dependent on a small number of blockbusters. In 2019, U.S. ticket sales fell by 4.4% to $11.4 billion trib.al/n7EPr7u

As the pandemic set in, studios began pulling back and delaying big-budget releases, including a new James Bond film

By mid-March almost every U.S. theater screen was dark, with no timetable for re-opening. All told, it threatened to be a mortal blow trib.al/n7EPr7u

With audiences stuck at home, subscriptions to streaming services increased by more than 50%.

The film industry agonized that customers might never want to return to crowded auditoriums with overpriced popcorn trib.al/n7EPr7u

As Asia has shown, though, those worries were almost certainly premature.

Just as in the U.S., theaters in Asia-Pacific closed thanks to Covid, and there was plenty of pessimism about their prospects for re-opening. But then a few things went right trib.al/n7EPr7u

One critical factor was a competent coronavirus response from many regional governments, including:

🧪Mass testing
🥼Adequate protective gear
🗺️Contact tracing
🚪Tough quarantine measures
✈️Early travel restrictions
😷Widespread compliance with masking
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But a massive factor was a surge in good local films.

🇨🇳China’s “The Eight Hundred” became the world’s top-grossing movie
🇯🇵Japan’s “Demon Slayer” grossed $337 million (fifth place globally)
🇰🇷South Korea’s “Peninsula” was a huge regional hit
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In a down year, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for about 51% of global ticket sales, compared to 41% in 2019.

By the end of 2020, Chinese sales had surpassed $3 billion — enough to top the U.S. for the first time trib.al/n7EPr7u

For U.S. movie theaters, that should actually be welcome news.

As vaccines roll out, and Americans venture back into the public, Hollywood will be waiting for them with an unprecedented backlog of big-budget films competing for their attention and wallets trib.al/n7EPr7u