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Movie market scrambles for Cup viewers

By Yu Nan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-20 14:17

Box office sales are down and TV audiences depleted since the 2006 World Cup kicked off June 9, the Shenyang Daily reported on Monday.

"Beijing has had box office losses of over one million yuan since the start of the Cup,' an unidentified manager from a Beijing cinema told the reporter.

"By a rough estimate, profits may decrease by approximately 10 million yuan nationwide," the manager said.

"Most movie audiences are comprised of couples. But presently the men are sticking to watching the World Cup day and night. How can they find time to go to the movies with their partners?" he added.

French Director Luc Besson (C) is act as Shanghai International Film Festival president and well known celebrities China's director Feng Xiaogang (L) and actress/director Xu Jinglei were also invited to attend.[sina.com]

Some film producers anticipated the lack of audiences and timed the debuts of their movies accordingly. Director Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet and Hollywood's Mission Impossible III starring Tom Cruise, will come out after the summer vacation, the manager said.

An unidentified staff member from Liaoning Provincial Television Station said the TV station would likely not televise programs with expensive copyrights during the World Cup.

"Who would risk playing such expensive shows that have to compete with the World Cup?" he asked.

Instead, some satellite television channels are choosing to play family-oriented TV programs for housewives, who would rather watch dramas than matches at night. .

Others are replaying popular TV series to try to draw in some loyal viewers.

Unfortunately not all venues had the foresight to plan around the Cup. The Shanghai International Film Festival is in direct competition with it.

In an effort to capture an audience, French Director Luc Besson was invited to act as festival president and other well known celebrities such as director Feng Xiaogang and actress/director Xu Jinglei were invited to attend.

In another promotional event, student discounts were slashed even more, from the regular range of 50 to 100 yuan per ticket to 20 to 60 yuan per.