Regarding My Theory That, Masks or Not, No One Wants to Go to the Cinema

Screen Daily on New Zealand box office results:

Total cinema box office revenue for the week was NZ$553,347 ($356,000), a 60% increase on the previous week. However this represents just 17% of takings over the equivalent week in 2019, when the gross box office was NZ$3.3m ($2.1m).

Cinemas in New Zealand were cleared to reopen on May 14, with restrictions in place, but the government celebrated being free of coronavirus on June 8 and has lifted all lockdown measures on daily life, leaving only strict border controls in place. Since then, no new cases have been reported.

Via MaryAnn Johanson:

So, cinemas in New Zealand are open again at full capacity, and the country is basically COVID-19 free, so people should be confident that it’s safe to go to the movies… and almost no one is going. This does not bode well for virus-ridden US/UK.

Update: So I think the point here is multifold. First, the U.S. has to get COVID-19 transmission under control. We’ve done almost the opposite. But I think what New Zealand is showing is that even after a country can truly open up, when a country can literally say they’re COVID-free with a straight face, people who’ve been cooped up and isolated don’t want to go sit in a theater for hours. They want to go see family and friends. They want to be part of the world, not get away from the world for a few hours.

★ Friday, 19 June 2020