Moviegoers not spooked by Omicron wave

 

Admissions to local cinemas went up by 50% during the Chinese New Year holidays.

PETALING JAYA: The Omicron wave, which has raised Covid-19 cases to record numbers, has apparently not deterred moviegoers.

If one were to go by the flow of people into cinemas, one could say Malaysians are learning to live with the pandemic.

“We have seen an increase in admissions by 50% throughout the Chinese New Year holidays in comparison with the last week of January,” Malaysian Association of Film Exhibitors secretary Sisubalan Ehambaram told FMT.

He said that in the US, despite the spread of the Omicron variant, cinemas were already seeing a massive return of moviegoers. He cited reports saying more than 350 movie theatres there had sold out tickets for the opening weekend for the upcoming blockbuster, “The Batman”. It will be shown in early March.

“We observed a similar trend in Malaysia in December with record attendances at our cinemas for ‘No Way Home’, the Spiderman film,” he said.

“We expect to see a similar pattern here in the coming months as we all learn to live with Covid.”

The country has seen a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases since Feb 6. In recent days, more than 20,000 new cases have been reported daily.

Sisubalan said cinema operators were serious about keeping customers feeling safe and comfortable within their premises.

“All SOPs – checking vaccination certificates at entry, socially distanced seating, encouraging cashless transactions, regular sanitisation of common areas – are deployed diligently,” he said.

An MBO Cinema Sdn Bhd spokesman said his company saw an attendance drop of almost 70% early this month, when case numbers started increasing.

However, he added that there were no blockbuster movies during the period.

He said he was confident that moviegoers would be encouraged to return with the upcoming movie releases. - FMT