It had a devastating impact on the country’s M&E industry–especially since the government said only Chinese films would be shown over the Lunar New Year holiday. And it is likely to have long term impact.
It has had a ripple effect on U.S. and other country filmmakers/distributors as well because the Chinese have been avid theater goers who enjoy internationally produced content.
Not good!
But it was good news for the country’s fledgling streaming entertainment industry – Alibaba’s Youku Tudou, Tencent Video, Baidu’s iQiyi and a list of secondary firms.
People hunkered down at home, keeping outside contact to a minimum.