2020 will be a particularly difficult year for movies. Due to the influence of COVID-19 's epidemic, international film festivals around the world, such as Cannes, Toronto and Busan, have been postponed to cancelled and then changed to online screenings. Affected by the epidemic, major domestic film festivals are no exception, and a number of film festivals are still waiting for news of the reopening. However, through the continuous efforts and persistence of domestic epidemic prevention experts and film industry personnel for nearly half a year, domestic cinemas have finally ushered in the day of reopening, and the domestic film industry is gradually moving closer to the prosperity of the past.

On July 16, the State Film Administration issued a notice on promoting the reopening of cinemas in an orderly manner under the normal conditions of epidemic prevention and control, and domestic cinemas reopened after 180 days of shutdown. Chinese films have resumed work and domestic film festivals have resumed. On July 20, domestic cinemas finally ushered in the day of reopening, with cinemas across the country resuming work, with an attendance rate of no more than 30% per show. In mid-August, cinema attendance in most cities across the country increased from 30% to 50%, and the upper limit of attendance was further raised.

Now, at a time when the National Day holiday is about to begin, cinema attendance has been further relaxed to 75%. On September 15, the China Film Distribution and projection Association issued the China Film Distribution and projection Association's guidelines for epidemic prevention and control (third edition). The guide mentions that all tickets are sold by online real-name booking and contactless booking; in principle, the attendance rate should not exceed 75%. Specific by the provincial film departments in charge of the local epidemic prevention and control departments under the guidance of dynamic adjustment. The Guide, which will come into effect on September 25, will apply to "winning the Championship" released on the same day and subsequent National Day films. The market is optimistic about the National Day box office, and some institutions even predict that this year's National Day box office will exceed that of last year.

Financial institutions promote characteristic loans to support the film and television industry

Once upon a time, the film and television company had boundless scenery. However, long before the epidemic, film and television media companies, which had been chased by capital, either struggled in the capital market or stood on the edge of a cliff. Since the beginning of this year, the film and television industry has been extremely depressed. Many films of Light Media ran aground, and the company's net profit fell in the first half of 2020. Huayi Brothers, once the "boss of the private sector", revealed a first loss of 1.09 billion yuan in 2018 and a huge loss of 3.96 billion yuan in 2019. Ten thousand Da Film, the largest cinema chain group in China, is also unable to escape the haze of the epidemic. In the first half of the year, Wanda Film achieved revenue of 1.972 billion yuan, a decrease of 73.93% over the same period last year, and a net profit loss of 1.567 billion yuan.

However, in the process of adjustment of the film and television industry, the departure of private capital gives banks, insurance and financial institutions the opportunity to enter. The recently released "China Film Investment and financing Research report (2020)" shows that in 2019, with the overall recovery of the capital market, the film and television industry is gradually coming out of the trough. Among the 33 A-share listed film and television enterprises, the total market capitalization increased by 59.342 billion yuan, an increase of 18.62%. Among them, the total market capitalization of 14 listed enterprises with the film industry as their main business increased by 10.066 billion yuan, or about 6.36%.

The above report also shows that in 2019, 84.9% of financial institutions have film credit or related business participation programs, 80.2% of financial institutions have special film and television creative departments, and 75% of financial institutions have launched film-specific or feature credit support policies. Many financial institutions have begun to join hands with professional film and television enterprises to launch characteristic credit products for films. For example, the Agricultural Commercial Bank of Beijing has mainly released a special cultural and creative financial product called "Film and Television loan", which is designed for small and micro film distribution companies. it has the characteristics of flexible line of credit, various guarantee methods, preferential interest rate policy and efficient examination and approval process.

It is reported that this year, the credit lines of financial institutions to listed companies of head film and television media account for at least 70% of the overall credit lines of financial institutions. Industry insiders said that financial institutions, including Huayi Brothers and Beijing Culture, all provide large amounts of credit because the main lenders are relatively large and the credit is very high, at least more than 1 billion yuan.

The box office of seven new films released on National Day is expected to exceed that of last year.

In the golden autumn of September, approaching the National Day, all parties are paying attention to the recovery of the film and television sector. Cinemas across the country have grossed more than 5 billion since they returned to work as of Sept. 14, according to Maoyan Professional Edition. In August, new films such as "eight hundred" and "I wait for you at the end of time" accounted for nearly 50% of box office output in the same period last year, with a higher-than-expected recovery rate. Among them, the "eight hundred" single film contributed more than 2.6 billion to half of the box office. As the first heavyweight domestic film after the cinema resumes work, "eight hundred" has stimulated the overall mood of watching the movie. In the later period, a large number of high-quality films such as "Jiang Ziya" have been released one after another, and the prosperity of the film market has steadily improved. The marginal improvement of the film sector is outstanding.

So far, there are more than 9000 cinemas across the country, with a resumption rate of more than 80%. The market is full of expectations for the National Day film box office. Many people in the industry believe that after the epidemic, the Chinese film market is rapidly "returning blood", and the continuous improvement of Chinese-language films is worth looking forward to. China's film market recovers fastest after the epidemic. The long-overstocked demand for cinema and travel restrictions caused by the epidemic are expected to lead to a further pick-up in the number of moviegoers and box office in the film market. It is expected that the next National Day box office is likely to exceed that of last year.

According to statistics, in addition to the re-release of "Jujiro's Summer", seven new films will be released this year, including "winning the Champion", "Jiang Ziya" and "Vanguard" returning from the Spring Festival. as well as the newly scheduled "me and my hometown", "one o'clock", "Mulan: born in the sky" and so on, covering sports films, action films, cartoons and other types. Among them, "Little column under the Sea: ring of Flame", originally scheduled for national release on October 1, may withdraw from the National Day film file, and the exact release time will wait for official notice.

Guoxin Securities believes that the film industry has entered an era in which content is king, and the improvement of the box office needs to be pulled by new high-quality films. In August and September, with the gradual construction of cinemas, the quantity and quality of new films are improving significantly, which is expected to further improve the recovery progress of the film box office market. At the same time, due to the impact of the epidemic in the first half of the year, many high-quality films have accumulated, and the recovery of the film market is expected to enter the stage of positive resonance between the box office and the supply of new films. In addition to the supply of content, cinema attendance is relaxed, which is expected to further release the demand for cinema and speed up the recovery of the industry; be optimistic about cinema integration and content leaders, and suggest focusing on cinema companies such as Wanda Film, Shanghai Film and Hengdian Film and Television. Recommend Light Media, pay attention to high-quality content leaders such as Huayi Brothers and Beijing Culture.

The film and television sector is collectively active and strong.

Entering September, high-quality films may bring investment opportunities for further repair expected by the sector. With the orderly resumption of work in cinemas and high-quality films have been scheduled for National Day, the real "retaliatory consumption" of the film sector is expected to appear in the National Day stalls.

In terms of the market, affected by the news of the relaxation of cinema attendance on September 16, the media film and television sector was active and high, with the blue ocean of happiness (300528-CN) rising by 20 per cent and 300426-CN up nearly 14 per cent, but then narrowed down with the decline of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets. By midday, 300528-CN still rose 12.56%, 300426-CN nearly 7%, 300299-CN over 5%, 600823-CN and 603008-CN up over 4%, 300027-CN, 601595-CN, 002739-CN and 300251-CN all rose differently.