Movie ticket discounts offered through October

Special ticket discounts will be provided for local cinemagoers from next Monday to October 31, officials from the Shanghai Film Bureau said on Friday.

Starting at 10am every day, movie buffs can buy discounted tickets on the mobile apps Taopiaopiao and Maoyan Movie. Each ticket will have a discount of 10 yuan (US$1.41).

With the discounts, film tickets can cost as little as 20 yuan.

A total of 3.2 million discounted tickets will be offered in the coming three months. Each user can buy four discounted tickets on each app every month.

The program has received 32 million yuan in subsidies from local governments, as well as Taopiaopiao and Maoyan, for the recovery of local cinemas.

So far 215 cinemas out of 385 in the city have reopened after six months of closure due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Alice Zhou, a designer and movie buff in her 30s, is excited at the news.

“I will bring my family to the cinema next week,” Zhou said. “With many social supports, I believe the cinema and film industry in China will soon recover in the near future.”