China’s Wanda Film Warns of Return to Losses in First Half

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWanda Film, China’s largest cinema operator, has forecast a return to heavy losses for the first half of 2022.

In a regulatory filing, the company warned of net losses (including non-recurring items) reaching between RMB 580 million – RMB 660 million ($85 million – $97.8 million) for the six months to June.

That compares with a net profit of RMB613 million $90.8 million in the equivalent period last year.The company pointed to the impact of COVID-control measures in China, which it said caused the temporary closure of 415 of its multiplexes and led film distributors to reduce the supply of new movies to cinemas. “Box office in April and May hit multi-year lows,” Wanda reported.

Depressed revenues and rising rental and staff costs were largely responsible for the massive swing in the company’s results.