The China Film Administration announced on Thursday the start of a nationwide campaign to boost the film industry, which will involve giving away 100 million yuan ($14.84 million) worth of film coupons to encourage consumption.

The campaign will run from August to October, and aims to aid recovery of the film industry after recent COVID-19 outbreaks.

The administration also said it hopes the campaign can offer a boost for filmmakers as well as supporting the construction of cinemas in rural areas. It will include a series of bailouts including tax and rent exemptions.

The number of cinemagoers in China has kept increasing, partly thanks to the summer holiday and the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic in large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

The overall box office during the summer film season, from June to the end of August, surpassed 7 billion yuan ($1.04 billion) on Tuesday, according to data from ticketing platform Maoyan. The current top-ranked film Moon Man has earned 2.2 billion yuan at the box office as of Thursday since it came out two weeks ago.

Global Times