Cinemas all over the world are closed because of the global pandemic and to prevent the spread of the virus. But since China was the first one to go through this, they were the first to be able to open up local businesses and cinemas and try to slowly return to normal life. However, the virus changed our lives for the nearest future if not forever. We now have to be careful and cautious. And that’s exactly why Chinese cinemas came up with a very clever social distancing campaign posters.
Instead of just telling people to keep their distance and wear masks, they printed out posters of movie characters wearing masks in the cinema. The campaign got named “back to the cinema” and features characters from movies like Amelie, La La Land, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and others.
The posters are meant to be a friendly reminder to still be cautious, yet to encourage people to go back to the cinema and try to enjoy their lives. The closing of the cinemas in China and in other countries wasn’t just a blow for movie lovers, but a big blow for the industry in general. We still don’t know when we’ll be able to return to normal life and therefore the cinemas will not be able to sell as many tickets as per usual.
Depending on the country people are advised to keep different distances. In some countries, the advised social distance is 1 meter, while in others it’s up to 2,5 meters. Which just means varying degrees of losses on tickets for the movie theaters. Even if people sit in every other seat that’s still a 50% loss, and if they have to sit even further that’s a massive amount of empty seats. Not to mention the fact that not many people are even willing to go out and see movies in the cinema because it’s not exactly a necessity and it is a big risk.
However, we’re all hoping that in a couple of months things will get better and we’ll be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of seeing a movie on a big screen, just like the main characters in Amelie, the guys from Shawshank redemption, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in La La Land, Leon the Professional and Taxi Driver are on these clever posters.
We wonder if other countries will come up with similarly witty and friendly social distancing campaigns when their cinemas get the green light to start showing movies and selling tickets. We sure could use some fun and less threatening ways of keeping us safe while keeping the stress levels to a minimum.