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Since the new service launched at the start of this year, auditoriums have been booked more than 130 times so far. While the majority of customers are said to be men in their 30s or 40s, couples and families have also taken part.<\/p>\n
The extent to which the global cinema industry has been devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic makes grim reading. Global ticket sales in 2020 plunged 71% to $12.4bn (\u00a38.9bn) down from $42.5bn in 2019, according to movie industry trade magazine Variety, external<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n In the US, the country’s largest cinema chain, AMC Theatres, needed a $917m cash injection in December, external<\/span><\/a> to see off reports that it risked having to seek bankruptcy protection. Meanwhile, in the UK last month, leading British film-makers called on the government to offer financial support to the country’s big cinema chains<\/a>.<\/p>\n Korea’s CGV is not the only cinema chain now letting gamers book cinema screens, as US group Malco Theatres has been doing the same since November.<\/p>\n Memphis-based Malco allows up to 20 people to hire a screen at its 36 cinemas across Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. The prices for service, which is called Malco Select, are $100 for two hours or $150 for three.<\/p>\n Karen Melton, vice president and director of marketing at Malco, has mixed emotions: “It is gaining traction, and is becoming popular, but nothing is adding to our profitability at this point.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n