New movie guidelines leave audiences less buttered up

China's film watchdog, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), has released a draft guideline recently aimed at regulating ticket selling in the film market. It puts a cap on the lowest ticket price, and draws a line between snacks and ticket revenue, thereby saying that popcorn and drinks should not be covered in a film ticket. In all, the cinema will become more expensive.

The guideline is still under discussion, but it has already raised many concerns among cinemas, film fans and users of ticket promotion websites. According to the guideline, each area will determine what price the tickets should go on sale at in reference to other cinemas in the area. The highest priced film ticket in a certain area will act as a guide, though how the highest price will be decided has yet to be revealed. No tickets can be sold above this price at other nearby cinemas, while the discount for membership and group tickets should not be more than 30 percent off. The guideline also bans tie-in sales, which means the days when people can get free popcorn and drinks when buying a ticket will become history.

Liu Xiaoxue, a 26-year-old film fan, has expressed anger over these new guidelines, arguing they will ruin her entertainment life. "I think the film ticket is already high enough. Why make it higher?" she said. "In the past, I've bought some online coupons and the Stellar International Cineplex coupon only cost me 32 yuan ($5), much lower than the price in the cinema and I got a small bottle of mineral water and a small pocket of popcorn included." Liu believes that by hiking prices, the distance between people who can enjoy the arts and ordinary people will become larger.

Ren Fei, another film fan, who loves using online coupon sites to buy cinema tickets, also said that the guideline is not good because it will make the average price of cinema tickets more expensive. However, when it comes to tie-in sales, Ren was less critical. "I don't like popcorn and I always find the seller quite forceful about people buying these offers, so it will be good to stop that."

Lin Shuo from the marketing department of BONA cinema, Chaoyangmen branch, said that although they are aware of the new guidelines, the cinema does not know how they will handle them once they are instituted. "I can't tell whether the guideline is good or not because it is still under discussion."

However, Lin thinks that a higher price will be reasonable. "We need to cover daily expenses including water, electricity, employees' salaries and rent," he said. "We also need to share the box office revenue with the film producer, so I think the price will be better." According to Lin, the cinema has already offered many ways for people to get a discount. "For example, they can deposit 300 yuan and become a member, so that they can watch films for half-price."

On the other hand well-known film critic Cheng Qingsong disapproves of the guideline, arguing that film tickets should be no more than 20 yuan. "Cinemas already earn loads of money. If they lower the price of tickets, it would not affect them that much, but by doing so ordinary people could afford the ticket and will go and watch films more."