China has been in lockdown for the past two months now, and that appears to have successfully stalled the spread of the Coronavirus. Now, analyst Eric Handler has told
The Hollywood Reporter that theaters in the Middle Kingdom could open their doors again as soon as late April.
"The one saving grace is reports out of China that theaters could be looking to re-open at the end of April or early May," he claims. "At this point, a return to normalcy would be a very welcome event for IMAX."
Interestingly, box office analyst Gavin Feng (who has shared a lot of very reliable pieces of information over the years) has added to this by reporting that a re-release of
The Avengers,
Avengers: Age of Ultron,
Avengers: Infinity War, and
Avengers: Endgame is being considered once those theaters are back in business. That would be a treat for moviegoers there, and a smart move on Disney's part.
Things are very different across the rest of the globe at the moment; theaters in the United States and most of Europe are now closed, and nearly every upcoming release from between now and most of May are no longer going to be released as originally planned.
Could the likes of
Mulan and
Black Widow open in China? It's certainly possible, but that would mean pirated copies of those films would likely find their way online and hurt the global box office.
We'll keep you guys updated as we learn more!