Chinese discouraged from Chinese New Year travel go to movies instead

BEIJING: Chinese cinemas racked up record box-office revenues during the week-long Chinese New Year holiday, as coronavirus travel curbs compelled millions to forego visits home during what is usually the world’s biggest annual domestic migration. Revenues touched 6.96 billion yuan (US$1.08 billion) over the six days to Wednesday (Feb 17) midday, live data from ticketing platform Maoyan Entertainment shows, with higher prices padding the total and Chinese productions dominating screens. That haul topped the 2019 record of 5.9 billion yuan, bringing year-to-date revenues in excess of 10 billion yuan, state media said, in a movie market that last year surpassed…