Turned off by expensive film tickets, millions of Chinese movie fans have long abandoned the habit of going to the cinema. They often resort to watching movies on DVD players. Now the introduction of digital cinemas may bring people back to the cinemas. And their slogan is "5 yuan to see a big-budget film."

Ouyang touts herself as a devoted movie buff. But, she rarely goes to the cinema these days.

Chinese have long complained about the incredible expense of movie ticket prices. In China, a film ticket usually costs more than 30 yuan, accounting for 0.5 percent of an average citizen's yearly income. That's proportionately five times more expensive than a film ticket in the United States.

But, a new digital film distribution line is making low-price movies possible. By the end of last month, it opened its first batch of digital cinemas in Beijing. And, they are even located in residential areas and universities, a market that has been neglected by traditional cinemas.

A theatre employee tells us just how cheap their prices are.

"The ticket price for daytime movies is five yuan and 10 during the evening."

Compared to traditional five-star cinemas, the interior decoration and sound effects of these digital cinemas are comparable. But, the digital projection greatly brings down the cost.

And, as the digital cinema line must still buy the film's projection rights, the more times the film is showed, the cheaper the ticket will be. Their ambition is to open more cinemas in Beijing's residential communities.

Zhang Baoquan is the board chairman of this Antaeus Group which opened this digital cinema chain.

"The projection equipment of our cinemas only cost about 60,000 yuan. So to an investor, he only needs 100,000 to 300,000 yuan to open such a digital cinema."

Zhang says their plan is to open 60 digital movie theatres in Beijing's universities and communities by the end of this year. And, these cinemas will mainly show domestic movies. If everything goes smoothly, audiences are likely to enjoy the year-end blockbusters like "The Promise" in the digital cinemas at the same time they're showed in traditional film theaters.

(CRI December 6, 2005)