HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - A semblance of normal life is slowly returning to China. People are heading to work, visiting malls, and even shopping at the wet markets that were among the places where coronavirus was first identified.

But one gathering place remains closed: the cinema.

With movie theatres shuttered worldwide, it's an early and ominous sign of the difficulties the industry will face even after the lockdowns lift.

An enclosed space accommodating hundreds of patrons is ill-suited to the social-distancing requirements that are likely to remain in place for months.

US box-office sales are expected to plummet 96 per cent in the second quarter, according to Boxoffice Pro, a period that typically heralds the start of summer blockbusters.

That follows a 23 per cent decline in receipts in the first three months of 2020, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

All of this is particularly bad news for Chinese real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin, who spent billions of dollars building one of the world's biggest cinema operators.

His closely held Wanda Group owns Wanda Film Holding, the top theatre chain in China, and controls AMC Entertainment Holdings, the largest in the United States.

On Wednesday (April 15), Wanda Film reported a preliminary first-quarter loss of 550 million yuan to 650 million yuan (S$110 million to S$130 million), compared with a profit of 400 million yuan a year earlier. It attributed the results to the shuttering of all movie theatres because of the virus.

AMC furloughed employees and cut pay for top executives to conserve cash. It closed all venues in mid-March.

AMC said on Thursday that it planned to sell US$500 million (S$712 million) of first-lien notes due 2025, in part to increase liquidity, sparking a 37 per cent rally in the company's stock in after-hours trading.

Wanda group's property unit also sold five billion yuan of notes on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter, in its first domestic offering in almost three years.

Mr Wang's fortune has tumbled by about a fifth to US$14 billion this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Wanda Film stock has dropped 17 per cent in 2020 as of Friday in Hong Kong, while AMC shares fell by about two-thirds this year as of the close of regular trading on Thursday in New York.

OTHER PLAYERS PUNISHED TOO

Wanda acquired AMC in 2012 for US$2.6 billion as part of its expansion into entertainment.

It subsequently acquired Nordic, Carmike and Odeon & UCI Cinemas.

The pandemic is punishing others in the industry, including New York billionaire Charles Cohen, who bought the Landmark chain in December 2018 from Mark Cuban and the UK's Curzon Cinemas a year later.

Both went dark in March, as did Alexander Mamut's cinema chains in Russia.

Shares of Cineworld Group tumbled more than 75 per cent this year and Cinemark Holdings is exploring financing options.

Many were already struggling with high debt and declining attendance.

"The dramatic global impact of the coronavirus has created a turbulent environment that is changing daily and dramatically affecting everyone," Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi said in a statement at the end of March. "We are not generating any revenue while theatres are closed, yet still must meet financial and contractual obligations."

With movie-lovers stuck at home, streaming services like Netflix are experiencing record demand with Tiger King, a documentary about a big-cat trainer who goes by the name of Joe Exotic, attracting 34.1 million US viewers in the first 10 days after its release.

Netflix shares have surged 32 per cent this year through Wednesday, boosting the fortune of co-founder Reed Hastings by almost US$1 billion to US$5.2 billion.

The stock climbed again Thursday to a record high, adding 3.5 per cent at 1.15pm in New York.

China was poised to eclipse the US as the world's largest movie market in 2020, until the coronavirus eruption wiped out almost all ticket sales since the Chinese New Year holiday in late January.

Wanda Group's overseas movie business now faces similar stresses. Three analysts downgraded AMC to a sell in April, according to data tracked by Bloomberg.

"AMC is in a worse position than Cinemark because its debt load is so high," said Mr Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities. "Other chains like Marcus own their real estate, so they don't have to pay rent and can ride out the pandemic."

Even after the crisis passes, the industry faces an uncertain future. While some analysts predict US theatres will have soft reopenings in the third quarter, China's experience suggests that might be optimistic.

Sporting events, exhibitions and the opening of entertainment facilities including cinemas are still banned, China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.

And it isn't clear how many theatre-goers will return once the restrictions lift.

"There is not only uncertainty as to when theatres will be allowed to reopen," said Mr Eric Wold, an analyst at B. Riley FBR, "but also what the film slate will look like and how consumers will react."