KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — More than half of respondents are willing to return to the cinemas within a month once cinemas reopen and the conditional movement control order (CMCO) is lifted, according to a survey ran by Cinema Online, Malaysia’s favourite movie site.

The independent survey was conducted nationwide with 800 respondents from ages 15 to 60, primarily from the Klang Valley.

In a statement, it said the survey highlighted that 52.94 per cent of Malaysians, in general, will return to the cinemas within a month once they are reopened, while 30 per cent said they would either be first in line to buy a movie ticket or wait until the movie they want to watch is playing.

Cinema Online managing director, Marcel Lariche said this survey was pertinent to see the genuine interest of Malaysians in returning to the cinemas once they reopen.

"This was also done to quell the current negativity and fear of news that have been circulating undermining local cinemas,” Lariche added.

Local moviegoers are most likely less than two months away from being able to step into cinemas again. At the moment, the earliest movie currently slated to open in local cinemas is the Pekin Ibrahim and Mona Allen-starring Malay horror movie Salina, scheduled for release on July 2, 2020.

It said there are six titles currently set to be released in local cinemas this July, which include Hollywood movies Mulan, Tenet and the next installment of The Purge. — Bernama