South Korea’s largest cinema chain, CGV Cinemas is now renting out their cinema screens to gamers.
With many cinemas across the country closed due to coronavirus restrictions meaning that they can only open with 50% capacity, and far fewer movies being released to tempt cinemagoers, CGV came up with the idea of renting out its auditoriums to gamers to bring in a new revenue stream.
While CGV isn’t making anywhere as much money from the gamers, it is bringing in some additional income. The scheme is called Azit-X after “azit”, the Korean word for hideout.
Since the new service launched at the start of this year, auditoriums have been booked more than 130 times so far. While the majority of customers are said to be men in their 30s or 40s, couples and families have also taken part.
CGV is also making money by allowing customers to order its cinema food to be delivered, everything from popcorn or nachos, to corndogs (deep-fried sausages) and calamari.
CGV isn’t the only cinema chain renting out its screens to gamers. Malco Theatres, a US-based cinema chain, has been doing the same since November. Malco allows up to 20 people to hire a screen at its 36 cinemas across the country.
