Cancellations mean lucrative films including The Rescue and Detective Chinatown 3 also cannot be seen in
UK and USCoronavirus latest news - liveChina’s biggest film weekend of the year has been derailed by the crisis over the coronavirus outbreak gripping the country, with a knock-on effect of wrecking a major effort by the Chinese film industry to penetrate the international box office.
![Chinas biggest box office weekend scrapped amid coronavirus crisis](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0f75cea6a8b46de9c4fcf6f1fffe85f3819eb2e3/222_194_1385_831/master/1385.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=83daf2a5c3a58d1f09d10d4f78a1a0fc)
The lunar new year holiday (this year, 25 January) is traditionally a high season for movie distributors and cinema chains as people gather and enjoy leisure activities such as watching movies during the week-long holiday. But the coronavirus outbreak, which has prompted a lockdown of central China’s Wuhan city, as well as in neighbouring Huanggang, has led film companies to cancel their releases.