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Beijing on Monday dropped its quarantine on arrival policy, leading many to book their first overseas trips in years.
Italy on Wednesday became the first European country to announce that mandatory antigen swabs would be required of all travelers coming from China.
The U.S. said from Jan. 5. all arrivals from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau must supply a negative Covid test taken within two days of departure.

People are seen waiting at the arrivals area of terminal 5 at Heathrow International airport.
Carlos Barria | Reuters

LONDON — The U.K. and France said Thursday morning they currently had no plans to reintroduce mandatory Covid-19 tests or additional requirements for travelers arriving into the country.
It comes as several nations announced new measures in response to China’s relaxation of Covid restrictions amid a suspected surge of infections but reduced domestic testing. Beijing on Monday dropped its quarantine on arrival policy, leading many to book their first overseas trips in years.

Italy, the center of Europe’s initial outbreak in early 2020, on Wednesday became the first country in the region to announce that mandatory antigen swabs would be required of all travelers coming from China.
On one Dec. 26 flight from China into Milan’s Malpensa Airport, 52% of passengers tested positive for Covid, la Repubblica reported.

European Union health officials were locked in talks Thursday to try to coordinate a response.
“From a scientific point of view, there is no reason at this stage to bring back controls at the borders,” Brigitte Autran, head of the French health risk assessment committee COVARS, said on France’s Radio Classique, according to a Reuters report.
German, Portuguese and Austrian officials also appeared reluctant to introduce new measures.

But Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told a press conference her country’s testing measures may be ineffective if they are not implemented across the EU since many travelers enter Italy through other Schengen countries.
She said preliminary tests showed that Covid-positive travelers from China had known omicron variants, Reuters reported.
Italy’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases reportedly called for an increase in testing for those arriving from China. “It would be better if the coordination of surveillance should take place at European level,” the institute said, according to a translation by the Ansa news agency.
“Italy cannot be the only country to carry out anti-Covid checks at airports for those arriving from China,” Italian Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said on Twitter, per a Google translation.
The U.S. said from Jan. 5. all arrivals from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau must supply a negative Covid test taken within two days of departure.

India will require a negative test from passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand, with passengers put into quarantine if they have a positive test or display Covid symptoms.
Japan and Taiwan will perform tests on arrival for passengers from mainland China.
While the U.K. government said there were no plans to reintroduce Covid tests or additional requirements for arrivals into the country, it said it would monitor the situation through Thursday.
It could announce a change in policy, especially if a wave of other European countries reintroduce testing.
Officials have cited a lack of published information from China on new variants as a reason to strengthen precautions.
Beijing says its latest outbreak is down to the highly transmissible, but less deadly, omicron variant. But a lack of data and the country’s track record of obfuscating reality has meant that many nations are taking a cautious approach.

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Media stocks were hit with major losses in 2022 as streaming subscriber growth waned and the advertising market weakened. 
Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery’s stocks hit 52-week lows in late December.
Netflix, Paramount and Comcast hit the same benchmarks earlier this year.

In this photo illustration, a hand holding a TV remote control in front of the Disney Plus logo on a TV screen.
Rafael Henrique | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Media stocks got rocked this year, with companies losing billions of dollars in market value, as streaming subscriber growth waned and the advertising market worsened. 
The pain is likely to continue in the first half of 2023, according to media executives and industry analysts. 

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, two companies undergoing transitions, especially when it comes to streaming, each hit 52-week lows in recent days. So far this year, Warner’s stock is down more than 60% and Disney is off more than 45%. 
The media industry has come to a turning point as competition among streaming services is at an all-time high and consumers are getting pickier about their number of subscriptions. On top of that, companies are contending with lower ad revenue and more cord cutting. Some expect consolidation to occur in the near future.
“Across the sector, it’s chaos,” said Mark Boidman, head of media and entertainment investment banking at Solomon Partners. “Everyone has been saying for years that technology is going to change the media world, and it has. But we’re at this real point now where it’s crunch time.” He predicts bundled streaming will become more important in 2023.
It’s been a tough year across the board for the market. The Nasdaq Composite is headed for its worst decline since 2008, and it’s positioned to underperform the S&P 500 for a second straight year. Other industries’ stocks, including tech, have been clobbered. 
Major tech stocks have lost at least half of their value. Streaming giant Netflix’s stock has dropped more than 50%, with its market cap cut in half to roughly $123 billion.

Netflix’s first quarter subscriber loss–it’s first in more than 10 years–weighed on the media sector this year.

Streaming woes

When Netflix reported it lost subscribers in the first quarter — the first time in more than 10 years — the news sent a shock wave through the sector. The streaming giant blamed heightened competition. It also started exploring an ad-supported, cheaper option for customers, something the company had long said it wouldn’t do. 
Since then, other media company stocks have followed suit. 
Disney, meanwhile, has been facing challenges since the early days of the pandemic, when movie theaters and theme parks were closed for months. Disney’s financial performance has been scrutinized in recent months, and following its disappointing earnings report in November, the company’s board ousted Bob Chapek and brought back longtime former boss Bob Iger. 
Although Disney investors were immediately elated over Iger’s return, the stock soon after faltered, most recently due in part to a lower-than-expected opening box office weekend for “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Warner’s stock got slammed this year as management for the newly combined company — the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery closed this spring — has been cutting costs, warning of the tough ad market, and focusing on making its streaming business profitable in the future.
Since Netflix’s losses earlier this year, Wall Street has been questioning the viability of streaming business models. 
“I think everyone was trying to emulate Netflix with the hope of seeing a similar valuation, and at this point the jig is up,” said John Hodulik, an analyst at UBS. “Netflix is no longer being valued at a revenue multiple. Investors are asking how direct-to-consumer gets to profitability.” 
The sentiment also has weighed on Warner, which plans to combine HBO Max and Discovery next year, as well as Paramount Global and Comcast’s NBCUniversal. Investors have a magnifying glass on subscriber counts and content spending, which has mounted to tens of billions of dollars for these companies.  
“Now there’s a new focus on these costs,” said Hodulik. “I think Warner Bros. Discovery is leading the charge, but we’re going to see other companies pare back their ambitions in the streaming space over time.”

Tightening ad market

On top of this, the ad market has worsened. During times of economic uncertainty, companies often pull back on advertising spending, which is often seen as discretionary. 
Paramount missed third-quarter estimates after its ad revenue dropped, with its stock hitting a low in the following days. The stock is down more than 45% this year. Paramount’s shares did get a boost recently after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway upped its stake in the company, fueling speculation that it could be an acquisition target.
Earlier this month at an industry conference, CEO Bob Bakish lowered expectations for the company’s fourth-quarter ad sales. NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell also said at the same conference advertising has steadily worsened in the last six to nine months, although he noted ad revenue would be up in the fourth quarter.

Paramount Global YTD

“These stocks have been down a lot, and investors are asking themselves why would I buy this ahead of bad news not just next quarter, but the next few quarters,” Hodulik said. “Things might get worse before they get better.” 
There were some bright spots on the advertising front, however. 
Streamers like Netflix and Disney now offer ad-supported, cheaper options for customers, which is expected to be a positive for their businesses. “We also anticipate that advertising streaming will become more important in the year to come,” Solomon Partners’ Boidman said. 
Political advertising revenue was also up in the third and fourth quarters due to the heated midterm elections, with broadcast station owners like Nexstar Broadcast Group and Tegna reaping the benefits. These stocks, particularly Nexstar, were both up year to date, despite their industry’s overall weakness, as their revenues heavily rely on the high fees distributors pay to air their local networks.

Pay-TV exodus

Cord cutting, albeit not a new trend for the industry, “accelerated to all-time worsts” in the third quarter, according to data from MoffettNathanson. Along with advertising, Paramount cited it as a hindrance on its most recent quarterly results.
For media companies like Comcast and Charter Communications, lagging subscriber growth on the broadband front, rather than the pay-TV business, weighed more significantly on their stocks. 
Charter, which solely offers pay-TV, broadband and mobile services and doesn’t have a foot in the streaming wars like peer Comcast, has particularly seen its stock suffer recently. Charter’s stock is down nearly 50% year to date, and it got hit earlier this month when the company told investors it would increase spending on its broadband network in the years to come. Comcast’s stock is down more than 30% so far this year.
“We knew cord cutting was happening, but it definitely accelerated since the beginning of the pandemic,” said Hodulik. “It looks set to get worse as we go into the first quarter.” 

Comcast vs. Charter

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

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Japan and some other countries have announced new rules for visitors from mainland China after Beijing said it would finally relax border controls.
Covid-19 infections surged this month in mainland China, but there is limited data available publicly.
Australia is not adding restrictions on visitors from China, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday.

Travelers check in with Cathay Pacific at the Hong Kong International Airport on December 20, 2022.
Vernon Yuen | Nurphoto | Getty Images

BEIJING — Some countries announced new Covid testing requirements for visitors from China after the mainland said it would finally relax border controls.
Japan was the first country to subsequently release rule changes, followed by the U.S. and others. Covid-19 infections surged this month in mainland China, but there is limited data available publicly.

Here are some of the latest policy changes for travelers from China:

Japan

U.S.

Starting Jan. 5, all airline passengers 2 years and older originating from mainland China, Hong Kong or Macao will be required upon departure to the U.S. to show a negative Covid-19 test result from within the last two days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday.

The rules apply to people of all nationalities and vaccination status.

Testing has decreased across China and it’s unclear what variants are circulating on the mainland because genomic surveillance data is also limited, a federal health official told reporters.

Taiwan

For the month of January, all travelers from mainland China via direct flight or boat will need to test for Covid-19 upon arrival in Taiwan, the local Centers for Disease Control said Wednesday.
Those who test positive can quarantine at home, the notice said.
The rules do not apply to flights from Hong Kong or Macao.

Italy

All travelers coming from China to Italy will need to get tested for Covid-19, even if just transiting, the European country’s health minister said Wednesday.
The minister said the country would also conduct virus sequencing, but did not say what would happen to travelers who tested positive.
Health authorities in regions near Milan and Rome said travelers who tested positive would have to quarantine in designated buildings, Reuters reported.

Australia

Australia is not adding restrictions to visitors from China, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday, according to an official transcript of his interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Albanese said Australia would monitor circumstances in China and other countries, as well as take “appropriate advice” from health experts. “Our priority is to keep Australians as safe as possible,” he said.

Read more about China from CNBC Pro

Omicron — more transmissible but causing less severe disease — became the dominant Covid variant globally over the last year. Most of the world moved to a state of living with the virus months before China ended many of its Covid controls this month.
Starting Jan. 8, inbound travelers to mainland China will no longer need to quarantine upon arrival, Beijing announced Monday. Visitors would still need to show a negative for Covid-19 from within the last 48 hours.
Chinese authorities also said they would improve visa processing for foreigners, while resuming Chinese citizens’ passport applications for travel abroad, including for tourism. No exact timeframe was specified.
—CNBC’s Jihye Lee and Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.

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Most Chinese people still don’t want to leave their apartments, despite a relaxation in Covid-related restrictions, an Oliver Wyman survey found.
Only 8% of surveyed consumers were comfortable about going out right now, the firm said.
And despite data showing a surge of interest in travel, the Oliver Wyman survey indicated that most Chinese remain cautious.

Shoppers enter a newly opened Sam’s Club in Beijing on Dec. 23, 2022, the chain’s fourth store in China’s capital city.
Zhao Jun | China News Service | Getty Images

BEIJING — Most Chinese people still don’t want to leave their apartments, despite a relaxation in Covid-related restrictions, an Oliver Wyman survey found.
More than 90% of consumers surveyed over the weekend said they are avoiding going out, the consulting firm said. Nearly 60% of respondents said they wouldn’t be comfortable going out in public for at least the next few months.

After months of increasingly stringent measures to control Covid-19 outbreaks, mainland China suddenly ended most restrictions in early December. Meanwhile, infections started to surge in Beijing and subsequently other cities, such as Shanghai. Visits to fever clinics skyrocketed, pressuring an already stretched public health system.
“We observed that many high streets and shopping malls were deserted in December,” Kenneth Chow, principal, Oliver Wyman, said in an email this week.
“Due to increased infection, many businesses we spoke with expressed concerns over labor shortage as a significant portion of their staff have been off sick, and some are struggling to maintain their service level,” Chow said.
Anecdotally, while many more people went out to malls and attractions in Beijing over the weekend, not all stores had reopened yet. Venues were modestly crowded but not at the packed levels that had been typical for the city of 22 million pre-pandemic.

Only 8% of surveyed consumers were comfortable about going out right now, Oliver Wyman said.

The study covered 4,500 Chinese people over 16 years old, across all sizes of cities, and weighted to be representative of China’s urban population.
Local interest in saving rather than spending has climbed this year to record highs, according to surveys conducted over the last two decades by the People’s Bank of China.
Nearly 62% of respondents said they preferred to save rather than spend or invest, according to fourth-quarter results released Tuesday. That’s up from around 58% earlier this year.
People who did plan to spend more were most interested in doing so in health care and education, the survey said.

Overall caution on travel

And despite data showing a surge of interest in travel, the Oliver Wyman survey indicated that most Chinese remain cautious.
Less than one-fifth of respondents said they planned to travel during the upcoming Lunar New Year in late January, the consulting firm said, noting Chinese were more interested in travel if they were wealthier.
However, the survey was conducted before China announced on Monday that starting Jan. 8, travelers would no longer need to quarantine upon arrival on the mainland.

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Shares of AMC have fallen more than 85% so far this year, sinking below $4 as of Wednesday afternoon.
The stock’s high for 2022 was $21.09 in March.
The stock drop comes after CEO Adam Aron announced a pay freeze for himself and the company proposed a 10-1 stock split.

The AMC 25 Theatres in Times Square in New York is seen on Tuesday, July 8, 2014.
Richard Levine | Corbis News | Getty Images

Branded credit cards and a pay freeze for its CEO have done little to assuage AMC Entertainment shareholders’ growing concerns, as the movie theater chain’s stock hit a fresh 52-week low Wednesday.
Shares of AMC have fallen more than 85% so far this year, closing at $3.84 a share on Wednesday. The stock drop comes as the company has devised several plans to raise more capital to pay down its debt, and invest in acquisitions and theater upgrades.

While the company was able to come back from the brink of bankruptcy in 2021, thanks to millions of retail investors who turned its shares into a meme stock, it has struggled to maintain momentum in 2022.

Concerns about AMC’s massive debt load, which it had amassed prior to the pandemic, have resurfaced as the company dilutes its stock and contends with a slow-to-recover film industry. Additions to the company, including a popcorn business and even a gold mine, have failed to move the needle as the stock price continues to plummet.
For several quarters, AMC’s revenue has not been enough to outweigh its costs. Much of that is because of a slim slate of Hollywood films, the result of production delays brought on by the pandemic, and lower ticket sales.

AMC’s bumpy 2022 ride

There is little doubt that the domestic and global box office will recover more strongly in 2023, as more films are released to the public. However, moviegoing may not return to prepandemic levels until 2024 or 2025, if at all, analysts warn.
Where AMC’s trouble lie are in its fundamentals, says Eric Handler, MKM Partners media and entertainment analyst.

He noted that the recent APE stock issuance and previous stock sales allowed AMC to pay down some of its more than $5 billion in debt, but that the company’s overall valuation hasn’t changed.
“It’s a negligible impact on valuation,” Handler said. “The credit card is a nice little thing. The popcorn deal is a nice little thing. All these things are low risk and additive to the business.”
But, he added, things aren’t as nice when you look at AMC’s capital structure – its large number of shares outstanding, combined with its high debt levels.
“There’s just not a lot of equity value in the shares. And it’s still trading at a substantially higher valuation than where theater operators traditionally trade,” he said. “At some point fundamentals matter.”
AMC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
AMC’s latest effort to right the ship is an equity deal with Antara Capital, one of the company’s major debt holders, to raise $110 million via a sale of its APE units to Antara for 66 cents a piece. Antara will also exchange $100 million of AMC notes for 91 million APE units, which would reduce AMC’s annual interest expense by about $10 million.
“Clearly, the existence of APEs has been achieving exactly their intended purposes,” CEO Adam Aron said in a statement last week. “They have let AMC raise much welcomed cash, reduce debt and in so doing deleverage our balance sheet and allow us to explore possible M&A activity.”
“However, given the consistent trading discount that we are routinely seeing in the price of APE units compared to AMC common shares, we believe it is in the best interests of our shareholders for us to simplify our capital structure, thereby eliminating the discount that has been applied to the APE units in the market,” he added.
The company’s board announced last week it intends to hold a special meeting for shareholders to vote on the proposal, which includes seeking permission to enact a reverse stock split of AMC common shares.
AMC declined to comment further when contacted by CNBC.
“The steps that they’re taking right now, in terms of converting APE to AMC, if that’s passed, and then doing the reverse stock split, if that’s passed, that gets them pretty much back to where they were in 2019,” said Alicia Reese, an analyst at Wedbush.
Essentially, AMC wants to provide its shareholders one share for every 10 shares they own, converting the individual stock value from just under to $4 to just under $40.
This new valuation doesn’t make much sense to several analysts, who note that AMC may have more cash in hand than it did in 2019, but it still has a similar debt load and no dividends.
“It doesn’t work,” said Reese. “All it’s saying right now is that the shares are still overvalued by quite a lot. And they still have quite a bit to drop.”

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Southwest Airlines canceled another 60% of its flights.
The meltdown has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and the Biden administration.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged other carriers to cap fares.

Southwest Airlines slashed another 2,500 flights on Wednesday, sending more frustrated customers scrambling to find seats on other airlines.
The Dallas-based carrier’s cuts amounted to 60% of its schedule and nearly 90% of overall cancellations in the U.S. on Wednesday, marking another day of disruptions even as weather conditions and operations at other airlines improved.

Close to 60% of Southwest flights were already canceled for Thursday. It scrubbed less than 1% of the schedule for Friday, but the carrier still has to accommodate the thousands of travelers left stranded by its meltdown.
Airlines have canceled thousands of flights since last week when severe winter weather roiled holiday travel around the U.S., but Southwest’s outsized disruptions have drawn scrutiny from the Biden administration and lawmakers. Southwest has blamed its performance on its internal technology platforms that were overloaded by schedule changes.

That forced pilots and flight attendants to reach out to scheduling services by phone for new assignments, hotels and other accommodations. Hold times lasted hours, crews and unions said.
“There are hoards of Teams working on solutions right now and have been for days and days,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in a staff message on Tuesday. “Ultimately, though, this stops with me. I’m accountable for this and I own our issues and I own our recovery. I want you to know that as well.”
To help stranded travelers, Delta Air Lines said Wednesday that it “capped fares in all the markets Southwest operates” and that the fares are valid through Saturday. American Airlines said it did so in “cities severely affected by cancellations” and United Airlines said it has capped fares in “select cities.”

Alaska Airlines said it was lowering fares in certain markets.
The airlines did not provide further details. The moves came after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged other carriers to cap fares.
Southwest said it would reimburse travelers for “reasonable” hotel, meal and alternative transportation expenses if customers submit receipts.
Tens of thousands of passengers were also struggling with luggage lost in the chaos. Southwest allows travelers to check two bags for free, unlike other carriers, which charge for checked luggage.

Southwest shares have tumbled nearly 11% so far this week, twice as much as its rivals.
Frustrations for travelers trying to find their way home were heightened because the scarcity of of spare seats on other airlines during the busy holiday period.
Airlines will routinely limit last-minute fares, which are generally high and often coincide with limited seats, during emergencies like hurricanes so travelers can evacuate.

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All airline passengers 2 years of age and older originating from China, Hong Kong or Macau will be required to get tested for Covid two days before their departure to the U.S.
The requirements, which apply regardless of nationality and vaccination status, start Jan. 5.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also expanding its program that monitors travelers for new Covid variants to include airports in Los Angeles and Seattle.
U.S. health officials said they have limited information on what’s transpiring on the ground in China.

The Biden administration will require airline passengers traveling from China to test negative for Covid before entering the U.S. as concern grows that widespread transmission of the virus in the world’s most populous country could result in new variants.
All airline passengers 2 years and older originating from China, Hong Kong or Macau will be required to get tested for Covid-19 no more than two days before their flight to the U.S. and show a negative result to the airline upon departure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Wednesday.

The requirements, which apply regardless of nationality and vaccination status, start Jan. 5. Travelers can get a PCR test or a rapid self test that is administered and monitored by a telehealth service. The rapid test must be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration or the relevant national authority.

Travelers check in at Shanghai’s Hongqiao International Airport in on Dec. 12, 2022, after China relaxed domestic travel restrictions.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Airline passengers flying through Incheon International Airport in South Korea as well as Toronto Pearson and Vancouver International Airports in Canada will also need to test negative for Covid before heading to the U.S. if they were in China 10 days beforehand.
These three airports cover the overwhelming majority of travelers whose trips originated in China but have connecting flights to the U.S., according to the CDC.
The testing requirements come as Beijing battles a major outbreak of the virus after easing its stringent zero-Covid policy in the wake of social unrest earlier this year.

The U.S. has limited information on the situation on the ground in China, a federal health official told reporters on a call Wednesday. Testing has decreased across China and it’s unclear what variants are circulating on the mainland because genomic surveillance data is also limited, the official said.

“The recent rapid increase in transmission in China increases the potential for new variants emerging,” the health official said. The U.S. is taking proactive steps to protect the public’s health and be on the alert for new Covid variants as the situation in China unfolds, according to the official.
The CDC is expanding its program that monitors international travelers for new Covid variants to include airports in Los Angeles and Seattle. The surveillance program will now include seven airports and cover about 500 weekly flights, including 290 flights from China and the surrounding region.
The surveillance program collects nasal swabs from international travelers on a voluntary basis, and the CDC then analyzes the samples that test positive for Covid to determine if they are a new virus variant.

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Worldwide ticket sales for Disney and James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” have topped $1 billion.
The milestone comes 14 days after “The Way of Water” debuted in theaters, five days faster than “Avatar” achieved the same benchmark in 2009.
Still, industry experts are concerned by muted ticket sales from China.

Avatar: The Way of Water
Courtesy: Disney Co. 

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has passed the billion-dollar mark at the global box office, but sluggish sales in China could weigh on the film’s final haul.
Worldwide ticket sales for the Disney film now stand at $1.03 billion, the combination of $317 million in domestic sales and $712 million from international markets.

The milestone comes 14 days after “The Way of Water” debuted in theaters, five days faster than “Avatar” achieved the same benchmark in 2009. That places the film among the top five fastest movies to reach $1 billion in box-office sales.
Cameron previously said “The Way of Water” would need to hit $2 billion in box-office receipts in order to be considered profitable.
Box-office analysts believe Cameron’s flick could hit the lofty goal. “The Way of Water” has no direct or significant competition in theaters until mid-February when “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is released.
Still, industry experts are concerned by muted ticket sales from China. The market was expected to be a major source of revenue for the sequel, but has underperformed expectations as Covid once again roils the region.
Through Tuesday, China has accounted for just $108 million in ticket sales for the film. The country was expected to bring in $100 million in business during the film’s opening weekend alone.

“The Way of Water” is one of only a handful of Hollywood releases that have been permitted for a coveted release in China this year. China has become a dominant market in the global theatrical space and considered vital for blockbusters seeking top box-office numbers.
However, early this month, China abruptly ended many Covid controls. Infections have surged and pressed the country’s health-care system. At this point, it is unclear at what scale Covid outbreaks have hit the country, with few official figures on recent infections and deaths. China’s National Health Commission on Sunday stopped sharing daily figures after a halt in mandatory virus testing.
“There were high hopes placed on the country to deliver the additional revenue needed to help put the film over the top in terms of the lofty global earnings expectations set forth by director James Cameron,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Dergarabedian said Cameron’s traditional box-office trajectory works in the film’s favor though, noting that previous releases like “Titanic” and the first “Avatar” had lengthy theatrical runs.
“Hopefully the troubling health situation will ease over time,” he said.

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