Chinese woman sues cinema over excessive adverts

A Chinese woman is suing a cinema and the distributors of domestic box-office hit Aftershock for wasting her time by showing 20 minutes of commercials before the movie, state media said this week.

Chen Xiaomei claims the Polybona International Cinema in the northern city of Xian and film distributors Huayi Brothers Media Corporation should have told her how long the pre-movie advertisements lasted, Xinhua news agency said.

Chen, who is a lawyer, has accused Polybona and Huayi Brothers of wasting her time and violating her freedom of choice.

The case has been accepted by the People’s Court in Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province, Xinhua said, citing a statement from the court.

The report did not say when the case would be heard.

Chen is demanding the companies refund her 35-yuan ticket ($5,20), pay her 35 yuan in compensation and one yuan for emotional damages and write her an apology, the report said.

She has also advised the cinema to publish the advertisement times on its website, in the lobby or on its customer hotline and asked Huayi Brothers to cut the length of commercials to less than five minutes.

Aftershock, which is about an earthquake that devastated a Chinese city in 1976, has become the highest-grossing domestic film, raking in 650-million yuan, Xinhua said.

The movie directed by Feng Xiaogang tells the story of a mother’s emotional reunion with her daughter three decades after a massive 7,8-magnitude earthquake devastated the northern city of Tangshan, killing more than 240 000 people.—AFP