A total of 27 tickets for the movie was sold out in less than an hour the previous day. According to current COVID-19 prevention protocols, only 30 percent of seats can be occupied.

A customer from the city's Sanlin neighborhood in Pudong district said he arrived at the cinema as early as 9 am as he wanted to be among the first batch of people to catch a movie at the theater.

"We staff are so thrilled to see all the tickets sold and we didn't expect that," said Shi Yijing, head of the cinema. "Audiences have said that they miss the cinema a lot. We, too, have missed them dearly after six months of closure."