No fastpass: Cinema closures dent Wanda's dream of beating Disney

Coronavirus shuts AMC theaters across the US

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Wanda's Oriental Movie Metropolis in China's Qingdao aimed to create a Hollywood-style movie production hub in the East. © Reuters

SHIN WATANABE and NAOKI MATSUDA, Nikkei staff writers

DALIAN, China/SHANGHAI -- Dreams of creating a global entertainment empire have driven China's Dalian Wanda Group to the brink of another crisis, this time from the coronavirus shutting movie theaters worldwide.

Crowds were sparse recently at Wanda Plaza on the outskirts of Shanghai, usually a top earner among the group's roughly 320 commercial complexes nationwide.

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