A Chinese woman, who is a lawyer by trade, is suing a cinema and a film’s distributors for wasting her time by showing 20 minutes of advertisements before it started, according to state media.
Chen Xiaomei claims the Polybona International Cinema in the northern city of Xian and film distributors Huayi Brothers Media Corporation should have openly disclosed how long the advertisements for the film “Aftershock” lasted, Xinhua news agency said.
Ms Chen 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.
While this may seem like a frivilous lawsuit for money, it doesn’t appear to be the case. Ms Chen is simply demanding that the companies refund her 35-yuan ticket ($5.17 USD), pay her 35 yuan in compensation and one yuan (10p) for emotional damages and write her an apology.
She is also requesting that from now on, cinemas print the advertisement times on its website, in the lobby or on its customer hotline. Additionally she would like Huayi Brothers to cut the length of commercials to less than five minutes.
One of the highest-grossing domestic films in China, “Aftershock” is about an earthquake that devastated a Chinese city in 1976. Directed by Feng Xiaogang, “Aftershock” 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.