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Report: Trump Called Killed U.S. Soldiers "Suckers" and "Losers"; France: Highest Daily Increase since Outbreak Began; Phases of the Vaccine Trial Process; Search Resumes for Beirut Survivors; Search Continues for Missing Livestock Cargo Ship, Survivors; Portland Place Were Trying to Arrest Michael Reinoehl; Trump Campaigning on "Law and Order" Message; China Begins Reopening Movie Theaters. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired September 05, 2020 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:00]

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Forceful denials: President Trump and current and former White House officials again deny a report that he disparaged U.S. service members killed in battle.

Also, positive signs: the medical journal, "The Lancet," says a Russian coronavirus vaccine has generated neutralizing antibodies with mild side effects. However, scientists say, more tests are needed.

Later in the program, what's another year?

Sometimes, even the footballer, many regard as the greatest of all time has to buckle under demand. Lionel Messi will stay with Barcelona, for now.

Hello everyone, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, I am Michael Holmes.

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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.

We begin with a story rattling U.S. politics less than 2 months before the election. President Donald Trump, once again, having to deny a report in "The Atlantic" that he made insulting comments about U.S. military members and, that he chose to skip an overseas ceremony in 2018 to honor America's war dead. Friday, he used one of his favorite words to describe the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is nobody who feels more strongly about our soldiers, our wounded warriors, our soldiers who died in war, than I do. It is a hoax. Just like the fake dossier was a hoax. Just like the Russia, Russia, Russia was a hoax. It was a total hoax. No collusion. Just like so many other things. It is a hoax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: But the journalist who broke the story, told CNN, he stands by his reporting and that it is not all that surprising, given what Mr. Trump has said in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY GOLDBERG, "THE ATLANTIC": So what you see, in all of these comments, going all the way back to 2015, when he disparaged John McCain for getting captured, what you see is a lack of understanding about why soldiers serve and what constitutes heroism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Several current and former White House staffers, also denying the story. One of them though, curiously silent so far, even though Mr. Trump suggested, he may have been behind it. Details now from CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, President Trump is forcefully denying a report that he referred to fallen soldiers as "losers and suckers" and questioned why anyone would volunteer to serve in the military.

TRUMP: It was a totally fake story. And that was confirmed by many people who were actually there.

COLLINS (voice-over): His defense in the Oval Office today comes after he angrily denied the report last night while shouting over the engines of Air Force One.

TRUMP: For somebody to say the things that they say I said is a total lie. It's fake news. It's a disgrace.

COLLINS (voice-over): Citing four unnamed sources, "The Atlantic" claims that Trump canceled a planned visit to a Paris cemetery where American soldiers killed in World War I are buried because he didn't care about honoring the war dead, asking senior staff, "Why should I go to that cemetery?

It's filled with losers."

Trump insisted the trip was scrapped because of weather.

TRUMP: The helicopter could not fly. The reason it couldn't fly because it was raining about as hard as I've ever seen. And on top of that, it was very, very foggy.

COLLINS (voice-over): The president said he called his wife, Melania, to express his displeasure about not being able to attend, though the first lady was on the trip with him.

The article also claims that, when John McCain died, Trump said, quote, "We're not going to support that loser's funeral," and demanded to know why they had lowered the flags for "an effing loser."

Trump denied that claim Thursday night.

TRUMP: I disagreed with John McCain, but I still respected him. And I had to approve his funeral as president.

COLLINS (voice-over): But the president did not acknowledge that it took him two days to lower the flags after McCain died or how he attacked him publicly for years.

TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK.

COLLINS (voice-over): "The Atlantic" report also claims Trump asked staff not to include wounded veterans at an event because he feared people would feel uncomfortable, reportedly saying, quote, "Nobody wants to see that."

The pushback from Trump's allies has been sharp and several aides who traveled with him to Paris said it isn't true, including his former press secretary and other top staffers.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It is absolutely damnable. It is a disgrace.

COLLINS (voice-over): Earlier today, an angry Joe Biden denounced President Trump over the reported comments.

BIDEN: If these statements are true, the president should humbly apologize to every Gold Star mother and father and every Blue Star family that he's denigrated and insulted.

Who the heck does he think he is?

COLLINS (voice-over): Biden's son, Beau, served in Iraq.

BIDEN: Won the Bronze Star and other commendations. He wasn't a sucker.

COLLINS (voice-over): And at times today he became emotional.

BIDEN: If it's true, and based on the things he said, I believe the article's true, I'd ask you all the rhetorical question, how do you feel?

How would you feel if you had a kid in Afghanistan right now?

COLLINS (voice-over): During a rally at an airport hangar in Pennsylvania last night, the president mocked Biden for wearing a mask so often.

TRUMP: Did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him?

COLLINS (voice-over): Biden responded today. BIDEN: It's hard to respond to something so idiotic.

COLLINS: The president later held a press briefing where he once again denied these reports but singled out John Kelly, his former chief of staff, who was on that trip with the president to Paris in November of 2018 and has not weighed in on the story, whether to confirm it or deny it.

The president though took that opportunity to attack John Kelly and disparage him, as he is being accused of disparaging members of the military, current and former.

The president went after John Kelly, saying he was not up to the task of being chief of staff and that he was exhausted and could not handle the pressures of the job, even though John Kelly is a retired four- star Marine general, led Southern Command and had a son who died in Afghanistan.

The president said, despite those credentials, he could not live up to the pressure of working in his West Wing -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Another person denying the story, the first lady. You don't' see this very often, Melania Trump with a rare public defense of her husband on a controversial report.

Ms. Trump calling "The Atlantic" story activism, rather than journalism and adding that it does a disservice to the American people.

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HOLMES: The U.S. is reporting, by far, the most COVID-19 cases worldwide. A new model says it is about to get much worse. This was published by the University of Washington and it says there could be more than 410,000 coronavirus deaths across the U.S. by January 1st. As of right now, almost 190,000 people have died. Even with such chilling numbers, U.S. president, Donald Trump, appears to have his focus elsewhere.

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TRUMP: We remain on track to deliver a vaccine before the end of the year, maybe even before November 1st. We think we can probably have it sometime during the month of October. We have some really great companies. They're all doing very well. They're all in final stages and I think you're going to see results that are shockingly good.

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HOLMES: The president also said that the U.S. was, in his words, rounding the corner on the virus.

CNN asked the country's top coronavirus expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, what the president might mean by that. Here is what he said.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: You know, I'm not sure what he means. There are certain states that have actually -- doing well in the sense of that the case numbers are coming down.

Our concern right now, is that there are a number of states, particularly for example the Dakotas, Montana, Michigan, Minnesota and others, who are starting to have an uptick in what we call percent positive of testing, which, generally, is a predictor that there will be an problem. And that's one of the reasons, Jim, why we are concerned about the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

We want to make sure that in -- all over the country but particularly in the vulnerable states, that are starting to show an uptick, that we abide by public health mandates and rules that we talk about all the time, over the weekend and not, in essence, have the same kind of surges that we have seen following other holiday weekends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We are seeing some concerning coronavirus data outside of the U.S. as well.

India, reporting on Friday, its biggest case surge to date. It is the third worst affected country in the world right now, with more than 4 million cases.

And in Brazil the second worst country in this pandemic, officials report more than 50,000 new cases on Friday alone. Cases also went up in some of the countries that had successfully managed the pandemic, until now. One of them is France.

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HOLMES: Health officials say the country just hit a record for the biggest daily increase in cases since the pandemic began.

To Spain, where the virus, has been spreading fast, officials reporting more than 10,000 new cases on Friday. That is the highest since May.

A prominent medical journal has published the results of the early stage trials, on the Russian COVID-19 vaccine. "The Lancet" says the vaccine produced an antibody response in all participants. CNN's Matthew Chance tells us how the vaccine effort and "The Lancet" report are playing Moscow.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Russia, the battle against COVID-19, it seems, is being fought with real soldiers. This is the country's defense minister getting a vaccine. Then on state TV, Moscow's mayor tells the Russian president he's just

been vaccinated, too.

"Did temperature rise a concern," President Putin asks.

"None," says the mayor, "just a slight headache and a little fatigue."

The intended message: Russia's vaccine, called Sputnik V, is safe. Even top officials trust although the Kremlin won't confirm to CNN if Putin himself has taken the plunge. But there is now some reason for Russia's confidence.

First, data from phase 1 and 2 clinical trials published in "The Lancet" medical journal suggests the Russian vaccine produced no serious adverse side effects. It seems to be safe, in other words.

And it generated an antibody response, according to "The Lancet," in all the test participants, admittedly only 76 people. But Russian scientists say that's more than enough to prove their vaccine works and works well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The high level of cell immunity suggests there are great prospects for developing memory cells. This tells us that it will not just create high protective at the moment of immunization but also that this protective impact will last for a very long time.

CHANCE (voice-over): Russia has been one of the world's worst affected countries in the COVID-19 pandemic, recording more than a million cases nationwide. It also has a track record of creating vaccines, famously against polio in the 1950s; more recently in 2016 to battle the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.

But there's been a cautious reception to Russia's COVID-19 vaccine: lack of published data until now and approval for use before human trials were complete raised concerns about its safety and effectiveness.

Even now with phase 1 and 2 trials published, "The Lancet" warns the studies are too small and that larger phase 3 trials are needed to know how useful the vaccine will really be.

RICHARD HORTON, "THE LANCET": what we can see is that this new Russian vaccine, the results are encouraging but it would be premature, highly premature to think this is the basis for a successful vaccine for public use.

CHANCE (voice-over): That's not what the Russians want to hear. They named their vaccine Sputnik V after the Soviet-era satellite, which shocked the world by orbiting Earth, a global first and a symbol of Russian scientific prowess. The vaccine, it seems, is not quite there yet -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: That editor of "The Lancet," responding to President Trump's claim that a vaccine could be available sometime next month. Richard Horton telling CNN that is, quote, "simply wrong." Brian Todd helps us understand exactly what goes on during clinical trials before any effective vaccine should be released.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dawn Baker, a TV news anchor in Savannah, Georgia, could be the Neil Armstrong of the coronavirus vaccine.

Baker became the first person in the U.S. to take part in a phase 3 clinical trial for a vaccine against COVID-19. She was asked by CNN's Elizabeth Cohen how it felt.

DAWN BAKER, NEWS ANCHOR: It is very exciting. I'm very anxious about it. I just hope that they are really, really good results. I know a lot of people are doing a lot of different vaccine trials and things are going on.

But I feel more -- I feel so proud.

TODD (voice-over): Baker is participating in the phase 3 trial for the vaccine being developed by a company called Moderna and the National Institutes of Health. Two other companies, AstraZeneca and Pfizer- BioNTech, are also in phase 3, along with a few other companies worldwide.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Phase 3 is clearly the most important trial. It's the only way you can tell whether or not a vaccine is effective and it's really the only way you can tell whether it's safe in tens of thousands of people.

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TODD (voice-over): Phase 1 involves a small group of people, usually less than 100; its purpose is to evaluate vaccine safety and identify side effects.

Phase 2, tested in a larger group, usually between 100 and several hundred. Its purpose, to determine the vaccine's basic effectiveness and dosage.

Phase 3 is even more critical, experts say, because it tests an even larger group, often between 10,000-60,000, and observes how people respond to it in real life conditions.

OFFIT: Let's say you give 20,000 people the vaccine and then 10,000 a placebo, like salt water. Then you wait to see what happens and people start to get sick. So, let's say 150 have gotten COVID-19 in the placebo group but only five got it from the vaccine group. That is a statistically significant, robust observation that the vaccine works to protect against COVID-19.

TODD (voice-over): As for what vaccine volunteers go through, experts say, in a phase 3 trial, they are tested before they get their first dose of the vaccine to see if they have the virus or antibodies of the virus.

Then, they are given their first dose. They get their second dose about a month later and are constantly monitored the whole time with blood tests, nasal swabs and other means.

Experts say they can get side effects during the process, as occurred during phases 1 and 2 of the coronavirus vaccine trials.

OFFIT: People can get fever and they can get symptoms associated with fever, such as headaches, muscle aches, chills.

TODD (voice-over): But Dr. Paul Offit says so far, no serious side effects have been observed with the coronavirus vaccines up to this point in phase 3.

One problem that has cropped up with phase 3, according to a trade group representing the companies conducting it, they haven't been able to recruit enough members of minority communities, who've been hit especially hard by the virus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know that some communities have some resistance and some lack of trust to biomedical research. But if we really want to see a future that doesn't have the health disparities that we witness today, then we all have to make sure that all of communities are involved in the research process.

TODD: Experts say it is important for people trust this vaccine when it's deployed on a wide scale but that they don't get the idea that it's some kind of magic bullet. Dr. Paul Offit says, even after the vaccine is deployed, we will still have to take hygienic measures like mask wearing and social distancing for about a year or 1.5 years after that -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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HOLMES: One month after a massive explosion tore through the city of Beirut, a rescue team are still searching for possible survivors there after detecting signs of life. After the break, we'll have a live report from the scene of the operation.

Also, a cargo ship goes missing in stormy seas. Now rescuers face rough weather themselves. We'll have the latest on the search operation when we come back.

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HOLMES: It is mid-morning in Beirut, where a Chilean rescue team is searching for possible survivors trapped in the rubble of last month's deadly blast.

[02:20:00] HOLMES: That massive explosion, at the port, killing more than 190 people and injured thousands of others. Now crews say they have been picking up on what might be body heat and breathing, from debris near the epicenter of the blast.

CNN producer Tamara Qiblawi joins me now from Beirut.

It's so hard to imagine somebody could have survived so long.

What is the latest?

TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SENIOR DIGITAL MIDDLE EAST PRODUCER: Hi, Michael, today is the third day of the search and rescue that is being led by the Chilean team and they are a volunteer team, who comes here on their own dime.

They say, this search is prompted by signs of life detected by their sensor meter inside the destroyed site, under the rubble of this building 29 days after a blast ripped through the city.

A dog named Clash (ph) was the first to detect these signs of life. Today, on the third day of the search and rescue, signs of life from the sensor, which is essentially respirations or a pulse, that is being detected by the sensor, has caused the search to continue.

The search team says, the chances are quite low, this is 31 days after the blast. The chances of anything, anyone having survived this long under the rubble are conceivably, extremely slim.

At the same time, the search and rescue team is saying, we don't care about the statistical percentage of this. This is a humanitarian percentage. If there's even one humanitarian percentage chance there could be someone alive under the rubble, then we're going to continue the search until we can rule out the possibility completely. Michael?

HOLMES: Really has brought the city together, too, good luck to them.

The Japanese Coast Guard says, search and rescue operations are ongoing after a cargo ship went missing during a typhoon on Wednesday. It was carrying a shipment of thousands of cows from New Zealand to China and only a few of the 43 sailors have been found and now dangerous waves from another storm are hampering the efforts. CNN's Will Ripley is following developments for us from Hong Kong.

What is the latest, Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of questions we don't have the answers to, Michael, that's why the search and rescue effort continues around the clock. There are some powerful storms in the sea, which could pose problems.

In fact, there was a category 4 typhoon that was in the area at the time the ship disappeared, with dozens of crew members, nearly 6,000 cows on board, some reported, to be pregnant with calves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RIPLEY (voice-over): A dramatic rescue off the coast of Japan. This Japanese Coast Guard vessel, desperately tries to reach a man in the water, battling rough seas, getting closer and closer, as the man bobs up and down like a cork.

Finally, they're able to get him on board. They bring him onto a Coast Guard ship, warmed him with a blanket and give him water.

He's a 45-year-old chief officer of the Gulf Livestock 1, a cargo ship that went missing after a distress call early Wednesday near Southern Japan. The ship was carrying 43 crew members and almost 6,000 cows, some seen dead, floating in the sea.

The ship left Napier, New Zealand, on August 14th, headed for China, a journey that was supposed to take 17 days. At the time of its disappearance, it was being pounded by a powerful storm, Typhoon Maysak, the same strength as a category 4 hurricane, with winds more than 200 kilometers or 125 miles an hour.

The chief officer told authorities the ship's engine failed. The vessel was hit by a wave and capsized.

On Friday, 30-year-old a Filipino crew member was also found clutching onto a ripped life raft 2 kilometers from Kodakarajima (ph) Island. Rescuers discovered a third man floating unconscious. He was later pronounced dead.

The wife of the ship's chief engineer pleaded for officials to continue searching for the rest of the missing crew.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I would like to call on the Philippine government to give us legitimate information and strengthen their cooperation with the ongoing search and rescue operations.

[02:25:00]

RIPLEY (voice-over): New Zealand has since announced it is temporarily suspending exports of live cattle as it investigates what happened during the ship's journey. The export of livestock has been controversial. Animal rights group have long called for the practice to be banned.

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Those groups are now saying that this incident is exactly the reason why. You had 5,800 cows on board and some experts believe that many of those animals may have also been pregnant. That is why it is a major export for New Zealand but to think of what those animals and those crew members must have gone through, the fear.

And they still haven't found the ship and the cows and the remaining crew members. So, it's -- what they're -- the clues they're getting, Michael, pretty grim at this stage and we just wait to learn more answers.

HOLMES: Yes. The more times passes, the grimmer it gets, Will Ripley in Hong Kong, good to see you.

We'll take a quick break here on the program. When we come back, typhoon Haishen is quickly approaching Japan. Up next, we'll have a live report from the CNN Weather Center on the latest developments. You're watching CNN.

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HOLMES: Typhoon Haishen is headed toward Japan and the Korean Peninsula. It will be the third major storm to hit the region in less than two weeks.

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HOLMES: We will take a quick break. When we come back, there's two months to go before the U.S. presidential election and a lot can happen in that time.

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HOLMES: We will have a look at the state of the race, right now.

Also, Lionel Messi, shocking the football world when he said this week, he was leaving Barcelona. After the break, we'll hear why he chose not to leave Barcelona.

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HOLMES: Portland police now confirm they were trying to arrest Michael Reinoehl on second degree murder charges on Thursday night when he was killed in a confrontation with U.S. Marshals.

They say Reinoehl was wanted in the shooting death of Aaron Jay Danielson during a protest in Portland last week. the U.S. attorney general called Reinoehl a violent agitator and said the streets were safer without him.

These pictures are from surveillance video taken shortly before the shooting. You see Danielson and another man on the sidewalk. Reinoehl seems to conceal himself around the side of a building as they pass.

The two men were on opposite sides of the political divide and the protests.

Protests and police faced off again on Friday night in Rochester, New York. It comes after video was released, this week, showing the arrests in March of Daniel Prude, a Black man, who later died in police custody.

Prude's brother says he was suicidal and acting erratically before the deadly encounter with officers. Protesters, some in helmets, carrying umbrellas, could be heard shouting, "Black Lives Matter."

Police reportedly fired pepper balls and tear gas and ordered crowds to disperse.

A new report, released on Thursday, finds that the vast majority of racial justice protests, in the U.S., since the death of George Floyd, have been entirely peaceful; 93 percent of the protests, to be exact.

That report, produced by a group called the U.S. Crisis Project, which collects and analyzes real-time data. This report, contradicts claims by some that most demonstrations associated with Black Lives Matter movement are sparking violence and destruction of property.

In the vast majority of cases, that's just not true. The study looked at more than 10,000 protests between May and August in more than 2,000 locations.

Joining me now is Paul Sracic. He's chairman of the Department of Politics and International Relations at Youngstown State University.

Professor, appreciate your time. I want to talk about the president, clearly, counting on law and order messaging as a major pillar of the campaign. Polling would suggest his effort is to reframe the race around that isn't working.

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HOLMES: I'm curious, what is your take is on whether that has legs as a political strategy?

PAUL SRACIC, YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY: I think it might and I don't think we're quite sure yet whether it isn't working. It's kind of early in this, voters are just starting to pay attention.

And this is clearly a theme. I think it's in the background. I think you have the reactions of former vice president Biden, going off to Kenosha, showing that the Democrats are a little bit worried about this going in, that this could become an issue Trump can use to move some swing voters into his camp.

HOLMES: It is hard to remember another presidency that's been more chaotic, if we can put it that way. Why do you think politically his supporters are so loyal? What is it that makes them ignore the chaos of the presidency and see positives?

SRACIC: I think some of them want the chaos. Remember, Trump ran as a disruptor, in 2016. As a bit of a bomb thrower. He appealed to voters who thought that the system as it was, was not dealing them a winning hand and they wanted to shuffle the deck.

And electing Donald Trump was the ultimate shuffling of the deck. They wanted that disruption. But the question becomes, in 2020, do they want those same disruptions, or are things like COVID or the disruption we see in the streets, is that not what they bargained for in 2016?

HOLMES: It's important to say the vast majority of protests have been peaceful but of course, as we all know, some have not. There's been polling which shows public support for Black Lives Matter has waned in the wake of the violence happening in some places.

Is Joe Biden doing enough to counter that narrative, that things will, somehow, be worse under him?

SRACIC: He is actually in a difficult position. This is Donald Trump, playing to his base. Biden also has to play to his base. If you go back, we've already kind of forgotten about the primaries, but it was a divisive primary in the Democratic Party between the progressive wing led by Bernie Sanders and the more moderate traditional wing with Joe Biden. So, clearly, the Black Lives Matter movement is very near and dear to

the progressive side of the party. So yes, be careful not to distance themselves from Black Lives Matter as he wants to distance himself from the violence in the streets.

HOLMES: You mentioned the coronavirus, I guess one problem the president has is the coronavirus. It is one problem where he cannot control the narrative. It does what it does and it's difficult to massage the numbers.

How much of a hurdle politically is COVID-19?

SRACIC: It's a big hurdle. In part, because it scares older voters. Those older voters, traditionally vote Republican and they supported Donald Trump very strongly in 2016.

The danger is, because -- if they think that the Trump administration has mishandled coronavirus, it's putting them at risk, that's not the disruption they wanted in 2016. So that's why Trump has to deal with that. You see at his press conference today, where he talks about what he's done, what the administration has done, all the testing they're doing.

So he can't just ignore that issue.

HOLMES: What do you see happening in the next 60 days?

SRACIC: There's still a lot of events, a lot of campaigning to go on. We've been kind of frozen. Everything's been slowed down by this coronavirus. We're not seeing the rallies; we're seeing those a little bit. All the commercials aren't out yet. The big event coming up is at the end of the month in Ohio, the debates, where we see Biden and Trump go head to head.

This year, I don't think normally the debates matter that much but this year they could matter a great deal and, perhaps, swing the election enough. Even though Biden is ahead, he's not ahead that far in the all-important swing states and that is what matters.

We learned in 2016 got to win those swing states to win the Electoral College.

HOLMES: Very good point. Paul Sracic, thanks so much, appreciate it.

SRACIC: Thank you.

HOLMES: In another sign of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, some theaters in China are opening again. Our David Culver with details from Beijing.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tickets in hand, moviegoers in Beijing prepare for their brief departure from reality.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I really miss it. Before the pandemic, almost every time there was a good movie, I would go to the theater to watch it.

[02:40:00]

CULVER (voice-over): She's among the fans here to see Christopher Nolan's anticipated sci-fi thriller, produced by Warner Brothers, which, like CNN, is owned by WarnerMedia.

This is the first major Hollywood theater release in China since COVID-19 outbreak that is expected to attract large audiences.

CULVER: China is allowing theaters, like this one here in Beijing, to reopen at 50 percent capacity. They also have several seats, as you can see, blocked off, allowing for some social distancing.

Once you are here for an actual film, you have to wear masks the whole time. If you say can I at least take it off for some popcorn, it's not an option. Concessions are not being sold.

CULVER (voice-over): "I think it is OK, it's worth it," he says.

China shuttered theaters country wide in late January as the virus spread, only to begin to reopen them with limited capacity and many film reruns in July.

CULVER: So we're talking about roughly six months of closure.

How devastating is that for the industry here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: it is definitely very devastating. That means lower investment for future projects, so, that's a pretty worrying trend, not just for this year.

CULVER (voice-over): It comes off what was a $9.2 billion year for China's box office in 2019, up more than 5 percent from the year before that, still less than North America's $11.4 billion according to the Motion Picture Association, but of rapidly narrowing the gap.

Experts expected China to overtake the U.S. and Canada box office sales by this year. That was before the outbreak, of course. Now with the vast majority of theaters back open and customers feeling more comfortable to venture out, China could become the most profitable.

Though there have been controversial cuts from Western films here in the past, including censoring LGBTQ from the Oscar-winning movie, "Bohemian Rhapsody," a Chinese film producer does not believe U.S. filmmakers will self censure only to reach Chinese moviegoers. She thinks producers and studios aim to appeal to a global audience.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they understand what can or cannot be shown in Chinese theaters.

CUMANI (voice-over): "Tenet" made the cut. So, too, Disney's live action adaptation of "Mulan," releasing in Chinese theaters on September 11th. Moviegoers adjusting to this very differently movie watching experience, post outbreak. Perhaps making the escape into another plot all the more alluring -- David Culver, CNN, Beijing.

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HOLMES: The football superstar Lionel Messi says he will be staying with Barcelona. Earlier this week, you may remember he asked for release from the club, sparking speculation he may join the English Premier League giants Manchester City. Messi explained why he decided to make a U-turn.

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LIONEL MESSI, BARCELONA FORWARD (through translator): I would never go to court against Barca because it's the club I love. It gave me everything since I arrived. It is the club of my life and I've made my life here in Barcelona. Barca gave me everything. And I gave it everything.

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HOLMES: Messi and Barcelona are set to return to play next week as the new season of La Liga kicks off.

Thank you for watching, I'm Michael Holmes, stay tuned for "MARKETPLACE AFRICA." I will see you in about 20 minutes.