Catastrophic revenues after opening theaters .. Sacrificing Egyptian cinema on the altar of politics

After closing the cinemas since the Corona pandemic began in Egypt, the Egyptian government has reopened it again since the beginning of this July, as part of the measures to ease the ban and restore life to normal, despite the presence of people already injured so far.

But far from the medical side, the decision was intended - according to the advertiser - to protect the film industry from the huge losses suffered, but is this what really happened? Is the economic climate in Egypt support the cinemas or the industry itself?

Cancellation of concerts

In an attempt to impose social divergence on the viewers, the Egyptian government decided to allow the return of cinemas to return with attendance rates of only 25%, and this means for the theaters and distribution companies the same costs as the regular cinematic show, but with a quarter of revenue, if this is from the audience enough to reach this proportion of the foundation .

Indeed, a week after the cinemas returned, revenue figures began to show the truth. There are films - such as "New Year" - that achieved in the first week of this show only 352 Egyptian pounds ($ 22), and the highest-grossing film in this week is the foreign movie. "Bloodshot", where he made in all of Egypt less than 84 thousand pounds.

In addition to the decision to determine the attendance rate of 25%, all stores and theaters are still required to close before ten in the evening, so the cinemas canceled the two most important parties in their shows: the nine o'clock party, and one after midnight.

The absence of new movies

After the announcement of the opening of the cinemas, there was some enthusiasm on the pages of social media, and a joy among the young movie-lovers, who were deprived of them for long times, but this happiness turned into a mockery after knowing the films shown.

Because cinematography abroad, especially in the United States, is still paused, this means that there are no new films shown abroad, so Egypt will not obtain the rights to display it before the first world premiere.

Consequently, the cinemas began showing foreign and Arab films that were still shown before the closure, which are old films that the cinema audiences watched, as well as most of them were seen on "pirated" sites, and some of them were screened on cinematic platforms in an official way, such as "New Year" which It is displayed on the "Watch" platform.

Thus, showing cinema old movies and available on the Internet does not push anyone to leave his home and pay money and risk infection, which affected the revenue in this continuous picture since the start of the cinema until today.

Egyptian industry

In fact, the mainstay of the cinematography and distribution industry in Egypt is not Egyptian films. For example, during the year 2019, only 22 Egyptian films were shown, this is in front of an awful number of foreign films that are shown in Egypt throughout the year, and that brings continuous revenues to owners Cinemas and movie theaters.

While Egyptian films are described as seasons films, that is, they are more exposed in cinematic seasons. Such as Eid Al-Fitr, Al-Adha, Al-Naseem tattoo, and half-year vacation.

Consequently, the return of the cinematic show was not accompanied by the presentation of any new Egyptian cinematographic film, although filming of films and television works did not stop in Egypt, like many countries around the world, and therefore there are films already ready for display, but producers fear that viewers will not accept it for fear Of the epidemic, as well as the percentage of attendance that does not exceed 25%, and thus incurring losses and "burning the film" - in the language of the market - by showing it at a time when it will not have the full ability to succeed.

In addition, some new films have begun to go to online platforms, so that producers can get their compensation directly from the platform without waging the concern of loss or gain in theaters, such as "The Owner of the Maqam", produced by Sobky, starring Yusra, Aser Yassin, and Amina Khalil. , Which became "Eid Al-Adha Film" on the Shahid platform.

Although we are on the threshold of one of the most important seasons of Egyptian cinema, Eid Al-Adha, no big, highly-anticipated films have been announced, such as "Kira Wal Jinn", and "Some do not go to the authorized twice"; This is because the producers suffer from this fear, and their decisions are still floundering in an attempt to protect their capital from the expected loss.

In fact, the decision to return cinemas and cinemas to Egypt was announced in the context of saving this industry, but it was indeed a decision that was made for political reasons as a sign of the beginning of the return to normalcy in Egypt, and in the interior of it the sacrifice of the distribution and cinematography industry in Egypt, because it did not give any means To survive, whether in the form of modern foreign films, new Egyptian films, or even on financial support, with difficult restrictions, and perhaps if a miracle did not occur, this return would cause the closure of many of these roles, but this time because of the films and not Corona.